Newborn Diaper Trial Results: SoftBums

Today the newborn diaper trial results are for a diaper that is not technically a newborn exclusive diaper.  SoftBums has long been one of my favorite diapers due to its unique slide to size adjustment and ability to really be a one size diaper (fitting starting around 4 pounds).  SoftBums is an all in two diaper with "pods" that snap into the reusable shell.  While I was pregnant SoftBums announced that they were releasing improved small pods (the ones intended for newborns) so I was excited to add both the bamboo and dry touch small pods to my newborn trial.

 

 

 

I conducted the newborn diaper trial exactly the same as my normal diaper trial with the exception of how I logged the leaks.  Overall I would say that the newborn diapers I used leaked more often than the one size diapers I have tried in the past.  For that reason I decided to track the severity of the leak to give the results a little more color.  With each leak I ranked them from one to five with one representing a tiny leak that you might not even change their clothes for and a five being soaked.  Now for the results of the SoftBums Dry Touch and Bamboo small pods:

Small Dry Touch:

Number times of uses: 8
Number of leaks: 6
Longest wear without a leak: 2 hours
Average severity of leaks: 1.8
Big Booty factor – 2

 

Small Bamboo:

Number times of uses: 12
Number of leaks: 7
Longest wear without a leak: 2.5 hours
Average severity of leaks: 1.5
Big Booty factor – 2

Pros: ·      Unique leg adjustments fit skinny newborn legs
·      Can be used past the newborn stage ·      Easy to customize absorbency with multiple pod options ·      Trim even with 2 pods

  Cons:
·         Newborn poop normally got on the shell so they were one time use  

Consistent with other brands there were a lot of leaks. even though they were normally pretty small  With the bamboo pods I kept noticing that I would have small leaks even when only half of the pod was wet.  I consulted the online SoftBums fan page (don't you love how supportive the cloth diaper community is??) and they suggested stacking the pods.  I decided to put a bamboo on the bottom for the greater absorbency and a microfiber on the top for the quick absorbency.  As noted in prior reviews my son not only pees a lot but apparently pretty fast so setting up my pods this way I never had a leak and they would last about 3 hours.  I don't like to report custom configurations in my trial results but one of the benefits of SoftBums is how customizable they are.  I bought my small pods on their own but in my opinion the best way to but the pods is to buy the super pods as it includes a one size pod and a small pod that snaps into it.  One of my first reviews was for the large pods and I hope to review the one size pods soon!  I also used the SoftBums shells over fitted diapers for night time and they were great.  I love that there really are so many uses for the shells.

 

The pictures below are when Lachlan was 2 weeks old and about 6.5 pounds.  The fit on the legs was great since you can customize how big the leg holes are.  I also love SoftBums hook and loop and using it for a newborn makes the diaper so easy to use as well as helps get a nice fit on a small baby. At this age the legs were almost as tight as they could go and the tabs were fully crossed over.

 

 

The next set of pictures I took were at 1 month old (5 weeks) and he was 9 pounds, 4 ounces. At this age the legs were still pretty tight since they are still skinny and the tabs are just barely crossed over.

 

 

 

At 2 months old, my son was 11 pounds 2 ounces and 23 inches long.  His legs are finally starting to chunk up and the tabs are touching but not crossed over.

 

 

And just because he loves this diaper so much, here he is at 2.5 months and about 12.5 pounds.  He is super chunky in this picture and you can tell he still has lots of room to grow.  In this picture he has a one size dry touch pod in the shell and you can see is it still really trim!

 

 

 

Overall I was really happy with how SoftBums performed as a newborn diaper.  I love all of the different options and the fit of the shells just can't be beat.  Of course one of the best features is that you can buy SoftBums and instead of having to sell them to buy a one size diapers you can just keep on using them through potty training.  SoftBums truly are a birth to potty training diaper!

 

Newborn Diaper Trial Results: Simplex All In One

This week continues with the results of the newborn diaper trial I conducted on my newest little squish.  Today I am reporting on the Blueberry Newborn Simplex All in One. The newborn Simplex was a favorite among people when discussing newborn diapers so I was really excited to have a few of these to try.  I will say, I was not disappointed.

