Dri-Line Baby & Bamboo Baby AIO Cloth Diaper Review

Apr 10,2012 / By Maria / 4 Comments

Dri-Line has been manufacturing products in Canada for the healthcare industry, for 22 years. Their Dri-Line Baby product line is also made in Canada, and includes cloth diapers, diaper covers and accessories.

I received three products to try. I took nice pictures of everything brand new & in their packages, then my memory card croaked! So all of these pictures were taken after washing.

The bib’s a little big! I’m not sure if he was eating it, or getting ready to rob me. Hee-hee!

The hooded towel is terry on one side & flannelette on the other, and has a snap to keep it on baby.

Nothing’s cuter than a clean, snuggly baby!

You can find the hooded towel at Thanks Mama for $19.99.

The Bamboo Baby AIO is part of the Bamboo Baby line. The standard “one size” fits anywhere from 7 or 8 to 30-34 pounds, depending on the baby’s size and shape. You can choose snaps or hook & loop, and there are several colors available. A toddler size is available in white only and fits 25-45 lbs.

Even the hook & loop version features a hip snap to prevent wing droop.

The diaper has a PUL outer (the outer is made in the USA), is lined with soft rayon from bamboo fleece, and has a 3 layer rayon/bamboo fleece flap soaker that is sewn in the back.

The diaper also has front elastic and 3 rise settings.

Here is the small setting measured folded and stretched (this is, of course, approximate-not exact!)

Medium:

Large:

My older son is about 2 years & 10 months old, and 29-30ish pounds. Many “one-size” diapers are starting to get rather low-rise on him, but the large fits him well.

The small setting fits my younger son well. He was just under 4 months old in this picture, and I’m guessing his weight at 13 pounds (I’ll update after his checkup!) The soaker was perfect to double over right in the wet zone since he’s such a heavy wetter.

Bamboo is very soft and absorbent, though like other bamboo diapers I have, it became a bit stiff after line drying. A quick tumble in the dryer & it was soft again.

You can find a variety of Dri-Line Baby products at Thanks Mama, including the Bamboo Baby AIO. You can find the diapers at Everything Birth as well. The MSRP per diaper is $18-22.

Dri-Line is accepting wholesale applications, so let your favorite retailer know that you’d like to see them carry Bamboo baby and/or Dri-Line Baby products! You can also connect with Dri-Line Baby on Facebook.

FTC compliance: I received product samples for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Diaper Rite Large Unbleached Flats (Flat Cloth Diapers)

Apr 5,2012 / By Maria / 9 Comments

Although I enjoy pocket diapers and other modern diapers, I love knowing that I can cloth diaper really affordably, and even with things I have around the house. We have well water so a power outage means no well pump, no water and not even hand washing is possible. Things like receiving blankets and kitchen towels can be used as diapers in a pinch, and when you’re doing it by choice (rather than out of necessity) there can be something a little fun and relaxing about folding flats!

Diaper Rite is sold by Diaper Junction, and offers quality, affordable cloth diapering products. (You can see my Diaper Rite pocket diaper review.)

I picked up a dozen Diaper Rite unbleached Birdseye cotton flats in the large size (about 32″ x 32″ pre-washing) for $22. They are also available in a small size (27″ x 27″ pre-washing) which would be fine for pad folding or for smaller babies, priced at $17.50/dozen. Both sizes are also available in white.

Naturally, cotton shrinks quite a bit in the wash.

Pre-washing:

Post-washing/drying:

Even after shrinking, the large was large enough to snappi on my 2 yr 10 month old son, who is around 29ish pounds.

When you look at these next pictures, you will probably say “but Maria, you didn’t…and it isn’t…and it wasn’t…” You’re probably right. I didn’t and it isn’t and it wasn’t. But that’s the beauty of flats. You can fold them any way you want, totally customizing where you put the most layers, and they are very forgiving. I know some people have amazing flat folding demos where all the folds are crisp and the corners are sharp. Mine were done with an audience and were done very quickly, as they are in “real life!”

This is my sloppy version of the Diaper Bag Fold:

Fold each side to the middle

Fold the bottom up (this is a great time to adjust the “rise” of the completed diaper, and put the absorbency where you want it. Then you’ll trifold and fan the back out, then fold the “waist” down.

Then fold the front up and wrap around baby!

When I was doing this one, my husband said “what’s this wacky diaper origami?” I said “yeah, it’s pretty much diaper origami!”

Again, flats are very forgiving! Nothing terrible will happen if it’s not exactly square or even. Fold in half, then in half again, so the flat is folded into quarters.

