What About Training Pants? (Part 1)

Posted on November 8, 2011 by allison

Training pants are quickly becoming the next big thing in the cloth diapering world. Yaya started potty training back in January, and we have tried almost every trainer out there. Some are great, some are weird, some are not great. Here are my mini-reviews of the ones we’ve tried.

Blueberry Trainers – These are good, but SMALL. Super soft bamboo inside, cute prints outside. But being so small means it’s harder to pull up and down. Pretty low absorbency, but isn’t that what training pants are for?

EcoPosh Trainers – Our faves. Very similar to Blueberrys in design and thickness. But they run bigger. They are only in a few solid colors, but, like the EcoPosh fitted diapers, they are made with recycled plastic. Also, brown inside fabric? Genius! Stains don’t show up. Pretty absorbent.

Bummis Trainers -Not great. Flannel lining pills easily. They run large, and have a big poofy shape. Not very trim under clothes. Not as absorbent as other ones. If they’re going to leak, I’d rather go with trimmer trainers.

Flip Trainers – Jury is still out on these. There are a few parts I LOVE. Having snaps to adjust the size is a great idea, both for the sides and rise. You could get away with one size of trainers for all of your potty training adventures. I love the idea of changing colors. It can definitely get your kid excited about putting them on. Lastly, I love the changeable soaker pads. Bad things? The Velcro tabs ALWAYS get stuck in the washing machine. They are under a layer of PUL, but they still manage to grab on to everything. The pads aren’t super absorbent, but you can add more layers if necessary (my set came with 5).

GroVia Trainers – Not available until next month, but I have these on pre-order. Very similar to the Flip Trainers. Removable side panels in a variety of colors, and adjustable rise. Side panels come in 2 sizes, which I think will make them last longer than the Flips. The GroVia trainer has hemp/cotton inside, and a pocket for adding extra absorbency.

Super Undies – Love these, but they are more like diapers than training pants. They are super absorbent and hold a full pee (maybe more) without leaking. I have only used the pull-up style, but they also have nighttime trainers and pockets. I think these are more for bed-wetters who prefer wearing something that looks more like underwear. They are fairly trim for being so absorbent. We use them for running errands. They are fairly expensive ($20 for the pull-ups or pockets, and $30 for the overnights) but hold up well.

Kushies Trainers – Really similar to the Bummis. Really poofy and have an inside lining of flannel that pills. The good part is that the Bummis and Kushies are the cheapest of all these, but I would not recommend them unless you are on a budget.

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I LOVE WOOL!

Posted on October 25, 2011 by allison

So after I spent a ton preordering sustainablebabyish items (which are great), I discovered a love for Wild Child Woolies/Wild Coconut Wear. I just have to say, I LOVE wool! We are slowly replacing most of our diapers with fitteds and wool.

However, I have NOT had as much luck as other people with using wool and staying dry overnight. I have used a WCW cover UNDER longies and that worked. But usually Gah has a bottle of water during the night, in addition to his bedtime bottle of milk, so he definitely gives his bladder a workout. I have ended up using stuffed fitteds with a Flip or Thirsties cover under wool. It’s so cozy!

We DO love wool during the day though. Fitteds and wool last a long time. I love how cool the diaper feels during changes, even when soaked.

I have now officially spent a Metric Ton on sbish wool and fitteds. But the best part? They have RESALE VALUE!!!

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New Prints! New Designs! New Products! New Hole In My Wallet!

Posted on September 15, 2011 by allison

A lot of diaper companies have announced new prints, colors, or products. I know many more will be announced during and after the ABC Kids Expo.

GroVia was first, announcing some NEW colors. It was common knowledge that the new colors were coming, since they discontinued the cosmos pink and ice blue recently, and had massive sales on them. (See my previous post about how I scored tons of these colors in newborn diapers for cheap.) Well, I LOVE their new colors: cloud, a dark grey, and surf, a rich, deep teal. Not your usual pastel colors you see on baby products. I will DEFINITELY be buying something in BOTH those colors once they are released.

In addition to colors, GroVia announced some new products, including training pants! With newborn AIOs, a hybrid system, and a one-size AIO, they were spanning the diaper market but stopped at potty training. The trainer has a new design: removable side panels, and a one-size snap-down rise. As far as I know, this is the first one-size trainer announced. Side panels are available in 2 sizes and 6 colors. The trainer is available in 2 colors. It is made of organic cotton and hemp. GroVia is also releasing a hemp-based snap-in soaker for their hybrid system, that has a stay-dry top layer. I love that they are starting to use hemp!

