2015 Flats and Handwashing Challenge Day 6: Favorite Flat Folds!

Here we are Day 6 of the 5th Annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge! I can't believe it's almost over!

It's a dreary rainy day here today. It's been dreary all week, but today it's finally raining. We need it. We don't get much rain here in southern Idaho, so when we do we love it! Unless it's like last year where we got more rain in one day than we normally do in the entire year plus some. Yeah that was a lot of nice flooding, not so much where we live but in the town right next to our little thing it was flooding like crazy. But we still loved the rain we got! Anyway, all this rain reminded me of what I forgot to talk about yesterday in my washing segment so I'll lightly touch on that today. What do you do when you can't hang them up on a line outside? Either because you don't have one or the weather is crappy. There are a few things you can do. You can do like I'm doing today and hang them on the shower rod and towel rod in the bathrooms. I like doing this because I can close the door and the heater will blow and help them dry faster. You can get a drying rack that folds up nice for storage. I used to have one of those until it got destroyed by my husband breaking up a dog fight or something. Yes, I was mad. I would set it up over a vent in our floor so when the heat came on it would blow upwards right at the diapers (and other clothes). It was a good solution. I think I've seen things on how to make them with pvc pipe that you can make for cheaper than buying one. You can also iron your diapers. This helps them dry faster. It can also sanitize them if that's something you're worried about. Anyway, that's what I remembered that I forgot to put on the post yesterday.

On to today!!! Today is Day 6 and the topic is: Favorite Flat Folds and Fasteners!

What's my favorite fold? Thanks for asking. My favorite, as I think you have probably guessed by now, is the Pad fold!

It's simple and easy. I can fold them all like this ahead of time and just be done with it. I don't have to try and get any fasteners on a squirmy baby or toddler. All I have to do is put it in a cover and be done with it. Everyone folds these differently so I'm going to show you how I do it. It's weird trying to show you in pictures because I have to lay it down to do it. Normally I just hold it and do it while I'm standing and it takes 5 seconds or less. I also love it because it makes it so there are lots of layers in the wet zone but also is really good for letting it spread evenly throughout the diaper if it needs to. It also reminds me of the tri-fold for prefolds, which is what I always used prior to getting flats.

First start with it flat.

Then fold it in half.

Then start folding it down in little sections. I find that 4 down folds seems to be the perfect amount for the size of my diapers.

And here is the finished product!

I like the folded part to be on the bottom so the seam doesn't rub on baby's butt.

I'll admit. I've never really tried other folds than this one. I had a few snappis for closures that I tried with my prefolds but by that time my son was too big for it to do much good. (My first was a year when I started cloth diapers.) And with my second he was at least 6 months when I started using flats. Anyway, I wasn't really impressed and it never seemed to stay together for us. So pad fold it is. The only down side is that this fold doesn't always keep the poop from getting onto the cover. But the poo does always stay in the diaper/cover. We never had any blowouts with our second at all. I freaking love cloth diapers. With this baby, I'll be using my go to prefolds and I'm adding in flats as well. I'll probably be trying different folds to help contain the newborn poos from getting onto the covers. Also, because the pad fold will be too big for a little newborn. It'll be interesting using flats on a newborn. I've never done that before. But I'm excited to do it! So what are your favorite folds and closures?


And here's a pic of the fold instructions all in one picture! Woooo!