looking for help with flats (diapers)

[esperanza]

I am thinking of buying some flats for an upcoming two week trip with not great washing machine access (planning on hand washing). This seems like the best option given the washing situation, but I don't want to spend a lot of money. I can get used prefolds, but everything I am reading says flats are easiest to handwash.

Is one flat going to be absorbent enough for a toddler? I think he's getting to the age that he is peeing more when he does pee. Or will I need to double it up with something else?

Has anyone used flour sack towels as flats? Are they soft? They don't seem like they would be very comfortable. Anything else I need to know?

[Earthmummy07]

Flats are my favourite the ones I had were bomb proof when ds1 was a toddler

I used terry squares, but have heard good things about flour sack towels on YouTube. Heidi Kim did a flats and hand washing challenge (as did other people). There's some really helpful videos on there

---------- Post added at 06:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:37 PM ----------

ETA I didn't need to boost my flats at all in the day. I did boost at night when he was a toddler though.

[Quiteria]

Flour sack towels are a pretty tight weave...I don't think they'd absorb fast enough to catch the pee before it leaks. Maybe try one if you have any, but I wouldn't go buying a couple dozen without being sure.

I actually have an entire case of giant unbleached birdseye flats that I bought when I was thinking of starting a business. They're about 36x36 unwashed. I think I used two of them at a time when my kids were toddlers, like under a cover. Sometimes I used them to fill a pocket diaper...that you might be able to get away with just one, but they do slide down sometimes when loose like that. If you buy the white Gerber flats, if they even still sell them, they are about half that size. Needing three at a time would not be out of the realm of possibility.

I'd recommend giving them a try as soon as possible so that you can get used to what works before you're on the road. (You can machine wash while you're home...it will help break them in anyway.) A lot depends on how much your child pees at once, how you feel comfortable folding them, how tightly you can get them on or get them covered. Better to figure out what leaks and what doesn't while you're still at home with a fresh supply of clothing.

[JoannaV]

Personally I think prefolds wouldn't be bad to handwash, but they take a long time to dry. Do you know where you will be hanging the flats?

I'm not sure about the absorbency for the average two year old. New flats are going to be more absorbent than super old ones that have had half of their material washed away. . It's easy enough to double flats. I always use the origami fold, and then I would just put another rectangle-folded flat inside that.
Make sure that you do all the pre-washing so that your new flats are absorbent!!

Flats stay softer better than prefolds when air-drying. You can scrunch them up and throw them around and sit on them if they don't feel soft enough.
I'm not quite sure what flour sack towels feel like.

---------- Post added at 01:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:53 PM ----------

The Gerber ones are pretty insubstantial, and seem to have a lot of extra fluff that gets lost. I haven't actually used them though. (Someone gave me a pack they happened to have.)

[Quiteria]

Prefolds can get stinky in the middle if they don't dry fast enough. Maybe out in the sun in dry weather with a breeze, but I've had pretty bad luck trying to dry them indoors. That's a good question about where you'll be drying yours.

You can pre-fold your flats as you are putting them away after drying. I used to do that to store them until the next change, to make things a little faster.

(I edited my post above a little to include more info...always think of stuff after I hit post. )

[esperanza]

They will be drying in the blazing hot sun, but it is very humid. We used our microfiber inserts before but used a washer and dryer. For various reasons that didn't work super well, and I don't think we will go that route this time. I have line dried my prefolds at home (just a couple at a time, use as extras when I run out of our usual diapers), and they didn't seem to take that long to dry. Less time than our MF inserts. Hmmm....

I would rather do prefolds if you all think I can handwash them well enough. I know that they absorb well enough for day time use and can get them used (and cheaper). They are bulkier though. I could get a pack of flats to try and return if they don't work.

[Quiteria]

One possibility is using prefolds with a flat inside as a liner if you don't like flats alone. That might help keep the poop from getting ground into the prefold. Poop isn't hard to wash out of flats, but the thought of handwashing it out of a prefold makes me shudder. There are also disposable liners people use for poop...I wouldn't flush them in most home toilets, especially if you're going where I think you're going, but you could potentially use them as a barrier, flush the poop off them as best you can, and then throw away the remainder without it being as much bulk as disposable diapers.

The main difference between handwashing flats and prefolds is getting the dirty soapy water OUT of the item you're washing. Flats are thin enough to rinse easily. With prefolds, you're going to be wringing your heart out with multiple rinses, and there are just so many layers to trap soap and germs deep within. With flats, you can spray water right through them and know that you're done. To me, that's worth having to take a moment to fold them up to put on a baby.

I mostly just tri-folded mine (fold in half to match the length of the prefold, then fold the sides in to match the width of a prefold) and called that good enough.

[esperanza]

Hmmmm, thanks. Yeah, going where you are thinking and no flushing liners. I am going to have to talk to dh more about the washing situation at his mom's. She has a washing machine but no hot water. Most of the time the poop just comes right off at this age, though obviously that isn't always a guarantee.

[Quiteria]

Change in diet and drinking water could affect that.

---------- Post added at 03:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:52 PM ----------

Wonder if she has a wringer?

---------- Post added at 03:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:52 PM ----------

Hmm...sorry to reply a zillion times...

If she has a washer, perhaps you could just wash in cold in the machine, then pour a pot or two of boiling water over them and run the spin cycle.

Definitely get the scoop on her normal washing situation/expectations so that you aren't making it harder than it needs to be, or stepping on toes.

[esperanza]

I'm not sure about a wringer. I've never seen one there, but she might.

I am going to try to get dh to get the scoop on her washer. I'm sure she'd be fine with us using it, and if I could figure out a way to use it without needing a hot water hook-up, that would be great. We used SIL's washer without hot water and had to dump it in by hand, but it took forever and a day and never worked very well. I'm sure it would be easier if I just got disposables, but there is something about this challenge that makes me want to make it work. Thanks for your help!

[Soliloquy]

You can wash diapers in cold water. Wash them twice, the first time without detergent.

Flats literally dry in less than 5 minutes in the sun. I never had a lot of them but I do like them. I'm starting over with diapers and I am only buying flats & prefolds.

[JoannaV]

I do a cold wash followed by a hot detergent wash, and they certainly look clean and mostly smell clean after the cold wash.

Humidity can increase drying time, especially on a cloudy day, but when the sun is blazing down things generally get dry... There might be a certain amount of humidity which would require you to do flats not prefolds, but I'm not sure what that would be, prefolds dry in the sun ok here. My only problem with line-drying here in the summer is if it rains: flats will dry before it starts raining but the prefolds will need to be rehung inside.

[esperanza]

Thanks all. I talked to dh tonight and asked him to investigate more about the washing situation. He said it isn't too humid there right now (reallllly hoping it stays that way), so we may not have to deal with that. I'm a little worried about one flat holding enough pee, but I should get a package to try out. I'm wondering how terrible it would be to just cold rinse and cold wash since it's just for two weeks...

[Quiteria]

I really think you will need to double them. Use two per diaper change.

[Lady Grey]

I know that flour sack towels are popular for use as flats but I didn't find them nearly absorbent enough. What I do love for flats are the flannel receiving blankets. They have worked great for my toddlers during the day - I pad fold them and put them in Flip and Diaper Safari covers.

I haven't tried actual flats because the flannel receiving blankets were cheaper and worked quite well. I bought packages of them on clearance at Target, but you can also find them at thrift stores etc...