Cloth Diapers for Doulas
Written for Birthing Advocacy Doula Trainings
Introduction
Cloth diapers, if you’re not familiar with them, can feel daunting. There are SO many different options out there, and even more opinions. At the end of the day, there’s no perfect system (if there was, everyone would be using it), but there are some key things to know that can make navigating cloth diapers easier to understand, especially for doulas to whom they are a new concept.
As doulas, we enter the homes of many different clients. Chances are, you’ll come across a family who uses cloth diapers with their baby. Or maybe you have a client who is expecting a baby, is considering cloth diapers, and has questions. The first thing to familiarize yourself with is: what are cloth diapers and what are all the options about?
Cloth Diaper Systems
A cloth diaper is a reusable piece (or pieces) of fabric that can be washed and is used to soak up and catch urine and stool. Most of the time, the absorbent fabric is paired with some sort of waterproof or water resistant layer, such as a plastic or lanolized wool cover.
As for the absorbent bits, usually they are in one of the following forms:
Prefolds
Flat diapers
Fitted diapers
Pocket diapers
All in one diapers (AIO)
Prefolds and Flats
Prefolds and flats are pieces of fabric that are customizable to a baby’s body. Prefoldsare rectangular pieces of fabric, usually cotton, bamboo, or hemp, that are composed of multiple layers of fabric sewn together. Usually, the rectangle is broken into three “columns” and the first column has 4 layers, the second 8, and the third 4, again. Prefolds come in different sizes and can be folded either around a baby to look like a traditional diaper, or folded into some form of rectangle and laid into a diaper cover, sort of like a pad. In either case, prefolds must be used with a waterproof outer cover to prevent clothes or bedding from becoming wet.
Flat diapers are single layer large fabric squares or rectangles, also usually made from cotton or bamboo. Unlike prefolds, which are woven and not stretchy, flat diapers can be woven and therefore not-stretchy OR knit and stretchy. They can be folded into various shapes to be customizable to a baby’s body, age, and for how heavy a wetter they are. Similar to prefolds, they need to be used with a waterproof outer cover. However, some people choose to forgo the cover for newborns who are not yet peeing in large quantities.
When using prefolds or flats, the waterproof cover does not necessarily need to be changed at each diaper change. Typically, it can be reused if the diaper was only soiled with urine, and thrown into the laundry after a few changes or once it becomes soiled with stool.
Fitted diapers are shaped like you’d expect a disposable diaper to be shaped, but made up of several layers of absorbent fabric instead of something disposable. Typically, this is either cotton, bamboo, or a blend (are you noticing the fabric trend so far?). They fasten around the baby’s waist with either snaps or velcro, or are without a built-in fastener and require something external to affix them in place, such as diaper pins or something called a “Snappi”. They can be used as is, or additional layers of absorbency can be added in to make them more suitable for a heavy wetter, or for overnight use. Similar to prefolds and flats, the waterproof cover part of this system does not need to be laundered each diaper change.