Goodmama One

Feb 11,2010 / By Maria / 1 Comment

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Goodmama diapers are very popular. They’re quite pricey, and some hard to find prints can go for even more, even used!

They’re most well known for their fitteds, but they also make an All-in-One.

They sell exclusive prints through different stores, and I snagged The Pebbled One from Kelly’s Closet with my gift certificate.

They call this an all in one, but it appears more like an all in two to me. There is no absorbent material sewn into the diaper, only the snap in soaker and lay in booster. I’ve heard some people say that a true all in two has a shell that can be wiped out and re-used with a new snap in at each change. Because this one has velour inside, it would need to be washed after a single use, thus making it an all in one. *shrug*

Anyhoo, because it’s organic bamboo velour A.K.A. OBV (actually usually bamboo, cotton and polyester), it had to be washed and dried at least 4-6 times before use. It takes 6-10 uses to reach it’s full absorbency potential.

I did wash it the minimum number of times before use, and it didn’t hold much. I’ve heard people say the “ones” wick at the legs. Wicking would be putting it mildly. I know he’s wet it because his clothes are wet!

This is a “one size” diaper, but it doesn’t have the snap down rise. It has a fold down rise with an extra set of snaps.

The diaper closes with a single row of snaps, but there are 3 snaps on each wing. I had a hard time getting it adjusted right.

I tried the regular setting.

I also tried the smaller setting. You can overlap the wings for a smaller baby.

The diaper looks really cute all folded up, waiting to be used, and is super soft inside.

On, it was OK. I just couldn’t seem to get a really good fit, and of course, it started leaking the instant he “used” it.

I’ve owned this diaper for three weeks now, and we’ve used and washed it about 4 times, after the initial 4 washes. It’s showing an awful lot of wear and I doubt it will hold any resale value if we continue to use it.

The color in these last photos is a little weird because of the reflective snow “lighting,” ha ha.

Overall, I’m disappointed and not feelin’ the Goodmama love!

Edit August 2010: I do not use this diaper anymore. It leaks so badly I have to use it with a cover, which is annoying and bulky. The snaps leave red marks on his tummy, and the diaper wore so quickly that I doubt it would have any resale value, even without the leaking issues.

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A cloth booty for Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo!

Feb 7,2010 / By Maria / 1 Comment

>As I said in my previous post, my daughter wanted a Baby Alive doll for her 5th Birthday. Since her Birthday was today (Happy Birthday!), I can finally post some good photos of the diapers I bought for her doll! She was so thrilled with her gift, I couldn’t really pry it out of her hot little hands in order to take “good” photos.

I bought 4 diapers from Heartland Dreams. Her daughter actually made them; they are flipping amazing! I paid $4 for each and they are well worth it. The normal price is $3 each, but I asked for an extra layer in the middle since these need to absorb a bit too! I think the Baby Alive brand sposies go for around a buck a piece, and even preemie size disposables are horrendously expensive, as well as wasteful.

You can see the Baby Alive diaper on the right side of the photo. The HD diapers are quite a bit larger, but work just fine. I almost forgot that she included a cloth wipe for free! You can see it on top of the diaper in the front. It is soft, double sided and very well made. I’d love some for my son!

The diapers (and wipe) are amazingly well made. I would be thrilled to receive a “real” diaper made as well as these. They are very easy for a child to use, the stitching is perfect, the prints are adorable…I could go on and on.

My daughter was so happy to get these, and was very excited that she could “feed” her baby water, then just let them dry and reuse them! She loved the prints (I didn’t ask for specific ones).

Baby Alive (named “Sophie,” for today anyway) says “Hooray for cloth booties!”

Slightly related Sidenote:

I am still peeved at myself for not buying this diaper while it was still available, and then missing out on this one too.

Even this one and this one were snapped up before I had a chance!

I’m such a waffler. Ugh, I swear. If I see an AI2 listed that I like, I am stalking that puppy and buying it! After seeing the doll diapers, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy anything she sells. In fact, if the doll diapers were bigger and had elastic at the legs (and a few more soaker layers), I’d put them on my son, ha ha!

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On a somewhat related topic, my daughter’s preschool allows the parent to bring a snack on their child’s Birthday. I’m not into excessive sugary “stuff,” and they actually don’t allow it. My daughter loves fruit, so I bought cherries, blueberries, strawberries, grapes, oranges and bananas.

I sliced and pitted the cherries, removed the strawberry stems, sliced the bananas (also also crinkle cut them and soaked them in orange juice), and cut and sectioned the oranges.

Yum!!

I bought some wooden skewers, I think they were 10″. The store had two lengths and these were the shorter of the two.

I alternated fruits and then topped then off with blueberries to the end of the pointy tip.

They were a huge hit and were gobbled more quickly and enthusiastically then cupcakes!

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Fitted Buddy Bear Bottoms (say that 10x fast!)

