Tips For Preserving Diaper Elastics

As much as we all love the reusability aspect of cloth diapers, they don't live forever. After 200 or 300 washes, most cloth diapers are ready to retire. Of all the components on a modern cloth diaper, elastics might be the first piece to snap, relax or dissolve. To keep this from happening prematurely, so you can get the full life out of your diapers, here's 5 things to keep in mind.

Limit Soaking
While it's tempting to let your cloth diapers sit in bleach solutions, stripping liquids or to use the soak setting on your washing machine, soaking elastics is not something you want to do regularly. If you need to strip your diapers, briefly soaking for that one time issue should be ok, but soaking regularly between washings, using a wet pail storage method, or regularly letting them sit wet (even sitting very wet after using a diaper sprayer) is something you want to avoid.

Laundry Additives
Along the same lines, adding stain removers, laundry additives or bleach can add wear and tear to all diaper fabrics including the elastics and should be used sparingly or avoided. It's a good idea to be aware of the manufacturer's warranty parameters on your diapers before adding anything besides detergent into your wash and if you're having washing issues, consult with the manufacturer's washing specialist for support.

Excessive Sun
If you're line drying your diapers and covers outside or sunning them to remove stains, take them in as soon as they are done. Too long in the hot direct sunshine can start to breakdown fabrics over time.

Overheating
If you prefer to dry your diapers in the dryer, those elastics might get pretty hot. Try to avoid stretching them or stuffing pocket diapers fresh out of the dryer. Let those elastics cool off before stretching them to best preserve their elasticity.

Line Drying Technique
When hanging diapers with elastics to dry, drape them over your laundry line instead of hanging them by the ends. If you hang them off the line vertically by the corners with clothespins, gravity stretches the elastics downwards during drying (especially with heavy wet AIOs) so it's better to drape them over the line instead if you can.

Can relaxed elastics be repaired?
Sometimes the only thing wrong with a well-loved diaper is loose elastics and if you're handy with a sewing machine, sometimes the elastics can be replaced. Depending on the style of the diaper and the way it's sewn, some elastics can be accessed and changed out. You can find diaper elastic at most fabric stores.