I decided that since I am such an avid cloth diaper user, I want to post reviews of the cloth diapers we try, whether we begged, borrowed, or bought them. I will rate them on A. Comfort, B. Convenience, C. Quality, D. Size/Bulkiness, and E. Ability to retain...well, you know...just Ability to Retain. Oh yeah, and F. Price.
First up, Bella Bottoms! This is a fitted diaper (i.e. no pins, but still needs a waterproof cover).
I borrowed 3 of these from my sister-in-law (along with a whole bunch of other kinds) and was first of all struck by how pretty they are. There were 2 tie-dyed ones and a cute printed one, and they just look appealing somehow. Here's Naomi holding the purple tie-dyed one (sorry my wiggle-worm is blurry!):
N holding a Bella Bottoms
You can see it has a row of snaps to snap down the front and make the rise shorter, and also to snap the side tabs across the front to hold the diaper on.
N wearing Bella Bottoms
You can see that the tabs have the option to cross over each other, which to me, is rare in a snapping diaper. I really like that, because it cinches the waist a bit smaller on my tyke, who, despite her thighs being chunky-monkey, still has a slim-ish waist.
I rate the Bella Bottoms thus:
A. Comfort: ***** This diaper is the only fitted I've tried so far that hasn't left red marks on her. I also left one on her without a cover around the house to let her little bottom have some "breathing" time. I could feel when it was time for a change because the outside was damp, but she didn't leave a puddle behind, so that was a plus!
B. Convenience: ***** For a fitted, you can't get any easier. Snap on, snap off, dump in pail.
C. Quality: ***** I found this to be a very high-quality item, not cheap-looking or feeling at all.
D. Size/Bulkiness: *** This diaper, though the size fit well, was still a bit bulky, especially when we put a cover over it! I believe it's also supposed to be a one-size diaper, but there is NO way it would fit a baby smaller than about 13 lbs! N weighs about 15 3/4 lbs, and the waist at the second to smallest setting fits her now.
E. Ability to Retain: **** It seems to do well with wet, but with it wicking through the Wonder Wrap cover, I'm not so sure it would hold poop too well.
F. Price: **** This diaper runs about $12, so not ridiculous, but not cheap either, esp for a fitted which still requires a cover.
Now, this diaper by itself isn't waterproof, so we tried a new cover with it (also a loan from Sarah). It is a Wonder Wrap, and snaps or un-snaps to 4 different sizes. I found it quite large (possibly due to the Bella Bottoms underneath), and not entirely waterproof.
N wearing a Wonder Wrap over Bella Bottoms
So, the Wonder Wrap cover is supposedly versatile, fitting 9-35 lbs with 4 different size adjustments (as opposed to Flip's 3). But with Naomi wearing it on the size M (out of S, M, L and XL), the cover was just too bulky. It barely fit under her pants, and then her pants were very tight. This could be because there was a fitted diaper under it instead of a prefold, but I really doubt it would have made a difference.
I rate the Wonder Wrap as follows:
A. Comfort: **** It seemed ok, but not ideal.
B. Convenience: *** I wrestled with it a bit to get it on her as the size was so huge.
C. Quality: **** I felt like it was a decent quality, especially as I am trying this one used.
D. Size/Bulkiness: ** WAY too bulky to be useful in the smaller sizes.
E. Ability to Retain: ** The wetness wicked through to where the outside of the wrap felt a bit damp, but her clothes weren't wet.
F. Price: **** This cover costs about $15 new. For a one-size cover, the price is reasonable.
In Summary, I rate them as follows:
Bella Bottoms: 4 stars
Wonder Wrap: 3 stars
