On average, modern cloth nappies would last for at least one child, if not two. That’s pretty good considering the amount of wear each nappy gets during its lifetime.

There are a number of caveats to this claim:

1. Number of nappies in use: the more nappies you have in rotation, the longer the nappies will last as they do not get washed as frequently as a smaller nappy stash, thus do not wear out as quickly.

2. Washing habits: Nappies that are rinsed in cold water to dilute the urine concentration before drypailing tend to last a little longer than nappies that are drypailed without rinsing. (Most babies’ wee do not require any prerinsing until the nappies go into the washing machine)

3. Drying methods: Hanging out in the sun is by far the best drying method in terms of preserving the life of your nappies. Using the dryer not only shortens the life of elastics and some PUL coatings, it can also contribute to the thinning of nappy fabrics.

4. Baby’s individual wee output: Some babies tend to have ‘toxic wee’ that simply eats through the fabric, especially bamboo viscose blends. See #2 above for a tip to make them last longer.

5. Fabric type: Bamboo fabric is soft compared with hemp. Its softness makes it especially prone to wear out quicker than other natural absorbent nappy fabrics.

6. Elastics used: The elastic used in the nappies are swimwear elastic. These are manufactured specially to be used under constant wet conditions. If elastic is constantly overstretched (in use, while washing or hanging) or constantly being dried at high heat levels it can wear out quickly.

7. One-size (OS) vs sized nappies: OS nappies tend to wear out sooner than nappies that are sized, simply because they are worn and washed throughout infancy until toilet-training. Sized nappies however would be washed and used less per size, especially the small size (for bigger babies) or large size (for smaller babies). Medium size nappies tend to work the hardest as they fit most babies under 1 who are still being changed fairly frequently, up to toilet training for the majority of babies.

8. Dryer use: Drying your nappies in a hot dryer may shorten the life of the nappies by gradually thinning the fabrics, or overheating any waterproof PUL or elastics.

Even then, with gentle care of your nappies, they should last you from birth to toilet training for at least one child, if not 2 or more.

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