Folding tips for a newbie, on cloth diapers with cloth inserts?

[ade]

...I'm using Pre-Fold diapers ...... the only reason why I'm using cloth, is for a better chance of not leaking while laying down.

oh, you Yanks and your need for classifying, differentiating, naming and making mountains out of molehills :wallbash: (or is the latter just a woman's thing? :biggrin
i ask, when does the pre-fold become a post-fold???

anyways, i use trads (traditional diapers/nappies) and apart from the information that's been imparted thus far, i would say that the triangular/kite folds are really only for immobile babies who're mostly on their backs.
how you arrange your nappy depends mostly on your need for absorbancy and comfort and will obviously take a bit of experimenting, and it will also vary according to whatever extra absorbancy you build in.

if you're using plastic-pants, aside from ensuring that you have enough absorbancy, the fold isn't going to matter as the pants should shape all.

my most used method is one as used for children and copied in some disposable bedsheets (harking back to the early days of disposable diapers); you can get the gist of it with this,

fastening is also a matter of choice, but i've taken to using mini-bungees, with sharpened hook-ends (got to do that yourself), as they're flexible, unobstrusive to the body, easy to fit and avoid the nastiness of accidentally popped-open pins as you sleep.

so long as you have sufficient coverage and bulk of material (for absorbancy), you can relax and let gravity do it's thing.

 

[Ebonybaby]

I love the diversity here at ADISC, as it's one of the places where you can be right, wrong, pro, noob, insightful and uninformative at the same time. I've learn over time not to take it personally, but mostly find it amusing these days at best. In the context of this conversation (and let me be clear that I'm jusy saying and I'm not upset in any form or fashion), had I'd just said "cloth diapers", I would have had fifty people correcting me on how vague the question is. I break it down to show people where I'm coming from and I get "my need to describe things in detail." A very interesting array of responses, but all helpful none the less. How I wish sometimes to be able to experience different walks of life, in a single lifetime

 

[MetalMann]

Thanks again all for the helpful tips and a very special thank you to Metalmann1983!! I actually found a basic way to do up my diapers last night, but where it made logical sense, it DID in fact leak exactly where the fold was suppose to help soak it up. Anyway, Metalmann1983, the fold style you are usually is pretty much what has been working out for me, but you have a few good tips and variations within your style that I haven't tried. For one thing, I'm going to check out the "rolling" fold to see how that holds up, but it's your placement of the inserts is really what I was looking for, as well as another idea I came up with this morning after my little bed wetting. [emoji14] Plus, I have locking safety pins, but I just might by a few snappies and give them a try. The only reason why I didn't buy those in the first place, because a few forums I've run across on adults using them, over half said they break too easy.

Again, thank you for everyone's help. This is an expensive endeavor for me and I plan to make it work and see it through to as much as a non-leaking experience as much as possible.

No problem, make sure to get Snappi size 2. My cloth diapers are a little wider. They do fit better. One thing to know is that they don't have to be tight. People try to make it as tight as possible, with the onesie and stretchy underwear. I have one other one that did pop around the loop part in one of the sides, but that was my fault. Don't stretch it to maximum proportions at first. Just stretch them over and over and gradually get wider.

I have a 38 in waist. These are baby pants cloth diapers. They are XL in size. I use booster pads in them. What you see in picture is actually a dozen Gerber Pre-folds Used as soakers. They don't hold much. You could get better ones from Changing Times for cheap. I use 3XL Gerber white plastic pants from Baby Pants. They are the crinkly ones, they have leg gatherers that are tighter compared to others. I found my measurements including leg circumference, and waist to fall within the 3XL size. Therefore I can wear thicker, taller diapers without putting the sides at risk for failing and ripping.

 

[Cottontail]

Another kind of fastener to try, if you really don't like pins, is Boingos. Changing Times sells them. They operate on the same basic principle as Snappis--little bungies with claws--but are used one-per-side like pins. I have a 38" waist like Metalmann, but I found using a single Snappi to be nearly impossible unless I oversized my diapers (in order to get the corners closer together in front). And then, because the center claw of a Snappi really only supports the centerline of the diaper, the edges of the diaper felt very loose through the folds of my crotch. I briefly experimented with using two Snappis, one-per-side just like Boingos, but this arrangement is just too cumbersome, IMO.

All that said, I've wondered whether my Snappis (long since thrown away) might have been in some way defective. People talk about stretching them, but mine didn't stretch at all. They were about as stretchy as steel cables!

I mostly use pins, but Boingos work well for me also. They're much stretchier, and IMO easier to use then Snappis. But they do periodically wear out. Baby Pants is about to start selling vintage-style diaper pins with plastic ducky-shaped closures, but scaled to adult sizes. WANT!

Right now, I mostly use ordinary Dritz-brand baby diaper pins. If you take care to pin vertically down through the fabric, then vertically back up and out as near to the entry point as possible--it does take a little practice--then these baby pins work well and never pop open. With pins, you should always be able to slide them back and forth a little once they're fastened, or you've got the entry and exit points too far apart, and tension on the fabric will pop the pin open.

 

[Ebonybaby]

Thanks for the heads up Cottontail I was actually in the market to try and pick up a few Snappies just to try them out, but honestly, my pins from Changing Times work out just fine. I'll also be looking into checking out those pins from BabyPants too!! Also, as far as the pins go, I got the locking pins from Changing Times and although I leave a small bit of slack in between the fabric, those suckers work amazing when they're locked anyhow.

 

[dlore2177]

it DID in fact leak exactly where the fold was suppose to help soak it up

It has been my experience that with cloth diapers leaks tend to come from one of two items.

Serious gaps between the flow of mess and the outside world. This would be folding and fastening of the garment. Check out the articles for putting on a diaper. While they show a disposable a cloth one would be very similar. (perhaps thats an area some of us experienced cloth wearers could help them with for updatin the article)

The other that i see regularly is clogged up diapers. Fabric softeners and some detergents leave residue in the diaper that very quickly hinder its ability to soak up the mess. A good clean cloth diaper will soak up faster then a disposable, you just won't have the dry sensation afterwards that a disposable gives. If you have used fabric sofeners or the wrong kind of detergent you can often fix it by a process known as stripping the diaper. My preference is the viniger method as i have plenty of the stuff but there are many options and its the same for adult diapers as babies diapers. Just more crtical with adult diapers becuase we tend to let it out faster.