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Rob,

A caution about flannel diapers - flannel is an excellent fabric but more dense than gauze or birdseye. That makes it a bit more difficult to push a pin through and very, very slow to dry.

Personally, I would recommend gauze. Gauze also absorbs a bit more quickly than flannel.

--John

I agree with John

Flannel diapers are real soft, but a real pain to wash and dry.
That's why I switched to gauze diapers from Angelfluff.com
http://www.angelfluff.com/nfGAUZEprefolded.htm

I can stack them as needed and also I can use inserts to increase absorbency
http://www.angelfluff.com/nfinserts.htm

Schoppy

I think you might be right about hte flannel.. The pocket diaper i oredered have inserts made out of flannel and hemp.. and i noticed that sometimes they feel just slightly damp when I take them out of the dryer, but not too damp. If i put htem in the dryer for few extra minutes, it gets rid of that damp feeling. Im guessing a full fleged flannel diaepr would take longer to dry than an insert because theres less fabric on an insert..

I appreciate all the input.

Peace out!

Rob

_________________
"We cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love" Mother Teresa

"THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS!" - Captain Picard from Chain of Command, Part II

Rob,

A heavy night flannel diaper can take over 1 1/2 hours to dry! My wife was not happy with my tieing up the dryer so long.

--John

My two cents, After 15 years of cloth diapers I've come to the conclusion that cloth really is considerably cheaper than disposables.
I've also found that "night time" diapers are a disaster. They're just way too thick. The secret of cloth is to layer thinner diapers. Never buy a diaper that is more than 4 layers thick. This will allow the diaper to dry quickly and minimize wear and tear from longer drying times.

Also a thick diaper is far harder to get clean. I've found that the nighttime diapers smell somewhat even after washing. Four layer flat diapers have proven perfect with layering for me. I use one and use child size diapers for boosters to get the capacity I need. Child size prefolds are considerably cheaper than adult diapers too." Adult Cloth Diapers" has their "Purity" flat daytime diaper that works the best for me. It's really large and needs to be folded to fit. I end up really bulky with this setup but that's not an issue at night. What is an issue is a dry bed. Cloth has given me that 100 percent once I found the layers I needed.

I have tried flannel and they work well too. They especially need to be no more than 4 layers thick. They seem to me to be somewhat more absorbent layer for layer than gauze or birdseye diapers. Flannel is without a doubt the most durable diaper cloth. I've had them go 5 years before I had to retire them to the car washing bucket. The other thing is comfort. Birdseye and gauze are without a doubt the softest diapers.
They have a comfort level that's way better than flannel. Gauze is somewhat softer than birdseye but more fragile. All weighed out, for me the ACD Purity daytime 4layer diaper is my go to diaper. ACD also sells a toddler size large diaper at 38$ a dozen. I just bought some of these and I'd recommend these to anyone that wears cloth for use as a booster. They make a perfect sized booster. Not too small and not too big.
Hope this helps, Ted

Ted,

While I am wearing night-weight prefolds, that is very interesting information about flat diapers. Thank you for your excellent and very useful details.

What fold do you usually use for your flat diapers?

--John

Hello JD, I buy the largest flat diaper I can find. Those seem to be the ones from Adult Cloth Diaper. The Purity diaper ( they are also the best bargain by far). They're something like 44 inches square. They do shrink somewhat after washing but are still way too big. What I do is lay them flat and fold the front down to make it fit from my backside to my front. Make sure that it has enough length to get over your waist. Otherwise it will want to slide down over night. I then take the left side at the middle and fold it in towards the middle and then do the same to the right. You end up with the classic "hourglass" shape. You can adjust the narrow section to make it comfortable. If you are skinny (I'm not) You can fold the sides in before folding the hourglass in.

The great thing about using this style diaper is the diaper opens up totally for laundering. I use the daytime weight and boosters for the needed extra absorbency. It also makes for really clean and fresh smelling diapers that dry far faster. I've found that the fitted diaper that has the hourglass shape has added layers in the crotch area. This makes it very difficult to get clean and is a bear to get dry. Also the flat diaper really is "one size fits all". As a side sleeper I've found that the added material from folding the front down really helps absorbency when you are laying on your side.

Another way to go is fold the top down to fit front to back and then pull the front corners in to make a wedge shape. This puts the bulk mostly in the front which works for people that need more absorbency up front. Either way, wedge or hourglass, I always leave the back top of the diaper full length. For me, the back overlaps in the front when I have the pins in but for me that's not an issue. The nice thing about this is that you aren't trying to work at your side when you are pinning the diaper. I've found that it's far easier pinning the diaper comfortably on your front. I end up with the pins about 6 inches apart. I also use four pins (pinning at the leg opening and waist). This really helps to keep the diaper where it belongs. If I don't pin at the legs sometimes the diaper rolls up and lays off to the side creating the possibility of a leak. Hope this doesn't sound too confusing.

Also, there's a bunch of web sites that show how to fold flat diapers. Those have drawings that you can see. It's all the same thing only we use bigger diapers. These sites can give you some ideas as to what are the traditional folds if the above sounds a little complicated.

Great explanation, Ted, but I still am a bit fuzzy about the hourglass fold. I'll try to look it up on the Internet.

I am using the same large Purity flats, but as reinforcements to a night-weight prefold when I want additional absorbency. Agree that the flats definitely dry in much less time.

--John

JD, I'm impartial to the naval defense (I'm a Marine though), but you'll have to experiment with what ever works. and feels, best for you. Take a look at this website below, it explains how to fold diapers in the various ways. http://www.wikihow.com/Fold-a-Cloth-Diaper

Also, you could technically use 21 diaper pins to secure any cloth diaper in place (22 is simply not possible, but 21 works if you use the 21st for the securing the top middle right to your belly button of course). That's a bit overkill to me though, and I usually only use 4. Simply put, just use as many as you feel you need. As an alternative though, you may want to consider snappies or boingos too. They are stretchy hook like fasteners that according to some work better than pins. I tried the snappies but personally didn't like them, your mileage may vary though.