Last year, Diaper Safari introduced its own line of one-size pocket diapers and they have already become very popular! Now, they have added a waterproof one-size cover and trifold insert to their store. Our friends at Diaper Safari sent us one of each to try out, and so today I’ll share our experiences with you.
I picked the red color called “Cardinal.” Here’s the cover on the smallest and largest settings:
The trifold inserts consist of two layers of a 70% bamboo/30% cotton blend on one side and a stay-dry synthetic suedecloth on the other side. Before washing, the inserts measure 16 inches by 13.5 inches. Because one size is made of natural fibers and the reverse is synthetic, they shrink a little bit unevenly, but it doesn’t affect performance. Here’s a photo of the insert next to a Flip organic; they are very similar in size. If you look at the edge of the Diaper Safari insert, you can see how the edges roll up just a bit because the bamboo/cotton side shrinks more than the suedecloth in the dryer.
The Diaper Safari trifold insert can be laid inside a cover for a very trim diapering system. You can choose to put the stay-dry fabric or the natural fibers up against your baby’s bottom. Fold on the short side for smaller babies and on the longer size for older babies and toddlers.
This is a soft, sturdy and absorbent insert and I’ve been nothing but pleased with the performance. As I mentioned before, because there are both natural and synthetic fabrics used in this insert, it shrinks unevenly, so when you lay it out flat the two different layers don’t line up perfectly and this causes the edges to curl up a little. This is mildly annoying but really more of an aesthetic issue, because the insert still trifolds easily and is nice and smooth on the top.
I like the trim fit of this cover. It’s almost identical to the Diaper Safari pockets. Very trim, but roomy enough to stuff with even the bulkiest prefolds and fitteds. The PUL is nice and smooth, and the waist tabs are good and stretchy. I’m a big fan of double snaps on the wings, but the single snaps on this cover get the job done, especially since there are hip snaps included.
Here’s the cover on my kiddos. Erik, at just 10 pounds, is not using the insert since he’s so little. I would say the insert fits 6 months and up. So in these photos, Erik is wearing one of his newborn prefolds under the Diaper Safari cover.
It’s not very trim on Erik, but it does hold everything in.
Here’s Susanna at 18 months and about 23 pounds:
And my toddler, Samuel, who is almost 3 years old – and 35 pounds. He’s probably going to “max out” this cover pretty soon since we’ve got it snapped completely out and it’s pretty low in the rise.
In my opinion, Diaper Safari has come up with a great-fitting and very economical diapering system. The covers are just $— each and are “wipe and re-use” so you can get a lot of mileage of out them. The inserts, which feature both natural and stay-dry fibers, are only $5.99. That’s less than competitors like the Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefold and Flip Organic inserts.
The Diaper Safari covers come in a delicious assortment of colors! My favorites are Cardinal (red) and Steel (silver).
And did I mention the FREE SHIPPING? That is such a great perk and it keeps me going back to Diaper Safari time and time again. Plus, their service is prompt and super friendly. It’s the total package!
Ok, here’s how to add some of the new Diaper Safari covers and trifold inserts to your stash:
* WHERE TO BUY *
The one-size cover we reviewed is just $8.95
The bamboo/cotton inserts are buy 2 get 1 FREE (or three for just $11.98!!)
Use the easy Rafflecopter form below to enter for your chance to win
a Diaper Safari one-size COVER and BAMBOO insert!
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Bummis Bamboozle Stretch Fitted Diaper Review and Giveaway
When Erik was born in December, I shared with you how much I love our Bummis newborn diaper covers. My little fellow is now 2 months old and 11 pounds and recently got to try another wonderful product: the Tots Bots Bamboozle, which is distributed in North America, by Bummis. They also sent us a cute Bummis red Super Lite Wrap in size small to pair with the fitted. What a nice gesture! It’s really a great honor to work with Bummis for the first time; I’ve been a fan ever since we started diapering and just recently discovered their fitted diapers.