Jan 25,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

>Buddy Bear Bottoms are made by a work at home mom, and sold on Hyenacart. P.S. Read here if you’re curious about the website name.

Sellers do not stock items continuously, and beause of the nature of the items/craft, diapers are often one of a kind or limited. I hesitated too long on the diaper I really wanted from Heartland Dreams and it sold. I was really disappointed and kept looking at this one. I finally told myself that if it was still there when I got home (I was at the grocery store at the time), I was buying it! It was, and I did!

I love little touches like that adorable piece of yarn tied in a bow, but it scared me for a second. I thought, oh no!! I didn’t mean to buy a girly diaper with a bow on it! Oh well, maybe hubby won’t notice! Don’t worry, I’m not that stupid, it only took me a second to figure it out. Hee hee.

This is a fitted diaper, which means it does not have a waterproof layer, and should be used with a cover. They’re wonderful because they are so breatheable. You can put your baby in a shirt, diaper and babylegs and just change often, rather than using a cover. Then you don’t cover the adorable diaper. Some of the cutest diapers and prints are fitteds.

I don’t know what it is about this kind of diaper, but they speak to me. I see them in their photos all squishy and trim and they call out “Buy me! Buy me!”

They look so scrumptious stacked up.

I just fell in love with this print. I know hearts are a little girly, but I think the colors make it boyish also. Right? Right?

The diaper has a thick, squishy snap in soaker.

The soaker is made out of ZORB, the outer of the diaper is cotton knit, and the inner is anti-pill fleece.

It took no time to dry.

This is a one size fitted with a fold down rise. It has adorable color coordinated snaps.

As well as an extra row of snaps on the inside, for folding down the rise.

If you notice the snap on the right between the orange and green, you’ll see you can overlap the wings to get a snug fit.

The weight guidelines are 10-35 lbs, which can vary baby to baby, as I’ve noted before. The max rise is 17″ and the max waist is 22″.

It seemed to fit my 15.5-16 pound kiddo fine on the standard (unfolded) rise setting.

However, it didn’t add much bulk to use the smaller setting with the soaker folded down.

He had it on (no cover) for at least an hour and a half, if not more than two hours (I wish I had looked at the clock!) with no leaking and no wicking. The soaker was fairly soaked (hardy har har) so as I folded it and held it in my hand, I could feel some moisture seeping into the outer layer.

I would probably use a cover in any situation where he’d be susceptible to compression (like in the car), but it’s a darn shame to cover up such a cute diaper at home! Although, the econobum cover is so thin, you could see the diaper right through it!

I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another Buddy Bear Bottoms diaper!

Edit August 2010: I ended up selling this. Fitteds are not my preference for daytime use, and it wasn’t absorbent enough to hold up to my heavy wetter at night.

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Testing, testing 1 2 3…

Jan 23,2010 / By Maria / No Comment

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A lot of diaper makers get started because there is some need that is not being met by other diapers. If she decides to sell to others, she needs to see how her diapers fit on babies of other sizes and shapes, how they hold up to wigglers and heavy wetters, and what other moms think of her design.

Other times, an experienced diaper seller is trying a new design, or even branching out to new products, and she needs feedback.

Enter…the tester.

What a seller usually does is offer her product for the cost of shipping and materials, in exchange for brutally honest feedback, and typically also photos of the product in use.

This can be a great chance to try a new design for a great price, though most sellers would prefer a mom who has been cloth diapering for a little while vs someone brand new to cloth. Of course, that means that you may get a product with a few flaws or bugs that need to be worked out, or something that just doesn’t work for your child.

I had the opportunity to test an E.F.F.-n-Stuffs (Enjoy Fabulous Fluff -n- stuffs) diaper. The diapers will be sold in the Home 2 Home congo on Hyenacart.

She is also working on a nighttime diaper and also plans to offer custom diaper bags and combo sets!

Her regular prices will vary between $10 and $25 depending on style. She charged her testers for materials and shipping (I paid the same as all other testers and my review was not influenced in any way!)

I got a size Medium (10-22 lbs) all in two for my 15.5 lb boy. She also offers Small (NB/6 lb-12 lb) and Large (20-34 lb).

She uses cottons, cotton knit, jersey knit, interlocks, wool interlocks and more.

She ran out of the fabric I requested (you don’t get to be too picky when you’re a tester and that’s OK!) so she used some purple polyester on mine.

The inside is lined with fleece or cotton velour.

The soaker is thick, soft and squishy. Her standard soaker has microfiber sandwiched between fleece x2 and suedecloth next to babies skin. Her special soaker is the same, but has a hidden layer of PUL in the soaker.

Prior to this round of testing she made the AI2s without PUL and used fleece only but wanted to test and see if PUL makes any difference. She, herself, never used covers with her diapers, even to go out. The fleece of the cover is considered pretty water proof.

