Cloth diaper reviews

Cloth diapers are the sensible choice. It's easy, it's convenient, it's cheap, it's healthy, it's ecological and it's cute.

We've been cloth diapering pretty much since the beginning. And I have been lucky enough to not have spent almost any money on it (yet).. Because my very nice and generous friend, who also has been using them with her boy, lent her cloth diapers to me.

So far I've used some couple newborn Totsbots All-in-ones, and then pretty much - Bambino Mio Miosoft All-in-two's.

For those, for who it sounded like a lot of Chinese.. Nowadays cloth diapers are not all made from simple one layer cotton, like they used to in the old days. (Not so old in here, in Soviet time there were no disposable diapers, I have still been raised in usual cotton ones.)
No, there are still these very simple, very ecological ways available too, some people use them, also wool diaper covers etc. They don't really absorb, however, get wet right away and make all the clothes wet as well.

Very eco-versions (Disana, Lambalt Lapsele). Not much used by us. Other pictures - at the end of the post. (Otherways gets too crowded.)

For a bit lazier people there are more modern versions available. A diaper, consisting from water-resistant outside layer and an absorbent inside layer. These layers can be all sewed together, into one pants - so All-in-ones. (So if dirty, you have to wash all of it.) 
But there also are ones, where the water-resistant cover is separate from the absorbent insert. So Two-in-all's. (With these, if only the insert is wet, you wash the insert, and outside pants do not have to wash every time, only when a giant poop makes it all dirty.)

However lucky we have been so far, my friend will soon need her diapers back. And as I want to keep using them, I have to.. obviously.. now buy something of our own.
As the cloth diapers are not any cheap, here is the big question - which ones?!

Time for some reviews..

1. Softbums

Cloth diaper market in Latvia is really small.. Almost non-existent. There is muki.lv shop, these people are doing the promote work for cloth diapers in Latvia. And they are selling Softbums. (A lot of info on softbums.lv.)

So my initial thought was to buy them. They are a Two-in-all. Plus, Softbums have the sizing system, that makes them all-one-size, usable from birth to potty.

I ordered one to try - a pack of 1 pants (Echo) and 3 inserts (Dry-touch).

I must say, we were a bit disappointed, receiving them:

• Pants look quite small. They are fine now, we are on the one-before-last button.. (So how are they going to last until potty, which can be still 2 years? I don't know..) 
• The material looks very synthetic. Of course, all of these water-resistant ones are, but others I have seen are nicer to touch than these. 
• The adjustable leg size is ok, but quite flimsy. (There are some little plastic thingies holding the rubber that is pulling the leg size bigger or smaller, but it's not very strong, looks like it might break easily.) 
• The dry-touch insert is really huge and fat. And it makes the diaper very thick, ergo - makes the baby's butt really big and bulky! (Problem with some cloth diapers more than with others..) That again means you need bigger clothing.. And the baby's butt is heated more, sweating more, which I would like to avoid.
• The dry-touch insert is made from microfiber. It's supposed to absorb really well. Yes, maybe. But it also is tricky with washing - they have to be washed twice every time, using extra water option. It's not allowed to wash them with other stuff, especially natural fibres. (So I'm putting washing machine twice on now, to wash 3 inserts.. hmm, not great.) 
• And also - this microfiber dries super long. If we would have a dryer.. But we don't, yet.

I have heard good reviews about Softbums and people liking them. Well, they are not all bad, I tried them, they worked fine. But having used Bambino Mio's, I must say, Softbums are not my choice to buy anymore. Oh.. And one more thing:

• They are quite expensive.

2. Bambino Mio

There are two types of Bambino Mio - All-in-two and All-in-one. I haven't tried All-in-one yet (size-wise also only one size, from birth to potty), but I have ordered it.

So the review is about Bambino Mio Miosoft All-in-two.

They consist of waterproof pants, that come in many sizes (it might have changed for newer versions, in the package I have says there are 4 sizes, but in one internet shop I saw there are 2 sizes), and of a cotton insert, that comes in 2 sizes - big and small.