First off, here’s a little snippet about Bummis. Read this comment from their website and you can tell right off that these folks LOVE what they do! “We live on a wonderful little cloth diapering planet here at Bummis that we and our employees have created. Both our factory and our office are lovely spaces with lots of plants and natural light. We have a beautiful retail store in Montreal where we sell cloth diapers, baby carriers and breastfeeding accessories. In addition, we have a shipping warehouse and a small staff in upstate NY, in the very scenic 1000 Islands. We all really enjoy working on our special little planet refuge at Bummis, and we have a great team – all of whom care passionately about what we do and how we do it.”
I love the fact that Bummis is creating jobs and prosperity in their community, by keeping things as local as possible. 🙂
Bummis produces nearly all of their diapering products at the Montreal factory; a few components are outsourced to highly reputable partners in the United Kingdom and Pakistan.
And now, here’s the scoop on our diaper!
The Bamboozle Fitted is constructed with an exterior and interior made of silky 100% bamboo from rayon. There’s a hidden layer of microfiber inside, plus a bamboo from rayon soaker that snaps into the front of the diaper.
It’s a two-part sizing system; the Bamboozles come in size one (5 to 18 pounds) and size two (9 to 35 pounds). They are priced at $19.95, which falls in the moderate range as far as bamboo fitteds go. Bamboozles close with hook & loop and are made in Scotland.
I washed and dried our Bamboozle Fitted twice before using.
On the smallest setting, it still covers Erik’s belly button, and he’s just over 11 pounds now. That tells me it would likely have been too large for him to wear as a newborn. It’s been so easy to use this diaper because of the hook and loop closure. In mere seconds, I can get it on my squirmy little boy. And I’m sure Erik loves the silky bamboo against his skin.
My thoughts about the diaper’s performance after a few weeks? Besides being very cozy, and quick to get on and off, the Bamboozle Fitted washes and dries very easily. The laundry tabs are super strong and never come undone in the wash, and drying time is not any longer compared to my other bamboo diapers. It holds a LOT of liquid, too. We use it all the time for Erik’s naps with no leaks at all. I’ve tried it once overnight and stuck a tiny little GMD workhorse doubler in there for good measure; this combo successfully kept everything in all night.
This is a really trim-fitting diaper, too. I think the hidden microfiber layer is what helps keep this diaper more slim, compared to the other 100% bamboo fitteds we’ve tried before.
After several weeks of use and washing, I’ve noticed some pilling on the fabric. It doesn’t affect the function, however. Bamboo fabric also gets stiff and a bit crunchy after a lot of use, so that’s another drawback.
The lightweight Bummis wrap is a simple and very economical cover. The interior can be wiped clean, and there’s a flap inside to help keep prefolds and inserts tucked in nicely. In the photo below, I’m using a newborn Geffen hemp jersey prefold. Bummis Super Lite Wraps retail for just $9.99!
Here’s the small Super Lite Wrap over the Bamboozle Stretch Fitted. The wide and stretchy waist tabs are great and hug Erik’s little belly comfortably. Although hook and loop is not my first choice for closure, I admit it delivers an exact fit around the waist. With snapping covers, the empty spaces/gaps mean that as your baby grows you’ll sometimes find they are right in between snaps so that you have to fasten the cover a little looser or tighter than you like. The aplix closure on the Bummis Super Lite also helps keep the price of this very frugal favorite low.
Size one Bamboozle fitteds are available in the natural color; size two fitteds come in 7 different color choices!
The Bummis Super Lite wrap is sold in these 5 bright colors. Red and blue are my favorites!
* Where Can I Find Bummis? *
Click here to search for Bummis products
at your favorite cloth diaper retailer!
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Bummis is going to give one lucky reader the same
things that we reviewed!
1 Bamboozle Fitted and 1 Super Lite Wrap
Your choice of color and size (as available)
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*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*
Happy Little Llama Economy Fitted Diaper Review & Giveaway
I love bamboo. And I love to share with you ways of saving money while using cloth. So when my friend Holly from Happy Little Llama sent me one of her newest cloth diapers to try out, I was thrilled! It’s called the “Economy Bamboo Fitted” and is made entirely from organic bamboo; the price is just $14.50. Even nicer: you get to choose the color of serging around the edges. Ours is made with rainbow thread!