Another company debuting a trainer is Cotton Babies/BumGenius. Their trainer is part of the Flip line and, like GroVia, is a one-size training pant with removable side panels. But the best part, in my opinion, is the removable soaker pads. Just like the Flip diapers, when the soaker gets wet, just get a fresh one and reuse the shell. I’m hoping it’s possible to just pull down the trainer, replace the soaker, and pull the trainer back up, without having to take off pants and shoes completely! This trainer comes in 13 colors and 2 prints, and the side panels are available in the 13 solid colors. BumGenius says this trainer will fit most kids from 18m-4T, but the side panels only come in one size, unlike GroVia’s two. The soaker pads are organic cotton, and attach via hook & loop closure. Extra soakers can be purchased separately.

BumGenius also came out with the Freetime, a one-size AIO. BumGenius had discontinued their old sized AIOs back in January 2010, but had continued selling the Elemental, an organic cotton one-size AIO. Personally, I’m not as excited about the Freetime since it’s microfiber-based, and we prefer natural fibers, but I still need to try one out! In addition to this new diaper, there are 2 new prints and 3 new colors for all BumGenius products, although they are only available on the new products at first. There’s Dazzle, a bright purple, Mirror, a light teal, and Sassy, a tomato red. The prints are Albert, a black base with scientific formulas written in white, and Lovelace, a white background with rainbow flowers and swirls on it. I LOVE Lovelace, and will buy a ton of it if I have a girl next. Well, I might even buy it in a Flip cover even if I DON’T!

Last, but not least, is Blueberry/Swaddlebees. They have announced SIX new prints. Monkeys, Dinos, Swirls, Tweets, Baby Blooms, and Butterflies. I love them all! Dinos and Baby Blooms are fabrics that have been used elsewhere in the diaper industry, including on Blueberry’s trainers. Only Swirls and Monkeys will be released on the trainers, but the rest of the patterns will be available on most other products (except fitteds). My favorites are the Monkeys (so cute!) and Swirls, which I think is gorgeous for a boy or a girl.

The Swaddlebees/Blueberry new prints are the first of these products to be available, in mid-late September. The Grovia products and colors, and the BumGenius colors/prints and products are all to be released around December. I *may* have already preordered some of these new products (a Freetime in Albert, and the introductory trainer package in Mirror). I plan on getting Simplex 2.0s in Swirls and Monkeys, and I’m not sure about the GroVia products. The Flip and GroVia trainers seem fairly similar, so I might see how we like the Flip before buying the GroVia. But I will definitely get a pack of the hemp/stay-dry snap-in soakers, and would like to get either AIOs or shells in both the new colors.

Of course, all this might change depending on what is released during the ABC Kids Expo. I only have so much money to spread around!

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My Lovely Clotheslines

Posted on September 12, 2011 by allison

For Mother’s Day this year I got an awesome present. Two clotheslines! They are retractable and are just outside our back door. I feel so… green… when I hang a load of laundry to dry, especially diapers.

Our dryer sucks, so a lot of things require 2 full cycles to get completely dry. I do have a drying rack in my basement that I use, but I can’t help feeling that the drying appliance just gets shifted from the dryer to the dehumidifier in the basement. Plus, I’m not wild about clothing drying next to our catbox.

Diapers are pretty crunchy after line-drying. A lot of people will put them through the dryer on no-heat for a few minutes to soften them, but I haven’t done that yet. I’m sure it uses very little energy to do that, but so far stiff clothing hasn’t bothered me enough to try it.

Now that the weather is starting to cool, I’m not sure how long I’ll be able to use my clothesline. Already I’m noticing that clothing takes longer to dry. On hot, sunny days I could get a load of diapers to dry in about 3 hours! Now they might still be damp after a whole day.

But, my other main reason for the clothesline is to SUN the diapers to get out stains. It is AMAZING how well it does removing diaper stains. If only I had taken before and after pictures. But here is a picture of my first load of clothes I dried this spring.

My Clotheslines with Cloth Diapers Drying

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FuzziBunz Limited Edition “Mystery” Print

Posted on September 9, 2011 by allison

I am… underwhelmed. If I had seen them beforehand, I doubt I would have participated in this promotion. Not because I don’t love FuzziBunz (I do!), but because I just have so many diapers. I love their daisy print diapers (old version) and have no problem putting them on my boy. I was excited because I love a good print!

It seems everyone on the internet isn’t very satisfied with their free diapers, according to this thread on Diaperswappers. One complaint is that by the word “print”, people were expecting an all-over print, as opposed to a mostly white diaper with a design on the bum. FuzziBunz has written a blog post about the diapers, as well as revealing all the “mystery” designs.

Well, I can’t complain too much. Free is free. And by agreeing to get an unreleased diaper, you’re taking chances no matter what.