So far we have been using size 1 inserts and two sizes of pants - the newborn version (until 5 kg), only in the very beginning, and for most of the time - next size of pants (5-7 kg). The inserts seem totally good still, but pants are getting tight (as our baby seems to be 8 kg already! Although she is not very fat), so we thought we need to buy a bigger sized pants.

We went to one shop in Estonia that sells them - Babycity in Tallinn, and it seems they want to get rid of them, as all of them were discounted! We ended up buying a really good deal - 3 pants (of size 7-9 kg) and 12 inserts (bigger one, size 2) for only 60 euros! (Discounted from 100 €!) :) 

We are really happy with Bambino Mio. For now the qualities of them are:

• Outside pants are really thin (only one thin layer, no soft layer), the material feels quite nice and they are very nicely fitted. 
• The quality of all Bambino Mio products seems good.
• The cotton inserts are easy to fold and put in the diaper pants. They are quite thin, the butt is quite small. They don't bulk it up.
• 100% cotton inserts are a lot more user-friendly. They just have to be washed once in 60 degrees. They can be washed together with any other cotton clothes (so can load the washing machine with any other laundry we have).
• They dry faster. A dryer still would be great. But even without it we can manage.
• They are quite cheap. (Comparing my two purchases, Bambino Mio was 2,6 times cheaper than Softbums!)

Some minuses, of course, mainly that there are many sizes, so have to purchase all of them.

So we want to keep using Bambino Mio. Who knows, what we will be thinking in spring, when she starts crawling and being more active.. Maybe then we want to change to some All-in-ones, that are easier to put on. I will write a review of Bambino Mio All-in ones, once I receive them.

3. Totsbots

I have nothing much to say about Totsbots.. We had 3 of them, for newborn size, and they were very useful and nice, when our baby was really tiny and Bambino Mio still seemed a bit too big..
I wouldn't say they were great, but they were ok.

If we really decide sometime, that we want to start using All-in-ones, I might consider Totsbots as well. Would have to research the prices and compare - Bambino Mio, Totsbots and, I have heard, BumGenius are nice too.

The cloth diaper journey is fun! :) 

Pictures with comments:

Inserts compared. 1. (from the left): Softbums Dry-touch insert; 2. Bambino Mio Size 1 (until 7 kg), 3. Bambino Mio Size 2 (7-16 kg)

Covers compared: Up (pink) - Softbums
Down: 1. (from left) Bambino Mio until 5 kg; 2. Bambino Mio 5-7 kg; 3. Bambino Mio 7-9 kg (and there are also bigger ones)

Inserts open. Softbums is the one on the top right corner. Others - Bambino Mio. Notice that Softbums lies flat! It's because it's not shaped. I will show this detail in a picture later below.

Diapers with inserts. (From now on leaving the smallest Bambino Mio out. It's so tiny, you don't use it for long.)
Softbums - pink on the right.

Thickness compared. Both have inserts inside. Bambino Mio is a lot thinner. Softbums - puffier.

The shaping! This is one part I really like about Bambino Mio - the way the leg hole is shaped. You can see it here very well. It means, it fits to the butt better, keeps the insert inside better (as well as poop). Softbums has nothing like it, only the rubber.
It keeps the insert in better - you just tug it in the cover, cover keeps the insert in itself. No need for the snap button that Softbums have, to keep the insert inside.

You will notice, in pictures above, Softbums looks really small. How could it fit until potty? Well, it has this sizing system.. You can see it here. But the little plastic that's holding the rubber is really small and not very strong.

Here I have pulled it to the biggest size possible. Yes, it is a lot bigger now. But do the leg holes keep anything inside? I don't know.

Here is Bambino Mio 7-9 kg and Softbums, biggest size possible.

And once more, Softbums, made as big as possible.

And one picture of Totsbots - All-in-ones, in a newborn size. (The top left, gray, is something else.. GroVia.)

Good luck choosing your own favorite cloth diapers! :)