 

 

I conducted the newborn diaper trial exactly the same as my normal diaper trial with the exception of how I logged the leaks.  Overall I would say that the newborn diapers I used leaked more often than the one size diapers I have tried in the past.  For that reason I decided to track the severity of the leak to give the results a little more color.  With each leaks I ranked them from one to five with one representing a tiny leak that you might not even change their clothes for and a five being soaked.  Now for the results of the Blueberry Newborn Simplex All in One:

Number times of uses: 10
Number of leaks: 3
Longest wear without a leak: 3 hours
Average severity of leaks: 1
Big Booty factor – 2

Pros: ·      Absorbency lasted longer than the average newborn diaper
·      Attached soaker makes laundry easy and dries quickly ·      Has a snap down for the umbilical cord

·      Great resale value

  Cons:
·       One of the more expensive newborn diapers at $18.95

·       Didn't fit my newborns skinny legs for a while

 

As you can see above the Blueberry Newborn Simplex performed great.  There were 3 leaks but all of them were tiny (or a level 1) and all were at greater than 2 hours of wear time.  As noted above the Newborn Simplex didn't fit my little guys skinny newborn legs for a while and finally fit the legs at around 3 weeks old or 7 pounds.  The Simplex does have a snap down for the umbilical cord but as you can see in the picture below this takes up space where snaps could be instead for a tighter fit and I think I would have preferred that to the umbilical snap down.  For my skinny baby the legs had gaps while he had his umbilical cord and then once it fell off the legs finally fit so I didn't really use the snap down.  Even though the diaper didn't fit for the first few weeks the absorbency of the diaper did last us longer so it was nice to have diapers that still fit and worked well when he was peeing more.

 

The pictures below are when Lachlan was 2 weeks old and about 6.5 pounds.  The Simplex is said to work from 6-16 pounds but at 6.5 pounds the leg gaps would cause leaks so the fit wasn't great.  If you had a 6 pound baby with chunkier legs then it might fit fine.

 

 

The next set of pictures I took were at 1 month old (5 weeks) and he was 9 pounds, 4 ounces. The fit at this weight was really good and the absorbency was also good. 

 

 

 At 2 months old, my son was 11 pounds 2 ounces and 23 inches long.  In the picture below I have the rise fully unsnapped and the fit is still great.  At 11 pounds you can definitely tell that it will fit for another few pounds.

 

 

Overall I was really pleased with the Newborn Simplex.  It was a little pricier than the other newborn diapers that I tried out but the resale on it was good enough to justify the price.  I loved that this one fit my little guy longer than the average newborn diaper so even though we didn't use it early on I felt like I got a lot of use out of it.

 

Newborn Diaper Trial Results: SmartBottoms Born Smart

Next up for the Newborn Diaper Trial Results is SmartBottoms Born Smart.  I remember when SmartBottoms came out with the Born Smart and I loved a lot of the features so I was excited to try it out with my newborn.

I conducted the newborn diaper trial exactly the same as my normal diaper trial with the exception of how I logged the leaks.  Overall I would say that the newborn diapers I used leaked more often than the one size diapers I have tried in the past.  For that reason I decided to track the severity of the leak to give the results a little more color.  With each leaks I ranked them from one to five with one representing a tiny leak that you might not even change their clothes for and a five being soaked.  Now for the results of the SmartBottoms Born Smart: Number times of uses: 12
Number of leaks: 8
Longest wear without a leak: 1.5 hour
Average severity of leaks: 2.125
Big Booty factor – 2
Pros: ·      Very Trim and fits very small ·      Umbilical cord notch doesn't interfere with snaps
·      Detachable soaker makes it easier to clean ·      Fit skinny newborn legs