Our size 3 diapers fits from about 15 to 35+ pounds and the organic bamboo terry feels like a very fine, super soft towel. I love the old-fashioned look of this diaper, with the off-white fabric and colorful stitches. The two inserts which match the diaper are made of the same bamboo terry, and are sewn together at just one end. That way, they wash more cleanly, dry quicker and you don’t have to match them up later on.
The adjustability of our Happy Little Llama fitted is pretty nifty! Simply fold down the rise to match your baby’s size, and pin or Snappi (or Boingo – my choice) the wings in place:
This is a very thirsty diaper. When you add up the diaper itself (front, back and wings) plus two inserts – that’s a lot of layers. And bamboo is naturally very absorbent. Yet this isn’t a bulky diaper at all. It looks absolutely fantastic on both Susanna (23 pounds) and Samuel (35 pounds):
Other features I like a lot: the gentle leg gussets and the simple “no closure” style. With this diaper, I will never have to worry about replacing velcro or snaps. I know some mothers like to put their babies in just a fitted, and I can see where snaps or velcro would help the diaper stay put better, but I’ve only used mine with a cover and haven’t had any problems with shifting or bunching or sagging. Honestly, I would not change anything about our Economy Fitted. No complaints here!
Although Holly sent this for Susanna and Samuel, I had to get it on Erik to satisfy my curiosity. I think the fold-down rise is so neat, and figured it could be folded down enough to work on him. Here’s how it fits Erik, who’s almost 11 pounds now. I have to use a larger size cover along with it, but isn’t it great that I can actually use this diaper for all three of my children?
Here’s more of Holly’s beautiful work. These are also Economy Fitteds, but in cotton. They are just $12.50 each!
* Happy Little Llama Shop *
Visit the Happy Little Llama on Etsy
and check out more beautiful diapers, unpaper towels,
leg warmers and more.
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Holly is giving on lucky reader an Economy Bamboo Fitted,
with choice of serging color!
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New and Improved BumGenius Elemental Review & Giveaway
Since BumGenius just improved the design of their popular Elemental AIO cloth diaper, I wanted to review it and share the results with you – AND offer a giveaway!
If you’ve seen Cotton Babies products before, the butterfly wing two-snap closure on the Elemental will be familiar to you. I really like the soft, stretchy tabs that gently hug the waist and give a perfect fit. And in four years of diapering, we’ve never had any problems or issues with the snaps on any of our BumGenius or Flip diapers. They are very sturdy.
The Elemental AIO features a waterproof PUL outer and a soft, 100% organic cotton inside. The cotton soakers are 3-layers each, and there are two of them sewn inside, which gives you six layers of protection. You can lift the cotton layers up and add inserts or doublers for even more soaking power.
The leg elastics are now encased/closed.
The organic cotton layers are tremendously soft and smooth; it feels like “pima cotton” to me and I’m sure they feel great against my children’s skin. I love that BumGenius offers an AIO diaper with natural fibers inside. Here are my thoughts on the other features:
Absorbency: After a couple of test runs on Susanna and Samuel (both toddlers), I found the absorbency to be very good. There weren’t any leaks after wearing the Elemental for a couple of hours. And it dries fairly quickly for an AIO diaper, which is a plus. The fact that the soakers aren’t sewn to each other OR to the inner PUL lining really decreases the drying time. The small trip of PUL on the inside waistband also helps a little when your baby spends time on his tummy. I have a few Flip organic inserts in my stash already and they are 4 layers of cotton. That means when you fold them up you get 12 layers, so if you’re looking for a thirstier AND more economical system then Flip is the way to go. The Elemental is more of a convenience diaper – but it’s actually less absorbent than our Flips.
Something else to note: the cotton soaker inside the Elemental tends to shift or bunch up after your baby has been wearing it a while. I notice this more with my baby, than with my toddlers, and maybe that’s just because they are bigger.
Sizing/Fit: The new Elemental runs a bit bigger now, so the size range is supposedly larger. It fits (and is cut) a lot like our 4.0 pocket and Flip covers. There are 3 snap settings on the rise and range is supposed to be from 7 to 35 pounds. I noticed that even after snapping down the rise to fit on Erik and Susanna, the front is not really bulky like you often see on one-size diapers. The organic cotton soakers are definitely more trim than microfiber inserts.
