Nolan's cloth diapers have been used for almost exactly 1 years and his BG elementals are full of holes on the inside, his swaddlebees snaps are all falling off, his blueberry is getting holes on the outside. I am so pi$$ed that I spend $25+ on all of his diapers and they only lasted 1 year! The only diapers that he has that are holding up are his Charlie Bananas and I am really not a fan of them.
I need to re-build Nolan's stash and I do not want to spend the amount of money that I spent on it the first time. I am thinking of trying Alva or SunBaby diapers because they are ridiculously cheap. Have any of you tried them? How do they compare to other diapers and each other? I have heard that the Alva inserts are better, but I'd like to get some advice from someone who has first hand experience. If anyone could give me some advice or recommend another brand of cheap diaper that works well I'd appreciate it. TIA!
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We have a few Alva diapers, a few Sunbaby diapers I got used and a few Kawaii.
Of the 3 the Kawaii are my favorites. They all seem to be holding up okay but they don't get as much use as my BG's because they are the diapers I prefer and always reach for.
I'm really suprised you are having so many problems with your dipes. All of mine are still in great condition except for one Aplix that the stitching is coming out of and a little pilling on the inside.
Thanks for the advice! I'll look into Kawaii diapers as well, but if I'm remembering right, they are more expensive. We have extrememly hard water (all of his diapers are orange from the rust and minerals) so that may be what is causing them to wear out faster. I just don't want to spend a ton more money on something that he is going to poop and pee in.
Would it be possible for you to invest in a water softener for your house? They aren't terribly expensive and MH installed ours himself.
We have a bunch of Kawaii Pure&Natural diapers that we've been using since she was a month old. They are a bit too small now and so they leak around the legs but I still use them for swimming and when I just want to put her in just a diaper for a little while. That is the only cheaper brand we've tried but I like them.
I have several Alvas and several Kawaii's. I like the Alvas just fine. I do recomend checking out the "Loving Alva" (I think that's what it is called) page on Facebook to get better descriptions of the diapers (ie minky, fleece or suede lining). Granted I have only been using them for about 4 months, but they are fine. The snaps seems good and I have no complaints. I bought some of their bamboo liners (they are like 10 liners for $25) and I like those too.
I started out with about 2/3 my stash as Kawaii's. I have 8 OS Heavy Duty Micro-fleece Inner. ($6.99 each from the Kawaii site). The velcro is starting to curl a little, but it still is very sticky. These seem to be a little bigger, as my guy is on the smallest rise setting on these and on the medium rise on all his other diapers. I also have 2 minky bamboo and 3 Goodnight Heavy Wetters. The bamboo are bulky and not my favoirte, I always use the Heavy Wetters overnight and have not had any problems.
Hope this helps!
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We actually have a water softener and we use a special rust reducing salt and it is still terrible!
My whole stash consists of Sunbaby's & Kawaii. I just got 6 more Sunbaby's in yesterday and I am in love with the prints.
I have used all my diapers for a year at least. Some were bought used and I know they were used for a while before we got them. My diapers are still in excellent condition. I have only ever used another Fuzzibunz as I got it for like $4.00 new from Amazon when they had all their coupons. I grab for my cheaper diapers first always.
So I recommend both Sunbaby & Kawaii. They are awesome diapers and hold up really well. I have a slightly large stash 39 now including the 6 new so they are washed about once a week in rotation for the last year.
Thank you so much for telling me this; I just emailed them and they are going to replace all 10 of my Elementals! Now, I just have to find reciepts.
Thank you for offering! I just sent an email to swaddlebees letting them know, but if they don't offer to fix them I will let you know! June mamas are so wonderful!
Awesome! What inserts did you get with your SunBabys?
Most of my stash is Sunbaby. I love them They have held up great in the last year. I have lost a few snaps from some of them, but 4 or 5 snaps from 24 dipes in a year doesn;t bother me. Especially since my old machines used to eat clothes and that's how I lost some.
I have a couple Kawaii that I like now that Jack is bigger but they were way too wide at first. I have the heavy wetters for overnight and just use the MF inserts that they came with and they are great for over night. Never a leak.
I don't have any Alvas yet but they are next on the list to purchase since some of the other girls have had good experience with them.
I have some more expensive dipes and they aren't any better than the "cheapies" so for the most part I only buy them when it is a pattern I just cannot resist.
That is great!
That's too bad about your water. We have really hard water too but our water softener makes everything better.
I also have some Sunbabys and they work great. I bought mine without inserts so I can't vouch for those. I prefer my BG 4.0s but I couldn't give you a real reason- the BG lining is slightly thicker and overall the diaper feels nicer, but neither brand leaks or seems uncomfortable.
I know several ladies on base here who use Alvas and rave about them as well.
They replaced some of mine too because of PUL leaks. Contact the places you bought them and hopefully they can email you receipts . It worked for me.
I will also vouch for kawaii and sunbabys. Kawaii are a little more absorbent. Be sure and get the size 2 sunbabys.
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Thanks for the advice! I wasn't sure if I should get size 1 or 2, but I'll be sure to get size 2.
I only found the reciept for 4 of the diapers that I bought together. The other 6 I bought all together as well, but I don't remember from where. I think I bought them from cotton babies, but their website was saying that I didn't have an account. I think I'll mail them back with the one reciept for the other 4 and see if they say anything.
Sorry this is late. I actually use prefolds, so I don't never buy the inserts.
I'm torn between the Alvas and the Sunbabys since everyone is saying good things about both!
Bum Genius said it was normal wear are tear for the elementals to get holes because of the organic cotton, I wish I would have known this before I shelled out $25 a diaper! Blueberry had no reasoning for the holes on the outside of the diaper, they said it was rare for that to happen. As far as the snaps on the Swaddlebees, they are popping off when I undo the diaper. The rise snaps are totally fine (no I don't undo them every wash) its just the waist snaps that are popping off. I hang dry his diapers and then throw them in the dryer for 10 minutes to fluff them up. I had this problem with the snaps when I originally bought them and they replaced all the snaps and they blamed it on their machine being set on the wrong setting so it was pressing the snaps too hard. However, when the diapers returned some of the diapers were still pressed too hard but I didn't want to go thru the hassle of returning them again. I should have tho, because they broke again. I emailed them and they are going to replace the snaps again.
Thanks to the advice from all of the wonderful June mamas, I am getting all of Nolan's broken diapers fixed/replaced except for the Blueberry. I am also going to add some Alvas and Sunbabys to his stash to make a bigger rotation so the BG Elementals won't wear out as fast again!
I'm late to this, but have sold off everything but our Kawaiis, even our BGs.
I would say 75% of them are still in brand new condition and the rest are still in great shape and should last for a 2nd LO at this rate. We have some of almost every type. We also have at least 35 and try to rotate so the wear and tear is distributed amongst a lot of them.