The Prefold

Prefolds, which are made of 100% cotton and are the thickest in the middle where you need the most absorbancy, are the backbone of the simple cloth diapering system that I use.  Prefolds are the absorbent part of the diaper/cover system.  Pictured is a stack of my favorite kind of prefold, Diaper Rite prefolds.  You can check these great prefolds out here: Cloth diapers & diaper covers at Diaper Junction

What makes these so great is that they are super soft, easy to use and wash, last a very long time, and have other uses when your baby is potty-trained. (They make perfect cleaning cloths.) Did I mention they are very inexpensive too?

 

These wonderful, high-quality, super soft prefolds come in 4 sizes (newborn, small, medium, and large), pictured below.

At around one month of age, my babies fit into the size small (purple-edged).  At around 4 months they fit into the size medium and could wear those until potty-training.  So it is possible to pretty much get by on just 2 sizes.  The newborn is great in the beginning, but you could use size small with a newborn too.  If you have a large toddler the size large is nice, but you may not need it.  These prefolds come in bleached and unbleached.  I have both and prefer the unbleached.  It seems a little softer and wider and a hair stretchier, so it is able to fit my babies longer.  I can still snappi the size medium unbleached prefold on my 30-pound 3-year-old. 
There are many, many ways to put prefolds on your baby, but my favorite way to put on a prefold contains the most and keeps messes off of the diaper cover; it is the jelly-roll method.