A few visual comparisons

More info coming soon, but I wanted to put up a few visual comparisons on some newborn diapers and trainers for those wondering about sizing while I'm working on full blog posts!

Left to right: bumgenius 4.0 one size, all the way snapped down, containing newborn insert only; bumgenius x-tra small; Rumparooz lil joey, micro-preemie disposable diaper (to fit 3-4 pound range)

Top row L to R: size 1.5 to 3 years, 20-33 pounds cotton trainers (like gerber); imse vimse super-large size; minkee blueberry size large (out of production, used for size reference)
Bottom row L to R: blueberry size small, charlie banana one size trainers, blueberry size medium

In the picture, it doesn't look like there is too much size difference, but the blueberry size small are definitely the smallest, with the charlie banana fitting right in between the blueberry size small and size medium.  All of the trainers except the size large blueberry pink leopard print are fitting right now, and our little trainer is right at 27 pounds and pushing 35 inches tall. The short story is, I am loving all of these except the fluffy pink leopard right now - for the "catch small accidents, not totally waterproof trainers", can't go wrong with blueberry, charlie banana (note only one size that runs small), or imse vimse trainers!

Hope this helps a little for the short term!
~Prima~

Diaper Review: Happy Heiny's The ONE for ALL One-Size

I saw the new improved Happy Heiny's one-size diaper at ABC Expo this past Fall, saw the steps they'd taken to improve fit and eliminate wing-droop, and I was impressed! But when I got a chance to see their new glow-in-the-dark skull print, I nearly flipped out! I knew I'd have to have one some day, even for our two GIRLS in diapers!

I was honestly still a little nervous about the fit. I'd heard through the grapevine that even in the new, improved version, the snapping diaper was still having wing-droop. So we put this diaper through the ringer on our two girls, ages 6 months ~17.5 pounds and 20 months ~26.5 pounds. I can confidently say that it was a VERY nice fit on both girls with absolutely NO wing droop (and we definitely have other diapers that do!)! Other improvements from the previous Happy Heiny's one-size were to decrease bulk in between the legs and to reduce overall sagging/bulk. Hopefully the pictures speak for themselves!

As a one-size diaper, this is designed to fit from about 8 pounds to 35+ pounds. And as with most other one-size diapers, the cut would be large on an 8 pound newborn whose thighs haven't filled out. By about 6 weeks of age, however, these types of diapers begin to be a good fit. The Happy Heiny's seems to be one of the more generous cuts in our stash. The snap setting is on the "second" option for our younger baby, and is on the "third" for our older baby. This leaves the lowest setting for a tiny baby and one left to go for our older one! Many of our other one-size diapers are already fully unsnapped in rise on our older baby. At the waist, it is the only diaper we have where the tabs "meet in the middle" for our younger and only have one set "open" for our older baby...a good fit with plenty of room to grow!

For both girls in all the pictures, this stay-dry pocket diaper is stuffed with the larger insert only. As purchased, the diaper comes with two three-layer microfiber inserts. The smaller insert can be used in the pocket opening for a newer baby alone on the smallest rise setting. The larger insert can then be used as you move higher in rise settings, and you can double the inserts as needed for extra absorbency.

If you look closely, you can pick up the glow-in-the-dark part. It's not the dark motif, but a lighter one...you can see one to the right in the picture, and there is also one not as easily seen "dead"-center above the lowest dark motif. Pun intended!

Props to Happy Heiny's to listening to customer requests for improvements AND putting out a "killer" print! Skulls aren't just for boys!! (Have you also seen Groovy Circles, Retro Swirl, Giraffe, Owl, Ooga Booga, and the enfamous Cow Hide?? I could go on and on...)

~Prima~

Diaper Review: sustainablebabyish | sloomb OBF fitted

My love for these diapers started recently as I was chatting with Mami about my (then) 2 month old heavy wetter.  She asked if I'd ever tried sustainablebabyish | sloomb products, and I said that I had not.  She had the snapless multi in stock, so I bought one of those along with a interlock wool cover.  I was in love... Then Mami told me about the organic bamboo fleece sized fitted.  She mentioned something about it being a "magic" diaper and said the word "overnight" - I had to know more about this diaper, because I was struggling for overnight solutions, and my baby was still close to being a newborn!!  So she sent one to try...

I was honestly a little confused about the name - organic bamboo fleece fitted (OBF fitted). When I heard "fleece" I was thinking of poly-fleece or polar fleece, and was also thinking "how can this be absorbent"?  The diaper is made of bamboo/cotton fleece, but the jersey side is facing out. The first thing that struck me after reveling in it's fluffiness was just that it was pure, simple, and beautiful. The OBF fitted comes with a snap-in soaker as well as an extra doubler, both made from deliciously soft material!  It's pictured here with the snap-in soaker folded back.

