Cloth Trainer Review - Blueberry Cloth Trainers

If you're not interested in cloth diapers or our family's experiences with them, this post isn't for you. Tune in another day and thanks for reading!

Keep in mind my son weighs about 39 pounds and wears 4T pants (for size comparison).

Blueberry Trainers were the first cloth trainers I tried with Silas. They look very similar to underpants except the waistband is thicker and there are bands around the legs (rather than just elastic). We're reviewing the Large size (32-42 lbs, 17 inch rise). We got the "Traffic" print. Silas was VERY EXCITED that there were trucks all over them. We sat and looked at them for a good three minutes before we put them on, marveling at all the trucks.

Blueberry Trainers have a layer of cotton velour/polyester inside against Si's skin, a layer of mictroterry polyester fabric, a layer of PUL (waterproofing), and then a cotton/polyester outer and cuffs. They come in three sizes (small 22-28 lbs, medium 25-35 lbs, and large). Washing involves machine washing on warm and tumbling dry (or hanging dry).

Once he had them on, Silas did not want to put on pants (which is normal, he doesn't want pants at home with a Pull Up on either). He was able to pull them up and down on his own and they weren't too bulky to put on his regular pants. The first time he wore them he was literally in them for maybe 15 minutes before he came to me holding his tushy, saying, "I ha a poo." So that was the end of them for the day.

The second time we wore them we were able to wear them for a few hours before bath time and we had no issues with leaking (and he did pee in them a little). He was able to pull them up and down by himself to use the potty and they covered his bum well. I've found that some underwear and trainers don't have good tushy coverage (and lead to them creeping up into his butt) but we didn't have that problem with these. He could tell when they were wet though and told me they were wet after he'd peed in them (which is useful because it teaches kids, "Hey, this is wet. I don't want that.").


Overall review? (on a scale of 1 to 5 where 1 is low and 5 is high)

True to size? 5
Ease of washing? 5
Price? 3 ($15.95)
Would I buy more? Yes
Would I suggest these to a parent who wanted to use cloth trainers? Yes

Do you have experiences with these trainers? What are they? Let other parents know how your experience was by leaving a comment.

GroVia All In One (AIO) One Size (OS) Review

I’m a sucker for trim diapers. Bulk is definitely one thing that I dislike about cloth diapering because it makes dressing (or at least pant/short dressing) more difficult (usually we size up). Thus when I hear a diaper is trim, I think, “Well, I want to try that!” GroVia OS AIOs are definitely trim – they have an outer shell, a sewn in liner, and a snap in doubler, and that’s it. It’s not a pocket, so there’s no stuffing required, the liner simply lays in to the cover (and the doubler snaps on that). The snap down rise (two levels) allow these to be OS, and the snaps on the wings are actually hidden (they don’t snap on the outside of the diaper, they snap on the inside of the cover). These also come in cute prints, which is a plus! So let’s talk about some benefits and drawbacks of the GroVia OS AIO.

Benefits:
- Super trim
- No liner to lose in the wash
- Easy to use
- Can last from birth to potty training (about 35 pounds)

Drawbacks:
- Short rise even on open setting – my son has a 20-inch rise (from belly button to top of the butt) and he can no longer wear these (insert sad face here)
- They seem to take a while to get to full capacity in terms of absorption (even after 5 washings they still leaked sometimes)
- No exterior leg gussets to catch leaks – the elastic on the cover is it, there’s no other barrier

Would I suggest these to parents? For sure. Just make sure that your child’s rise is compatible with them. It makes me sad that this is the second one we’ve tried (we tried a sized one when they were called something else as well) and this is the second one I maybe got 5 uses out of. I would definitely suggest them for smaller babes and for younger babes, but I’m not sure how much use older children (close to the 35 pound mark) would get out of them.

*This review is solely my view and experience with this product, a product that I purchased. I was not paid to complete this review, and simply wanted to give my unbiased opinion of the utility of this diaper for other parents*

I Flat You – Attempting Flat Diapers Just Like Yo’ Momma (#1)

Before I ramble, I have to say that I love cloth diapering. And it’s addictive. For me, being someone who likes to learn “stuff,” I am constantly on the lookout for new diapers, new covers for the diapers, new things to try, new new new. I want to learn everything there is to know or everything I have the time and the money to learn. We’ve done pocket diapers, we’ve done fitted diapers, and we’ve used some prefolds with covers, so I decided, “Heck, let’s try flats.”

Flats are the diapers everyone thinks of when they think “cloth diapers.” Large squares of fabric are used to cover your baby’s bum, and they’re secured with pins (or a Snappi which have little teeth to dig into the fabric and hold it all together). If you want it to be waterproof, you have to cover the flat with a waterproof cover. If you look around online you can find an amazing number of different types of folds to try with flats, and so I decided I wanted to try. I got some birdseye cotton 27x27 flats, a couple of Snappis, and my Dirty Diaper Laundry (DDL) iPhone app (they have videos of “how tos”), and I prepped the flats. They came out looking like they may fit one of Silas’ butt cheeks. For real. So I found a fold (kite fold) that would fit him even with those. I also found a fold that I could use for larger squares (the origami fold) and would put the most fabric where it needed to be for my super soaker. Then I ordered some hand crafted flats from Crafted by Cassie and she sent me some amazing tye-dyed flats made of upcycled jersey bedsheets (so they’re stretchy too). Rock on.

