Velcro vs Snaps

When my husband and I first decided to cloth diaper we weren’t at all sure exactly what we wanted and
what would work well for us so we bought a variety of diapers and closures. We originally thought that
the snaps would work the best, but decided to also get some diapers with Velcro because we knew that
they would be easier for grandparents and babysitters.

Fast forward to my son’s arrival and I was very grateful that we had gotten the Velcro diapers. I have
rheumatoid arthritis and after my son was born my joints went into a severe flare (basically it was very
difficult to do anything and my joints hurt all of the time) and I had a very difficult time with the little
snaps on the diapers. For the first six weeks of my son’s life he was almost constantly in Velcro diapers.
The closure was very easy for me to get on and to achieve a good fit, even though I was having difficulty
using my hands. Once I got the mobility and strength back in my fingers, the Velcro diapers went in the
regular rotation with the snap diapers.

When my son was about four months old I noticed that the diapers with the Velcro closure were
wearing faster than the others. I made sure when I did the laundry that the Velcro closures were
securely on their laundry tabs, but the Velcro was still wearing pretty quickly. Since I didn’t need to use
them as much because my joints were feeling better, I decided to pull them out of our regular rotation
and save them for when my son was with his grandparents or a babysitter only.

By the time my son was eight months old, almost all of the diapers with Velcro closures were worn out,
even though they had only been used full time for a few months. While I love the simplicity of Velcro,
I can honestly say that since those original ones wore out, we haven’t bothered with replacing them.
One of the reasons we wanted to cloth diaper was because it was so cost-efficient and since the Velcro
diapers wore out so quickly, they just weren’t as economical.

If I were recommending cloth diapers to somebody I would make sure to tell them that while the Velcro
diapers are easiest, and I would definitely keep some on hand for those not familiar with cloth diapers, I
wouldn’t plan on building my stash out of them because they just don’t wear as well as the snaps.


Contributed by: Katy