Diaper Trial Resutls: Lalabye Baby Diaper

For months now I have been hearing all about how amazing the Lalabye Baby diaper is so I finally had to buy one.  People raved about how trim it is (which is a major selling point for me) as well as how amazingly absorbent the inserts are.  When I got my Lalabye baby diaper I was so excited to put it through my diaper trial and share the results with you!!

 

 

 

Number times of uses: 14

Number of leaks: 0 (well one tiny one)
Longest wear without a leak: 3.5 hours
Big Booty factor: 2
Best Use: out of the house, naps, under dresses :)

Pros:

·     I love the vibrant colors and rainbow snaps

·     The inserts (even when you use both) are amazingly trim and absorbent

·     Can function as a pocket, AIO and cover

 

Cons:
·     Options are limited to mostly solid colors      

After all the hype around these diapers, I must say that they did not disappoint.  They were everything I expected and more!  The diaper is really well made and the TPU feels very sturdy.  I love the vibrant colors and the candy snaps just add that extra pop to the diapers.  Above and beyond the looks, these performed amazing.  The bamboo inserts are amazingly trim and I never had a leak, Not. Even. Once!  I love that the insert snaps into the front and the back and even has the option of going inside a pocket if you want the diaper to be stay dry for your baby.  I actually used both inserts every time because the additional insert didn't really add any bulk and added a lot of absorbency.  As for cons I spent the past week trying to think of a con and I honestly couldn't come up with one so I have a pseudo-con of only solid colors offered in the line up. I would also so that the only thing keeping the Lalabye baby diaper from being the most trim diaper I have tried is that it is average width in the crotch, but other than that super trim. These diapers definitely lived up to the hype and I will definitely be including these in any future gifts.

 

 

 

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Diaper Trial Results: GroVia O.N.E.

Back in the Fall of 2014 GroVia launched an exciting new project and an associated Kickstarter campaign to produce the O.N.E diaper by GroVia.  I was really excited to see this campaign because I thought that the use of Kickstarter was such a fun idea and of course the diaper promised to have a lot of interesting features.  A lot of those features were unique such as the diaper including both hook/loop and snaps, ability to add absorbency, no prep required and a trim fit.  Of course I signed up as a backer right away and anxiously awaited my O.N.E diaper. 

 

 

When I got my O.N.E diaper and shirt I was so excited to put it through my diaper trial and share the results with you!!

 

Number times of uses: 15

Number of leaks: 0
Longest wear without a leak: 3.5 hours
Big Booty factor: 4
Best Use: night, out of the house

Pros:

·     Has a lot of unique features

·     The TPU outer is really thick and sturdy feeling

·     I love the inserts, they are trim and have both the stay dry feature using natural fibers!  

 

Cons:
·     The Micro fleece on the inside is very thick making the diaper bulkier than I expected
·     I couldn't get the hook/loop option to work well, every time I took the diaper off it       would unsnap.

·     GroVia uses different snaps than other brands making it so that shells and inserts are not interchangeable.

 

Overall I really like this diaper, as you can see it performed well during the day and I even used it a few times at night.  My favorite part is the inserts, they are really trim, easy to use and I love that they are micro fleece topped so that they are stay dry.  For most of the uses recorded I used just one insert and it would frequently last 3+ hours.  Overnight I used both inserts on my older daughter who does not pee as much and it worked great.  Of course GroVia always offers unique and fun prints and my whale print did not disappoint. 

 

While in theory the combined hook/loop and snap feature sounds great, in practice for me it did not work as well.  Every time I would take the diaper off the hook/loop was so strong that it just unsnapped so I ended up removing and just using the snaps. 

 

Overall this diaper is great and in my opinion the versatility and quality of the inserts are the shining features. Originally these were only available to Kickstarter backers but are now available at retailers (although a lot are backordered or have waitlists).

 

 

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Flats and Handwashing: Final Thoughts

 

 

Today concludes the Flats and Hadwashing challenge and I am glad to see it go this year.  Last year was all bright and shiny and I wanted to prove I could do it.  This year reality hit and I was not as excited.  For my final thoughts I wanted to share 5 tips that I think would make long term hand washing of flat diapers more achievable:

 

1. Invest $20 in a mobile washer, it works so much better than the plunger and if you are doing this all the time, easier is always better.  I would also say to buy a new handle for it so that you don't have to stoop over and kill you back each time you wash.

 

2. Have enough flats for 3 days and wash every other day.  If you accumulate a days worth of diapers in a bucket and then just wash both buckets at once and only every other day.  The hardest part for me this year was that I didn't have any flexibility to not wash at night.  So if I had a long day and was exhausted, the only way I would have clean diapers the next day was to wash every night which got old before the week was up.

 

3. Experiment with different folds to see what works for you.  Last year I did the pad ford 100% of the time and this year I really enjoyed finding different folds that worked better for different situations.

 

4. Don't get down if you have to use the occasional disposable diaper.  I don't think I would have made it through over 2 years of cloth diapering if I didn't allow myself the flexibility of an occasional disposable.  Just think of all the money you are saving with all of the cloth you DO use.

 

5. Don't be afraid to deviate from your routine.  Ask Daddy to wash one night a week, let your preschooler agitate a bit for you (not as effective but still works).  One day I also washed during the day and while it took forever because they soaked so much each time, I was less tired and not as stressed to get it done at night.

 

This year I would say that handwashing long term is doable, but very difficult.  Making whatever changes you need to make so that you can use as much cloth as possible would really be my goal for any long term plan. 



