“If my Shell is on the newborn setting, can I use Soaker Pads?”
This is a question that we see frequently from parents who are new to cloth diapers—and it’s a great one!
An unprepped Soaker Pad looks gigantic; it really does. Once your Soaker Pads, which are made from absorbent natural fibers, are in the prepping process, you’ll watch them shriiiiiiink until, after about 10 washes, they reach their permanent size. This is true for all natural fiber cloth diapers.
After they’re prepped, it’s easy to see how they will fit your baby when your Shell’s “rise snaps,” or the grid of snaps across the front panel used to adjust the diaper to fit your baby at her current size, are set on the medium or largest (fully let-out) settings.
But do they fit on the newborn/small setting?
They do! I happen to have a tiny, but not newborn, model who can show you:
Mathilda is one year old, 17 lbs., and only about 25” tall. She’s compact, but not skinny, filled-out, but has very narrow hips. She's a shrimp!
“So, how is she wearing that?” you ask. “Are you sure that’s a Soaker Pad under there? When I snap a Soaker Pad into a Shell on that setting, it sticks out!”
You’re right: it does. But a simple tuck does the trick. All you do is swipe your finger to move the back elastic outward and allow the Soaker Pad to be fully surrounded by it. It doesn’t even take me a whole second to accomplish:
