It's been since March that we have been cloth diapering full time. I wrote a review of the diapers after about a week and a half of cd-ing. I thought maybe I should do an update on how we are liking using the Flips. Here is a link to the original review.
After doing much research on diapers, I decided to try the Flip system by Cotton Babies. We liked them from the beginning so we (and by we, I mean me) didn't try any other brand.
At this point we have 24 Organic Inserts (OI) and 10 covers (in baby blue, blue, light green, green, and yellow--2 of each color). We tried the stay-dry inserts (SD), but Logan developed a rash from the microsuede of the SD, so we switched. I wish we had just done the cotton in the first place, but hindsight is 20/20.
I've been very happy. I like the covers. We usually rotate 2 throughout the day. I find this is easier to have one diaper loaded and ready to go when it is time to change. Then I can put the soiled insert in the pail and wipe out the cover. I let the cover air out until the next change. This helps the cover not get a smell. If by some chance (and this is seldom at this point) poo did get on the cover, I would rinse it out and put it in the pail. I also like that the cover is growing with him. We are still able to keep him on the medium rise. We have only let out the waist snaps by 1 snap. These should fit him until he potty trains. The covers also dry very quickly. I never put them in the dryer. I either hang them on the banister or over the side of the basket outside in the summer.
As for the OI themselves. I think these are great. They are very absorbent. We use them over night without a problem until recently. (He has been drinking over 8 oz of milk as his bedtime bottle and I think that if he sleeps more than 11 hours, the OI gets just a tad too full and he leaks a little in the front. I will be trying to add a hemp insert this week to try to remedy this. This has only happened 2 or 3 times in the past week...so very new) I like that I control the width of the OI when I fold them. I don't make the length any shorter. They fit back to front just perfectly. I tri-fold them so they are just a little skinnier than the crotch of the covers. I don't have much problems with them sliding around or bunching. There is slight bunching in the crotch, but I figure that is because his legs come together there, so physics...
The inserts are easy to load. I just lie them into the cover. I tuck the front of the insert under the cover flap and lie the back of the insert over the back flap. The back flap really is useless, IMO. My daycare uses the diapers and have had no complaints from them. I know that many daycares won't use any cd's except for AIO or Pockets that are already stuffed for them. So, this is a bonus.
We have a sprayer and I don't use it every time anymore. Usually I can get his poo to "plop" right off into the toilet. However, I do love the sprayer. I does come in handy when trying to get off those stubborn cling-ons. And speaking of poo--I have yet to have a blow-out in the flips that leaked from the flips. I have yet to have had to change his clothes due to a diaper leaking during the day.
I haven't had issues washing the diapers either. I use Country Save for our laundry detergent. We have an HE front loader. It has no bells or whistles. I don't turn up the hot water. I use about 1 tablespoon of detergent. I do a cold/cold on the pre-wash setting. I then add the detergent and run a hot/cold heavy load cycle with an extra rinse added. I have had no smell issues and so far no build up or absorbency issues. During the school year, I can't always line dry. But over the summer I have been able to install a retractable line and I put them out in the sun.
So far, so good. I even brought them with me on my trip to New England. They got washed in my brother's front loader, and in the traditional washers of my mom and my bff. I was glad that I brought the diapers with me. Those few days in the airport and my day trip to NYC were so annoying to have him in the disposables. I really loathe the smell of sposies now.
I am really happy with the flip system. I think for the money it has been a very good investment. I could have gone cheaper with pre-folds, but this is easier--no folding for Hubby or for daycare. We will soon recoup our investment sometime in the next 2 or 3 months. Not bad. Here is my cost breakdown.
I know there are many kinds of cloth diapers out there and maybe I should have tried others, but we are happy with these. My friends have all been surprised that I was doing cloth and at how easy it looked. My mom thinks it is great. I am sure my neighbor thinks I am totally crunchy, but whatever. I am very happy with my decision. I think when (and if) we have #2, we will use pre-folds in the beginning before switching to the flips. If I had some extra money, I would love to try the gro-via. But alas, I am on a budget. Maybe one day. So for now, we stick with what works--the flips.
Showing posts with label A-I-2. Show all posts
Showing posts with label A-I-2. Show all posts
Monday, August 2, 2010
Saturday, March 27, 2010
My Flips Diaper Trial and Review
I trialed the Flip on my 8 1/2 month old son Logan. We tried both the stay-dry inserts and the organic inserts. We have tried the system for a week and a half--4 full days/overnight and 5 evenings/overnight. (During the week, we were using disposables at daycare.) Here are my thoughts and my review of the Flip Diaper All-In-2 system.
