Chinese Prefolds - a simple diaper that works beautifully.
 Though she ended up choosing Chinese Prefolds in the end, cloth diapering mom, Jen, knew she wanted to try cloth diapers when she became pregnant with her first baby even though she didn't know anyone who used them.
By: Jen, a happy cloth diapering mom
I had been recycling since I was 14, and I couldn't imagine throwing a stack of dirty diapers away each and every DAY!
I managed to find a few catalogues that sold diapers through the back pages of Mothering magazine. When I got the catalogues, I read them front to back. They gave a lot of good information on washing, how many to buy, and so forth. I purchased chinese prefolds, velcro diaper covers, and tried a few different things like flannel-terry squares, contours, and flannelette fitted diapers. The day they came in the mail, I pulled out the chinese prefolds and gasped! They were HUGE and rough, and seemed more like boat sails than something to put on a new baby's bum! But I washed them several times in hot water, as the catalogue had advised, and fell in love with my first, fluffy stack of prefolds (4 years later, these same ones are in use again and in PERFECT condition!) Almost everything I tried had a use, some for a longer period than others, but I definitely kept coming back to the prefolds, especially once I learned how to snappi and pin. They wear beautifully, are soft and absorbant, and even the darkest, greenest stain disappears after a day on the clothesline. Did I mention yet how much I LOVE seeing my prefolds on the clothesline?
But I digress. The baby arrived in a beautiful water birth and at first, because I only knew how to fold diapers into a wrap instead of pinning them securely, my skinny-legged newborn only fit in 3 of the tiniest diapers and one of the newborn covers. I had to fatten him up quickly so I had more of a repetoire! But, once he was 3 weeks old, he fit into most of them and I just loved him in cloth diapers from the start. My family, who had thought I was living dangerously when I told them I didn't want or need a Diaper Genie for a baby gift, learned just how easy and no-big-deal cloth diapering is. If I left my son with my mom and dad for a couple of hours, I put a few Bumkins on the end of the changing table. It doesn't get any easier than a cloth AIO.
My son wore cloth almost exclusively day and night for 2 1/2 years and now as a preschooler still wears a pocket-style fleece trainer to catch nighttime puddles. He never had to deal with the diaper rashes or chemicals, and I never had to deal with the garbage...I actually enjoy washing my diapers and looked forward to starting over with my next baby.
While pregnant with my daughter, I loved peeking into my hope chest and seeing my son's outgrown diapers and covers, many in great condition, waiting for a new little bum to coddle. Since I had saved so much money by reusing cloth, I never thought twice about splurging on a few ultra-luxurious fitted diapers, or a rose-colored wool cover for my little rosebud.
There are so many more cloth diaper choices out there now than from when I first started diapering 4 short years ago! But still, I tend to come back to my tried and true prefolds, with a yummy Aristocrat soaker at night. It's so comforting when simple things work so beautifully well.
Diaper Service Quality (DSQ) prefolds or Chinese Prefolds are more than just diapers! Use them for burpcloths, changing pads, and when you are done with diapers, cleaning rags! The smaller diapers, like the preemie size, make excellent diaper doublers.
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