Grab the bottom corner and pull it up to the top to form a triangle.

Then flip the whole thing over

And fold the rectangular portion to the middle.

Tuck the legs in and pull up over baby.

Wrap the wings around baby and cover. You can secure with pins or a snappi first!

Flats are just a single layer of fabric, but you can get 8-12 layers in the wet zone depending on how you fold. You can pad fold (basically just quartering and trifolding) another flat to use under for extra absorbency, fold two up together, or combine with an insert or whatever you like!

The large size fits just fine even on my not-quite-4-month-old.

Have you used flats? I know many of you participated in the flats challenge last year. What was your favorite fold? What brand did you like best?

FTC compliance: Although I paid normal retail prices for the pictured items, this post contains affiliate links. I was not compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Swaddle Designs Angry Birds Baby Products Review & Giveaway (CLOSED 4/10) US/Canada

Mar 29,2012 / By Maria / 4 Comments

In case you missed my Swaddle Designs review last year, we love their swaddling blankets. They are soft & cozy & plenty big enough for a snug swaddle. We swaddled my son constantly in the first few weeks, at at night until he was nearly 11 weeks old. We had to buy extras so we’d never be without one!

Swaddle Designs now has adorable Angry Birds Baby Products! They have long & short sleeved bodysuits with a large or small bird, in blue, yellow or red, from 0-3 to 6-12 months. They also have Ultimate Receiving Blankets, Marquisette Blankets, Swaddle Duos, zzZip Me sacks, lovies, burpies and gift sets!

I received the short-sleeved 3″ red bird bodysuit in 3-6 months and the multi-bird marquisette swaddling blanket.

Even my husband commented about how nice the bodysuit is. It’s nice and thick, well made and sturdy, which I can’t say about a lot of baby clothing.

The blanket is cute, soft and lightweight, perfect for swaddling, playtime and covering a stroller in warmer weather!

From Swaddle Designs:

SwaddleDesigns® is introducing the Angry Birds Baby Collection!

Angry Birds have found happiness with SwaddleDesigns baby products! We are honored that Rovio chose SwaddleDesigns to manufacture Angry Birds Baby items based on our high quality products.

Angry Birds by Rovio is a phenomenally popular game. Angry Birds is the fastest growing brand in the world with over 600 million downloads. Boys, girls, men, women, grandmas and grandpas – all love playing Angry Birds. The game is entertaining to people of all ages, genders and geographies.

SwaddleDesigns was founded by Lynette Damir, RN, Designer and Mom in 2002, and SwaddleDesigns was the first company to introduce the large square swaddling blanket to the US and many countries around the world. SwaddleDesigns is known for their premium quality fabric, fabulous colors and prints, decorative edge, and the innovative 123 Swaddle® instructional label that helps new parents master the art of swaddling. SwaddleDesigns blankets come in a variety of weights and are perfect for many uses such as a privacy throw for breastfeeding moms, a tummy time play mat, a cover over the stroller as well as swaddling.

The Ultimate Receiving Blanket® is a lightweight premium cotton flannel blanket – for moderate to cooler environmental temperatures.

The Marquisette Swaddling Blanket® is a very lightweight openweave high quality cotton blanket – for warmer environmental temperatures

Angry Birds by Rovio is a phenomenally popular game. Angry Birds is the fastest growing brand in the world with over 600 million downloads. Little boys and girls, teens, men, women, grandmas and grandpas – all love playing Angry Birds. The game is entertaining to people of all ages, genders and geographies, and is fun for family members to play together during snuggle time

Angry Birds is just one of the many collections SwaddleDesigns offers. We have many new exciting new prints and a variety of blankets and other products for 2012!

Visit SwaddleDesigns.com/how-to-swaddle to view “How to Swaddle” and more information regarding sleeping environments and the benefits of swaddling.

Shop Swaddle Designs, “like” Swaddle Designs on Facebook and follow Swaddle Designs on Twitter.

Sign up for the Swaddle Designs exclusive e-mail club and be the first to hear of Swaddle Designs special, limited-time offers, and receive a promotional code to save 10% off full priced items on your first purchase!

Giveaway: One winner will receive his/her choice of an Angry Birds Marquisette swaddling blanket OR bodysuit in choice of size and bird, subject to availability (ARV $15-20.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC compliance: I received product samples for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Apparel & Accessories Review

Cloth Rocks – You (err, your baby) Need One of These T-Shirts!

