When it comes to cloth diapers, I’ve tried it all. AIO’s, AI2’s, pockets, covers and prefolds, fitteds, hybrids, wool, onesize, sized, you name it, I’ve tried it. The only type of diaper I haven’t tried yet would be flats; and I really had no interest. It just seemed like so much extra work, and my Softbums Omni shells and bamboo pods work so well forus, why change it up? So when the Dirty Diaper Laundry flats challenge came up, I didn’t really give it a thought. I don’t own any flats, so why add the extra work? As I was cleaning my daughter’s room I found a stack of about 10 or so receiving blankets from when she was a newborn that we don’t use anymore, then I thought to myself, “These can be flats. You already have enough SoftBums shells to use as covers.” So I dove right into the challenge.
The first time I put the flat (receiving blanket) into the shell, I just folded it up until it sort of resembled a rectangular shape and stuck it into the shells if it were a pod. My initial reaction was, “Boy this puppy is thick!” So thick in fact that I had to let the leg elastic out quite a bit. Besides from being bulky, it was pretty much the same as using a pod inside. My daughter didn’t seem bothered by the bulk, and although some of her pants were a little tight, we survived the first day without an issue.
Now for night time… I’ll admit I was a little scared. My daughter has only recently started sleeping through the night and I find that to be AMAZING!!!! So anything that might jeopardize that incredibly wonderful phenomenon that most parents look forward too, I avoid at all costs. But, I would feel like I cheated the flats challenge if I didn’t try it at night, so here went nothing. As I’m getting my daughter ready for bed I’m thinking to myself, “She is going to feel the wetness and wake up and never go back to sleep and I’m going to be miserable!” I reluctantly fastened her shell, dressed her in PJ’s, and placed her into bed. That was the last I heard from her that night. She didn’t seem to be bothered by the wetness at all, and in fact the flat was surprisingly absorbent. We had no leaks, no strong smells in the morning, and most importantly, no fussing baby! Oh and yes, my baby brushes her own teeth, pretty cool huh??
All in all I’d say the challenge was a success. I probably won't use flats again anytime soon. But it’s good to know that they are there in a pinch. I think flats are a great option for someone just starting out, who can’t afford to buy all the pods at once, or maybe can’t afford to buy pods at all. SoftBums shells are a great choice to use as a cover. It was very helpful to have the slide to size option, as it was so easy to size the shell to fit my baby with a bulky flat. You could potentially even stuff the flat into an Omni shell to try to get more of a stay dry feeling. I am very proud to say that I have tried EVERY type of cloth diaper you can imagine, and we are back to using our favorite bamboo pods inside our beloved SoftBums shells!
