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Lucky #133 is Sara Crawford. Congrats Sara!
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A Year of Fluff All In One Diapers Cloth Diapers Giveaway Made in the USA Review Sized Diapers Velcro/Aplix Closure WAHM made
The Eli Monster AIO Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 10/27)
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I bought my first diaper from The Eli Monster about 6 months ago; a size medium creme speedypants AIO. When it started to seem kind of small on him, I got a little panicky, because I love it so much!!
I had “spotted” it on The Eli Monster Hyenacart store seemingly forever, and I was really surprised when it was still in stock when I had the money to buy finally. Learn from my fail here…”in stock” doesn’t mean ready to ship. It simply means she has the materials to make the item; all items are made to order! Her about me page is kept updated with current turnaround times. Since I have impeccable timing (ha!) I placed my order just as her daughter arrived. Despite just having had a baby, Steph gave me excellent service and an amazing diaper. She doesn’t send out a diaper that she doesn’t think is her best work!
What I love about The Eli Monster is that they are totally unlike any other diaper I have ever seen. They have hand sewn appliqués and hand applied screenprinting.
The screenprinting isn’t “perfect,” but it’s not supposed to be. It’s an incredible, hand made diaper, and no two will be exactly alike, unlike if a commercial company tried to copy this with a factory made diaper!
But anyhoo, the medium diaper I bought before is the speedypants, which was $19.50. This time, I bought the “special edition miracle diaper” for $25.50. For each one she sells, she donates a diaper to The Cloth Diaper Foundation (formerly Miracle Diapers.) The other items I am just dying to have are: the Punk Rock AIO, Anchor’s Aweigh AIO, Tattooed Baby Longies, and the Nautical Star Tattoo diaper. I also need one of her camera wrist straps and a Large Speedypants! She makes nursing pads, covers and embellished prefolds too.
It sounds ridiculous but OMG. For realz, yo. I want one of everything. I love, love, love Eli Monster stuff. Totally my style and so different than everything else.
In my opinion, you may want to consider sizing up in The Eli Monster. Above is the large Eli Monster, compared to a medium Bumgenius. My son still has lots of room in the medium Bumgenius, but has pretty much outgrown the medium Eli Monster. The Eli Monster’s Size Chart gives weight estimates of 10-22 pounds for the medium, but I would probably suggest going with her more general guidelines of medium=baby and large=toddler. My guy is only 18.5 pounds now, and the medium seemed smallish when we got it when he was a year old. Since my guy isn’t even on the CDC’s growth charts, a larger baby would probably grow out of it even sooner.
Yappity yappity, here it is measured folded and stretched:
Here is The Eli Monster large compared to the medium:
The most noticeable difference to me between the medium and large, was the soaker thickness. I’ve tried to photograph it, but it’s tough to show. I wasn’t sure if anyone would be interested in me pinching diapers with calipers. 😉
After using the large, it is definitely a better fit for my son. It makes sense to me. The smaller diapers have trimmer soakers, since you’re likely to change more often and/or have lighter wetters. The older babies tend to wet more at once, so you need more absorbency even if you change diapers as soon as they’re wet!
The first photo is him in the medium, taken the same day as the other photos.
I love Eli Monster diapers, and so does my husband. They are one I reach for if I know that my son’s diaper might be hanging out of his pants. They are such cool and unique diapers, I’m always hoping someone will notice it, and I’ll be able to bring them over to the dark side get them interested in cloth!
Giveaway: The Eli Monster is offering a $20 gift certificate towards anything in her shop! Most items are under $20 so, woo hoo! Here’s how to enter: All comments go in the form below. Feel free to leave a comment, but comments do not count as entries. Mandatory entries include name, email address and your favorite Eli Monster item from The Eli Monster Hyenacart Store or The Eli Monster Etsy Shop. You may “like” The Eli Monster on Facebook for a bonus entry. I will accept entries until Wednesday, October 27th 2010 at 9 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my giveaway rules page for complete details. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
Entries as of October 27th, 2010 at 9:00 P.M.: 213
https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dDZGSGxDVEdOYlA4eU5jSUxkakx5Z1E6MQ
FTC Compliance: I paid normal retail prices for items reviewed. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.
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Well, tonight I was distracted by my “other job” (I moonlight as the tooth fairy) and I almost forgot this giveaway ended tonight! Sheesh!
So 151 people entered for 443 entries, and the winning # is 70, which is Laurie Makinen! Congrats Laurie, I’m sending you an email!
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A Year of Fluff All In One Diapers Cloth Diapers Giveaway Made in the USA Review Side Snapping Sized Diapers Snap Closure WAHM made
Wee Bonnie Botts AIO Review, Giveaway & Discount! (CLOSED 10/26)
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Wee Bonnie Botts are work-at-home-mom (WAHM) made diapers made by Sarah. Like so many other WAHMs, Sarah started out by making diapers for her own child, and it took off from there.
Sarah and I got in contact as I was looking for sponsors for my “Year of Fluff” event this month, and she sent me a side-snapping AIO to review.
I really like to keep my reviews fairly matter of fact, but it so happens that the diapers I’m reviewing this week come from some of the most talented WAHMs I know. So, you might hear a little bit more gushing than usual this week.
