These things are great! Currently using them on baby #2. I've never had a blow out with them or any leaks. But they do SEEP, and if you're not careful, the can soak EVERYTHING on or near baby.SEEPAGE: The inside of the diaper is waterproof awesome. But the nice white edging on the diaper is all cloth. As such, it's very soft on baby's skin, but it is also very absorbent. So if moisture from a wet pre-fold diaper seeps onto the edging, it soaks the edging and then the edging soaks baby's clothes and everything baby has on. And this happens often because of the silly little sizing tag that hangs down in the back of the diaper. The tag will get wet, then the wet seeps onto the edging, then the wet edging seeps onto clothes, blankets, etc. Ugh.
The solution is simple just cut the tags out. Or it would have been easier for Thirsties to make them with printed in tags so you don't have to guess as to the size when you cut the tags out.
Otherwise:
FIT: great! They fit pre-folds lovely. Very adjustable. I've never seen a blow out.
CLEAN UP: Urine is no problem. I find that nearly every poo requires me to change the cover also and wash it, but the poo stays in the cover and does not leak. Since the covers are cheap, I bought 6 of each size I need. (I do about a load of whites a day, so a few are always being cleaned.)
WASHABILITY: GREAT! these things have gone through the washer so many times and still look fine. they haven't stained for me.
COMFORT: no diaper rash and counting. and baby doesn't have wrinkles on her butt like she gets from disposables
HASSLE: for a cloth diaper, minimal. pre-folds (Well, at least the ones I use) don't "wick" away moisture, so I never leave her in them for long, so I change her diapers more often with the cloth. I choose not travel with these or leave them for sitters, because I feel cloth diapering requires buy-in from the people who are doing the diapering. But as I'm with baby most of the time, I use these almost always. Dad doesn't mind them either.
ECONOMY: great! they hold up, last for a long time with adjustability, and were cheap for a very nice product
LOOKS: they do give baby a big butt, but seriously, it's not like baby has a really svelte figure anyhow. they do require me to dress her a size bigger for a good fit, though.
OVERALL: nice! just fix that stupid tag in the back thing and these would be perfect (but again, you can just cut them out)
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**UPDATE**: The 1st "baby" is now toilet training and the 2nd baby is in hand-me-down Thirsties+cloth diapers. We have gone through 4 different sizes of Thirsties diaper covers now for both kids. I liked Thirsties well enough that we never switched to another brand, which says a lot. A few notes:
*WASHABILITY: These still wash up great. The Velcro holds up wash after wash, even though I wash the covers with the cloth diaper inserts on the most intense hot-water setting there is to kill germs. It is best to "tuck" the velcro against the tabs provided, to avoid tangling of the diapers in the dyer. Otherwise, the velcro tabs stick to one another. No fading at all to the color, which is amazing.
* DURABILITY: All that washing and still they're fine. Out of the 30-some covers I have, 1 had velcro tabs that were not well-sewn on and started to tear free of the stitching upon first washing. But for 1 out of 30, I'm going to take it that it was a fluke. A few of the Velcro tabs are starting to get a little soft and bendy, but they still hold tight.
* LEAKS: Still no leaks or blowouts. Put these on snug in the proper size and they hold the inserts in place and poos and pees stay in the diaper. My 2nd baby is the blow-out QUEEN. Seriously, every morning she blows out of any disposable you put on her: Pampers, Huggies, brand X, you name it, she'll get poo all up her back, stain her clothes and get poo in her hair. Nasty. The ONLY diapers she won't blow out of are Thirsties covers. They're a disgusting mess inside after her morning poo, but if it stays in the diaper cover, the clean-up isn't so bad.
* STAINING: I said previously these don't stain. That is not entirely true. The slick inside of the diapers don't stain. The cloth can, especially the white edging around the legs where poop sometimes gets trapped (that's the price you pay for no blowouts). Many of my diapers now have a yellowish or brownish tinge to the edging that no amount of washing will entirely bleach. Oh well. The kiddo wears clothes over them so no one sees.
* SEEPING: Seeping DOES occur. I still find that if the diaper insert soaks, moisture can seep onto the edging and then seep onto clothes. As a newborn to 6 months, this moisture crept up the back tab and onto the back edging. More recently, the seeping happens around the leg openings. It's a function of a) how your baby is lying, sitting, or standing and b) how quickly you change the diapers. But I have found you need to change cloth diapers quickly when they're wet. Thirsties covers don't leak, but if you don't change them in a timely fashion, you will get seepage.
* COMFORT: Cloth diapers give my sensitive skinned babies much less diaper rash than disposables. A lot of it comes from the fact that we notice and change out soiled diapers more quickly with cloth. Thirsties edging is comfy and does not pinch too badly.
