Diaper fasteners

What is your favorite method for fastening your cloth diapers?

We have the old tried and true, safety pin for one. I like using pins, they are easily found in stores, as well as the internet, and fairly cheap. They come in lots of colors, and designs. You can get then in all steel, plastic headed, locking heads, and different sizes. They lend themselves well to any kind of folding method, and can be adjusted to suit. There are some downsides with pins though. It can be difficult to push them through some diaper cloth. If not careful, you can be jabbed. If the heads are plastic, they can crack and break. And, if not a good gage of steel, they can bend. They can also, over time, and repeated use, weaken the diaper fabric at the securing spot.

Snappies, are another good fastener. I really like using snappies. They are very good for a nice snug and secure fitting diaper. They can be adjusted easily. They come in colors, but not as many as pins. There are two sizes, but #2 is more suited to adults, size 1 are for small newborns and babies. They can be a little harder to find, and cost a bit more then pins. If you're not careful, you can be stuck by them, like pins, but once you get adept with them, that demises. You also need to take care, not to have them snag, on other items, as well as the diaper fabric. They can pull treads out of a diaper, again if you are not careful. Most important thing with using snappies, you need to make sure they are not overstretched and ready to break. Over time, they need to be replaced. Pins will long out last snappies.

There is also Velcro as a fastener. I have some and like it ok. Velcro can be adjusted, and re adjusted many times. They make for a snug fit. Some of the downsides are, they need to be well sewn into the diaper. They grab everything. They can collect lint, especially in the wash. They can be pushed to a limit, and open. Velcro on the skin, does not feel real good.

Snaps are another fastener type. There are metal snaps, and the more common, plastic snaps. Snaps, work best with a more custom fit diaper. They can fail, and come undone if to tight a fit. Or, the diaper can sag and fall down, with a to loose fit. There is less of a forgiving universal fit with snaps. They can be hard to fasten, and unfasten. Over time, fastening and unfastening can weaken the fabric, causing tears. The plastic snaps can be damaged, if care is not taken too.

So, what is your favorite? What do you like, or dislike? What would you like to try? What would you recommend?

I get blanket pins from the fabric store. They are giant safety pins. Then I get a clip that is normally used to clip a pacifier to a toddler's shirt. I fasten that clip to the head of the pin, Then I have a large juvenile diaper pin that is better to scale.

My recollection of the standard 3" diaper pin use when I was a kid is of it being larger than they are because of the scale. I was smaller and I often felt the pins on my side. By large pins today make the pin a much more prominent part of my current diaper wearing.

I use 3" big diaper pins with pink duckie heads, from Mommy's Baby Pants. They're still not as big as I'd like, by the time they're pushed through my thick diapers in the back, there's barely enough room to pin them in the front. But they work. And I like how babyish they look.

Before these were available I used to use regular 2" diaper pins. I'd take two of them, tie them together by putting a piece of string through the hole at the end opposite the heads such that they were facing opposite directions with about 2" of string holding them together. Then I'd use one pin to pin the back, then pull the other pin around to pin the front, then do the same thing on the other side.

I use pins. I dunno, I just find them easier to work with, I guess.

We use regular diaper pins from Walmart. They work fine and are cheap. She uses 2 on each side of my double diapers every night. They sometimes get dull and are hard to push in. When they get dull we just buy more!!

I use 3 inch nappy pins mostly but I do have a couple of shaped Velcro fasting nappies easy for a quick change when I am out and about

I use large safety pins with locking heads.

I use normal size nappy pins with locking head - at least 2 on each side.