How to Fold a Cloth Diaper Reverse Newspaper Style Quick & Easy

Ok, so for the longest I've been trying to get to a point where I use cloth diapers for my little toddler, and perhaps that's been your goal, too. Then again, maybe you're onto the cloth diapers right out of the womb. Either way, you and I are both here, since I finally made it to the point of learning how to fold cloth diapers reverse newspaper style well enough to be able to convey how to do it to you. I've found folding a cloth diaper reverse newspaper style to be quick and easy compared to some of the other diaper folds at which I looked. So, follow along with the images and text to learn how to quickly and easily fold a cloth diaper reverse newspaper style.

Any size diaper will do, as far as I know, since this particular diaper fold doesn't have all sorts of tucking and folding about it. Too, you may want to practice this a few times before you try folding the diaper around the baby. Of course, that's not necessary and only a suggestion in the way of practicing the reverse newspaper style fold.

1) Lay the cloth diaper flat with the serged or stitched edges north and south or top and bottom. This almost invariably means long ways up and down, not side to side.

If you're folding the cloth diaper with the baby actually in it, you want to place the baby's bottom in the middle of the diaper from side-to-side, but between the middle of the diaper and the top of the diaper from top-to-bottom. The top edge of the cloth diaper should be underneath the small of the baby's back.

2) From the bottom up, fold about 2/3 to 3/4 of the sides of the diaper inward at an angle so that the bottom edge of the sides of the diaper meet in the middle of the diaper. It's ok if the folds overlap each other at the bottom or anywhere up the fold. (After a few times of folding a cloth diaper reverse newspaper style, or any style for that matter, you'll know how the fold works best when making adjustments for the size of the diaper and the size of the baby.)

After you've done this first fold, it should look as if the diaper now has lapels the rest of the way up to the top of the diaper; or, if you know anything about flowers, it could look as if you're about to wrap a bunch of flowers. However it looks to you, the fold should be in such a way so that the baby's bottom is just above where the folded sides no longer meet in the middle of the diaper.

3) Now fold the bottom edge upward and between the legs of the baby so that it is at or over the baby's waistline. Whether or not the top edge of the clothe diaper is over the baby's waistline, fold the top edge back downward so that the top edge is near the waistline.

You need to fold the diaper outward and back down, not inward, as in tucking it into the baby's waistline. The top edge of the back down fold should be visible to you.

The result of this fold is that the baby's bottom and stride is now covered, and you should be staring at the bottom edge of the diaper that has the bottom of the folded inward sides

4) Take those initial folded sides at the bottom edge of the diaper that are now at your baby's waistline and pull the fold or the sides back apart so that you are wrapping them around the baby's waist. The result should be a flat face to the front of the diaper. This is where the top of the lapels are going to fasten.

You're almost finished your reverse newspaper style diaper fold. What you should have remaining to fold of the diaper are the top of the lapels or wings of what you didn't initially fold of the sides of the diaper on the first fold.

5) Fold in a wrapping manner around the baby's waist the top of the lapels to the flat face of the front of the cloth diaper and fasten with a safety locking diaper pin or a Snappi Fastener. MAKE SURE YOU PUT YOUR FINGER(S) BETWEEN YOU AND THE BABY WHEREVER YOU ARE INSERTING THE DIAPER PIN, SO THAT YOU DON'T STICK THE BABY WHEN FASTENING THE DIAPER.

With a little bit of practice this quick and easy reverse newspaper style fold will become even more of a cinch when folding a baby's cloth diaper. When choosing which fold to use when learning how to fold a cloth diaper, this is one of the easiest and quickest folds of the various diaper folds. Dry britches to you!