Tag Archives: better for grownups

Mailbox Mondays 10/11/10

Oct 11,2010 / By Maria / 5 Comments

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!

Rebecca says:

Hi Maria-

I’d love to hear your thoughts about one size diapers. Are they really worth it? Can you get them to fit well? I am using sized diapers right now.

-Rebecca

This is a great question! When I was expecting my daughter (about 6 years ago, wow!) an acquaintance gave me information on cloth diapers. I did some research and settled on FuzziBunz sized pocket diapers. When I started adding it up though, it seemed awfully expensive. I didn’t know what I know now, and I didn’t know how to get the information.

I was assuming I would need 25 or so diapers in every size: extra-small, small, medium, large, extra large etc. That would put the cost to cloth diaper equal to, or greater than, disposables. That, combined with feeling overwhelmed at the idea of washing diapers in addition to learning to care for and breastfeed a newborn, made me forget the idea altogether.

Now, I know that I could have used Extra-Small and Mediums alone and been just fine! In fact, my daughter could probably fit in a medium FuzziBunz now at 5 1/2!

With my son, I decided on one-size diapers. He is also tiny like my daughter, and is still in mediums. I only have a few sized diapers, but I like them since they are so trim.

I am able to get a good fit with one-size diapers, and they really aren’t that bulky. Most don’t fit well until 10-12 pounds though (there are exceptions to that) so if you cloth diaper from birth, you will still need to buy something else for the newborn stage.

I’ve also heard several people say that one-size diapers didn’t really fit their larger babies through potty training, so they had to buy some larger diapers later on.

I guess it’s really just a toss up based on what you prefer. There are also a few companies (like Thirsties) that make two size diapers, so you can get the best of both worlds. The size 1 and size 2 should truly take a child from birth to potty training with 3 size adjustments each.

I hope all of this made sense, I tend to talk in circles sometimes! 🙂

A question about “the other cloth”:

Hi, I was wondering if anyone else in your family uses cloth wipes (i.e. Mama cloth)?

LF

Initially, the idea freaked me out a little bit. The more I read, the more interested I was. I’ve looked at WAHM made mama cloth (like the ones made by Addicted) and it looks great! Cute designs, luxurious materials; definitely better than the alternative. I hate the crinkly paper feeling, the trash etc. Hopefully I will get to try some soon (which sounds weird to say!)

Family cloth: I would definitely do family cloth for #1, I’d love to find some soft, affordable wipes to use, and maybe a smallish wetbag to keep in each bathrooom for them. I’d be a little afraid they’d get thrown in the potty by accident though, and I’m not brave enough to use them for #2 yet!

Reusable Tissues: Better for Grownups has some awesome reusable tissues that I can’t wait to try, once I have the money to spend!

What do you guys think? Do you use sized, or one-size diapers? Ever used any “other” cloth?

Little Beetle Little to Big Diaper and Wool Cover

Apr 19,2010 / By Maria / 12 Comments

I’ve been really getting into using wool and fitteds at night, so when betterforbabies.com told me they were sending me a Little-To-Big Beetle diaper and a Little-To-Big Organic Wool Cover, I was really anxious to try them.

No doubt what I pulled out of my mailbox was what I’d been waiting for!

Better For Babies sells natural and organic baby products including diapers, covers, soaker shorts, trainers and other accessories.

Better For Grownups sells reusable facial rounds, sateen tissues (really want to try these!) and family cloth, all crafted from fair trade organic cotton.

As the package says, the diaper is 100% organic, fair trade cotton, and is sweatshop free! They’re actually made in the U.S.A. wow!

That’s the first time washing instructions have made me giggle. Tee hee!

The orange is adorable, and the diaper is super soft and squishy.

Nice velcro closures. Thus far, they are actually easy to get off of the laundry tabs, but still stick to them in the wash. I have too many that I struggle to free from the grasp of the laundry tabs, but in the washing machine they’re all like “Meh, whatever, we don’t like you anyway,” and become besties with 3 other diapers. Gah.

The velcro strip on the front of the diaper had that funny, stiff feel/sound like the Rumparooz. I actually debated taking a video of me crinkling it, but decided that would be a little weird, ha ha. Once I put the diaper on him though, it wasn’t stiff and didn’t dig into his belly. I think it must just be whatever the velcro strip is backed with making that sound.

This diaper is a one size (6-36 pounds) and it’s the first one size fitted I’ve owned that has the snap down rise for sizing. Love this.

