Sustainablebabyish Knit Underwoolies – Wool Cloth Diaper Cover Review

Jun 9,2011 / By Maria / 4 Comments

I don’t enter many giveaways anymore, so it’s not surprising that I don’t often win! I do enter giveaways that are easy to enter, don’t have a ton of entries, and of course it has to be something I want to win!

Most recently, I entered to win Sustainablebabyish knit underwoolies (a wool cloth diaper cover) from Merrimack Valley Diapers and the Cloth Diaper Retailer Cooperative. I don’t have a lot of wool since it is rather pricey (and I was initially afraid of wool!) but I do have a Kissaluvs Kissa’s Wool Lover Diaper Cover, a Mobums Wool Interlock Night Night Wool Soaker and a Little Beetle Little to Big Wool Cover. Wool is much easier to use and wash than I thought, and it was our savior for night time when my son was in a super heavy wetting stage!

I’ve been eyeing Sustainablebabyish (A.K.A. sbish) since the Great Cloth Diaper Hunt, when I spent hours and hours on their site looking for that darn diaper, LOL!

Imagine how stoked I was when I won!! Especially since wool is expensive! The underwoolies retail for $34.00, so this was an awesome, generous prize from Merrimack Valley Diapers. (They have a note on their home page that they’re going out of business, which is stinky, but you might be able to catch some good sales!)

The Sustainablebabyish tag is made out of wildflower paper that you can plant, how cool! There was no real “packaging” to speak of, but I really like their tags.

The underwoolies come in size 1 (5-18 lbs) and 2 (18-37 lbs.) Since it was free, and my son doesn’t really need anything, I chose the size 1 for someday newborn diapering. I think it may have just barely squeezed on my 23 pound son, but not over a fluffy fitted!

The craftsmanship is amazing (inside out above to show the seams) and it’s such a simple, but gorgeous cover. I haven’t gotten to really use & review it, but I don’t doubt that it will perform as well as the other wool I have! Of course now I want to try a Sustainablebabyish fitted to go with it! 🙂

FTC compliance: I won the pictured item in a giveaway. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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AppleCheeks Printalicious Print Reveal, Review & Giveaway U.S./Canada (CLOSED 6/14)

Jun 7,2011 / By Maria / 32 Comments

This is it! The Applecheeks Printalicious Print Reveal! Be sure to RSVP for the Ustream Live Broadcast event tomorrow, June 8th from 9-10 P.M.Eastern. There will be lots of prizes!

This was the first time I’ve gotten to try an AppleCheeks diaper, and I received one with the bamboo insert. AppleCheeks diapers are designed and manufactured in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

The print I received is called wild child!

It’s an adorable print with elephants, rhinos, alligators (or crocodiles, I don’t know the difference!) and whales enjoying tasty apples!

The other new print is called “Delicious,” and it’s equally adorable! Some of the other Printalicious bloggers received this print, so check them out for more photos of it!

Since AppleCheeks are new to me, I’m going to do a rundown of the features too! It has easy snap closures, and you can adjust the waist and leg snaps independently to get a great fit.

AppleCheeks also have both front and rear elastic, to guard against leaks!

The envelope covers have a super soft microfleece inner, and gentle leg elastic.

The wide envelope opening is easy to stuff, and allows the insert to come out in the wash!

The bamboo insert is ridiculously soft. I’d love to have a shirt or blanket made out of this! Aah! You can use it in the pocket, or trifold it and place it inside the envelope cover like an all-in-two.

Before prepping (washed on hot 3 times & dried once):

After prepping:

It’s super easy to use. Just trifold it, and stick it in the pocket!

The AppleCheeks system is a two-size system. Size 1 fits approximately 7-20 lbs and size 2, 18-
40 pounds. You can even get waist extenders to make your AppleCheeks work even longer for your baby.

I received the size 2, here it is measured folded and stretched (not an exact science of course!):

Here it is on my 23 pound 2-year old:

Isn’t the print great?!

Since the print reveal was secret, and done on a short time span, I didn’t get to use the diaper as long as I normally would before reviewing it, I used it just twice. However, I can already tell the fit is great (and trim) and the insert is super absorbent! I can’t wait to see everyone else’s babies in these great new prints!

