Has anyone done or seen a life-time of a nappy?

[ScarletRubies]

One of the curious thoughts you often have in the shower popped into my head tonight was this...

Have you seen (or created yourself) a breakdown/list of the average life spans of cloth nappies? Basically, I am wondering how many wears/washes you should expect to get out of a terry flat, and then all the other varieties of nappy.

I have another query too, but I'll start a second thread!!!

[waawa]

I've not managed to kill a terry flat or prefold yet, but I've seen a lifetime of a flannelette fitted - got several of these back when Erica was first sewing them, before Lori took over They're still working for us, but the elastic has relaxed and the flannelette has worn thin to holes along the wear point.

I'm also just in the process of replacing the elastic in fleece Sandra's Stuffables, again from when Sandra's first opened, but the fleece, taslon and Aplix are still fine on them, so they'll see a bit of life yet.

We've never had a huge quantity of nappies so these have seen the wash maybe 2-3 times a week in their two year lifetime. Great, great value.

Lara

[sarah_jane]

I got some 'good condition' happy hempies from here in the TR....and there are wear holes :O

I am guessing they weren't as new as described.

[Ollie]

I would have to think that hemp BB will last my grandchildren out - they look pretty indestructible to me

[Lucy]

there are so many variables that influence something like this, Lara brought up a couple of them. You would have to do a pretty funky calculation to work it out I think!

Frequency of washing,
Washing method (water temp, detergent/s, softener (!!!), bicarb, vinegar, etc)
Drying method
Fabric type
Cream use
possibly even urine type/strength
quality of manufacture/make
Snappi use


can all impact on
elastic wear
snap wear
fabric wear
Aplix/velcro wear
Fleece wear

Fiona (Fimail) will possibly pop along soon to tell you about her disintegrating nappies - her baby is about 10 months and several of her nappies, from flannelette to hemp have practically dissolved in the nappy bucket. I have a few hemp fitteds for which the elastic is well and truly gone - they are now just shaped nappies, and the elastic in them lasted about 12 months. I can replace the elastic when I get around to it, and they will last a lot longer, but I guess some nappies are a bit like cats (9 lives) and I think it's reassuring that they do degrade (in less than 500 years)!

[Alice]

The elastic in my bought nappies went after about 10 months and they wore thin after about 18 months (still usable). My home-made nappies didn't come close to wearing out with 2 years of use, but I chose a particular brand of elastic, thread and fabric for them based on recomendations by other mums. One packet of terry flats will last at least 3 kids full time... I've seen that!

My estimate is that one set (of whatever sort of nappy) will last one child - anything more is a bonus.

[twinmama]

I wonder if some of the earlier nappies were made out of inferior materials??

Due to Brandon's lack of weight gain we've been in the same size nappies for about 15 months. I have nappies here that are over 15 months old (because I brought them second hand), that have been washed 3 - 4 times a week, and yes they are faded - but I've had no issues with the elastic, or material (most are flannelette) wearing thin.

[twinmama]

Same story with PUL too - I have a small s/h fuzzi bunz, 2 s/h small bummi's covers, etc. All over 15 months old and showing no signs of wear.

[mummygeorgie]

My mum used most of the same terry flats on 4 kids and in fact still has them at her house for backup if the kids are over there! They're thinner but still very functional.

[bubbalove]

I haven't had any nappies wear through to an unusable state - 2 of the first PUL pockets I purchased are starting to lose their fabric part of the PUL along the pocket opening, but the laminate is holding it all together My anppies have seen 2 kids, and will definately be able to see more. Any issues I've had with nappies is usually elastic going, not fabric. And I'll agree with above posts, terry flats seem to be pretty indestructable

[waawa]

I have some ancient PUL that is looking and working just fine - large Bummis covers I got secondhand long ago, the PUL in an early Sandra's. I had a FB that delaminated, but maybe that was a bad batch or had been treated wrongly before it came to me. Both of the above nappies have relaxing elastic - this is just not surprising after well over 250 washes, I would never expect nappy leg elastic to last at full spring longer than that. Does anyone here have elastic-containing clothes/underwear that still look great and stretch as normal after 250 washes? And you don't wee all over them...

[mum2henry]

Some of my first homemades are dying - but they have been WELL used. At one point they were getting washed nightly for daycare use the next day. But they are still functional and will last a bit longer before completely dying. They have been in use for about 14 months now and my rotation is bigger, but they tend to be used for daycare alot (cause I don't like sending my flash Erica's and I don't think that they would know what to do with side snaps).

I would most of my purchased ones should see "fred" out, and some maybe even longer. If they see "fred" out I will be happy.

