Cloth diaper question

Peen

This is a long shot but I figured I'd ask. We've got a bunch of bum genius cloth diapers that we've used with our first child and now we're expecting another. The elastic on the legs is pretty stretched out but it's still springy and crinkly. We've heard that you need to replace the elastic in between kids but has anyone had experience with these? Is that a necessity or can we get by with them as is?

Raern

Can't say I have experience, but if they're working as you want, and don't feel like they're about to stop working, then why arbitrarily change them? 'Between kids' isn't exactly a set period of time for an expiry date either.

I'm not aware of any elastic-related catastrophe that might befall your child if they're not changed, so perhaps use them until they don't work then repair or replace?

Pure Din

Have you tried washing them again, recently? I don't know about cloth diapers in particular but elastic stuff in general the real test is whether it can still survive the washing machine.

Peen

If the leg hole elastic is stretched then the contents of the diaper may not stay in the diaper, which is somewhat obviously a problem. We can't tell how stretched they are really because they still work for our 26 lb toddler, but putting them on an entirely smaller 8 lb. newborn might reveal that they're too stretched to work right and it'd be good to fix them before that happens, if that's necessary.

ceres

I actually do have a friend who uses cloth diapers, and she ran into this. Despite the fact that they still seemed okay to her, they really didn't work. It's not that hard to replace that kind of elastic, you just have to go to a craft or fabric store, buy some elastic (it's not expensive), and do it up. Her main problem, and the reason she hadn't gotten around to it last time I talked to her, is that I have never met a woman with less time in my life. She ended up having to use disposables for a while and she hated the trash it made, but she did use the responsibly produced, as-envionmentally-friendly-as-possible ones.

While it seems worth it to me to freshen the elastic ahead of time, a few leaks probably won't kill you. It seems unlikely that there's any harm in seeing if you can squeak by, it's just that if they DO leak you'll have to do it later or buy new ones anyway.

mts

Are they the snaps or velcro? I thought the elastic didn't do much and you just adjusted something to tighten around the legs. But. It's been a while since I used our cloth ones

djmitchella

How big is the seams around the old elastic? Even if the old elastic is worn out, you can usually repair/tighten elasticated things like this by:

1. cut a small hole at both ends of the seam
2. hook new elastic onto a small safety-pin
3. push the safety pin into the hole, all the way through the seam, and out the other end
4. sew one end of the elastic in place
5. pull the other end out of the other end of the seam until it's tight, use a safety-pin to hold it tight, then sew the other end in place

Voila, new tighter elastic. The old stuff is still there, but it's not going to hurt. You can get fancy and actually open the seam all the way up and entirely replace it, but that's probably not worth the trouble.

(this trick also works as a quick and easy way to make the waist on trousers tighter, if your kid is skinny like ours; especially with pyjamas where there's no zipper opening to worry about, when you can just tie the ends of the elastic in a knot).

Peen

They're snaps. Replacing the elastic isn't exactly a problem, we can manage it, but it's a lot of work for my increasingly pregnant wife (because she's the one who knows how to sew and yes I could learn myself but let's stick to the question as asked hmmm) and we'd like to know if it's actually necessary.

mts

i want to say you could adjust the rise or whatever you want to call teh leg holes by changing the snap on the crotch area, but maybe that is only for the crotch bagginess, though according to the bumgenious website the elastic is easy to access and replace

Peen

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the thoughts.