The pros and cons of choosing velcro or snap close cloth nappies.
You might immediately think that velcro is the easiest solution - and when it comes to closing the nappy your probably right, but there are other things to consider to. So let’s have a look at the pros and cons of each to help decide what will suit you best.
Snap Popper Fastening
Fastening with snaps gives an incremental choice for closing the nappy around the babies waist, usually in spaces of 0.5cms. The optimal closing position is to leave sufficient room to fit two stacked fingers between the nappy and the babies belly.
You can choose which snap gets closest to this fit - that may mean choosing asymmetrical snaps, so one from centre on one side and two from the centre on the other side.
Just because a baby is young, does not mean that you need to choose the smallest snap settings - I have often used the very widest snap close options on a 6 month old baby. Babies often slim down once they start crawling so you might notice that you are using the largest setting possible and will then reduce to a smaller setting as they hit a growth spurt.
Snap popper fastening nappies can have 2, 3 or even 4 snap poppers to close on each side. The most common closing option is two on the top and one, a hip stability popper, on the bottom. But you can also find them with two on the bottom and one on the top.
Closing snap poppers on a toddler you may find you will leave the outermost snap off the nappy completely in order to get a fit that allows two stacked fingers.
Ease of Use:
Snaps may seems complicated in appearance as there is a lot of choice, especially with first use. But once you determine the correct snap setting its unlikely you will need to make any adjustment to it until you baby has a growth spurt.
Snaps can be complicated for first time users, or those who are not regular carers for your baby - but can easily be explained if you leave some simple guidance such as a picture highlighting the correct snaps.
You will be amazed how quickly you become a snap close expert - once your baby is rolling over you’ll find yourself snap closing nappies backwards and eventually on the move while your little one is running away!
Wash & Wear:
Snaps wash and wear like new - they very rarely show any signs of age or deterioration and are largely indestructible. In the thousands of preloved nappies I have encountered while stocking our preloved collection, I have only found 1-2 with broken or missing snaps.
Cons:
They can be fiddly, slower to close than Velcro and sometimes off putting for new users of cloth diapers.
Velcro / Aplix
Fastening cloth nappies with velcro gives you the perfect fit everytime with precision, you are not confined to pre-positioned snaps and can choose the exact placement of the aplix tabs. Its important to still adhere to the "two stacked finger" guidance.
Ease of Use:
Very easy to use and the most similar to closing a disposable nappy, so very easy for non cloth nappy users to do. There is one small drawback to this, because velcro is so similar to disposable diapers people tend to close a Velcro cloth nappy the same as a disposable- which is much tighter.
Wash & Wear:
Velcro will deteriorate with wash and wear over time. The sticky part can become clogged with fabric and fluff which prevents them sticking as effectively. Long term, the velcro surface can become smooth and will no longer stick. However velcro tabs are relatively easy to replace so even nappies with worn out velcro can have a new lease of life.
Cons:
Noisey. You might not think Velcro is that noisey to open until you are trying to do a sleepy nappy change and realise the opening Velcro tabs is enough to wake a sleeping baby.
Toddlers can usually figure out how to undo velcro and take much delight in whipping off their nappy for the thrilling chase from mummy or daddy that follows! Snaps are more difficult for them to figure out opening but not impossible - particularly single row hip snaps.
Find a selection of Velcro close nappies here
https://www.thenappymarket.ie/collections/velcro
