After my recent visit with another cloth diapering mom, I thought I’d post a little “report” of how our various types of diapers have held up after almost 4 years of constant use. I hot wash, cool rinse all my diapers with Allens Naturally detergent and line dry my pockets and covers 95% of the time. I always machine dry my inserts (microfiber, hemp, and cotton), and they have all held up fine.
Pockets:
Our Fuzzi Bunz pockets were the original model, before the “Perfect Size” modifications. I’ve had to replace all of the elastic (after about 18 months of use), but the PUL is great and all the snaps are still working after 3+ years of use. The fleece has thinned out a bit, but there are no holes yet. My replacement elastic seems to be holding up better than the original, so I won’t be replacing again before the next baby.
Our Bum Genius one-size pockets have been a disappointment overall for the price. At the time we bought them, they were really the main one-size pocket diapers out there, but there are better ones now for the same or less. I bought mine (2.0s and 3.0s) from the Cotton Babies store try-it-once-return program, so they were all essentially brand new. I’ve had to replace all of the elastic (after 12-18 months of use), and I need to replace all the velcro because it’s just not sticking well. You can send away for a kit for $1 to replace the velcro tabs and side elastic, but the big piece of elastic in the front is so worn that I had to go out and buy some separate velcro to fix that. The PUL has held up, but I will never buy velcro pocket diapers again! They’re just not going to hold up through multiple kids.
Our Haute Pockets one-size dipes are still going strong! I’ve used them for about three years, but I have not had to replace any of the elastic or the snaps. The fleece looks pretty good. Kristen got some of these where the PUL wore out within two years, though, so I think they’re uneven quality overall. I loved these because they were the first major one-size pocket diapers with snaps, but there are tons out there now. They are smaller in the rise than our others, so Tommy did grow out of them before potty training. I don’t think they’re readily available anymore, though.
I have one Mommy’s Touch one-size pocket that is also in perfect shape after 3+ years of constant use–the elastic seems like new, the PUL and snaps are great, and the fleece even seems less worn than my Fuzzi Bunz. This diaper seems more complicated because of all the snaps, but the sizing has always been great for my kids.
I’ve used the Swaddlebees Econappi for about a year now, and it’s still in great shape. It’s currently my favorite one-size pocket diaper. It has a longer rise than all of my others, and I think the elastic and fleece are high quality.
Covers:
We still love the Bumkins covers that we got when Tommy was born. They’re sized, so we’ve had three smalls, one medium, two larges, and two extra-larges. They are velcro, but since you don’t wash it in the dryer after every use (just when it’s been soiled), and since you don’t use them over the full 2-3 years that you diaper each child, the velcro wears much slower. Ours are still in pretty good shape, sticking fine though starting to look a bit worn. We did have problems with the waterproofing coming off one of them last year, but the manufacturer promptly replaced it for free. It looks like these might be clearancing out from my favorite cd websites, which is a pity. The pocket in front holds the diaper into place better than any of the other diaper covers we tried and returned.
Prefolds:
We got some Gerber cotton prefolds from Babies R Us that are definitely showing wear and tear. They were always thinner (less absorbent) and used only in an emergency, so it’s no great loss.
We have Chinese prefolds in two sizes–the standard infant size said they worked up to 15 lbs, but we made them last up through our medium sized covers (more like 20 lbs). The premium size worked easily up through potty training (about 35 lbs). The infant size have now been used for two years total and are starting to show a little wear along the edges, but they’re still in great shape.
The world of cloth diapering has changed quite a bit since we started four years ago! There are so many more options and big name players, and you can even buy a lot of these diapers at normal stores like Target and BRU! I’d love to hear from other cloth diapering moms about how their stashes are holding up over time. We don’t *need* to go out and buy any new diapers at this point, but we’ve been given a Blueberry one-size, Fuzzi Bunz one-size, and a couple Bum Genius Flips for baby #3. I can’t wait to try them out!