Daddy Does Laundry (The Handwashing Edition)

 

My husband it hugely supportive of our family using cloth diapers and frequently helps me with the diaper laundry.  Last year when I did the Flats Challenge I did all of the washing but my husband does help out with the wringing of the washed diapers.  This year I asked him if he would wash one night and give me his thoughts. 

 

Here they are: "IT WAS TERRIBLE!"

 

When I asked for something positive his response was "I got my first workout in months".  Followed by "our children definitely don't appreciate us much".  I asked if he thought they got clean his response was "clean enough to go on our baby's bottom".  He also said that it wasn't as smelly as he thought it would be and he couldn't imagine if we didn't have a diaper sprayer.

 

Thankfully though his last comment was "I'm shocked you have been doing this all week!"

 

In conclusion I think that my husband definitely isn't cut out for hand washing but I am glad that he did it one night because now I think he can appreciate all the work involved :).

 

Flats Wash Routine 2015

 

Well the 5th annual Flats and Handwashing challenge is half over and so far it is going alright for me.  I got a little lazy last night and didn't wash, so I had to do my washing this morning.  I was able to do some agitating in between helping my girls get ready and then would let them soak while I was actually doing stuff with my girls and that worked pretty well.

 

My actual wash routine hasn't changed much from last year but there are a few things I am doing differently. The first thing I wanted to do differently is that I use my diaper sprayer to rinse every diaper (even ones that are just wet) before putting it in my pail so that it would get rid of some of the urine and all of the poop before I even had to start washing.  The second thing I changed is that after I do the hot wash "cycle" I rinse each item under the tap before putting it back in the bucket for the rinse cycle.  This has cut my rinse cycles down significantly.

 

One thing I didn't actually change this year but would change if I was planning on handwashing long term would be to buy a second bucket, have enough diapering supplies for 3 days and only wash every other night.  I think it would be pretty easy to put the two buckets side by side in my tub and after agitating one do the other one and then let them soak at the same time.  The wash routine isn't super cumbersome but it would be nice to not have to do it every night.

 

Overnight Solutions with Flats

 

 

Today is day 3 of the Flats and Handwashing challenge and so far everything is going well. My sitter has had to deal with most of the diaper changes for the first two days but I am in charge of the night time solution. 

 

Last year when I did the flats challenge for the first time I had never used flats before and I was using disposables at night.  I was so thankful for the flats challenge because I found what a great option flats could be for night time and continued to use my flats and covers at night for a while after the challenge concluded.  My success lasted a few months and then my second daughter started wetting more at night and the flats just couldn't hold up.  I went back to disposables for a while before I found some fitteds that worked well for us (trial results coming soon!). 

 

Going into this year's challenge I was really concerned that I wouldn't be able to find an appropriate night time solution.  One flat wasn't enough and when I pad folded two flats it was way too bulky for my skinny kids. Last year I never did any fancy folds so until recently I didn't even think of combining folds for a good night time solution.  I tried out my combination of a (modified to fold in more) kite fold with a pad folded extra flat in the center a few night before the official start of the challenge and so far I have had great success!!!  I also like to add a fleece liner on top so that it has a stay dry feel since they are in the diaper for 12 hours at night.  This has been a great solution because its so trim but still so absorbent.

 

 

 

My recommendation for night would be to try different configurations until you find one that works for you.  

 

Flats and Handwashing: My Stash

Stash shots are always fun and today I am sharing a picture and some info about my diaper stash for the flats and hand washing challenge.



I pretty much always am using flats/cover either during the day and almost every night one my two girls so it was impossible to get a full stash shot but here is at least a partial shot. But here is what's not in the wash before the start of Day 1:

My stash for the challenge is probably more than I would really need but because I have it all already on hand I decided to include everything I had in the tally below.

Flats:

6 OsoCozy Birdseye Flats ($12) - I love these for overnight and for just every day use

2 Imagine Bamboo Flats ($9) - These are really absorbent and great for overnight

5 Receiving blankets ($10) - I like these for during the day and I like the pop of color

5 Flour Sack Towels ($5) - These are my least favorite so I use them as a back up

Covers:

3 Rumparooz covers ($33) - I got these on sale so I would have more covers for nights and I love them!

1 Thirsties size Medium ($10) - I had this from before and it is a solid cover

1 Bummies size small ($13) - I love this for day when I want a more trim look

1 Sweet Pea cover ($10) - I bought this for the challenge last year but it's my backup cover

1 Blueberry coverall ($18) - I bought this for night time too since its nice and wide

1 Flip Cover ($5) - I got this during a seconds sale, you can't go wrong for $5!

2 Homemade covers ($16) - I have two covers that I made myself that the materials cost about $8 each

Accessories:

Bucket ($5) - Just a cheap bucket from the hardware store

Mobil Washer ($20) - I used this washer last year and it was amazing, I swear it works better than my washing machine

15 Wipes ($5) - I make these myself also and I love having cloth wipes
4 Snappies (13) - For when you want a fancy fold :)

Diaper Sprayer ($40) - my husband made me one when I started using CDs and while it's not required it is a life saver.

In total my stash would cost (brand new) just over $200.  Of course this is enough to cover at least 2 days so you could probably go with half (saving at least $50).  Also if I was building a stash from scratch I would take advantage of sales, loyalty programs, buy used, etc. and I really think you could have a really nice full stash for about $125-150.

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