Should I buy my sil's Mother Ease diaper system?

[mommab]

I’m trying to figure out what I need to cd my 20lb 5-month-old daughter. My sil has offered to mail me her Mother-Ease stash (36 One Size diapers, 36 snap in liners, and around 12-14 total Air Flow covers in 2-3 sizes) that she used with my twin niece & nephew for 3 years. I’m not sure how much wear the diapers have left (she used less than Mother-Ease recommends as the standard 2 dozen per child for full-time cd’ing), and she indicated that I’d probably need some new covers (but not all). Also, she had planned to sell the stash on ebay (probably paid around $450 for everything new), so I’d like to determine what would be a fair price to give her for the set if I decide to get them (she offered them to me for free). Any rules of thumb for used diapers?? Do you think this is a good cding plan or would I be better served with a different diapering system for the equivalent (yet undetermined) price? A mom in my mom's group highly discouraged me from paying anything for these dipes due to the probable wear of them. I was thinking of at least getting her ME snap-on covers to try over some prefolds...so confused on what to do.

[MarisaSF]

Sorry that I have no advice re. pricing. What I noticed, however, is that is a whole lot of diapers. You probably know that what works for one baby/family does not work for all. Would it be appropriate to ask her if you could start out by sending just a few to try? Maybe 6-10 of the diapers and liners and some of the covers in the size your DD is now?

If she had 36 diapers and only diapered 2 kids (at the same time) AND was planning to sell them, I would think the wear wouldn't be too bad. I've seen diapers in great shape after several children/families. Depends on how well she took care of them, but I would hope she wouldn't have planned to sell them if they were really junky, kwim?

If she offered them to you for free, she may feel uncomfortable with cash in return. My friend gave me several hand-me-down items intended as gifts, but I felt the need to reciprocate with something, so I gave her a gift certificate as a thank you. Would that work?

[o_mom]

Looks like they go for around $5-6 per diaper and about $5 per cover on eBay. So, probalby $200-250 for the lot would be the eBay pricing. I paid $4/diaper for ME Sandys in used condition from a friend - they were very stained, but otherwise worked well. She had used them with two kids already, so I wouldn't assume that these won't be in good shape.

I think the PP has a good idea - have her send you a few - maybe 6 to try plus 2-3 covers. Just tell her you want to see if they work for you before she sends them all. Don't mention the condition. You may find that you don't have much room in the one-size anyway.

[lizajane]

a friend gave me all her motherease dipes. they were used by two children for 2 years by the first and more than 1 year by the second. the diapers aren't super absorbant, but worked great. the covers have been PERFECT despite a few cosmetic flaws. we have not had any trouble with these dipes despite a great deal of wear. i personally found them to fit my kids well- i used them mostly when my two were both in dipes. that way, i only had to bring 4 diapers with me in the diaper bag instead of 3-4 newborn sized and 2-3 toddler sized. at the time, dylan was a super chunky baby and schuyler was as super skinny toddler. they worked great on both kids. schuyler needed the doubler (liner, whatever you want to call it) and dylan didn't.

[tg_canada]

I would send an email to Mother-Ease and ask what the life expetancy of the OS dipes are. As for the life expectancy of the covers, from an email I recently got from ME, "We expect our covers to last 4-6 months before they can expire."

[mommab]

Do you think that was a typo?

[MarisaSF]

Yeah, I am guessing they meant 4-6 years.

[tg_canada]

>Do you think that was a typo?

No, it wasn't a typo. I emailed ME to ask some questions about adding to my stash that I had for my first child. I mentioned that I had used my dipes and M/L covers for over a year. The portion of the email response that is relevant to the covers followsOne other thing to note: You mentioned that you used the ML covers for over a year. We expect our covers to last 4-6 months before they can expire. You may find that there is not much life left in the ML covers that you already have on hand.

[mommab]

Wow, that's pretty surprising and disappointing. I spoke with sil today, and she's getting 6 dipes and snap-in doublers and 6 covers together to mail for me to try out. She did say the covers (the ones she used the longest - size M?) are in pretty pathetic shape, but I just want to try them out for size before I order any new ones. Now I'm wondering if it's worth it to buy any new ME covers if ME says their covers' effective lifespan is so short!

Also, sil apologized that the dipes she's mailing have a mildewy smell after sitting in her storage room for several months (she offered to wash them again before she mails them, but I told her not to bother). Is there anything special I should do to the dipes other than wash them with my detergent before I use them? I've read of "stripping" diapers in a couple of posts but I'm not sure what that's all about. Is a quick bleaching ok? DD had thrush as a newborn, so I'm not interested in any fungal rashes - kwim??

[lizajane]

honestly, i would bleach them just this once. mildew is way yuck to me.

the medium covers i use are REALLY REALLY OLD and they look bad. but they work GREAT. seriously. do not let appearances fool you!!!

[tg_canada]

I think it may be that they aren't as "bulletproof" (i.e. the waterproofing may wear off) after a time. I used my M/L covers for over a year and had no trouble. They never leaked. The colours aren't quite as vibrant as when they were new but other than that, they look great. I also washed the covers carefully (warm wash and I didn't put them in the dryer).

ME is quick to respond, send them an email and see how they recommend "stripping" them. Does your washing machine have a sanitize cycle? If so, I'd likely use that before I'd use bleach.

[o_mom]

For used dipes, I usually do a long hot soak with detergent and oxyclean. Then I run a full hot cycle with detergent followed by at least one hot cycle without any detergent and vinegar in the rinse to remove any residue. If you have hard water, you might get some calgon for the intial wash. Some Tea Tree oil or Grapefruit Seed extract can also help kill anything.

If they still smell funny after that, you can try bleach, but if it is just smell and not actual mildew you might be fine without the bleach.

I don't think their covers would wear that quickly, but we don't use them very often. I like Bummis SWWs for a good basic cover.