The flip diaper and stay-dry insert together (in my opinion) are similar in size to the Kirkland (Costco brand similar to Huggies) disposables we normally use. The fit is similar and the width of the stay-dry liner is similar to the width of the disposable. The flip does get a little bit bulkier using the organic insert instead of the stay-dry insert. They fit fine under his clothes...we did not have to upsize at all.
I really like the cover. It has a snap system with a 2 rows of snaps in a butterfly close system at the waist. Many snap covers I saw only have one row of snaps at the waist. I like the snaps instead of velcro. Velcro gets annoying to me. I was able to find a good fit for Logan--Medium rise setting and 4 snaps over from the side around the waist. While others found the covers a little thin, I found they were just fine. They are not bulky and I feel they are sturdy. I don't feel the snaps are going to pull off. I do occasionally have "trouble" getting the diaper on him, but that is because on our downstairs "changing table"--the guest bed--Logan is a complete wiggly worm and I have issues putting disposables on him in there too. When I use the changing table in his room, I don't have this issue. Despite this wriggling around, the inserts--neither kind--did not bunch up. It does not take me any longer to put on the cloth diapers than it does to put on the disposables.
Logan's bum did stay dry and the stay-dry liners (from here on out this will be SDL) have a good absorbency. We had no leaks with the SDL. I chalk that up to the sizing on the cover. The cover fit very snug...not too tight, but just right (as Goldie Locks would say). However, Logan did develop a rash from the SDL. We switched to the Flip Organic Inserts (OI) and tried those for a few days once his rash went away. We now use only the OI and have not had any rash issues due to the diapers.
The OI are like prefolds (I am assuming from what I gathered from my research online.) You can fold them in 2 different directions depending upon the size you made the cover. I found folding them for small made them a little wider and similar in width to the SDL (which I think was a perfect width.) The OI seem just a tad bulkier than the SDL. But I didn't notice that much of a difference. When loading the OI it seemed to slide around a little bit--something that the SDL didn't (at least I didn't notice that it did). I feel the OI hold more moisture than the SDL. We use the OI overnight and they are uber-absorbent. We had to switch to a different sposie for Logan was leaking overnight in the Kirklands. I was worried that the OI would leak. And, I really didn't want to double the SDL. But, the OI worked like a charm...the sheets were dry, no leaks, Logan was happy, and man was that OI full (but that was to be expected). Just for reference--Logan slept around 11 hours for this first "experiment".
The one thing I haven't tried are the disposable liners. I have read very bad reviews on them and I don't think I will be trying them when we go on our trip. I will figure something out. There are other disposable/flushable liners I could try. I might just suck it up and fill my wet bag with gross diapers and them wash them when I get to my mom's.
When it came time to change him, I found having 2 covers was key. I would have the 2nd cover ready and loaded so all I had to do was take off the used and put on a new. I would then take a wipe and give the first cover a little swipe, then it was good to use again for the next diaper change. If the diaper was not just wet (which if it was I could easily flip the liner out of the cover into the wet bag/dry pail), I would first put Logan in a safe place then go and deal with the poo issue--after changing him of course. (I am sure someone had an image of a naked Logan just rolling around waiting to be diapered...lol.) By holding onto the liner through the cover I could just shake (with a little gusto if needed) the poo into the toilet, then flip the liner into the bag. Again, I would then give the cover a swipe with a wipe and it was good to use again.
I do not have a sprayer and at the moment, but I do plan on getting one. Logan is eating solids and is formula fed, so the majority of his poos are a good consistency. We did have one "runny" poo while on this trial, what could be called a blow-out, if you will. Everything was contained. While some did get into the cover, it did not leave the cover. I just had to use a new cover and put the old one (once washed out) into the wet bag. To me it seemed not that much worse than when he would have a blow-out in a disposable--either way it's gross. I figure it doesn't matter how you diaper--you can't avoid a blow-out and will have to deal with it one way or another.
The flip diaper and stay-dry insert together (in my opinion) are similar in size to the Kirkland (Costco brand similar to Huggies) disposables we normally use. The fit is similar and the width of the stay-dry liner is similar to the width of the disposable. The flip does get a little bit bulkier using the organic insert instead of the stay-dry insert. They fit fine under his clothes...we did not have to upsize at all.