One Sunday I decide, “We’re going to try flats today.” Silas agreed, so after the first diaper change we were on. We used a large receiving blanket (yes, you can use them in this capacity) in the Origami fold and a Gen-Y Classic cover, and that worked well except I am not Snappi proficient and the diaper kind of drooped in the front (thank goodness for waterproofing). Next we did the birdseye cotton with the kite fold, and again, Snappi was not my friend. I didn’t spread it out far enough; I understand that now. Also it seemed like Silas peed so much that the entire 27x27 was wet, all the way up to the cover even in the back. I felt badly for him. Later in the day we tried the diaperbag fold and even used a prefold in the “bikini fold” that a CDing friend had told me about. All worked well. All could be done again (and I could spread the Snappi out). I think that if I did the birdseye cotton again I would put in a doubler in the wet zone so that the wetness didn’t spread to his entire bum.

I think we’ll try it again this weekend. I have a better idea after some research of Snappi placement, and I have better ideas of what works and what doesn’t for my heavy wetter. I also have Cassie’s awesome looking tye-dyed flats to work with and I’m looking forward to seeing how those work out.

If you want to try – I suggest getting a bunch of waterproof diaper covers (I’m partial to Gen-Y), some flats (Crafted by Cassie, Orange Diaper Company, and Zabi Baby have been suggested to me), some Snappis, and some video tutorials from Dirty Diaper Laundry. Learn how to prep them (you can boil rather than wash and dry numerous times like other diapers), and take off! I’ll keep you updated about how me and Snappi are getting along…

**FYI - The retailers I described here were chosen by me freely - I was not paid to "advertise" for them but simply believe that their products are awesome and should be shared.**

Thirsties Fitteds – New vs. Old

Thirsties has recently updated their fitted diapering options – previously called the Thirsties Fab Fitted, it is now called the Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted. Besides the name change, there have been other changes as well. The previous Fab Fitted came in four sizes – extra small (6-12 lbs), small (12-18 lbs), medium (18-28 lbs), and large (28-40 lbs). The new Duo Fab Fitted comes in two sizes with snap-down rises – small (6-18 lbs) and large (18-40 lbs). The Duo also comes with either snaps or Aplix closures whereas the older version only had Aplix.

Let’s take a look at a side-by-side comparison. Since I’ve used both, I can tell you the benefits and drawbacks of each as well. On the left is a large Fab Fitted (color: Melon) and on the right is a large Duo (color: Meadow).

The older version Fab Fitted (left) is longer, even though they’re both supposed to fit up to 40 lbs. The older version is a AIO (all in one) diaper, while the Duo has an opening so that more layers can be added for extra absorption. Both require a waterproof cover to be waterproof. There is also a price difference – the older version is about $20 while the newer one retails on Amazon.com for $17. It seems as if Thirsties is trying to streamline their product line while also decreasing the overall/lifetime price of cloth diapering, which is fantastic.

But for those of us with babes with long rises, the new Duo size large just isn’t long enough. My son barely fits in the Duo while the Fab Fitted fits him well and is a great naptime or nighttime diaper (and you can simply layer additional layers on top of the diaper before closing it, so the pocket on the Duo really isn’t necessary for us).

For babies with shorter rises, I think that the snaps or Aplix option of the new Duo is awesome, and I definitely suggest it for folks who can fit their little ones into it. But for us we’re going to have to try to find some Fab Fitteds before retailers run out and replace them only with the Duo.

CuteyBaby Modern Cloth Diaper Review

Tester Bebe: Silas, 16 weeks, 16.5 lbs and 27 ¼ inches

I came across the CuteyBaby website during a search for cloth diapers, and the information about the Modern Cloth Diapers they were making made me really excited. They had cute prints, removable Velcro (so there’s less laundry wear), and the insert was removable but sewn in (so it won’t get lost in the wash). The difference though was that the pocket where the insert goes in is in the middle of the diaper, creating a channel to hold any solid waste. The removable Velcro and inner channel made me excited to try these diapers. They sell them on Amazon.com for $24.95, but I wanted to try it for cheaper so I found one on eBay.

I prepped the diaper by washing and drying on hot three times, and I was looking forward to trying it. We started putting it on my son, and the tabs were too long. We found there were snaps on the side to shorten the tabs, so we snapped them and were good to go. But the rise was way too long for him, even though the leg elastics fit well. So he had a big bubble from his crotch to the back of the diaper. My husband and I joked he had lots of room to pack #2 in there. An hour later, he was hanging out in his bouncer with his legs lifted up and fussing. When we checked the diaper, sure enough, there was poo. When I went to wash it out with the diaper sprayer, the inside pocket had absorbed some of it so I had to take the insert (also with poo) out, then turn the diaper inside out to wash out the interior.

After this experience, I would say this would be a fantastic dipe by itself for urine only. If we consistently had #2 in this diaper though, I’d get annoyed. But CuteyBaby has the answer to that (but I haven’t tried it) – they created “Keep It Clean!” liners that you lay over the top of the diaper to catch solids so that they don’t end up in the pocket. It seems like a fantastic idea. So maybe I should table my review until I can try those out too.
Want to buy? Amazon.com has them for $24.95