Cloth diaper inserts: what are they & which are best?

Without cloth diaper inserts there would be no cloth diapering.

Cloth diaper inserts are what make cloth diapers absorbent, they are made from a variety different materials, and have their own pros, cons and absorbencies.

knowing what makes one type of cloth diaper insert different from another is important when starting to build your cloth diaper stash.

If you are interested in learning more about cloth diapers check out my article on the history of cloth diapers.

What is a cloth diaper insert?

Cloth diaper inserts are the part of the cloth diaper that absorbs pee, without an insert a cloth diaper is pretty much useless.

A cloth diaper insert can be just about anything, you could buy just regular inserts which are usually 5-8 layers of fabric sewn together in a long rectangle shape.

There are also a lot of different things that can be folded into the shape of an insert and used in cloth diapers.

• Flats
• Receiving blankets
• Flour sack towels
• Prefolds
• T-shirts
• Hand towels
• Microfiber cloths

Flat cloth diapers

A flat cloth diaper is a large square single layer piece of fabric that is pretty much looks exactly the same as a receiving blanket or a flour sack towel.

You turn a flat cloth diaper into a cloth diaper insert by folding it down into a rectangle.

Prefold cloth diapers

Prefolds are made of several layers of fabric sewn together and divided into 3 columns.

Typically the 2 columns on the sides have 4 layers of fabric sewn together while the middle column has 8 layers.

The prefold is turned into an insert by folding it in 3rds.

Miscellaneous items

T-shirts, hand towels and microfiber cloths can be folded pretty much any way you want.

As long as they absorb pee, there is no wrong way to fold them.

How many inserts do you need for cloth diapers?

I would say you would want at least 2 inserts per diaper change through the day and 3-4 for nighttime.

So if you want 24 daytime diaper changes worth of inserts than you would need 48 inserts.

The more absorbent your cloth diaper inserts are, the fewer you will need.

If you are using all microfiber inserts then you are going to need more than if you were using all hemp inserts.

Most absorbent cloth diaper inserts

Insert type	Absorbency	Price
Hemp	Most absorbent	$$$$
Bamboo	2nd most absorbent	$$$
Cotton	3rd most absorbent	$$
Microfiber	Least absorbent	$

Hemp inserts

Cloth diaper inserts made from a hemp fleece are the most absorbent especially if they are made of high quality fabric.

Hemp fabric also takes the longest to “prep”.

“Prepping” your cloth diaper inserts is basically washing your new inserts in long hot washes and drying them on high in the dryer to remove the natural oils from the fabric that can cause leaks.

You have to wash hemp cloth diaper inserts 6-8 times (while drying in between washes) to fully prep the fabric.

Some cloth diaper manufacturers with partially prep cloth diaper inserts before they sell them.

Thirsties for example does a little over half the prepping for you, so when you receive your brand new cloth diaper inserts you only need to wash them 3 times.

The weave of the fabric makes a difference in how absorbent an insert is.

A 5 layer hemp fleece ( sweatshirt material) insert is going to be more absorbent than a 5 layer hemp jersey ( T-shirt material) insert.

Then there is the GSM ( grams per square meter) or to put it more simply, the weight of the fabric.

The higher the GSM the denser and thicker the fabric.

My overnight solution for my 2 toddlers is a 500 GSM hemp fleece flat, but because it is such a heavy fabric it is very bulky.

Bamboo inserts

The next most absorbent inserts are made from bamboo viscose or rayon.

Bamboo is technically a natural fiber and most people recommend you prep bamboo inserts before using them on your baby to remove the natural oils.

But lets be honest here, Bamboo viscose and rayon started out their life looking like a freaking tree ( Bamboo is technically a grass though).

So they took basically a tree and turned it into one of the most soft, fluffy and pliable fabrics on the cloth diapering market.

So while I do love bamboo fabric I’m just not really convinced that it actually has any natural oils left in it.

On top of being super soft and fluffy bamboo is also antimicrobial which means that bamboo inserts tend to not hold smell.

Then there is the question of how environmentally friendly is bamboo fabric?

While the bamboo plant grows very fast and takes very little water the process to turn the plant into a fabric requires some pretty yucky chemicals.

When making rayon from bamboo they only use a batch of chemicals once before dumping it, so a lot more chemicals are used in the process of making rayon.

Bamboo viscose is slightly more environmentally friendly because they do reuse the same batch of chemicals a few times before making a new batch.

Cotton inserts

Cotton is the least absorbent of the natural fibers but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth your time.

I personally have 2 heavy wetting toddlers and I use 100% cotton flannel receiving blankets pretty much every single day.

On top of the fact that receiving blankets are cotton they are also made in a “plain” or ” twill” weave which is probably the least absorbent weave.

Now I do usually have to triple them up in my toddlers diapers but cotton tends to not be overly bulky.

Cotton is also the cheapest of the natural fabrics since it is readily available.

Microfiber inserts

Inserts made from microfiber are very easy to find and very cheap, however they are the least absorbent cloth diaper insert.

Many cloth diapers come with microfiber inserts right from the manufacturer.

While they are probably fine for most small babies, when your baby gets a little older you could start to see some problems.

Microfiber is very very prone to compression leaks, so if your baby pees then sits down all the pee gets squished out of the inserts, out of the diaper and onto baby’s pants.

If you don’t have a good knowledge of wash routines microfiber can be a nightmare.

When you first start cloth diapering one of the first things you have to figure out is your wash routine, you’re going to make mistakes, and microfiber is not very forgiving.

Microfiber holds onto smells and just won’t let go, and if you are handwashing your cloth diapers…. Well may the force be with you cause handwashing microfiber is gonna suck.

Microfiber also cannot go directly against baby’s skin or it will cause irritation and rashes, so microfiber needs to either be stuffed in a pocket diaper or have a micro fleece topper.

In conclusion

You really can’t go wrong starting your cloth diaper stash with any type of insert.

I personally would avoid microfiber but that’s just me, I’ve heard of a lot of people that use almost all microfiber and don’t have any problems.

If you start out with all cotton inserts and your baby keeps peeing through them, try bamboo or hemp.

Or you can start out with a little bit of everything.

There really isn’t a right or wrong way to build a cloth diaper stash.