Bummis recently gave me the chance to try out their new All-in-One diaper in exchange for a review. It now features an organic cotton interior and components made in the US and Canada.
We received the Aqua (with chocolate brown trim) and Forest Animals (with white trim) diapers:
This is a true AIO (All-In-One) diaper which requires no stuffing or snapping or folding. You simply adjust the waist and rise to fit your baby and put the diaper on. It’s a one-size diaper with snaps on the rise to shorten or lengthen it and fit babies from about 8 to 35 pounds.
Looking inside, you’ll see some really unique features. The middle or core of the diaper is made of an unbleached organic cotton fabric with a soft, dimpled texture. It’s permanently attached but open at the front end so it acts as a pocket.
The white fabric you see along the inside edges of the diapers is polyester fleece. The semi-attached soaker has 1 stay-dry layer on top, so that when you choose to lay it inside the diaper (instead of stuffing), this wicking layer will go right up against your baby.
Because of the pocket design you can choose to have the organic cotton core or the stay dry soaker against your baby’s skin. You can also easily tuck an extra insert in there.
The organic cotton fabric that’s sewn into the middle core of the diaper shrinks slightly when you wash and dry it; Bummis designed it this way to create a sort of natural “gusset” for extra protection through the legs. One result of this shrinking process is the fabric puckers somewhat. After washing and drying the diaper I will reach my hand inside the pocket to smooth the fabric out and eliminate lumps or bunching while Ingrid or Erik is wearing it.
The cotton is a soft “dimpled” texture that’s unique to Bummis, and that I really like alot. The solidly designed snaps are of excellent quality. I love the snaps that Bummis uses!
Fit: The new Bummis AIO has a very trim design for a cotton diaper. The double snaps on the wings made it easy to customize sizing beyond the rise; you can angle the snaps one way or the other (for instance, you might want the waist snap tighter and the leg snap looser). However, the wings do not stay completely flat but curl back a little after you put the diaper on.
I found the size range to be fairly accurate, giving you roughly size small (young infant) to extra large (toddler).
You may have noticed there are only 2 sets of snaps down the front rise of the diaper. This means there are less to fasten, but it also may cause the fabric to pucker out after your baby gets moving. You can see this in the bottom right picture on Ingrid. If you have the rise on the largest setting (nothing snapped at all), this isn’t an issue (see the picture of Erik further down).
I like the soft knitted (and very stretchy) legbands on this diaper. The same trim goes around the waist and wings as well.
Performance: This is a perfect day-time diaper – trim and quick to get on and off. It will absorb steadily for a good 2 hours. The caveat is that it actually worked better for us with the insert NOT in the pocket. The stay-dry layer absorbs more quickly than the organic cotton.
When Ingrid naps, I add a small doubler and this combo keeps her leak-free. We were not able to use the Bummis AIO overnight, which is not unusual for an AIO diaper. I noticed that since she’s a tummy sleeper, once the diaper was fully saturated wetness would wick from the poly fleece and out of the top of the waistband. I wonder if having PUL (the waterproof material on the outside) at the front inside of the diaper would help prevent wicking? But again, I don’t expect most AIO diapers to hold all night as they are mainly designed for convenience and quick changes. You could definitely try it, though (with a hemp or microfiber doubler), if your baby isn’t a heavy wetter.
Laundry notes: It took many washes to fully prep because of the organic cotton. Shoot for 6 to 8 for full absorbency. If you choose to tuck the partially-attached soaker inside of the pocket, it will agitate out on its own in the wash, so that’s nice. The permanently attached inner core of the diaper takes a really long time to dry, sometimes a full cycle and a half or more. To overcome this, I highly recommend turning the diaper inside out before tossing it in the dryer. It will *usually* dry this way in a normal amount of time, along with your other diapers.
Value: At $28.95 (USD), the new Bummis AIO is on the higher end of the price scale for an AIO. Many factors go into pricing including the fact that the components are sourced in the US and Canada, which is very important to a lot of consumers. And having tried many Bummis products over the years, I can attest that they use premium diaper components (fabric, snaps, etc.).
Giveaway: Bummis is giving away an organic cotton AIO to one lucky Zephyr Hill reader! You can enter on my Facebook page.
Let me know if you’ve tried any Bummis products! What do you think of the design of their new cotton All-in-One?