I really like the cover. It has a snap system with a 2 rows of snaps in a butterfly close system at the waist. Many snap covers I saw only have one row of snaps at the waist. I like the snaps instead of velcro. Velcro gets annoying to me. I was able to find a good fit for Logan--Medium rise setting and 4 snaps over from the side around the waist. While others found the covers a little thin, I found they were just fine. They are not bulky and I feel they are sturdy. I don't feel the snaps are going to pull off. I do occasionally have "trouble" getting the diaper on him, but that is because on our downstairs "changing table"--the guest bed--Logan is a complete wiggly worm and I have issues putting disposables on him in there too. When I use the changing table in his room, I don't have this issue. Despite this wriggling around, the inserts--neither kind--did not bunch up. It does not take me any longer to put on the cloth diapers than it does to put on the disposables.
Logan's bum did stay dry and the stay-dry liners (from here on out this will be SDL) have a good absorbency. We had no leaks with the SDL. I chalk that up to the sizing on the cover. The cover fit very snug...not too tight, but just right (as Goldie Locks would say). However, Logan did develop a rash from the SDL. We switched to the Flip Organic Inserts (OI) and tried those for a few days once his rash went away. We now use only the OI and have not had any rash issues due to the diapers.
The OI are like prefolds (I am assuming from what I gathered from my research online.) You can fold them in 2 different directions depending upon the size you made the cover. I found folding them for small made them a little wider and similar in width to the SDL (which I think was a perfect width.) The OI seem just a tad bulkier than the SDL. But I didn't notice that much of a difference. When loading the OI it seemed to slide around a little bit--something that the SDL didn't (at least I didn't notice that it did). I feel the OI hold more moisture than the SDL. We use the OI overnight and they are uber-absorbent. We had to switch to a different sposie for Logan was leaking overnight in the Kirklands. I was worried that the OI would leak. And, I really didn't want to double the SDL. But, the OI worked like a charm...the sheets were dry, no leaks, Logan was happy, and man was that OI full (but that was to be expected). Just for reference--Logan slept around 11 hours for this first "experiment".
The one thing I haven't tried are the disposable liners. I have read very bad reviews on them and I don't think I will be trying them when we go on our trip. I will figure something out. There are other disposable/flushable liners I could try. I might just suck it up and fill my wet bag with gross diapers and them wash them when I get to my mom's.
When it came time to change him, I found having 2 covers was key. I would have the 2nd cover ready and loaded so all I had to do was take off the used and put on a new. I would then take a wipe and give the first cover a little swipe, then it was good to use again for the next diaper change. If the diaper was not just wet (which if it was I could easily flip the liner out of the cover into the wet bag/dry pail), I would first put Logan in a safe place then go and deal with the poo issue--after changing him of course. (I am sure someone had an image of a naked Logan just rolling around waiting to be diapered...lol.) By holding onto the liner through the cover I could just shake (with a little gusto if needed) the poo into the toilet, then flip the liner into the bag. Again, I would then give the cover a swipe with a wipe and it was good to use again.
I do not have a sprayer and at the moment, but I do plan on getting one. Logan is eating solids and is formula fed, so the majority of his poos are a good consistency. We did have one "runny" poo while on this trial, what could be called a blow-out, if you will. Everything was contained. While some did get into the cover, it did not leave the cover. I just had to use a new cover and put the old one (once washed out) into the wet bag. To me it seemed not that much worse than when he would have a blow-out in a disposable--either way it's gross. I figure it doesn't matter how you diaper--you can't avoid a blow-out and will have to deal with it one way or another.
I hope the flip system will continue to work for us because so far, it's been good.
ETA: We have bought a sprayer and it is great. It really makes a difference with the poo. Also, turns out Logan is sensitive to the stay-dry liner fabric. We have switched to using ONLY the organic inserts. Much, much better...no more rashes. Lastly, I said that I wish the back flap was bigger. Scratch that, I don't put the liner under the flap anymore...it's easier, and the poo doesn't get on the cover in the back if he has a runnier poo day.
ETA: We have bought a sprayer and it is great. It really makes a difference with the poo. Also, turns out Logan is sensitive to the stay-dry liner fabric. We have switched to using ONLY the organic inserts. Much, much better...no more rashes. Lastly, I said that I wish the back flap was bigger. Scratch that, I don't put the liner under the flap anymore...it's easier, and the poo doesn't get on the cover in the back if he has a runnier poo day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)