Green Mountain Diapers Flats and Workhorse Fitteds Really Work!

Lots of people have heard of Green Mountain Diapers (GMD) but wonder how well they work. My friend Abbie was lucky enough to get a bunch to try out. I don’t think she was disappointed and I don’t think you will be either! Here’s Abbie’s guest post….

I never thought I’d use flats.  It just seemed so intricate and complicated and then when you add that you actually have to add a baby into the mix…it just didn’t appeal to me.  In my 3.5 years of cloth diapering I have only managed to master the padfold and the jelly roll with prefolds.  I’m so lazy that when I bought some flour sack towels (FST), I just sewed that into a long padfold. So when the opportunity came to review some flats, I decided it was high time to face my fear and meet the challenge head-on.  

I did receive the following items for review, but these are my own honest and true opinions: 2 Flip covers, 2 Workhorse snapless fitteds – large, 2 Cloth-eez 8 ply doublers, 2 Birdseye flat diaper – small, 2 Birdseye flat diaper – large organic, 2 Muslin flat diaper – organic, 2 sets of Boingos, 2 safety pins.

All workhorse fitteds are made of certified organic cotton natural fibers. Fitteds are super absorbent because instead of just an insert, the entire fitted is the absorbent part. There are 8 layers of cotton in the body and 6 layers in the flap for newborn and small; 8 layers of cotton in the body and 8 layers in the flap for sizes medium, large and XL for a total of 16 layers. Each requires a cover to be waterproof.  Since there is no attached PUL cover, the fitteds wash and wear well. They can take a beating and keep on going for a long, long time. This makes them a great affordable investment.

Flats are just a single layer thick, so they are the easiest of all cloth diapers to wash and dry. Water and detergent has no problems reaching all the fibers unlike what can sometimes happen in inserts that are many layers thick or synthetic materials like microfiber.

And if you are wondering what muslin is…here’s the description from the Green Mountain Diapers page: “The words muslin and gauze mean the same thing. These are double weave, not the single weave that the popular swaddle blankets are. “Double weave” means that it is basically two layers of cloth woven together on the same loom at the same time to form one thicker layer. That’s an oversimplification of the weaving process, but you end up with one layer of thicker fabric than you do from single weaving, yet it is still a one-layer fabric. Thicker means more absorbent, yet since it is still one layer so it has a nice, soft hand. It washes and dries easily and quickly.”

I loved my newborn workhorse fitteds and it was so sad when Trixie outgrew them.  I was thrilled to try out the large size and they are just as wonderful as the newborn.  (When we got this package Trixie had just turned a year old and weighed 18.4 lbs. and was 28 inches long.)  We have been using them for nighttime with the Cloth-eez 8 ply doubler added in under a wool cover.  I have really come to love fitteds for overnight because we are starting to see friction red marks on Trixie’s thighs in the morning from our beloved and well used kawaii GNHWs (Good Night Heavy Wetters).

She never has the red marks in the morning if she wears a fitted to bed.  The workhorses live up to their names.  They absorb everything and can just take a real beating.  The best part is they wash and sun so easily; we’ve been using them for two months now and they look just a new as they did on the day they arrived.  

So, the flats…I was really intimidated by the flats.  I watched numerous YouTube videos on how to fold them and practiced and practiced before I actually attempted to put one on Trixie.  I really love the origami fold.  It has worked the best for us and I seem to get the best fit on my petite girl.  The flats are generously sized and we have lots of room to grow.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much a flat can hold.  We have yet to have a diaper change when the flat is even close to be completely saturated, including nap times.  We have had no leaks and no poop explosions. Everything has been nicely contained.  

As someone who has all her diapers stuffed, folded and ready for use, I especially loved that I can just fold the flats in my preferred fold and then just stack them up and they are ready to go!

Flats start at $8.95 for a package of 6 cotton birds eye and the Workhorse Fitteds start at $6.95 for newborns and are available at Green Mountain Diapers. Green Mountain Diapers is a wonderful cloth diaper retailer who has a great selection and good, simple cloth diaper information including lots of pictures!

I’m convinced that flats are awesome and you just cannot beat the quality of Green Mountain Diapers.  Have you used their workhorse fitteds or flats? Do you love them as much as I do? 

Jennifer Reinhardt

Jenn is a long-time cloth diaper educator and a passionate small business advocate. She has worked in the reusable diaper industry for over a decade, helping millions of families via her websites All About Cloth Diapers, Thinking About Cloth Diapers and Cloth Diaper Geek as well as hundreds of small businesses during that time. Her goal always to provide simple, reliable information.