  Cons:
·       Not as absorbent as I would have liked The BornSmart was the first diaper that I put on my newborn because it fit so small.  I put it on at 2 days old or about 6 pounds and the fit was just amazing.  I didn't start tracking until my son was about 3 weeks old so the results aren't completely representative because in the first few weeks when he was peeing less it worked great.  I would say that this diaper worked wonderful for the first month but once we got into month two and my son started eating more it just couldn't hold up absorbency wise.  At $18 a diaper it is a little expensive to only work a month but the resale on SmartBottoms was the best of any of my newborn diapers so I don't feel like I lost out on anything.  This was my go to diaper for the first month and I was really glad that I had 3 of them as it was the first one I would reach for.  I didn't track anything outside of what comes with the diaper but I do think its important to note that when I added extra absorbency that it lasted much longer (closer to 2 hours).  The diaper is said to fit from 6-16 pounds but I found that at 2 months and a little over 11 pounds that the rise was getting too short so I would guess that 12 pounds is a better estimate.    Here is my son at 2 weeks old, the picture isn't great because I was just taking it for myself but I wanted to share so you can see how tiny it fits. I love the cut out for the umbilical cord over a snap down because it looks cleaner and also doesn't interfere with getting a tight fit.  

2 days old - 6 pounds

At 2 weeks old and about 6.5 pounds the fit was still great.  It fit my son's skinny legs well and I still had the rise snapped down.

 

2 weeks - 6.5 pounds

2 weeks - 6.5 pounds

At one month old and 9.25 pounds the fit was still good but he started growing out the absorbency.  As you can see the rise fit well full unsnapped (he was about 21 inches long). The majority of our recorded leaks happened between 1-2 months old.

 

1 month - 9.25 pounds

1 month - 9.25 pounds

I stopped using the diaper before the 2 month mark because we had too many leaks but I wanted to show the fit at 2 months anyways.  He is just over 11 pounds and about 23 inches long. 

 

2 months - 11 pounds

2 months - 11 pounds

       

 

After taking this picture I sold all three of the Born Smarts I had for almost what I paid for them so overall I thought it was a good investment.  These were perfect for the newborn stage (which is considered the first 4 weeks) but the absorbency started to not be enough for us after that point.  I would love to have tried the Smart Bottoms booster for this diaper to make it last longer but overall I actually really liked this diaper.

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Newborn Diaper Trial Restuls: GroVia Newborn All in One

Over the next few weeks I am excited to share the results of my Newborn Diaper Trial. There are 10 different brands that I will be reporting on and the first newborn diaper trial results I wanted to share is for the GroVia Newborn All in One diaper.  It was hard to pick one to start out with but the GroVia Newborn All in One diaper was one of my favorites for many reasons so I thought it was a great first place to start. 

 

I conducted the newborn diaper trial exactly the same as my normal diaper trial with the exception of how I logged the leaks.  Overall I would say that the newborn diapers I used leaked more often than the one size diapers I have tried in the past.  For that reason I decided to track the severity of the leak to give the results a little more color.  With each leaks I ranked them from one to five with one representing a tiny leak that you might not even change their clothes for and a five being soaked.  Now for the results of the GroVia Newborn All in One diaper:

Number times of uses: 12
Number of leaks: 6
Longest wear without a leak: 3 hours
Average severity of leaks: 1.5
Big Booty factor – 2

Pros: ·      Combines absorbency of natural fibers with the stay dry fabric next to baby's skin ·      Fit below umbilical cord for my son even without snapping down
·      Attached soaker makes laundry easy and dries quickly ·      Fit skinny newborn legs

  Cons:
·       No umbilical notch or snap down  

Overall this diaper performed great.  All of the leaks listed above were after 2.5 hours or more of wear and 4 out of 6 of them were a level 1 so not significant at all.  I knew that if my son was wearing this diaper I wouldn't have to worry about him for a while.  The GroVia Newborn All in One diaper is said to fit from 5-12 pounds and I definitely found that to be true.  My pictures below show that it fit at 2 weeks old (6.5 pounds) snapped all the way down and still at 2 months old (11.25 pounds) not snapped down.  I like that for the size range that it fit my newborn's skinny legs and was still really absorbent.   Even though it does not have a specific feature for the umbilical corn I never had a problem with it fitting under the cord.  The only reason I listed this as a con was because other users may not have the same results without an umbilical snap down so I think it is a nice feature for a newborn diaper. 

