I hate velcro. Okay, I said it. One of the most common frustrations I hear about cloth diapering is how quickly the velcro deteriorates on pocket diapers. It’s no longer sticky, it curls, and it’s a recipe for diaper blowout disaster. Good news is, there are a few ways to fix worn out aplix- um, cloth diaper speak for velcro, on your baby’s cloth diapers.
Best Solution
The best solution for dealing with worn-out aplix, also sometimes called ‘hook and loop’ is to avoid it in the first place. After talking with other cloth diapering moms, it’s a consensus that snap closures are by far superior to aplix. The only time I prefer aplix closures is for diapering newborns in the wee hours of the morning when you’re working on 3 hours of sleep and changing diapers with one eye open. Since newborn diapers aren’t used long before they’re outgrown, they don’t get washed as often and the velcro doesn’t deteriorate much.
Quick Fix
Put panties on. No, I’m not talking about instantly potty training your baby, I’m talking about grabbing a pair of toddler panties or a cute little diaper cover (you know, the ones that often come with baby dresses) and pulling that over the top of the loose diaper. The snugness of the panties over top the diaper keep it closed. I do this fairly often with my BumGenius diapers with dysfunctional aplix.
Repair It
It’s no secret that diaper aplix wears out. The big cloth diaper companies know that velcro is subpar because many including BumGenius now offers refresher kits. If you’re decent with a needle and thread, you should be able to save your favorite cloth diapers for a lot less cost than replacing them. Here’s a helpful tutorial for replacing Bumgenius aplix without a sewing machine.
Outsource It
If you’re sewing machine stupid, like me or you don’t have time to repair your cloth diapers, pay someone else to do the job. You can search the forums on Diaper Swappers and hire a work at home CDing mom, or contact this cloth diaper repair service.
Give it a Makeover
Another great option to give worn out velcro closure diapers new life is to convert the diaper to snap closures. Essentially, you remove the velcro and replace it with snaps. You can do it yourself or hire a diaper repair service to do it for you.
No-Risk Trial
If you’d like to try converting your diapers to snaps at low to no cost, why not grab some free cloth diapers and test-drive your DIY skills on those before you try converting your best cloth diapers? If you’re successful, you could even launch your own home business!
Tell me: Have you tried aplix cloth diapers? What has been your experience and would you recommend them? Please share in the comments below. We love a good CD discussion here!
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We had our original set of cloth dipes converted from aplix to snaps and it was the best thing EVER! It seems like the aplix wears out just in time for them to figure out how to undo their own diaper! 🙂
You’re right, Heather. The timing is just so terrible! Most of my diapers were secondhand to begin with, so the aplix came to me already pretty worn out. Glad to hear that you had a great experience with the conversion. Thanks so much for dropping by.
Great post! We used the diaper cover trick for several months. Ours were given to use second hand and I really didn’t know what they were suppose to be like until I bought a new one and then I couldn’t believe I had been putting up with them! They are with a fellow cloth diaper mom as we speak getting re-done. I haven’t diapered long enough to have a preference applix/snaps so we are doing half and half! haha.
Alida, I had no idea which to buy when I was first purchasing my diapers either. Thankfully I managed to find the best deals mostly on snaps, because they’re definitely my fave now. Thanks so much for stopping by this week, Alida. I hope you have a fantastic experience with your diapers. If you’ve got any questions, I’d be happy to help.
I personally LOVE my aplix diapers. I have a squirmy baby who hates to be changed and it’s so fast to strap that diaper on and go! Not to mention I can never get a good fit with snaps. My son is skinny (as is 1% for his weight) and A heavy wetter and we all know what happens when there’s even the tiniest gap- leaks! The Bumgenius freetime with the narrower fit and aplix! has been my cd savior. I am handy with a needle and thread so it’s no problem to replace worn out aplix. I’m such a cd geek I’m actually excited to replace them when the time comes!
Aw, it’s great to hear that you are such a CD advocate, Dawn. Love it! You’re absolutely right about aplix diapers being much quicker to remove and put on a new clean one than with snaps. I do still have a few in rotation, but I’m a snaps girl at heart. 🙂
I know this is an old post but just gotta say, I’ve been throwing a strip of masking tape over curling Velcro and it does great. It’s pretty red neck but it works! I’ve just kept a roll by the changing table until I can find the time to fix the diapers.
Haha, I love that idea. I have a few diapers that could use a masking tape save right now.