Experienced diapering mama at wit's end w/ 4 in diapers!

[Barefoot Farmer]

Let me start with I have cloth diapered all 5 of my kids, the oldest being 8.  The next part is that the other 4 are all under 2.  Triplet almost 2 yr olds and the newborn is almost 3 months old.  Obviously with triplets I needed to purchase several new and used diapers and covers to "cover" my trips.  We had been doing great until about 5 months ago when I realized I was literally changing the trips entire outfit each time I changed their diapers (or in some cases every time they peed); their covers were falling incredibly.  All my triplet size covers are bummis super whisper wraps and thirsties.  I have contacted Bummis who has informed me that using baking soda and vinegar is evil and will ruin the wraps.  I have since purchased their residue-free detergent and have washed them w/ the detergent about 4 times and rinsed them w/o the detergent anywhere between 12-15 times in extremely hot water. .  . . and it is failing!!  The thirsty wraps are ok, but not great as they seem to get really thin very quickly.  So, now the questions: can I save these bummis' wraps?  If not, what wrap should I buy?  Please help a desperate (very busy) mama whose guilt for disposable diapers over the last 2 months is huge.  Thank you in advance.

[chel]

Not uses exactly sure what type of cover you are using. Assuming they are not aio, I would never wash PUL covers in hot.

I've found motherease covers amazing, though I just wash them with my regular laundry. I usually have 3-4 in a size, so while I wash often, no special detergent. Though I do air dry. Have been in the dryer a few times when I forgot to take them out of the load.

If your oldest are small enough and the baby is big enough, they might be able to wear the same size. My 22m recently moved into the m/l size and was at the biggest size for m/l.

Hopefully you toddlers will train soon!

[twinpossible]

Wow, I thought I had a lot of laundry with cloth diapered 6 month twins! This seems to be a common problem lately on the forums, I have been chatting with another momma rockin the water proof diapers. People have suggested some interesting fixes, I put them below I hope this helps!

1) if your diaper covers do not have PUL then give them a good 30 minute boil. If you see suds rise to the top then throw them in a normal wash and that's it, you have fixed your problem! Sometimes you have to do this twice.

2) strip the diapers with Dawn dish soap. I have never done this but I thought I would mention it because SO many mommas suggest it as a solution. You can do this if your diapers have PUL.

3) figure out what kind of water you have, if you have very hard or very soft water this could be adding to the problem. We just switched to a diaper detergent that is formulated for hard water and most of our issues went away. 

4) after you figure out a good way to strip the diapers from the residue make sure you find a detergent that works for your type of water and don't use too much. Often the culprit in this issue is too much soap that gets stuck in the diapers. 

I hope this helps. I wish I knew more about your type of diaper. When I bought diapers for the girls I made sure to get ones that did not have PUL so I could boil them if needed. 

[Barefoot Farmer]

Thank you for the suggestions.  The diaper covers are Bummis Super Whisper Wraps and Thirsty.  I will trying boiling them and/or Dawn dish detergent.  And I just ordered 4 Mother-ease covers.   Thank you.

[wishin'&hopin']

The Bummis and Thirsties covers shouldn't be boiled--stick to dawn.  Good luck!

[clovergirl]

If the waterproofing properties of the PUL (polyurethane laminate) has deteriorated or been damaged you might be out of luck.  I have heard of people using waterproofing spray to refresh their diaper covers but honestly, that kind of freaks me out (the chemicals are probably not good for you to ingest or to be near the baby's skin, IMO).  You may be better off buying some new covers and just making sure to wash them without the baking soda/vinegar in the future.

[Mom2SammyJoe]

We have used Dappi nylon covers in the past over snappied prefolds. This would be an inexpensive way to get everyone covered. They are pull-on, so you can't lay a diaper in them. Cottonbabies.com has them for $5 for a 2-pack with free shipping.

I have had PUL covers just give out on me. They only last for so long.

[Siennaflower]

If your covers are leaking I don't think stripping them will help :(  Your best bet is replacing them and continue avoiding vinegar and baking soda, as well as super hot washes.  Also, you didn't mention if you were line or machine drying, I know it's recommended to dry PUL on hot once in a while but not every wash.

[cristeen]

If your PUL covers are failing, chances are they're so much garbage.  It's not likely you're going to be able to save them.

Honestly, with that many in dipes, with various sizes, I'd probably go with the Mommy's Touch OS cover.  It's a quick snap to get them to fit the smaller one, and unsnap to fit the bigger ones.  I use vinegar in every load (we have hard water), and I haven't had a problem with them in the 15 mos I've had them.  Bonus (to my mind) is that the PUL is not exposed, so it actually lasts longer because it doesn't have everything abrading it. 

I wouldn't want to futz with multiple sizes of covers, myself.