 

The pictures below are when Lachlan was 2 weeks old and about 6.5 pounds.  He still had really skinny legs and the diaper fit great.

 

2 Weeks old - 6.5 pounds

2 Weeks old - 6.5 pounds

The next set of pictures I took were at 1 month old (5 weeks).  As you can see I still have it snapped all the way down and the fit is still great.  At this age he was 9 pounds, 4 ounces.

 

1 month old - 9.25 pounds

1 month old - 9.25 pounds

 At 2 months old, my son was 11 pounds 2 ounces and 23 inches long.  In the picture below I have the rise fully unsnapped and the fit is still great.  At 11 pounds you can definitely tell that it will fit for another few pounds.

2 months old - 11 pounds

 

Overall I really liked the GroVia Newborn All in One diaper.  The fit and absorbency were some of the best of the newborn diapers that I tried.  I should note that with my middle daughter that I tried the old version of the GroVia Newborn All in One diaper and I was not a fan so if you are buying used make sure to get the new version.  These worked well for 2 months (11 pounds) for us but then my son started peeing so much that we had to move up to one size diapers to keep up with his absorbency needs.   

 

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Newborn Diaper Trials

Today kicks off my series of posts to share the results of my diaper trials on newborn diapers.  When I found out I was pregnant last year I was excited (beyond the normal excitement) that I would now get to not only buy newborn diapers but also put them through the Naturally Crafty Mom Diaper Trial.  I started looking up all of the different brands that offer a newborn option and spent the next 9 months acquiring diapers from various brands.  Over the next few weeks I will be sharing the results from the 10 brands that I put through the diaper trial and end it with a post for newborn superlatives and a giveaway!

 

The brands that I tested and that you will be seeing results for over the next few weeks include:

1. Grovial Newborn All In One

2. Peachy Green Size zero

3. Thirsties Newborn All in One

4. Smart Bottoms Born Smart

5. Rumparooz Lil Joey

6. Blueberry Newborn Simplex

7. BumGenius Newborn All In One

8. Tots Bots Tiny Fit

9. Diaper Rite Newborn All In One (not picture)

10. SoftBums (not technically a newborn diaper but the only one size diaper that fits down to 4 pounds)

 

**The above picture also shows some newborn diapers that I did not review for various reasons.**

 

I conducted the newborn diaper trial exactly the same as my normal diaper trial with the exception of how I logged the leaks.  Overall I would say that the newborn diapers I used leaked more often than the one size diapers I have tried in the past.  For that reason I decided to track the severity of the leak to give the results a little more color.  With each leaks I ranked them from one to five with one representing a tiny leak that you might not even change their clothes for and a five being soaked.  You will see this new rating system reflected in the results over the coming weeks.

 

Overall I loved accumulating and using my newborn diapers.  I have very tiny newborns (Lachlan was 5 pounds, 15 ounces) and it was nice to have a diaper that fit him well.  He is my first baby that I used newborn diapers for and also my only baby that never had bad diaper rash and didn't have the dreaded poopsplosion.  I would say that overall I don't think I saved much money and I estimate my actual cost to be about $200 for the 2 months that I used them (cost minus resale).  The only real downside is that my son ate constantly and therefore peed constantly so for pretty much all of the newborn diapers he would only last a maximum of 2 hours and for some brands less.  I didn't like feeling like I would have to change him constantly if he was sleeping and therefore we did experience a lot of leaks.  I had heard before my trial that a lot of babies outgrown the absorbency before they outgrow the fit and I definitely found this to be true for us as well. 

 

It was a fun 2 months tracking all these brands and taking pictures at various sizes and I am excited to share my results over the next few weeks!

 

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Bummis All In One Trial Results

HBummis was one of the first cloth diaper brands I ever heard about which isn't surprising since the brand has been around for almost my entire life.  I have owned and loved a few Bummis covers since the beginning of my cloth diaper days so when I heard they were coming out with a new All In One diaper I was quick to request to test it and put it through my diaper trial.

