Folding Cloth Nappies

Theresa and I were chatting on the phone.
She is nearly due to have their first baby. Talking about being in the home/hospital these days and what it was like when she was born - things have changed so much. I was trying to encourage her to stay in for as long as she could, knowing that most mothers go home within the day or next.
We were talking about the things she will need during her stay and how nappies were supplied as long as she knew how to fold them.

These days mothers use disposable nappies or cloth nappies but not what I used as cloth nappies.

There are all sorts of brands and many different textures of the outside of the nappy. Each are like what we used as an over-nappy to keep the dampness away from the outer clothes. Now this is the nappy and it has an added "inner" for more absorption.

Generally speaking no-one uses the cloth nappies like I used.

Theresa was concerned that she didn't know how to fold them so I said with a smile I would do a blog post just for her.


So I found some old nappies, baby safety pins and my doll "Rose" and clicked away.

So this is for you Theresa!

Basically all nappy folds start with the nappy opened right up.

These terry cloth nappies had a slightly fluffy side and so that was lain face down. The terry side was always next to the baby's skin as it allowed a slight breathing space between the dampness and the skin.

1. This first folding design is the typical old fashioned one that most people started with. It was used by all the nurses in the hospitals because of its quick and easy folding.

It is the nappy folded opposite corned to corner to form a large triangle.

This is folded again to form a smaller triangle.

The nappy is positioned with the longest side of the triangle at the baby's waist and the point between the legs.

The first single side is folded over and the point folded up between the legs. Then the oposite side folded over and then the second part on the first side of the nappy folded in.

Holding it all into place the safety pin is pushed through the top three sections (not the part that was first folded) being careful to keep your fingers between the baby's body and the pin so its you who gets stabbed if you push too far!

This seemed to serve its purpose with newborns how ever it wasn't very thick in the areas that it was needed most.

My Plunket nurse showed me another way that was very good for catching all the lovely "no 2's" that breastfeeding baby's produce!





2. Starting with an 'open' nappy you bring the bottom edge up towards the top edge but not all the way in half.

You sort of new how far to bring the folded over time as you went nearly to the edge for small "bottoms" but further away for large ones!

You then fold the side over towards the opposite side but not completely in half. About the same distance away as the first fold. (there will be a single layer of a "square" shape in the corner)

Now bring the thick folded corner up towards the single layer corner. (in a diagonal fold) to form a triangle.

Place the nappy triangle under the baby as per the other triangle shaped nappy above.

Fold the first "thick" point of the triangle up between the legs tightly and then the two sides over. Lastly bring up the single point to pin it all together. Once again holding it all into place pinning through the top three sections (not the part that was first folded) being careful to keep your fingers between the baby's body and the pin so its you who gets stabbed if you push too far!

And then there was the artificial pad nappy fold.  This was good for night time and crawling babies.

3. Starting with the flat nappy it is folded in half.

With the folded edge closest to you, pick up the top layer of one corner and bring it right over to reach the opposite corner forming a triangle on the top layer.You will see that the remaining part of the bottom layer is still the rectangle shape.

Turn the whole nappy over being careful to keep the folded part in place.

The remaining rectangle part will now be on top. (This will form the "pad")

Fold over the side of the "pad" to about a third from the center and then fold it again so it sits as a pad in the middle of the nappy.

Place the nappy as with the others with the long straight edge at the waist and the base of the triangle/pad between the legs.

Bring the bottom part up between the legs and then the two sides over and pin into place.

If this is used on a larger baby it maybe necessary to use an additional pad which was just another nappy folded in half, in half again and then a third time to make a rectangle about the same size as the artificial pad.

All these nappy folds were used by me for my babies and I loved to have them in a pair of fluffies over the top. It was a breathable over nappy or pilcher.