Cloth Diaper Trial: BumGenius Elemental

Last week I posted my review of the WHAM brand Little Chickadee Diapers and this week I have another All in One (AIO) trial to share, BumGenius Elemental.  I have wanted to try this diaper for a while because I kept hearing how trim it was and I am always in search of the trimmest diaper.  I finally bought one a few months ago during a sale to try it out.  There have been a bunch of reviews of the BumGenius Elemental out there and I don't want to be repetitive, so I will just focus on what makes a Naturally Crafty Mom trails different.  The diaper I purchases is the new style Elemental which I understand is very different from the old (and preferred) style, but I do not have an old style to compare it to. 

Number times of uses: 10
Number of leaks: 0!!
Longest wear without a leak: 5 hours
Big Booty factor – 2.5
Best Use: naps, out and about, babysitters/dads

Pros:

·        Very absorbent and also relatively trim
·        BumGenius has nice colors and I like that they periodically issue fun prints
·       Absorbent natural materials
·     All in One Style with attached soaker is very convenient

Cons:
·        At $24 a diaper I would consider this an expensive diaper
·        The soaker is attached at both ends of the diaper so this causes some problems (bunching, hard to spray, long drying time)

I'm not going to lie, I really didn't think I would like this diaper.  As you may remember from my previous diaper trials I was not a big fan of the BumGenius 4.0 because it was so bulky on my tiny girls, so I didn't have high hopes for this diaper. 

Performance
As this diaper uses natural materials (100% organic cotton) it needs to be prepped a few times before it reaches the maximum absorbency, so I did just that before tracking its performance.  I only wrote down 10 uses but over a 2 month period I probably used it about 20 times total and I never had a leak with this diaper.  The longest wear was on my older daughter for 5 hours and it still didn't leak!!!  So overall this diaper performed really well.

Trimness
While this diaper is relatively trim in the sense that it is not bulky in the bum, it is a very wide diaper through the legs (see chart of width and rise from Padded Tush Stats) so for me that definitely makes it seem bulkier.  Also the insert is sewn into not only the back but also the front, this makes it so that when the rise is snapped down even one level that there is extra material from the soaker.  This extra material has to go somewhere so it either ends up between baby's legs or in the back or the front, making the diaper look bulkier. 

Other Concerns
The first time my husband had to spray out the diaper because it was dirty, he had trouble with the mess getting caught between the soaker and the shell.  Due to the soaker being sewn in at both ends, a particularly messy diaper can be harder to clean.  Also because I hang my shells to dry the sew in soaker takes longer to dry and air drying causes it to be a little crunchy (you can throw it in the dryer for a bit to soften it up but I don't like to subject my shells to that).

Conclusion
Overall I thought this was a really solid diaper.  I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it and I think BumGenius has some really pretty colors (I've been drooling over that new Hummingbird color).  The All in One style makes it easy to use, wash and then just put away ready to go back on the baby.