When I was pregnant with our youngest daughter I went happy crazy looking for all sorts of adorable newborn cloth diapers. Our older daughter was born 7 weeks early, so I wanted to be prepared with diapers small enough to fit her in the event she was early too. I wanted to cloth diaper her from moment one (and I did!). I’ll talk more about that later.
As I went about gathering newborn diapers I found myself with a large stash of preemie sized prefold diapers. It turns out that I do not like prefolds in the newborn stage. Thankfully I had plenty of other tiny diapers that I did like.
So now that I had 3 dozen prefolds sitting here unloved, what was I to do? Well, I set aside one dozen for a possible future baby. The other two dozen, well they have found their way into my heart 🙂 I love them…
…for house cleaning!
They are perfect for wiping down counters, dusting, etc. But most importantly they fit perfectly on Swiffer type cleaning mops. We had an old wand sitting around here from when my husband did a job that required some clean up. It has sat here unused because I wasn’t about to buy refills for it. I decided to try these tiny prefolds in place of the expensive and wasteful refills. The center section of the prefold is thicker and sits right on the bottom of the mop. Not only do they fit perfectly but they work better in my opinion, plus they are washable!
One thing to note about these is that like all cloth diapers, you’ll want to wash these a few times in hot water to get them ready to use. They will have some natural oils in the fibers and you want them to be ready to soak up and tackle your floors. I don’t wash them any special way after that. They work great and I hope you like them too!
I'm trying to be more eco friendly, and I've been looking for a great way to continue to use my swiffer… this is an awesome idea! Do you use them just dry, or do you do it wet also? If you do use it wet – what kind of solution do you use?
I have used them both ways. When I use it wet I just spray the floor as I go with whatever I grab from under the counter. It's usually my Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaner or my homemade vinegar/water combo 🙂
I have used them both ways. When I use it wet I just spray the floor as I go with whatever I grab from under the counter. It's usually my Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaner or my homemade vinegar/water combo 🙂
Thanks so much for this tip Amanda, while I don't have any children in diapers any more (they are almost 27 and 22)I will be looking at second hand stores for these to use on the swiffer my husband thought he had to have and we never use.
i use the gerber prefolds for cleaning since they are useless for everything else. I love that they are cheap, washable, and clean great!
Looking forward to hearing more about you cloth diapering your newborn! We will be there in less than 3 months and I am still trying to figure out exactly what I should do. Most cloth diapering moms I know didnt start until their kids were months old. I'm feeling a bit stressed about the newborn diapering. =)
Looking forward to hearing more about you cloth diapering your newborn! We will be there in less than 3 months and I am still trying to figure out exactly what I should do. Most cloth diapering moms I know didnt start until their kids were months old. I'm feeling a bit stressed about the newborn diapering. =)
LOVE this! We loved our prefolds for only newborn stage, but I have a bunch of gerber ones sitting around from baby showers & using them as swiffer clothes is a great idea! 😀