Having a hard time with prefold nappies - please help

[Havana]

With DD now 5 months old have run out of excuses and finally got some washable nappies. I was a cheapskate and got the prefold type, which you use with a disposable liner and a 'prorap' wrap. Now maybe it's just because I got used to disposables, but I'm not having a great time with them. Wee is fine, but poo just seems to get everywhere, and doesn't wash out of the wraps.

She is exclusively breastfed but will be moving on to solids in just a few weeks. Should I wait and see if this makes the difference, or should I cut my losses and buy the shaped nappies? Are Mother-ease really the best? Is is because I'm folding the prefold nappies badly?

are you fanning out one end of the prefold to catch the poo?

havana, if you can I would hold of buying any more until you start solids and see how you get on with them then.

Havana - runny poo is always a bit of a prob with washables. I reccommend using Vanish on the wraps to get the stains out, or perhaps bicarbonate of soda. The poo will definately thicken up nicely when you start on solids, or if you introduce a bottle of formula. I use the Motherease wraps and I think they are great. Am sure all will be well when the poos changes.

Do you wash with non-bio at 60 degrees C? I wash mine at this and usually gets marks out.

soaking in a bucket of water with a few drops of tea tree oil works well for getting rid of stains from no. 2s

Smells nice too.

The wraps will wash clean (eventually). Have you tried Napisan, yet? That stuff is amazing... try Moss chemists.
I hate prefolds... Good floor rags & boosters, though. Also good 4 nappy-free time. Didnt like ME one-size nappies, either, tho. Where's Throckenholt? I think she's tried a lot of different shaped nappies.

most people I know who used prefolds gave up on washable nappies fairly quickly. shaped are far better. a bit more money to start with but worth it in the end.

hiya, yep am fanning them out but poo still seems to get on to the wrap every time (but not outside it, thank goodness). and yes i'm washing at 60 degrees. thanks for the tips, i will try all these things for cleaning. you are right zubb, i should hold off spending more until she's on solids, by then i might have got the hang of folding the bleeding things! think i will then buy a few mother-ease ones anyway - will still end up saving money in the long run. and as you say, zebra, i can always use the prefolds for other things...

I am however a big fan of terry nappies; much more versatile than prefolds IME. Sometimes the wrap gets it, but we just handwash, hang up to dry in the shower. I have a breastfed 4 month old who only "goes" every 4(?I think) days, so you can imagine that the blow-outs are impressive.

I'm about to go onto my third baby with prefolds. (Have ordered a few shaped ones for night time as I haven't been so successful here). Things will definately get more solid with weaning, I usually shove a vanish tablet in with the wash which copes with stains. Keep trying!

Hi, I use mother ease and love them to bits. I also use prefolds when I am running low on motherease or just for the hell of it! There are lots of different ways to fold them so you could experiment but tbh with bf babes the poo will out so to speak. Now dd is on solids I use fleecy liners and the poo just stays in one place which is alot more manageable. No advice for stains as I just live with any and they do seem to come out eventually. GOod luck.

Hi, Havana,

I'm a cheapskate too and use terries folded into pads inside wraps.

With bfed babies the poo goes all over the wraps inevitably. But this will get better once you wean. Fiddle around with different wraps -- my personal faves are Nature babies from kittykins.

Good luck.

um - at that age babies that are breast fed poo often does tend to go everywhere (in my experience) - it is very runny !. It never seemed to cause a long term stain problem for us. Sunlight helps get the stain out.

I think the key is often the wrap rather than the nappy. You have to get a wrap that suits your baby shape - and then to a certain extent anything absorbant can go in the wrap - terries, prefolds, or shaped nappies.

I used terries when mine were small (I had great fun trying out all the origami folds I found on the net - what a sad person I am !), then moved on to shaped ones. Motherease one size (popper ones) suited us (like the fit round the leg), but they tend to be small and really didn't fit my older toddler. I also like the popolini one size ones (velcro fastening) - they are a bigger fit. I also used some kushie basic (cheap at an NCT sale!) - they were ok but not very absorbant. Also tried kushie all in one and for us they were a disaster - most leaky of all.