The diaper comes with a soaker and a foldable “beetle booster.”

One thing I found really unique is that the soaker is sewn in, just at one point on each side of the middle. So, no matching up soakers or snapping them in after washing, but it’s not sewn all the way into the diaper, allowing for better cleaning & easier drying. You can slip the booster out to fold it and place in where needed (wet zone), or you can tuck it under the soaker to be held in place.

At first glance, it seems a lot smaller overall than other one-size fitteds, even all the way unsnapped.

Actually though, it just seems that way because the elastic is drawn a bit tighter.

Fully stretched, they are just about the same size.

Snapped on the smallest rise setting and unstretched, they are quite small. I don’t doubt they really would fit on a 6 pound baby!

I used it on the medium setting on my little guy (who is about 16.5 lbs and 27.5 inches). It fit wonderfully, and I think he could wear this setting for a while.

This was so easy to put on him. I love my other fitteds, but this is so much more Daddy friendly. My hubby gets really frustrated by the soakers to pull up and fold over and adjust, rises to fold over and rows and rows of snaps.

I folded the booster in half, placed it in the wetzone, and used the diaper coverless the first time. It was the last diaper before bed and he hadn’t uhh, “used the facilities” by the time I put his night time diaper on him.

Because the soaker is in the middle of the diaper (it’s very trim too!) rather than being snapped into the back, his tush wasn’t fluffy like I’m used to. I actually joked that it was weird to be able to feel his hiney through the diaper instead of a mound of fluff!

The next time I used it, I put fleece pants over. He wore it for a good two hours and it was fabulous!

I also tried it with the Little-To-Big Organic Wool Cover.

The cover is 100% organic merino wool and fits 6-36 lbs.

It’s mamajammin, yo. I feel like I’m looking for Waldo. I don’t want to miss anything funny on the packaging.

Yeah, Mother Nature is a smarty pants, but who figured out we could shave the wool off the sheep and make diaper covers out of it, huh? Who’s the smarty pants now, huh?

100% USDA certified, organic wool.

I received a cover with snap closures, though both the diapers and covers come with your choice of snaps or velcro.

I think velcro on the diaper and snaps on the cover are the perfect combo, especially since my son has figured out how to open velcro! Better For Babies said “we find it’s good to pair one closure with the other…snaps and aplix lining up exactly against one another can cause a funny fit.” You can overlap the snaps for a smaller baby.

The cover has the same snap down rise size adjustment that I love. It’s especially nice on a cover since you may need a slightly bigger cover to go over a diaper with a higher rise.

The first time I used the cover, I used it over my Licorice Lane Fitted.

It’s so nice to be able to adjust the rise on the fly, depending on the diaper you have on under it.

The cover didn’t really add any bulk.

So cute!!

I of course also used it over the Little Beetle Little-To-Big diaper as well.

The snaps are so easy to do. With some others, the snaps can be really “sticky.”

Better for Babies told me that the “snaps do have to be opened and closed gently (since the 100% organic Merino wool doesn’t have any synthetics), but it’s easy to do so.” That makes me wonder if these are intentionally easier to undo, to avoid yanking on the wool.

I do wish the rise snaps were just a tiny bit “stickier” though. I sometimes inadvertently pop a rise snap on any diaper, usually when I am pulling the diaper to adjust it as I’m putting it on. With the cover, I did it about 3 times in a row and really annoyed myself. I’m sure it is just a learning curve with that. I also popped one somehow with him on my hip. That seems to be my only “complaint” though!

This was really trim over the super trim diaper!

I love that both the diaper and cover will fit babies from “Little-To-Big.” They may be a bit of an investment, but they will last. I also love that they are completely natural, with no synthetic materials at all and that they’re socially conscious as well. See this diaper on my newborn.

Thank you so much to Better For Babies for sending them to me to review! Of course, my love can’t be bought with diapers, so the freebies in no way affected my review!

Check out Better For Babies and Better for Grownups. I’d love to hear what products interest you, and what else you’d like to see me review.

(also see BFB on Facebook, BFG on Facebook, BFB on Twitter and BFG on Twitter!)

Edit August 2010: Although fitteds aren’t really my favorite (I prefer pocket diapers) this is so, so trim, and soft and squishy, I can’t help but love it!

Tag Archives: better for grownups

Mailbox Mondays 10/11/10

Little Beetle Little to Big Diaper and Wool Cover

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