I of course love the pirate print; I have a fitted in this print also. Wee Bonnie Botts is one of a growing list of WAHMs that simply amaze me. The craftsmanship is absolutely impeccable; not a stitch out of place. The diaper is seamed in the middle so the front and back are both right side up!
The All-in-One I received is a size medium, which is estimated to fit 18-33 pounds. The knit outer is laminated PUL, not hidden. So there are no issues with wicking. It has an organic bamboo fleece hidden layer, organic bamboo fleece and microfiber soakers, and a stay dry, suedecloth inner.
Wee Bonnie Botts makes diapers with two patterns. Here is approximate sizing for each:
Je M’appelle Bebe
Preemie 2-7 lbs
Newborn 5-12 lbs
Small 10-20 lbs
Medium 18-33 lbs
Large 30-40 lbs
OS 5-40 lbs
Fattycakes
Small: Rise 14″-16″, waist 11″-20″, thigh 6″-13″
Medium: Rise 14″-18.5″, waist 12″-21″, thigh 6.5.”-13.5″
Large: Rise 16″-19″, waist 14″-24″, thigh 8″-14″
Here it is measured folded, stretched, width at the center, and width at the front panel:
I thought the sizing was generous, but not overly so. The medium fit my 18.5 lb guy great, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it took him through potty training.
The diaper was very absorbent, and we had no fit issues or leaks! The AIOs retail for $19-$24 (the $24 is for wool AIOs, which are coming soon. I want, I want!) Pocket diapers are $16-$21, fitteds $10-$20, and she even has doll diapers for $5!
Discount: Get 10% off if you mention me. Please email Sarah first so she can alter the price to reflect the discount!
Giveaway: Wee Bonnie Botts is offering one blog reader $20 to spend on anything in her etsy shop! Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below; I love comments but comments will not count as entries. Mandatory entries include name, email address and your favorite Wee Bonnie Botts item. You may choose to “like” Wee Bonnie Botts on Facebook for a bonus entry. (I’m a fan and I love getting sneak peeks of what she’s working on!) As usual, I will update this post regularly so you know how many entries there currently are.I will accept entries until Tuesday, October 26th 2010 at 9 P.M. Eastern. I will select a winner using random.org’s true random number generator and notify him/her by email. Winner has 48 hours to respond before the prize is forfeited and a new winner is chosen. View my giveaway rules page for complete details. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.
Entries as of October 26th, 2010 at 9:00 P.M.: 232
https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dGpZSHZ2U2ZKVC1jaDBOc292UGctTkE6MQ
FTC Compliance: I received this diaper at no charge in order to write my review. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.
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Every Monday I will answer user submitted questions. They don’t have to be about cloth diapering! I’ll always answer questions via email, but if you would like your question to be answered in a Mailbox Mondays post, send an email with the subject “Mailbox Mondays” to Maria at change-diapers dot com.
I’m looking for MM submissions for late October and beyond!
Marah says:
I am so sick of leaks overnight! What is your solution for overnight cloth diapering?
Marah
This is a pretty common dilemma, and one that caused me a lot of trouble! Sometimes, it’s as simple as the right fit and the right insert. I was stuffing my Bumgenius diapers so thick that I had to size up, and was having leg gap issues.
Make sure the diaper fits snugly at the legs, and that the inner of the diaper and the insert are all tucked in. Also make sure no clothing is tucked into the diaper! I’ve accidentally had my son’s shirt stuck in the back of the diaper before!
If your diaper fits well, but you don’t have enough absorbency (the insert is completely saturated in the morning) try adding a second full size insert, a hemp doubler, or what really worked for me, a Knickernappies Superdo insert.
If you still have trouble, bring out the big guns. Super absorbent fitteds with wool soakers are an awesome combo. I’ve had great luck with the Guerilla Fluff utilitarian. Make sure your wool soaker is well lanolized, and look for soakers designed for night time, since they have extra layers in the wet zone. I love our Mobums Night Night Wool Soaker.
Now that it’s getting cooler, putting your child in fleece pajama pants will give you another layer of wetness protection! Like wash routines, overnight diapering is annoying since as soon as you figure it out, something changes! Once I finally had our routine down pat, my son stopped wetting as heavily!
Nancy says:
Here’s a question for Mailbox Mondays: What are the best soaking, washing and drying methods to keep your diapers clean, soft, and absorbent?
Nancy
Unfortunately, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for this! It depends heavily on your water, your machine, how often you wash, how many diapers you wash at a time etc.
For me, a cold wash with no detergent, hot wash with a tiny amount of detergent, with an extra rinse works well.
I hang my shells to dry and tumble the inserts in the dryer.
About every other month, I soak all of my diapers and inserts overnight in RLR, then rinse until the water is clean. Then, I wash only the inserts with a dab of bleach, then rinse until the water is clean and I don’t smell bleach.
I spent a lot of time playing with wash routines and detergents. Right now I am using Tide HE powder, but I use only about 1/4 of the lowest load line for a full load of diapers.
How about you gals? Did you have trouble coming up with an overnight solution? What have you tried? What works for you?
How about wash routines? How do you wash & dry? What detergent do you use? How many detergents did you go through before you found the right one? Do you strip your diapers or treat them? How often? What do you use?
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Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