Little J was almost 14 pounds when Mami and I were talking about which size to go with. She was right at 50th % for height, and mid-60th % for weight. Mami suggested the size medium, and it was a perfect fit with plenty of room to go. According to sloomb's size charts, the medium fit her a little early.

This is a fitted diaper, so needs to be paired with a generous cover. I use the sloomb knit wool cover, but did not want to picture that here since the one I currently use is her 18 month old sister's, and it's a size too large.  I didn't want to post a photograph of the too-large cover which might give you a poor impression, but it's an absolutely unbeatable combination!  (More on this knit wool cover and lanolizing in another post!) I can relax when she's in this combo - mamas of heavy wetters know what it means to be able to say that I can relax! In fact, by the end of this mini-photo session, she had fallen asleep without a cover.  I had a wild idea in me to just put her in her crib without waking her to put on a cover, and the diaper was still dry to the touch on the outside when she woke up! Wow.

Trying to get an unimpeded shot, but she wants you to see her DBW booties, I guess!

And apparently she wanted you to see the back, since she kept rolling over...

Finally! Diaper testing is hard work...

I'd also like to share a little about the company. Mami shared with me that Erin from sloomb went out of her way to get these diapers to Mami so they could get one in my hands - talk about customer service! In the "ethos" section of their website, they explain what's behind the company, and it rocks!  Most of the products are also handmade in the USA (that's local!). As I mentioned, I have one of their knit wool covers, and the wool covers and longies come with a tag with seeds implanted in it that you can grow!  I LOVE this - it was a fun little project to do with our two oldest.  I don't have a green thumb as I tend to over- or under-water, but I do have a few sprouts!  Even if the seed tag doesn't work out, for every diaper purchased, sloomb ensures that a tree is planted!

If there's one thing I would change, it would be Nothing about this diaper, but that the new interlock knit colors would be available NOW!  Oh, but they're soooo worth the wait!

~Prima~

Diaper Review and Giveaway: Bumgenius 3.0 all-in-one

Have you seen what's new at Mami's and Papi's?  They are now stocking bumgenius 3.0 all-in-ones (AIOs)! As an all-in-one diaper, the lining, absorbent material, and waterproof cover are combined into a single unit. This makes them extremely user-friendly and simple to use - they are great for sending to daycare, leaving with babysitters or family willing to help with diapers, or just busy mamas!

These are sized diapers, which means if used exclusively, you'll need to purchase different sizes as your baby grows.  My first experience with these was for my older baby.  We purchased one of the size large diapers - it is a great fit, and I loved having it in the diaper bag.  (It got points with Daddy, too, for being velcro/aplix, and ready to go without any stuffing or prep work!) At that point, the majority of our stash was one-size, and we had another baby coming along.  I knew I wanted to cloth diaper the new baby from birth, but also realized life was busy and knew I'd have help with diapers.  For simplicity, I purchased the bumgenius AIOs in extra small.  The rise on the extra small is intended to fall below the cord on newborn babies.  I was really pleased with the fit of the extra smalls, but by two weeks of age, our heavy-wetter was occasionally sleeping 4 hours at a time, and the absorbency was not enough for that length of time.  Here is a photo at 10 days old, 8'8", 20.5 inches long.

The next step for us was to move up to the size smalls, for babies 8-16 pounds.  Our family could probably have used the size smalls initially if we had waited until the cord was off.  While the extra small size does not have a pocket to add extra absorbency in case the sewn-in microfiber is not enough, the sizes small through large do have the pocket.  The size smalls worked really well for our heavy wetter through about 8 weeks of age, at which point I needed to add an additional newborn insert first at night, then all the time.  This photo was taken today - the fit is still great with room to go, and she is just under 14 pounds at just over 3 months of age. 

Here is a photo of the inside of the diaper.  The material against baby's skin is microsuede, which is considered a stay-dry material.  The wetness is drawn through the microsuede layer into the microfiber pad which is hidden in this type of diaper design. Toward the front of the diaper you can see the outline of where the microfiber pad is sewn to the stay-dry lining.  At the back, you can see part of the microfiber pad as well as the pocket formed by the microsuede/microfiber pad layer and the cover with the PUL waterproof coating.

As a generality, I find that all-in-one diapers take longer to dry, just by the nature of their design.  During the heat of the summer, I have been able to get them completely dry on the clothes line. They do take about 3 times as long to dry as some of the faster drying diapers, but they are not the last of my AIOs to dry, either. With the days getting shorter, I have had to throw them in the dryer for just about 7-10 minutes for them to be completely dry.

I really couldn't ask for a better fit from this diaper - cottonbabies has this part down!  In the all-in-one diaper category, it is what I would consider to be middle of the road in terms of the "trimness factor".  It has a simple and easy to use design. The fact that it is an all-in-one but still has a pocket to add extra absorbency is an added bonus for a mom to a heavy wetter!  Many won't need this option, though, as I didn't with my older baby.  These have served our family well as a transition for our new baby into her older sister's mostly one-size stash, and we also love the larger size AIO for it's trimness and ease for on-the-go.