The “Little Bundle” (envelope cover & insert) I receved normally retails for $28.30, but will be $27.80 (50 cent discount) through June 14th, 2011.

Don’t forget, go RSVP for the Ustream live chat event to win great prizes! It’s tomorrow (6/8/11) at 9 P.M. Eastern!

Here are all of the other blogs that participated in the print reveal, many have giveaways too!:

AppleCheeks Official Blog

Pickles & Paisleys

Dirty Diaper Laundry

The Eco Chic

The Cloth Diaper Report

All About Cloth Diapers

Giveaway: One winner will receive an AppleCheeks little bundle (envelope cover and insert) in the winner’s choice of size and print. ARV $28.30.

Here’s how to enter: All entries go in the form below. I love comments (great way to remind yourself you entered) but comments do not count as entries. One entry per person please (not per day.) If other members of your household enter, I ask that they enter for themselves and that you do not enter on anyone else’s behalf.

Mandatory entries include your name and email address. You may receive a bonus entry if you “like” The NEW Change-Diapers.com Fan Page. Please remember that this is a new page. Make sure you “like” the NEW page and NOT the old page.

I will accept entries until Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 at 9:00 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 residents of the U.S. and Canada.

# of entries received as of giveaway close: 509

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FTC compliance: I received the pictured product at no cost for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

Disclosure: This giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed or administered by, nor associated with Facebook. By entering, you release Facebook from any responsibility and understand that the information entered on this form will not be disclosed to Facebook.

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Cloth Diaper Advice – Mailbox Mondays 6/6/11 – Cloth Wipes

Jun 6,2011 / By Maria / 11 Comments

Have a cloth diaper question? On Mondays, I answer reader submitted questions, and ask my other readers’ advice too.

Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or Fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.

Sabrina says:

I am expecting my first child at the beginning of July, and am so excited to cloth diaper! I would also like to use cloth wipes, but I am overwhelmed with the options. Should I just buy washcloths from Wal-mart, buy actual cloth wipes from a cloth diaper store, or what? And should I pre-moisten them or use a spray bottle? How long can you keep them pre-moistened? How many will I need?? Sooo many questions! I hope you or your readers can help!

Hi Sabrina, congratulations on the baby (and deciding to cloth diaper!) Cloth wipes are the logical choice when you are cloth diapering of course. Plenty of people use baby washcloths as cloth wipes with no trouble. I didn’t care for how small/thin they were, and they tend to roll up on me.

I’ve used a few brands of cloth wipes, but when I started I just used some gerber burp cloths that I found too thin to use as burp cloths. I cut them, doubled them over, and zig-zagged the edges.

I knew that cloth wipes would “pay for themselves” eventually, but they just seemed to expensive to me! After trying a few things, my favorite wipes have ended up being the GroVia wipes. A dozen wipes is under $11, and while they’re not super fancy (just plan white) they are really soft and have held up really well to repeated washings. They’re also 2 layers thick and are my preferred size, 8″ x 8″. This is also the perfect size to fold cloth wipes to pop up in a wipes case!

I use wipes solution in a spray bottle. A little goes a long way and it seems to last forever! I make my solution with bottled distilled water instead of tap water; it seems to keep it fresher longer.

If you are pre-moistening the wipes, I would probably not pre-moisten more than a day or two’s worth of wipes at a time. Most wipes solutions (purchased or homemade) usually have something like tea tree oil in it to help keep your wipes from getting musty though. You can also keep solution (or just water) in a peri bottle or even warm it and keep it in a thermos.

I would recommend at least 1.5 wipes for each diaper in your rotation. So if you’re planning to have 24 diapers in your stash, I’d get at least 3 dozen wipes. If you’re using smaller/thinner wipes, you may need a few more.

So, how about everyone else? What is your wipe of choice? How do you moisten them? If you pre-moisten, how long do they stay fresh? How many wipes did you find you needed?