I do notice, however, that my 2nd child gets some redness around her legs from the edging rubbing on her skin. This is probably because she's built like the Michelin man. She's a very fat baby. It doesn't seem to hurt her, and it isn't forming a rash, but it does concern me such that I change her frequently to make sure it's just the diaper edging pressing against her skin and not a dampness-related rashing. I think I'll need to get her a bigger size here, soon. She's growing like crazy.
*SIZING/Vs. SNAP COVERS: All kids are shaped differently, so I can't speak to all body types. My kids fit Thirsties really well, however, much better than the few Bummis I borrowed from sis-in-law. I also have a few of the Thirsties covers (duo?) that require snapping, but I didn't like them. The plastic buttons ended up pressing against my kiddos chubby thighs and leaving marks. Regular Thirsties are all cloth, so very gentle. Also my kids are kind of tank-children (that is, big, fat babies), so these fit them well. My only problem is that baby #2 is SO big she's nearly too big for the Large size (at only 4mo.!) I truly wish these came in toddler sizes like an XL.
*TODDLER/POTTY TRAINING USE: These things can be extended into the toddler years by being put over cloth training pants or cloth panties at naptime and bedtime for an extra layer of protection when kids are still not staying dry all night. I learned this trick from the sis-in-law, and it's a nice way to get more use out of these and keep the bed dry, but still let your potty-training kid enjoy 'big kid underwear.'
* GREAT PRICE, GREAT INVESTMENT: I always found I needed a few more Thirsties covers than I thought I would, and at $10ish a pop, they're a great deal. I have invested in some $800 worth of cloth diapering supplies that has seen me through 2 kids now. That was about 3 dozen pre-fold inserts in four different sizes and about 10 covers for each size. I easily saved that much on disposables in half a year, much less 2 kids worth of supplies. Plus, if we decide to have more kids, we save even MORE. And it's better on the environment.
Thirsties hold up to the use and abuse, so they really are worth the investment.
* A note on what goes inside the Thirsties: I never found diaper inserts that I liked on Amazon. I found pre-fold diapers of old school kind on a site called greenmountaindiapers.com. I mention it because I kept going back there. It's a very wacky-looking site (sorry, the design is just bizarre), but their pre-fold diapers are fantastic. You fold them into thirds, slip them into the Thirsties cover, and just pull them back out when soiled. Follow the care instructions that come with the pre-folds, for sure, but those diapers made excellent inserts for these covers.
Happy Cloth Diapering!
1. They fit his body better because the waist can accommodate the typical baby budda belly more comfortably.
2. The cut of the legs fits his legs better, whereas the Bummis always gaps.
3. The fabric of the Thirsties is more flexible. By comparison, the Bummis feels cheap and stiff.
4. The gusset at the leg of the Thirsties prevents leaks and also better distributes the tightness of the elastic better so it doesn't cut into my baby's skin.
When using them with the prefolds, you have to make certain that the wrap completely encloses the prefold diaper around the leg. If it doesn't, you can get leaks. But if you fit them correctly and make sure the cotton prefold is entirely tucked inside, they are perfect!
Buy Thirsties Diaper Cover Now
I was impressed with this cover. I bought several different brands before my daughter was born and this was one of my favorites. My daughter was tall and slender and it fit around her legs better than others. For a chubbier baby, it might not have been such a good match.Read Best Reviews of Thirsties Diaper Cover Here
I'm a cloth diapering newbie, and I did a LOT of research before my son was born. I knew I wanted to go the cheaper route by using prefolds and covers, so I looked at reviews of all the diaper covers before deciding to try this one. I LOVE IT! The gussets on the sides contain everything, which is more than I can say for Huggies and Pampers disposables. We've had several blow-outs and urine leakage from the disposables we've used, but nary a problem with this diaper cover. I disagree with another reviewer who said that the cloth edging wicks moisture to the outside. The cloth is polyester, which doesn't wick like cotton does. The moisture sits on top of it, true, but it doesn't wick to the outside unless the prefold is sticking out somewhere.For the price, these covers are VERY well made. I was impressed. Since they don't have cotton fabric on the inside, they don't have to be washed after every usage. I just have two and rotate them every other change. If anything gets on them, I just wipe them down and air dry. By the next diaper change, the other has dried and is ready to go. Very economical!
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...And Thirsties is the best! We have been using Thirsties Diaper Covers for over 18 months now & LOVE them. We have tried several other brands, but always come back to Thirsties for one reason or another. These covers are so pliable...they definitely are the most comfortable for our baby and allow him to move about. Other wraps are stiff and bulky and don't seem very giving on our active baby. The gussets are a musthave and really work well to contain messes. I use Thirsties Covers in combination with their fitted diapers and we very rarely spring a leak. LOVE all the colors, too!
