Do thirsties wear out?

[Down2Earth]

Has anyone else found that their Thirsties covers have a definite life span? My DD has been wearing the same five medium covers for maybe a year. And now I've noticed that the elastic on the gusset is sort of stretched out on a few of the covers. Is there a way to fix that? Or have my covers seen their last wet diaper?

I sort of don't want to buy any more covers. I feel like we are so close to the end of diapers and I don't want to invest any more money into this. So, I guess I can switch over to disposables full time or buy more covers. What do you think? Anyone know of some good deals? TIA!

[Pat899]

What? sposies? It just doesn't make monetary sense.

You will get your monies' worth if you buy a few more covers. Maybe your LO will need them for bed wetting. You can resell the less used ones. You will get no return on the trash diapers and for the same price in the larger sizes you will only get about 3 weeks worth of diapers.

[CherryBombMama]

my ds has been wearing the same medium size covers for 6 months. they have stretched out a bit, but so has my ds so it works for us. i havent found the quality to be any less

[octobermom]

Get the covers...

Deanna

[Down2Earth]

We use a diaper service, so monetarily cloth and disposables end up about equal. And so far I'm not going to be able to resell any of my covers since they are so worn out. And anyway, that's not really the point.

Has anyone else had experience with their covers simply wearing out? Did I wash them wrong? I use a gentle, cold cycle. Does it make sense that after a year of use the elastic on the legs just doesn't stretch any more?

DH is leaning more towards buying maybe two or three covers from a local shop. I'm still undecided. I really like not having to carry a heavy bag of cloth diapers when we are out and about. And it's nice not having to scrape poop into the toilet. But DD does get more rashes in the disposables and she doesn't ask to use the potty as much. I guess, I'm just thinking out loud here.

[Michigan Mama]

I think any diaper/cover that is used and washed often has a limited lifespan. All my Thirsties are still going strong, but I have lots of styles of diapers and I rotate them all.

I just think anything that gets used as heavily as we use cloth diapers is going to wear out sooner or later. Sounds like your washing routine is ok. I've heard a couple times people say that bac out or vinegar can cause problems with elastic, but plenty of people use them and don't have problems, so it's hard to say. I think it would be hard to replace the elastic on those. Not going to say it can't be done, but I wouldn't want to!

I think it's worth it to get more covers - and it still would be cheaper than sposies, but you gotta go with your gut and what works for your family!

[inky leeuhhh]

i think that sounds about right for the number of covers you have and the frequency of their use. are they un-usable now, or do they still work even with the elastic stretched out? i know we have a couple covers with loose elastic that are still functional. wanted to add too that you could just switch to a cheaper style of cover, like proraps. you could get five of those for like 40ish $. they aren't cute but they function just fine- or you could look into getting some previously loved diapers.

[beebalmmama]

I'm not sure about Thirsties, since I'm new to using them with ds2. But my BSWW mediums with ds 1 are pretty worn out. I had to resew the edges on a few, refasten laundry tabs, etc. The mediums for us at least are what he was in the longest and so they definitely got the most wear out of them. But I wasn't especially careful with laundering them and usually washed them with my dipes.
This time around I'm washing my covers separately, unless they have a huge poop blowout.

[Pinoikoi]

Originally Posted by Down2Earth

And it's nice not having to scrape poop into the toilet.

Even with sposies, poo goes in the toilet.

[Pat899]

Originally Posted by Pinoikoi

Even with sposies, poo goes in the toilet.

Keeps the grounwater clean.

[inky leeuhhh]

Originally Posted by Pinoikoi

Even with sposies, poo goes in the toilet.

yup. dh was super bummed to hear this one, lol! most peoplpe don't know poo from sposies is spossed to go into the toilet just like cloth. he uses sposies when i'm not home and we're out of cloth.

[Carhootel]

definitely buy the covers. can you get by with 1 or 2? try thirstiesoutlet.com or diaperswappers so you can get them for $4-5 each. I think you could replace all 5 covers for ~ $20