 

 

Number times of uses: 12
Number of leaks: 0!!
Longest wear without a leak: 4 hours
Big Booty factor – 4
Best Use: naps, night (with a booster), babysitters/dads, out of the house

Pros:

·      Very absorbent

·      Inner materials have stayed very soft after multiple washes and line drying
·      Attached soaker is convenient and pocket makes it easy to add extra absorbency

·      Made in America

 Cons:
·        At the higher end of the price range for cloth diapers at $28 a diaper
·     Even on the tightest setting there seems to be extra material

 

 

As the details above show this diaper had great results.  The twelve times recorded were on my new baby who we moved to one size diapers recently. All previous diapers were tested by my *now* middle child but since she is partially potty trained I just used it on her for night time and found it to work great, especially with an extra insert stuffed in the pocket (night time not included in official results above).

 

 

On top of that my sister used it on my niece and while she didn't track the uses she reported no leaks over multiple uses for 3-4 hours each.

The main tester though is my two month old son.  He may look small (11 pounds in this picture) but he eats and pees quit a bit so I was curious how this diaper would stand up.  As you can see below, on the smallest rise the diaper fits him just fine but does have some extra material on the hips and bum.

 

Above and beyond the superior performance of the diaper, the thing I was most impressed with was how soft it stayed.  I like to line dry my diapers which makes some of them feel rough or crunch but not with this diaper!!!  The waffle material of the Bummis All in One stayed soft and luxurious after being washed and dried dozens of times. 

 

This is an all around great American made diaper.  I love a good all in one diaper and was really pleased with the results for the Bummis All in One. 

 

 

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Cloth Diapering at Daycare

Today I am sharing a guest post by a friend and fellow cloth diaper mom.  I asked her to share her experience with using cloth diapers on her son who goes to daycare as I know this is something people are always asking about.  I have heard a lot of people say that the daycares they contact are not open to using cloth diapers but hopefully with a little education more will see it as an easy and sustainable option as well as a benefit to their parents.  One thing I always recommend when a daycare says they won't take cloth diapers is to ask if they would be open to you bringing some in to show them just how easy it is!

 

Cloth Diapers with a Home Daycare

 

We used a home daycare from the time my son was 12 weeks to 14 months. I specifically asked when we interviewed if she was open to using cloth diapers. I was interested in cloth diapering, but had not tried it myself, so I wasn’t sure if we would like it anyhow. She said that would be fine, as she has used them before with previous children. Each day I sent 4 already stuffed Rumparooz pocket snap diapers. She sent home all the dirty ones in the same wet bag and we repeated the process each day. I gave her a CJs butter stick to keep at her house if needed for diaper rashes. I sent cloth wipes as well, however she was not interested in using them. The process was very simple and we didn’t have any problems. 

Cloth with a Large Facility Daycare

For the last 6 months we have been using a center based daycare. Before enrolling I asked several times if they would be willing to cloth diaper and they said yes. They did not even blink an eye when I asked, so unfortunately I do not have advice on how to convince a daycare that they CAN and it is just as easy as disposable diapers. 

The challenge I have had with the larger facility has been in the form of the turn over in providers. He has at least 3-4 teachers a day and all but 1 has left and new ones have come, so thats a lot of people to teach. However,  they are very organized and have forms for everything, so I have just written specific instructions on his “medications” list (they need one for sunscreen use, diaper cream use, and any medications or food allergies) not to use diaper cream without a disposable insert. We are still working on this issue, as I think it has confused some of the teachers when to use it or not, so we usually end up in disposables for a few days until it is cleared. Luckily it doesn’t happen often though. I have toyed with using a cover and disposable inserts those days, but I don’t own enough covers at this point to do that. They also require the BM soiled diapers to be separate from the urine soaked diapers, so I send a separate small wet bag each day for that use. They requested I send 5 diapers a day, for one extra if needed. I still use the Rumparooz pocket diapers and have found that preparing the 5 wet bags on Sundays to take and go has been easiest for my family. We wash every other day or every 3 days depending on our schedule. I did not try to use cloth wipes with this daycare. 

We use cloth wipes and a variety of brands and styles at home, so laundry is interesting. Luckily my husband has come on board and loves using the diapers as much as I do, so he doesn’t mind helping with the laundry and stuffing.