How about going over to the ukparents.co.uk nappy buy and sell forum and picking up a few different ones to try out. You can also resell any that don't suit you.

Wraps - we settled on motherease and popolini (they are effectively the same). Also used pro-wraps which were good but didn't suit our nappies.

hi there,
i use prefolds as well and have always used a nippa to help with containment - i use the boy fold fanned out at the back which then goes round the baby then nippad at the front - this also seems to create a "bucket" at the legs which helps keep everything in!

hth,
Pauline xx

I'm like zebra in that I don't like pre-folds either. Dm bought them before dd was born, but I just couldn't get on with them. Also, and alot of people will disagree with me (Fennel ), I don't like MEOS either.
However, I have totally fallen in love with tots bots - sad but true and have since become a nappy bore. If you are struggling try a couple of rainbow tots bots with aplix and dare I say, size 1? They are soo easy and soo cute you won't beable to resist them
Oh and zebra - I like your idea of using the prefolds for no nappy time!! I shall try that

I use prefolds and prowraps and am quite happy with them although before ds was weaned they did sometimes leak. It's much better since then so hang in there. I agree that it's likely to be the wrap not fitting your baby so it might be worth experimenting.

thanks for the advice everyone. think i'm getting slightly better at folding them. but my dd poos about four times a day (zebra, does yours really only go every four days?!) so the laundry is taking over. specially as whatever i put her in at night seems to leak, now that she's having a couple of feeds during the night again (groan). tried using two prefolds in the wrap the other night but the poor wee mite was raised about 2 inches off her bed by her enormous nappy so stuck on a disposable instead - still leaked. am definitely going to give some of these other ones a go.

If you go with the totsbots Havana. Definately go with the unbleached ones for night time.
Dd poos about 4 times a day, always has done. Totsbots with a fleece liner or bumbles. Never had a leak yet!

Message withdrawn

Yikes, I really must be doing this wrong. My instructions didn't mention any nippa things - what are they? Where do you get them? And where do you fasten the prefold? At the mo I just fold it up a little way at the front (so it fits the wrap lengthwise), then into 3 lengthwise, and fan it out a bit at the back. You're talking to someone who can't do hospital corners here .

I use the Cotton Bottoms pre-fold system for the day, Popolino with Motherease XXL Rikki wrap for night (dd 8 months). Find the prefolds excellent for containing runny bf poo, not so good for lots of wee (so I change them by the clock - every 3 or 4 hours). I never got the hang of the fanned out fold - just fold the nappy in 3 (like a letter), place dd's bottom on the top line made by the seams in the nappy (the girl fold gives you 2 lines on the nappy once it's folded up).

In the beginning the nappies leaked outrageously but I wasn't pulling the velcro fastener tight enough - I was worried about the circulation in her legs being cut off! Pull them really firm to keep the nappy in place close to the bottom. Also check the wrap isn't too small. dd weighs 24lbs, but I use the Large (30 lbs plus) wraps - so much easier! It should be easy to pull the side bits over across the leg to meet on the tummy.

Usually the wrap needs changing if dd has poo-ed. We got a birth to potty pack which has 6 or 7 wraps in each size and this seems to be enough (but we wash every day - always something that needs cleaning!)

The TotsBots and Motherease nappies always looked nice and easy, but there is a drying issue with the shaped toweline nappies - our Popolino night nappies (same kind of thing) take 3 days to dry on a clothes horse, even when they've been through 60 mins on the tumble dryer after a normal wash. (we have 3 nappies to cope with this).

HTH

I was a mother ease person and found them to be great-the unbleached ones were better imo.

I agree with the others that things will get better with solids. Having done Imse Vimse for DS1 and had a fair few leaks, I am now a Totbots fan for DS2 as they fit snugly round the legs and have never leaked poo onto the wrap.

Caved in and bought some Mother-ease - like them a lot so far, though getting them dry is going to be an issue (no tumble dryer, no sun). But they are so soft, and miles easier to put on than the prefolds. Will continue to use prefolds too until I can afford more M-ease!

hi

how pre folds going. I have cb too and am unsure about them,