UPDATE: I’ve noticed after owning the Elemental more than a year, that the organic cotton is prone to developing small holes. However, it doesn’t affect function.
Although it’s marketed to fit babies as small as seven pounds, the rise on the Elemental is a little higher than I would like on Erik (he’s 2 months old and 10.5 pounds). However, the waist and leg gussets are snug, so there haven’t been any leaks or blowouts.
Old vs New? As I mentioned before, the new Elemental is meant to accommodate a larger range of sizes. It’s now’s USA made. And the organic cotton inner is sewn differently. On the old version it was sewn into a double layer of cotton, which meant there were 8 layers of absorbing material. The new Elemental has six layers total, however the soakers are wider and they almost completely fill the front, middle and back of the diaper – which *almost* makes up for the “loss” of two layers.
The new version is only available in snap closure.
Price: An Elemental costs about $24.95. That’s pretty steep, even to a die hard Cotton Babies fan like me. I know it’s an AIO and is very convenient since there’s nothing to stuff or snap in, but there are some other good choices on the market for much less (even ones with natural fibers like cotton and bamboo).
While the Elemental is certainly a high-quality, great-fitting and easy to use diaper, my preference (and my budget) is for the Flip covers and inserts (which are also organic cotton). However, while you do spend less on the Flip system, there is folding involved – plus, the drying time is much longer.
The BumGenius Elemental is available in all the beautiful Cotton Babies colors at their website with FREE shipping:
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Lalabye Baby All-in-Two Review & Giveaway
Lalabye Baby sells one-size pocket diapers with bamboo inserts, biodegradable liners, cotton terry wipes, wet bags, laundry care products and other cloth accessories. Melissa, the mother behind Lalabye Baby, kindly sent us the “Pat-a-Cake” diaper to review, which is white with teal snaps. All of her diapers have cute nursery rhyme themed names like “Twinkle Little Star” (yellow) and “Peter Pumpkin Eater” (orange).
When you open the diapers all the way up, there’s a surprise: a rainbow of colored snaps – so you can have something to look forward to as baby fattens up and grows! The colors also help you to quickly fasten the waist snaps by size. For example, you might use red for a big toddler and green for a larger baby. Tip: you can also steer your husband or your mother-in-law in the right direction by using the color code.
Here is the Lalabye diaper opened up. You can snap the bamboo inserts in, or just lay in the shell and tuck under the flap. There are two pocket openings on this diaper, if you prefer that style.
The pocket openings allow the inserts to slide out on their own in the washing machine. So you won’t have to reach in the pocket to pull out a wet or dirty pad. There’s also a waterproof PUL band on the top inside to further guard against leaks – especially when your child is on his/her tummy. When stuffing this diaper, I always use the front opening because the back one is very narrow.
With your diaper purchase you get two 4-layer bamboo inserts – one is newborn size and the other is standard size and they have a snap to fasten them in the shell; you can also snap the two inserts together before securing them in the shell if you want more absorbency. Bamboo is buttery soft and stays that way even after many washings. It’s also super trim and highly absorbent. On a scale of 1 to 5 for soaking power, I would give the Lalabye a 4 when using the two inserts together, so it’s definitely above average. I’ve also discovered with time that bamboo doesn’t hold on to odors like microfiber, although it does tend to stain more easily. There’s a trade-off with every diapering fabric. With Susanna and Samuel (ages 1 and 2) I use both bamboo inserts. For newborn Erik I used just the small to cut down on bulk.
Want to see the Lalabye pocket on some kiddos? Here is my tiny little guy first. Erik is 10 pounds and the Lalabye actually works on him, although there’s a lot of extra fabric which makes it bulky overall. Most one-size diapers start fitting best at 12-15 pounds or more.
Here’s how it fits on Susanna who is 18 months and about 25 pounds:
The fit is really sleek and trim:
Here’s my toddler, Samuel (almost 3 and weighing 35 pounds).
The price tag of $14.95 is great for a diaper that can function as either an All-in-Two or pocket, and has two inserts.
Share your thoughts and questions with me in a comment below; I’d love to hear from you!
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with $20 to spend? One lucky winner will receive a gift card!
Enter using the Rafflecopter form below. US only.
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