When I say easy to wash cloth diaper, I don’t mean that all the other cloth diapers are hard to wash. What I’m talking about is when you need true simplicity. Maybe when you are washing at a laundromat and don’t want to spend extra $$ on more cycles or maybe you are hand washing in a sink or bucket. What cloth diaper could I be talking about?
FLATS!
They aren’t just for our grandparents and people beating their laundry on rocks (not really sure anyone still does this ;) ). They are great for any family that just wants to bare bones simplify their wash routine. Any washing machine, no matter how simple or fancy, will be able to easily clean a flat cloth diaper.
Why is this you ask?
Flat cloth diapers or flats as they are called, are large squares (although some aren’t perfect squares) of single-layer material. Until a few years ago, flats where typically made from Birdseye weave cotton. Now you can find them in a larger assortment of fibers.
They wash easy because of that single layer. It allows water and detergent to easily and quickly reach the entire diaper. The single layer also means that they DRY fast as well.
Flats are made of natural fibers (i.e. Cotton and Hemp) so they can take a beatin’ and keep on tickin’. You can use very hot water or bleach (even though I prefer not to) when needed and not worry about any damage. There are also bamboo blends of flats but depending on who you ask, bamboo isn’t really a natural fiber as it needs to be heavily processed in order to be used.
Don’t think just because they are a single layer that they aren’t absorbent. You can fold them to fit any baby and you can also adjust where the bulk of the absorbency. And these things are TRIM!
Finally, flats are just plain affordable. You have a choice of going with a very budget minded version like Flour Sack Towels or something more absorbent and luxurious like Geffen Baby Hemp Jersey Flats (still only 7.99!)
I received a Geffen Baby Hemp Jersey Flat to review. All opinions expressed are honest and true.
The Geffen Baby Flats are SOFT (but all of their stuff is!). Geffen Baby has the highest content of hemp on the market, 60% Hemp 40% Organic Cotton, so it’s also always absorbent. You don’t need to use pins on flats, and on Geffen Baby it is recommend that you don’t. Even though I usually prefer to use Snappies I actually found that Boingos worked better at keeping this closed.
Geffen Baby Flats are 26.5″ x 26.5″. If you find you’d like a slightly larger flat for more absorbency or for bigger babies/ toddlers, try the Geffen Baby Hemp Fleece Fladdle. They measure in at 30″ x 30″.
You can use any kind of cover with flats. PUL/TPU, wool or fleece will work fine. Although I really like covers with double leg gussets such as Thirsties or Sweet Pea as they are easy to get a good fit and also great at keeping messes in!
Have you followed All About Cloth Diapers on Pinterest?
No? You should because we have some awesome boards including this one on how to fold flat cloth diapers! :)
Have you ever used flats? Do you have a favorite brand of fold?
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