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What’s All The Hype About Sustainablebabyish?

Posted on September 4, 2011 by allison

So, in my research into nighttime diapering solutions, I came across a lot of people raving over sustainablebabyish/sloomb diapers and wool covers/longies. Are they really that great?

They are fairly expensive. About $25 to start for a sized fitted with snaps, about $21 for a one-size snapless fitted, $43 for wool soakers, and $65 for wool longies. Certainly not the most expensive out there (ex. GoodMamas) but still, they must be pretty great for people to own so many different sbish products.

Well, I now own 3 sustainablebabyish sized bamboo fitteds. They are lovely diapers! So soft and squishy. Still not the answer to our nighttime dilemma, but they are still some excellent, absorbent diapers.

I’m a little ashamed to admit that I’ve made THREE pre-orders for their products that should arrive this fall. I won’t list out exactly what I bought, in case anybody was going to add it up, but I got some wool, some fitteds, and some one-size snapless. And, of course, I got package deals AND used coupon codes. They really have some beautiful colors for their products. That’s the secret to becoming a diapering phenomenon. Limited edition colors, so people feel compelled to buy every season.

I’m really hoping I’m WOWed by the wool. I haven’t been that impressed with all our longies. Everything is either too thin, too thick, doesn’t cover an overstuffed nighttime dipe, too long, etc. So far our best bet is hand-knit woolies, but I want more stretch! And I want double-layer! Can’t wait until next month when the items should start arriving!

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Updates on My Stash – Woollybottoms, EcoPosh,

Posted on August 29, 2011 by allison

After my review of Woollybottoms footies, I bought another pair in medium. It was hard to find a large selection to choose from. Woollybottoms seems to prefer doing recycled woolies, which I’m kind of scared of. For day time it’s fine, but I don’t want to spend money on woolies that might end up being too thin for overnight. Of course, on the WB website they do give weight and day/night recommendations, but I loved the ones I reviewed and wanted the same, just smaller.

Again, I bought from Abby’s Lane. They only had 3 patterns available in M, and two were pink. They have TONS in S and XS, but I didn’t discover them until my boy was a year old and 27lbs! Gah is wearing them right now, over a Baby Beehinds hemp fitted.

Also, since I’ve been using an EcoPosh fitted, I decided to get some trainers for Yaya. She starts preschool next month, and while I’d say she’s about 90% potty-trained, she still needs a lot of help in the bathroom. These are so soft and stretchy that they are easy for her to pull up and down. We mostly have Blueberry trainers, which are nice, but run pretty small. They larges are somewhat snug on her, and she’s a skinny girl. She fits in the EcoPosh medium with room to spare. Hopefully this will get her a little more independent in the bathroom.

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Review – EcoPosh One-size Fitted

Posted on August 26, 2011 by allison
*note: I was NOT compensated in any way for this review, nor did I receive the diaper free. I bought it myself, the old-fashioned way. Although I guess with a credit card through a computer isn’t exactly old-fashioned…anyway, here we go*

For the background on our nighttime diapering saga, click here.

When Kanga-Care/Rumparooz debuted their EcoPosh line, the internet consensus was that the diapers were too expensive! $34.95 for a one-size fitted? $29.95 for a newborn fitted? That are just going to get POOPED ON?

Well, the EcoPosh line is certainly not the first expensive cloth diaper. GoodMama diapers go for $35, and her overnights go for more. These diapers are HIGHLY sought-after. There are plenty of other diapers that go for between $25-30. Fitted diapers in particular are made from a lot of layers, and if those layers are organic or special fabric, it can get expensive.

The rest of the EcoPosh line isn’t so expensive. Trainers go for $16 and wool soakers start at $35, both of which are fairly average prices.

The EcoPosh OS fitted came in minimal packaging. A small, unbleached paper tag was secured by a length of twine tied around the diaper. The diaper is made from organic cotton, bamboo, and recycled water bottles. It includes a trademark 6*r soaker, but this one is made from an unbleached bamboo version of the diaper fabric, instead of the microfiber that comes in the Rumparooz diaper.

First impressions: The diaper feels smooth, thanks to jersey fabric on the outside. Soft like a t-shirt. The inside fleece feels thick and substantial. Nowhere does it feel like it’s made from plastic bottles! It has the Rumparooz inner gussets to help hold in the poopies. With the added absorbency of the 6*r soaker that goes in the pocket, I’m hoping it will work out for us overnight.

The prepping step took a while. This diaper takes a LONG time to dry. This isn’t an issue during the summer, when I line-dry outside, but during colder weather I could see this getting annoying. Either pay the electricity/gas for several dryer cycles, or find a place to hang the diaper to dry for a couple days.

