As a follow-up to our Cloth Diaperdom discussion, I begged my friend to give us the inside scoop on her experience with the bumGenius brand of cloth diapers... and she delivered. Thank you, Jenica, for passing along your wisdom. Blessings to all on this Mother's Day!We use the All-In-One version of Bum Genius, without inserts or covers. I think they are made up of cotton, fleece and polyester with velcro tabs. They come in 4 sizes: XS, which is for use before the belly button cord falls off; S, our daughter was in those for about 3 months; M, where we are now and (I think) go up to 22 lbs; and L, up to 30 lbs.
We have loved them right from the start. They are so easy to use and wash. When they are dirty, they roll up just like a disposable. We have had no stains or lingering smells. Our system has been to have a open basket in her room for dirty diapers. The outer part of the diaper must contain smells very well because her room has never had a bad odor (it is also hard to tell if she has a dirty diaper when they are on her, usually can't do the smell test, have to look). So, we take off the dirty roll it up with the wipes, poop and all (the velcro tabs stick to each other) and toss it into the basket. We are usually washing every other day. We take the basket to the laundry room and dump the wipes into a small garbage bag. Now that she has started solids we are also dumping some of the now solid poo. We wash in warm then do a hot rinse and a cold rinse. We dry with 2 dry towels to speed up drying time. They seem to take a long time to dry which is the biggest con.
When she was in the Small size we had some leakage around the legs and around the top in front. I think our daughter just had a larger bladder compared to the size those diapers were designed to hold because once we put her in the Medium size, which are larger and hold more, we have had almost no leaks. We also may have been using too much detergent and had a little bit of build-up when using the Small size. We have had a couple (literally maybe 3 or 4 in the last 3 months) of leaks around the front top when she has been sleeping on her belly.
I swear she gets less diaper rash because of the cloth diapers. The first time she had a rash was when we were slack about washing and had her in disposables all day. Her little tush gets red from lack of air flow when she is in disposable, but not in cotton. And I love all the money we save!! It is a challenge sometimes to stay motivated to continue cotton when I feel like "I just washed them" and now they are all dirty again! But, it's all worth it to do our part for the environment, to keep some cash in our pockets and of course to do the best for my baby's bottom! :) I think about all the women who had babies before disposable diapers and if they could do it with only cloth, then I can too!!!!
Also, if anyone has any insight into the new bumGenius 3.0 (one size fits all), please inform us!
15 comments:
I have done both cloth and disposable diapers with my little ones, but recently I have had two different friends who have encountered difficulties with their cloth. For some reason their diapers have become infected with a fungal type thing that causes INTENSE fungal diaper rash...to the point where it had to be treated with steroid cream. Neither has been able to wash this out of their cloth diapers and have had to buy all new ones. Anyone else heard of that? Any solutions you know of to buying a whole new set?
I've never heard of that fungus thing, sounds horrible! I'm wondering if washing the diapers in an anti-yeast cream/lotion would help?
On a completely different note, this discussion has been great! I'm reinspired to purchase some new cloth diapers for overnights...rumparooz. I'll let you all know how it goes.
So far, we have really liked the fuzzi bunz we have borrowed from K. She used micro fleece inserts, and we have been using those as well, and they seem to work well at night, I think that they hold a bit more then the hemp ones. Our baby is only 4 months old, but he was able to use the fuzzi bunz through the night. The main reason that I wanted to try them was that we were having tons of blow outs with huggies, we have not had this problem with the fuzzi bunz. Recently, however, our dryer died, so until that gets repaired we are back to paper!
Thanks for the BG post! I have one 3.0 pocket and I do like it. My favorites (as of now!) are fuzzi bunz pockets (thank you all very much!) and I LOVE the thirsties fitted and covers. They are great for my little chunker. =) Right said Red - let us know what you think of the rumparooz! I also still like the AIO's from Blueberry and I have one happy heiny that I am testing out.... we'll see. Mary Alice - like you I like the micro fleece - do the hemp inserts take forever to dry or am I doing something wrong?? My hemparoos take forever it seems. Thanks for the conversation and the tips everyone!
Ann, so glad to hear your venture into cloth has been a happy one! As for drying time, the hemparoo inserts DO take awhile, which is why adding an extra towel or two really helps to absorb the moisture and decrease the overall drying time.
Mary Alice, prayers for you all while you are without a dryer. Maybe time to give the old clothesline a try? I would love to dry all my stuff "the old-fashioned way", but it does take extra time and energy. I really feel for mothers without dryers!