Need to try this diaper?  You can purchase it here at Mami's and Papi's online store, or ENTER TO WIN ONE BUMGENIUS 3.0 AIO HERE!!! Entries accepted through 7 pm Eastern Daylight Time on 9/28/10.

Until next time,
~Prima~


Disclosure: the opinions of this review are my own. The diapers reviewed were purchased by me.

Worth it's weight in gold...

And, no, I'm not talking about that premium diaper you've had your eye on!  I hope this post will be worth it's weight in gold - the golden rays of the sun, that is!

This post may seem like an odd first diaper-related post, but I wanted to introduce so you can try this before some of us cloth diapering parents in the latitudes further North begin losing our precious hours of sun.  Sun and cloth diapers were made for each other! The sun provides several benefits to those parents who cloth diaper. By line-drying in the sun, you realize some energy savings by foregoing the use of the dryer, have the benefit of the UV rays' sanitizing effect, and (my favorite!) you have the stain-blasting power of the sun's rays.  The energy savings aren't enormous per load, but at a cost of about $0.40 per load x ~3 loads per week x 16 weeks, that's close to $20 savings.  Could you buy your favorite diaper with that? ;) The areas of the diaper that are directly exposed to the UV rays are subject to a sanitizing effect.  This wouldn't help the inside of an all-in-one, but every little bit helps! 

My favorite benefit is the topic of the remainder of this post.  When UV rays hit a stained surface of a wet diaper, magic happens!  The most important detail of this concept is that the diapers MUST BE WET OR DAMP!  It doesn't even matter if it's partly cloudy - the UV rays that are most responsible for this effect are UVA rays.  UVA rays penetrate clouds, clothes, your skin, etc.  On a sunny day, you have the "benefit" of UVA and UVB rays, but even on a cloudy day, the UVA rays are around working their magic. 

Here are some photos demonstrating the sun's impact on stains.  These are pocket diapers with microsuede interior and microfiber inserts, and were freshly washed, but still stained with EBF poo. NO photoshopping was done to these photos other than cropping!

On a partly cloudy day "before"...

...and "after"! I got this set damp one more time, and it was perfectly white!

On a bright, sunny day "before"...

...and after!  Perfection occurred after only about 45 minutes!

Just a few more things to note from my personal experience.  When I hang the diapers on the line, I face the surface that has the most stain toward where the sun will be the majority of the time the diapers are out. I've found that the sun's effects are nearly perfect on microsuede and microfiber in just one shot on a sunny day. It works "very well" on microfleece, although after numerous sunnings this summer, my microfleece pockets still have some shadows.  Sunning still works well on natural fibers such as cotton and hemp, but it may take several rounds, or you may need to use some advanced stain-fighting techniques (another post!).  This past winter, we had almost no sun, but I did the best I could in windows on a sunny day. The house we live in has some UV-blocking function in the glass, so I had stains for a few months. When I started drying them on the line this spring, they were gone within a few washes! The most important thing to remember, is that the diapers MUST BE AT LEAST DAMP!

Happy sunning!
~Prima~

A little about the author - my cloth diapering "credentials"

It's Prima, here!  Get ready for a wealth of information to be posted on the blog!  Before we get rolling, though, I thought you might like to know a little about who I am and about my cloth diapering journey.  I have four children ages 7, almost 5, 17 months, and 3 months.  Each of the four children was cloth diapered for varying lengths of time, and I've tried just about every type of diaper out there from flats, prefolds, and fitteds to pocket diapers, all-in-ones, and my newest addiction - wool!  I have been through the ringer with diaper laundry too! I started cloth diapering close to 7 years ago when my first son was a few months old - by today's standards and with the "modern cloth diaper", that was "ancient times"!

When we had our third child, I was ready to cloth diaper full time.  We started with her at about 5 weeks of age, because I wasn't knowledgeable about how to cloth diaper a newborn. (Never fear - that deserves it's own post!). Then, we had our 4th child born 14 months after our third. By then, I was totally addicted to cloth diapering and knew that two in diapers was the best excuse possible to expand my stash! I know some of you are there with me... So I went *NUTS* trying one of every diaper out there! Ok, I'm exaggerating, but only a little!

I read and read and read about cloth diapering and the best ways to take care of them, launder them, organize them, and more.  I created page-long documents on cloth diapering for my friends and I have a few converts!  Now it's time to share all this with you!  We want this to be your SOURCE for information - let us know what you'd like to see.  As you come to know Mami's and Papi's, you'll learn that it is a family-oriented business, serving families.

Please take the time to fill out the mini-survey here so we can serve you best!

~Prima~