She will also offer a custom soaker with 5 layers of OBF sandwiched between fleece x2 and suedecloth next to babies skin, or hidden PUL.

I’ve actually only ever seen diapers with PUL through the whole diaper. Her method makes a lot of sense since the PUL would only be where needed, and the rest of the diaper area could breathe more.

I was a little concerned because it seemed a bit narrow as well as bulky, but it was just fine on.

I did not seem to add too much bulk between his legs and it was just the right width.

The wings are quite wide (“extended tabs”), but she plans to also offer “minimal tabs” as an option. Her diapers are purposely cut with more of a “boy short” shape for more booty coverage, making pants optional!

I did have a little trouble selecting the right snap settings to get a good fit around his waist and rolly thighs, but I usually have a learning curve getting used to any new diaper! There is tons of adjustability, and the tabs even have the ability to overlap.

So far, so good! He wore the diaper for about 2 hours and we had no leaks. The soaker didn’t even feel wet (though I know it was!) The only thing was that his hiney & the area around his leg were very red, which is rare for him since switching to cloth. I’m not sure what to make of that.

I wondered how he’d do with the polyester, but it wasn’t touching his skin, and he doesn’t have trouble with diapers lined with PUL. I’ll have to see if it does the same thing next time we use it. It was probably just a coincidence!

Edit August 2010: I did not care for the cut of this diaper/how it fit on my son, so I ended up passing it along.

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It’s spreading

Jan 15,2010 / By Maria / 1 Comment

>I’ve been wanting to switch to cloth napkins for a while, but I haven’t been able to find quite what I’m looking for, nor have I been ready to commit to the initial cost. I’ve also learned about unpapertowels, and I’ve found some really clever containers for them. That is definitely something I want to do when I have the funds.

Back to the point of this post! My daughter started a new preschool. It’s 2 days a week, and she eats lunch there. Her new school is very environmentally conscious. In fact, the building constructed last year is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for certification under the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program.

Needless to say, I’d be ashamed to send a paper napkin and ziploc bag in her lunch box every day! We already have a reusable sandwich container, but I wanted cloth napkins and reusable snack bags too. Enter etsy. I asked each seller if I could use her photos here on my blog and each agreed. I am trying to learn about photography, but I’m still terrible at it!

I purchased a set of cloth napkins from MagicalMemories

A Tinkerbell snack bag from smartsnackbags

and a pink snack pouch from cottontopquilts (I have to note that shipping charges were extremely reasonable, but this seller still refunded me 60 cents when shipping costs were less. I didn’t expect this for many reasons, but it was a nice surprise. The only time I’m annoyed about shipping is when I’m charged MORE than enough to ship something in a box via priority mail, but I get it after 3 weeks, in an envelope, smushed, with 2 stamps on it!)

I thought they were reasonably priced and a worthy investment, considering how much disposable products cost and how quickly they add up.

The bags are lined with water resistant, FDA approved materials, so you can even use them for things like sliced fruit. The Tinkerbell bag is about 6.5″ by 6.5″ and the pink bag is about 6.5″ x 3.75″. I thought the larger bag would be great for fruit and the smaller bag would be perfect for smaller snacks like crackers and pretzels. They both have a velcro closure and no exposed seams for crumbs to get tangled in. They can be wiped out or washed & laid flat to dry.

If you search, you can find tons of bags in all sizes, prints and closures, to fit any need.

Yesterday, I received the pink snack bag.

It’s really well made, very easy to open and of course, adorable. My daughter was so excited to take pretzels in it today. She said her teacher held it up for everyone to see because it was “so cute!”

Today I received the napkins.

They’re the perfect size for a lunch box!

I also got the Tinkerbell bag. She looks a little, uh, confused in the first pic because the bag is creased right through her face.

The closure on this one was a little harder to open. My daughter is already planning to take orange slices in it to preschool tomorrow.

What made this extra special was the way it was packaged.

Even though I knew what it was (and I paid for it!) it was like getting a little present in the mail.

The custom sticker was really neat!

I’ve already started adding items to my etsy “favorites.” I’d love to have some larger bags with a bottom gusset to pack sandwiches in. I’ve found quite a few adorable prints, but I’m not sure if I should go for a velcro closure, or the traditional fold-over “sandwich bag” closure.

Edit August 2010: The napkins held up great, as did the pink bag from cottontopquilts. However, the Tinkerbell bag from smartsnacbags didn’t fare as well. We used the pink one 2x/week for 6 months with no problem. The tinkerbell bag was used less often, maybe twice per month, if that. It didn’t even last 6 months before the lining fell apart, and I received to response from the seller when I contacted her about it.

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Category : Made in the USA

Goodmama One

A cloth booty for Baby Alive Whoopsie Doo!

Fitted Buddy Bear Bottoms (say that 10x fast!)

Testing, testing 1 2 3…

It’s spreading

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