The terry flats my nan used on her first baby are still around. A bit thin, but still nice and thirsty - we have used them as emergencies on a recent visit due to the sudden onset of a gastro bug. And I think that my aunt is 60 this year

[waawa]

I wonder if some of the earlier nappies were made out of inferior materials??

Due to Brandon's lack of weight gain we've been in the same size nappies for about 15 months. I have nappies here that are over 15 months old (because I brought them second hand), that have been washed 3 - 4 times a week, and yes they are faded - but I've had no issues with the elastic, or material (most are flannelette) wearing thin.

Mine looked and worked almost like new at 15 months too. Another nine months is a long time - and the wear doesn't show progressively, it seems to turn up almost all at once near end of life.

[~Princess of Pink~]

I have terry flats that I wore as a baby...terry flats are the 'superman' of cloth nappies!!

[Emjay]

I have seen terry flats after full time use on three kids that were pretty thread bare. No wear holes or anything but def very very thin - I'm not sure they would catch much!

By contrast after about a year I have homemade terry fitteds that are in excellent condition - homemade hemp fitteds that the flannel outer on is pretty sad but the hemp itself is still in good condition. I find that hemp terry seems to wear better than hemp fleece.

I do have one nappy that has started to degrade but i have no idea why. It has holes in two places and is seriously threadbare around those places. It's been used maybe 6 times? I wash either everyday or every second day and have a LARGE rotation and none of my others are even close to this. It's not worn in the places you would suspect either - ie at the front where his wee might have eaten away or something. It's on one wing. Weird weird weird. Mind you, i love this nappy to bits and i will patch it and hope for the best!

Here is a pic of it....

[Esther]

I have some sherpa Erica hemp blends that I only bought 8-9 months ago and they have holes in the fabric. My boy is a comando crawler so I think all the rubbing wears them out. The holes are mainly in the front of the nappy. I want to buy more Erica hemp blends because I love them so much. They have been worn a great deal.

I do still have some terry Totsbots that I had with dd and while they are certainly looking worn they still work except the velcro is lifting alittle.



Esther

[Alice]

My experience is the same as Lara's (waawa). Fitted nappies seem to choose one wash to suddenly wear thin/lose elastic/change colour. It happens all at one in this house! I inherited a pile of terries from another family that were still pretty thisty - and yet I bought a packet of terries (brand shall remain anonymous on this forum) which developed holes in the first prewash! The quality was very different. DS's hemp terry overnighters seemed to have the same absorbency after 12 months of use as when I first made them.

[finnster]

I have seen the lifespan of a couple of nappies. A couple of my cheap terry flats have wear holes now. (4 yrs on). I have canningvale ones from 22 years ago tho that are still going strong.

I had only 1 PUL pocket for DS at night for several months before I bought 2 more. He wore these 3 nappies every night for about 17-18 or so months and then they all kind of died around the same time. The PUL near the elastic and the elastic at the back went.

The elastic has gone in another 4 of my PUL pockets after 2 kids and one of my terry fitteds elastic will go any day now.

Tis a sad day when they reach the end

I have a much bigger stash now than I did at the start, my nappies when I first started out were worn Lots! Particularly the pockets which I loved because they dried so quickly and they were straight back on.

[tolive75]

on a brighter note, at least all the ones above that have worn, seem to have lasted a long time - i have clothes that only last 12 months and only worn once each 2-3 weeks or so........ (sorry, not a good comparison maybe)
but like fimail,i have hemp degrading in some i have purchased also - thought it was from our water (bore), but now i don't think so - maybe acidic urine due to teething - i'm washing more and it seems to help.

[ScarletRubies]

I've really enjoyed reading all your experiences... even though (of course!) I wanted a more definitive response! LOL.

I have some terry flats that are just decimated... completely threadbare and just waft and weave, not a skerric (sp?) of fluff and pile.

I bought all my flats, zappy nappies and fluffies/minappi's second hand, and I don't know how old or used they were. The Canningvale flats are great, but anythign with elastic is shot and the zappies are very thin too.

The reason for asking was pretty ambiguous, but if anyone has any more thoughts, I'd love to read them.

Oh, I am wondering if I might revamp my fluffies and minappis. I'll post over in the sewing room or one of those spots - please head over if you've done this!

[lotsakids]

I have terry flats that are almost 16 years old, about half a dozen that i used on my first baby..they are my emergency boosters and mop up cloths now and still have enough life left in them that I dont want to chuck them yet...they have done all 8 kids on and off..the first 2 kids full time, the next 4 part time...the last 2 have been mostly fitteds.

I have a couple of towelling fitteds I made similar to tots that have been used in very high rotation, and the towelling is wearing thin after 3 years of constant use....and a few flannellette nappies that I had bought second [third fourth or 5th] hand that have given up the ghost big time..janine