When we used disposable diapers, I had diaper pails upstairs and down, and I always made sure to have a clean pail and plenty of diapers & wipes at each changing area. When we switched to cloth, I was antsy to get a similar system set up with cloth. As it turned out, we fell into a different dirty diaper storage system all together.
I didn’t start cloth diapering until my second child was 4 months old, so my third child was my first experience with newborn cloth diapers.
In case you missed the announcement, May 21-27 is the 2nd annual flats challenge, hosted by Dirty Diaper Laundry.
I did not participate last year. It is the week of my son’s birthday, and I was also pregnant/sick/exhausted. The idea of mastering flats & hand-washing diapers for a week made me feel nauseated (more so than usual, hee-hee.) When Kim announced that she’d be hosting the challenge again this year, I immediately thought I’d support it, but wouldn’t participate. No way, no how! After all, it is again my son’s birthday week, and I have two super-soaker boys in diapers now! My little guy is 4.5 months old right now and still wants to be held/worn all the time. I am honestly struggling with meeting his needs, while also meeting my older son’s needs (mostly constant feeding, LOL!) and getting my daughter to and from school and activities, getting her homework done etc. I am completely overwhelmed with keeping up with junk cleanup, dishes, cleaning and the constant laundry. Washing diapers for 2 is a lot, even with a washing machine. The other day my husband remarked that the laundry room looked empty without diapers hanging, LOL.
I also don’t have enough flats to use, and I assume I’d need to use my tub to wash, which would be an extra hassle to deal with the kids and running up & down the stairs. I don’t know if I even have enough places to hang up that many flats! Excuse after excuse, I know! It sounds crazy, but the idea of using & hand washing flats for a week ramped my anxiety up 10 notches and made me feel physically ill.
Then I started thinking about what it would be like if this was my reality and it made me want to try! I took a deep breath, hit the submit button on the sign up form, and ordered some flour sack towels to use as flats. Eek!
Since then, I found out that we are allowed to use a diaper sprayer this year (it wasn’t allowed last year) and we’re not limited to the # of covers we use (the limit was 5 last year.) I only have a couple of wipeable covers, since I sent what I wasn’t regularly using to my friend. I was concerned about keeping covers clean, and I was also concerned about my older son freaking out that he couldn’t have the diaper he wanted!
I’m going to try to limit the # I use, especially since I don’t need more to hand wash! I have a utility sink in my laundry room that also has a sink sprayer. So I figure I will just be washing flats constantly, all day every day that week. However many I can fit in the sink at a time.
You’re also allowed a night time diaper of your choice, but you’re encouraged to make flats work for you. So, I ordered two hemp babies flats to use inside a pocket diaper at night. Hopefully that will be enough absorbency!
I’ll be writing more about my thought process as I imagined doing this out of necessity, and I’ll also be posting about the hemp babies flats and flour sack towels
I’ll be tweeting with the hash tag #flatschallenge, and I’ll be blogging daily about my experience! Want to join me? Read about the challenge and sign up!
This post contains affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I will receive a small portion of the sale. Thank you!
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.
>Kelly’s Closet has some excellent deals, starting today!
Can I tell you how much I wish I had some money to spend! I want the Happy Heiny’s Applix Peace Bears Diaper, maybe another Fuzzi Bunz one size (butter perhaps?) and I really want to try some other Blueberry diapers (one size deluxe, lemon lime applix and blue on chocolate snap). The email says they are 20% off but I don’t see the price drop right now.
I’d also love to try one of the sized Fuzzi Bunz (medium) diapers in the cute new prints (blue & brown dots, I love blue and brown, what can I say!)
Here some of the info!
*Limit 1 free gift per household.
Save 10-35% off selected items.
Prices as marked. No coupon code necessary. Visit our Black Friday-Cyber Monday Specials page.
35% off:
20% off:
15% off:
10% off:
(these items are only on sale Black Friday):
Visit our sister sites FuzziBunzOnline.com and HappyHeinysOnline.com for 15% off storewide thru Dec.1st. Use discount code GOBBLE
EVERY order placed at www.KellysCloset.com on Buzzzzz Day will be automatically entered to win 1 of 35 wonderful prizes.*
1 AppleCheeks Mini Test $42.75
2 Baby Beehinds Kit: 2-Hemp os fitteds,2-Bamboo os fitteds,1-Minky AIO,1-Wool Cover,1-PUL Cover, 1 Wetbag$165.50
3 BabyKicks Organic Pak: 2-Organic Fitted Diapers,1-Premium Washie,5-Regular Washies $50.00
41-Blueberry Bamboo Minky One Size Diaper in new print$32.97
5 Bummis Starter Kit: 1-Bummis Med Cover, 6-Prefolds,1-Medium Wetbag,1-Fleece Liners Pk, 1-Flushable Liners roll $58.25
61-Charlies Soap Laundry Powder Combo Kit $52.50
7-261-Gro Baby Intro Package $34.95 each
($699 total value)
27-29Knickernappies Starter Kit: 1-Pocket Diaper, 1-Loopy-Do Insert,1-Changing Pad $33.43 each
301-Knickernappies Diaper Sprayer $38.99
311-Moby Wrap $44.99
322 bags of Rockin’Green Cloth Diaper Detergent $29.98
331-Thirties Duo Diaper $18.50
341-Northern Essence Diaper Care Kit: 1-Diaper Rash Salve Stick,1-Body Butter Stick,1-2 oz.wipe solution $19.95
35 Moby Swaddle Blanket $29.95
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. Read More »