FTC compliance: The GroVia wipes mentioned were purchased by me at normal retail prices. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Fuzzibunz XS/Newborn Hook & Loop Diaper Review

Jun 2,2011 / By Maria / 3 Comments

I really like my medium Fuzzibunz Perfect Size Diaper and an XS/newborn version was on my wish list (for if I ever get to cloth diaper a newborn, LOL. Don’t judge me, you love fluff too – hee hee.) They retail for about $15.95, so too much for me to spend on the baby I don’t have.

Kelly’s Closet (affiliate link) now exclusively carries Fuzzibunz Perfect Size Diapers with Hook & Loop closures. There’s no information about them on the Fuzzibunz site that I can find, and I really never heard much about them. However, the $9.50 price tag for the newborn size, plus the fact that it’s a hook & loop pocket diaper (my favorite) had me intrigued. When Kelly’s Closet ran a limited time coupon code plus free shipping with no minimum, I jumped. I ended up getting one for 8 dollars and change!

Naturally, it’s tiny and adorable, but I have yet to meet a newborn diaper I didn’t think was adorable!

The hook and loop, Velcro or whatever you want to call it, isn’t like most diapers (with the hook and loop you can actually see.) It looks more like some Carter’s bibs we have. Hard to describe, but if you have a bib with it, you will know what I mean. It almost just feels like a square of rough plastic. The whole front portion of the diaper is made of fuzzy fabric that the tabs will grip onto (and boy do they grip.)

The leg elastic looks like other Fuzzibunz diapers and seems like it would be gentle on little legs.

I puffy heart pocket diapers, even for newborn diapers. I didn’t think the pocket was too tiny/narrow to stuff, but I do have fairly small hands. The diaper comes with one microfiber insert that’s just the right size.

I didn’t see anything that jumped out at me screaming “Look here! We’re the laundry tabs!!” So, I tried to just kind of fold then over onto the fuzzy fabric on the wings. It worked OK enough I suppose, but didn’t stay through the wash. Since there really isn’t any information out there on these, I wasn’t able to find a “how-to” for the tabs!

I tried just looping the tabs around with the diaper inside out instead. That will work I suppose!

Above I’ve compared the XS to my Fuzzibunz One-Size Diaper as tight/small as I could. Not on any particular size setting, just as tight as I could pull the elastic!

Then I measured it both folded and stretched.

Since I don’t have a real baby, I used a stuffed one to model. Here he is in a newborn disposable, so you can compare the size to the Fuzzibunz.

Obviously, this review is incomplete since I don’t have a newborn, but I think it fits well even on the bear! My size medium perfect size diaper is one that I reach for for car rides etc. because I know it fits well and won’t leak, so I expect the same performance from this one (though a baby’s size and shape matters in what diaper works of course.)

However, I wouldn’t buy more of these unless the closures and laundry tabs were improved. My benchmmark is still always the Bumgenius 4.0 hook & loop! I sure do wish they would make a sized pocket diaper with the 4.0 H&L. Hint Hint. I know they are still making the XS AIOs, but I strongly prefer the 4.0 style velcro, and being able to remove the insert to launder it!

FTC compliance: This post is not endorsed, sponsored or approved by any cloth diaper manufacturer or retailer. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own. I purchased this item with a coupon code available to the general public, and paid the same price as any other shopper. This post contains an affiliate link, as labeled.

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Cloth Diaper Blog Hop for June 2011

Jun 1,2011 / By Maria / 8 Comments

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Happy June! Time for a new cloth diaper blog hop. Though there are a lot of blog hops out there, this one is all about fluff. If you often (or just sometimes) find yourself blogging about cloth diapers, please link up!

This hop is easy to participate in; you don’t have to blog about the hop or post the button. Of course, I’d really love it if you would blog, post the button, tweet and/or share on Facebook. I’m hoping to get even more participants this month, and hopefully branch out and find some new bloggers/blogs!

You don’t have to follow any particular blogs or leave comments. I hope you will visit the other blogs, follow if you like what they’re blogging about, and leave a comment if you like a particular post!

I love finding new cloth diaper blogs, so I will definitely follow anyone who links up (if I don’t already follow them!)

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