Pinning Practice

If you like prefolds, you know you have only three real choices to keep them on your baby; after all, duct tape isn’t a real option despite what our husbands might say. :) Anyway, you can trifold it and lay it in a cover, you can use a snappi, or you can pin it. The last is what our parents did and honestly, it looks so simple when you see a baby pinned in their prefold. But when I first tried it, it was anything but easy.

Before we start, here are some tips to improve the pinning experience. Store your unused pins in a bar of soap to make them glide through the fabric a little easier. You can also CAREFULLY slide the pin through your hair. The oils in your hair will make it go through the fabric easier as well. This is what I do most of the time, honestly. But please remember to be careful!! Don’t poke or scratch yourself with the pin. Another tip would be to practice on a doll first. The doll isn’t squirmy and desperate to get away like your baby may be, making it the perfect practice dummy. Once you’ve practiced a lot, you can try it out on the baby. Finally, be sure to keep your fingers between the baby and the pins at all times. You don’t want to pin the baby even a little.

On to the pinning. First things first, you have to choose your pins. They come in plastic or metal heads. Some are curved and some are straight. Some lock better than others. I settled for the simple Gerber pins but have been shopping around for others as I’ve gotten more comfortable with pinning. Below, I’ll picture walk you through the pinning process. Hopefully this will help you get a nice tight fit from your prefold.

The next thing you need to do is choose your fold. I chose to do a bikini twist here.

Pull the corners together and pin the first side. Do the same on the other side, getting the fit as tight as you can.

If necessary, go back to the first side and re-pin to get the fit even tighter.

Even after a lot of practice, I’m not the world’s best pinner but I’m trying! You give it a try too. Have anymore tips for us? Post them in the comments section!