How to Easily Use Pre-folds & Flats Together

        I could be wrong, but it seems to me that unless you absolutely love and swear by pre-folds and flats for cloth diapering, they get a bad rap. As with everything, I understand that not everyone is going to like the same kind of cloth diapers. However, I feel like pre-folds and flats don't get enough credit. Maybe it's because some people are too afraid to try them or they've heard about bad experiences with them from friends or family. I don't know. I am here to tell you (or try to convince you, at least) that they are not as bad as you might think or have heard. Trust me; this is coming from someone who is admittedly ridiculously lazy when it comes to, well, lots of things. Let's just leave it at that. ;)

        I will admit that I have only tried 3 different types of cloth diapering: Ai2's, pre-folds and covers, and fitteds with covers. I loved using our covers as Ai2's as they are intended, but honestly I really like using pre-folds and flats because you can customize how much absorbency you need a lot more than you may think. Which brings me to the point of this post: using pre-folds and flats together. I've seen plenty of people say that pre-folds alone just don't cut it for their heavy wetter. I feel like my daughter wets more than average, so, once her small sized BestBottom inserts weren't cutting it any more and after trying plenty of other things, I finally found that using a flat cut in half and folded inside a pre-fold works really well! I know what you're thinking. Is it as easy as using and AiO? Probably not, but it's a helluva lot cheaper!

How to Easily Use Pre-folds & Flats Together

(Demonstrated with pictures)

What you'll need: 

-diaper cover

-pre-fold of your choice (the ones used here are the cheap Gerber ones from Walmart)

-a flatfold diaper cut in half (again, I use the Gerber birdseye cheapies)

Lay your flatfold diaper out like so.

Fold in half. (Or you can bring the edges together in the air like I do.)

Fold in half again.

Lay your pre-fold out.

Lay your folded up flat inside the pre-fold as centered as possible.

Fold one side of the pre-fold towards the middle.

Fold the other edge of the pre-fold towards the middle. It's ok if the edges do or don't overlap, although you'll probably want them to overlap some so that they will fit nicely inside of your diaper cover/shell.

Fold the top and bottom ends over so, once again, they fit nicely inside of baby's diaper. In theory (if you're using the Gerber ones, anyways), if you do these folds where the flatfold diaper ends on the inside, it should be just about the perfect length to fit inside your diaper shell. 

Voila! Easy peasy and not too bulky. ;)