Perplexing prefolds

Getting back to the diaper discussion, I finally understand why "prefolds" are called that.

For those of you who, like me, are new to all this, prefolds are a type of cloth diaper (specifically, the kind in the photos). They lay flat - unlike disposable diapers and many cloth ones - but you can't call them "flat diapers," because that's a different type. This baffled me until I got a history lesson.

In my grandma's day, diapering a baby first meant "building" the diaper by stacking several pieces of cloth. You would fold the ones in the center to add extra layers where they were needed most.

The diapers my mom used for my brother and I had already been folded, stacked, and sewn together. Ergo, the term "prefold" is appropriate, even though, to the naked eye, they don't appear to be folded.

Everyone together now, "Ohhhhh!"

Photos by ZelenyOko. (Creative Commons license)