I just got my first bumGenius 3.0 in the mail last week. So far, I love it. We've used it only at bedtime (the ultimate test) and so far no leaks. Best of all, my little guy doesn't smell like urine when I first get him out of his crib to nurse in the morning! When I go to change him, his little bottom is completely dry, but the insert is sopping wet, so it's really keeping the moisture away from his soft skin, which I like. I just ordered a whole set this morning and I'm anxious to receive them! We are new to cloth diapering and this will be our first experience with them other than the one we tried out this week.
I had a hard time convincing my husband to switch until I let him know how much money we would save. We went with bumGenius 3.0 because we were hoping to save extra $$ with the one-size, adjustable fit. This way, we'll only have to buy one set instead of three separate sets in different sizes. We'll see how it goes! We've decided to use cloth wipes also, since we'll be washing the diapers anyway. (Did I say "WE" would be washing??? -- I meant "I" would be washing. :)
I do have a question for you cloth veterans. How do you store your wet/dirty diaps? I've heard that putting them in an open basket with a liner actually keeps the smell at bay the best? A friend of mine uses as simplehuman trash can with a liner. What do you use?
The dryer is fixed, so we are back on track. I would have tried the clothes line, but it was pouring rain! Actually, I have been drying the fuzzi bunz outside some of the time, they dry really quickly.
For a pail, I am just using a laundry basket, but I don't have nosy toddlers around, if I did I think a trash can with a cover is a great idea.
again I will say I love my zippered bag. It is cute, it has a little pocket in the top that I can stick an odor disc in (they sent some free and they smell lovely, like cloves and something else yummy). And if it gets too stinky which it does usually every other wash (since I can get lazy and leave things too long) I just throw it in the wash. It has been washed a lot and holds up great.
iRachel, I mentioned previously that I found a Sterilite plastic bin with flip top that seems to work great for our diapers. The bin can definitely get smelly, so I appreciate having the top. Jenica mentioned in her comments that folding up the BG diapers is enough to keep their smell at bay, even with an open top hamper. Sounds like BG might be better at holding in the smell than FuzziBunz. Best of luck finding the right solution! :)
Rachel-
What I use - a trash can with a cloth liner (I have 2 from wahmies) and no lid. If I have any dirty diapers I spray them out right away with the BG diaper sprayer - It is $40.00 & worth every penny! Then toss them in the bag. I haven't had any smell at all, but I do wash everyday or day and a half. I always spray the dirty diapers out right away too. You just throw the bag right in the wash with the dirty diapers and put your other one in the trash can.
So glad to hear that you are liking Bum Genius!! My husband had to warm up to the idea too, but he loves it now!! Good luck!
Thanks for the towel tip B-Mama!!
hello, i stumbled upon this blog while searching for some cloth diapering tips... i'm new to cloth and started out with prefolds and covers, i recently purchased a bum genius 3.0 (for my husband to try) and wondered if it is okay to spray the entire thing (cover & insert) with the diaper spray and store in the dry pail (wet, although wrong out)? i had been storing my prefolds this way but keeping the covers separate to protect the waterproof quality... any advice?
Hi there, I am also new to cloth diapering. We are using the new 3.0 Bum Genius. I love them! We also got the sprayer and it is worth it's weight in gold! I have a question though. Anyone using the Bum Genius...can I use the All Free and Clear detergent? My little man got a diaper rash after we switched to the Bum Genius and I think it's from the Tide detergent. Also, anyone use diaper cream with their BG's? I was poking around on the internet trying to see if anyone has used either with success. The label on the diaper says not too.
Tracey, Sorry to have taken a while to respond, but I wanted to let you know that I use All free and clear with my fuzzi bunz and it works well, the key is to use a very small amount of detergent. If you think you have a very sensitive kid on your hands, you may also want to do one or two extra rinses to make sure all of the detergent is really out.
Also, I use boudreaux's butt paste, it works great on the rash and has been fine washing out of the diapers, it is not as thick as desitin so I think it washes easier.
I have been using bumgenius diapers since March and have loved everything about them except I am having the same stink issues as well, so I will try the tips mentioned. I just wanted to add what I use as far as storage in between washes. I use a thin pillowcase for the liner and put that in a diaper champ. It works perfect, but it only holds around 7 or 8 diapers. Then when it is time to wash the diapers I throw that in with them as well. I probably do a wash every other day.
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