Mar 26,2012 / By Maria / No Comment

I’m sure you know Dirty Diaper Laundry, but if you don’t, you should. Kim makes amazing videos, and also created the Cloth Diaper finder. She recently opened up DDL apparel, and while she currently has just the cloth rocks design on black & white, sizes 0-3 to 18-24 months, she will be offering more cloth diaper advocacy apparel in the future.

I chose the 3-6 month size in black, listed as a “second” for $16.95. The regular price is $17.95, or $17.75 for the white. I have no idea why it’s a second; it looks perfect to me.

The shirt is super soft & well made and I think it looks adorable on my little guy! I can’t wait to see more designs!

Discount!: Use coupon code “CHANGEDIAPERS” to get 10% off your DDL Apparel order through 4/30/12!

FTC compliance: I paid normal retail price for the pictured product. I was not asked to write, nor was I compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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Softbums Omni Cloth Diaper Review

Mar 22,2012 / By Maria / 8 Comments

I posted my Softbums Echo review way back in July 2010! I just washed the wipe they sent along with that diaper; we’re still using it. Although an all-in-two isn’t my favorite (I prefer pockets) the Softbums Echo was one of very few diapers that worked for us when my 3 month old was a newborn. It gets sooo tiny that it fit him well (not true about most o/s diapers) and the insert was actually absorbent enough for him (not true for most newborn diapers!) It was a dream come true for our tiny super soaker!

Now, Softbums makes the Omni as well. It’s everything you love about the Echo, but it also has a pocket opening, so you have the option of using it as an AI2 or a pocket diaper. I received a solo pack with a super dry touch pod (retails for $24.95) plus a dry touch mini pod. The mini pods retail for $2.95 and can be used in the smaller size settings, or as a doubler.

The super dry touch pod (“dry touch” because it is topped with soft, stay dry fabric) is 3 layers of microfiber (6 when you fold it over), so you’re unlikely to need the mini pod too! A smaller, 4 layer dry touch pod retails for $4.95, and additional super dry touch pods sell for $5.95. You can also purchase organic bamboo pods for $9.25 and organic bamboo mini pods for $3.95. Whichever “pods” (soakers) you use, this can be an affordable all-in-two system.

You can choose hook & loop closures or snaps. The snaps are easy to use, so they are Daddy friendly, even when said Daddy prefers Velcro.

The size adjusts via a toggle on each leg’s elastic. On the one hand, this is a little intimidating, but it also allows you to get exactly the fit you need. I held the diaper up to a diaper that fit each boy and adjusted. The opening is in the front, and was large enough for me to do additional tweaking as I put it on each child. This type of adjustment means it won’t be as easy for babies of different sizes to share diapers, but that’s not an issue for me. Each of my boys has their own diapers, so I don’t have to fool with size adjustments at every diaper change. (I have all of my “diaper bag” diapers snapped down to small, so if my older son needs one, we just unsnap it!)

The diaper fits thighs from 4-14″ and there is a formula to figure out where to set the elastic, though I haven’t tried it!

The size adjustment means that I really can’t measure every size for you like I usually do. Instead, I adjusted the diaper as large as I could, while still leaving the elastic with some stretch…

Then measured the diaper folded & stretched. (This is about as inexact as you can get!)

Here it is next to a Bumgenius 4.0 on the large setting:

Here’s that setting on my 2 year, 10 month old, 29ish pound son (the legs could be a bit tighter on him):

Next, I set the diaper really small. Sorry, there’s no “really small” setting, LOL. I just tried to make it tiny, but not crazy tiny!

Then I measured it folded and stretched:

I adjusted it similar to a small one-size diaper, then put it on my 3 month old son, who is around 11 or so pounds (that’s a guess; he was 10 lbs at 2 months.) Once I put it on him, I just fished the toggles out & adjusted it further.

That’s with the super dry touch pod in the pocket, so it’s a little bit bulky, but what do you expect with 6 layers of absorbency in such a small diaper? I know the mini pod isn’t absorbent enough for my son, but it would be nice & trim on a small baby that isn’t such a heavy wetter. The regular (non-super) dry touch pods are 4 layers of microfiber topped with microfleece, so they would be another good choice!

The Softbums Omni is versatile and quite cost effective when used as an AI2. They are also made in the U.S.A.!

Shop Softbums or find a retailer, “like” Softbums on Facebook, follow Softbums on Twitter and follow the Softbums blog.

Giveaway: One winner will receive a Softbums Omni solo pack with super dry touch pod in his/her choice of color & closure, subject to availability (ARV $24.95.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

FTC compliance: I received product samples for review purposes. I was not otherwise compensated for this post, and all opinions are my own.

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