So now I finally get to try it out on Gah. And…  it was good. Not great, but good. If you use both pieces of the insert, it’s a good, thick diaper. I didn’t need to add any extra layers/doublers for overnight. But, it was still soaked in the morning and Gah’s woolies were damp on the outside.

Pros

  • Uses recycled plastic bottles in the materials
  • LOVE the pocket! Not very common on a fitted diaper
  • Kanga-Care’s unique inner gusset system
  • Uses minimal packaging
  • Great 2-piece bamboo/cotton 6*r soaker

Cons

  • Expensive!
  • Not as absorbent as I would have hoped for nighttime.
  • Small range of colors, all have brown insides (but this could be a pro, if you like that they use eco-friendly dyes or are unbleached)

Bottom Line

The EcoPosh one-size is a great fitted diaper. I love the pocket for stuffing, which holds extra layers in really well. This company is really trying to do the right thing by using recycled materials. Was this diaper the magic bullet for our nighttime problem? No.  Is it a super-absorbent fitted? YES! Is it worth $34.95? Well, I’m sure you can find an equivalent diaper for cheaper. But, personally, I’d gladly pay a little extra for a diaper that uses recycled materials.

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Twitter Parties

Posted on August 23, 2011 by allison

I’m still relatively new to the idea of Twitter Parties. I’ve participated in two so far, with another one starting in 2 hours! The ones I’ve “attended” have been about cloth diaper products or info. The main draw, for me, is the giveaways. Lots of sponsors sign up and give out free stuff. The freebie can be as simple as one free cloth diaper ($10-20) or can be a great grand prize, such as an iPad or a diaper package.

My first Twitter party was spent asking how to get on the RSVP list, since that was the only way you were eligible for prizes. Turns out you had to RSVP in advance of the party, but I didn’t know. And no one told me during the party, so I was there the whole hour, clueless and ineligible to win.

For my second one, I RSVPed and participated but did not win. Boo! At least I kinda got the hang of it. I answered questions, and people even responded to me! The parties move fast, so I missed probably 50% of the conversation. I would see a question, pause my reader, respond, then try to catch up. Luckily, after the party was over, any tweets I made, or were directed at me, were still visible on my Twitter page.

So now I’m waiting for my third party to start. If I don’t win anything tonight, I’m not sure how long I’ll keep doing these parties.  Some of them are interesting, like announcing a new product. But others are simply chatting. Most of the time I’m too busy to chat for an hour, unless there’s something in it for me!

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Nighttime Diapering

Posted on August 19, 2011 by allison

Although I have been cloth diapering for almost 3 years, I still haven’t figured out what works best overnight for my kids.

When Yaya was a baby, getting changed around the clock, we just used whatever cloth diapers we had. Once she got older and started sleeping longer, we had a lot of leakage problems. We switched to disposable overnight diapers. I know, I know, I’m so ashamed. They worked though!

Once Gah came along, we followed the same path from the start. Cloth during the day, disposables at night. Well, around 11-12 months old, he started soaking through the overnight disposables. Not just any overnights, but ones that were 1-2 sizes too big for him. At a year he was 26lbs, but we had him in size 5 overnights just for the extra absorbency. So then I thought about trying cloth again. After not using cloth at night for almost 2 years, we did it, and it worked! We were using overclocked FuzziBunz with all sorts of varieties of inserts. These worked for a while, but then Gah started getting molars and was therefore up and eating all night. Since changing his diaper would make him mad, and therefore the rest of the house mad, we try to leave him in his diaper since he doesn’t mind.

I was eventually putting a 12 month-old in 4T jammies just so the bottoms could cover his stuffed badonkadonk, and I had to buy a ton of pjs since he pretty much got them wet every night. Something had to change. Yes, we are trying to get him away from eating so much overnight. But since we are not a CIO-family, this will take longer to accomplish. I started investigating using wool covers/fitted diapers at night, since that is supposedly the most absorbent combo.

I have been trying out every kind of fitted diaper and wool cover imaginable. Well, almost on the wool cover part. We’ve only been using longies or footies since I don’t want to put him in pants, but want him to stay covered and warm. For some reason, the idea of a wool soaker UNDER pants makes me nervous. Wouldn’t it wick? Right now we are using a mix of WoollyBottoms footies, handknit longies, and sustainablybabyish longies. For fitteds we are using Kissaluvs Hemp, itti bitti bitti boo, sustainablebabyish snap fitteds, Earth Mom and Baby Bumboo, and BabyKicks Hemp. So far we haven’t found our magic bullet. But at least in wool, the bed stays mostly dry, even though the cover gets pretty wet. And of course the fitted is completely drenched.

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