Smart Snugs

So today's review is featuring Smart Snugs. They contacted me to do a review with them and I said, "Yes, of course!" and I am glad I did. This diaper is incredibly soft and very well made. Here is a quick rundown of the diaper:

This is a OS diaper and it has cross over tabs. It also has hip snaps! The outside material is super soft like a t-shirt.

This diaper in particular is an AI2 diaper. They also have a pocket diaper which I will be reviewing in the future. You can see the row of waist snaps that go all the way across and the hip snaps above each side. On the gray part of the diaper you can see the snaps on the tabs and cross over snaps.

The inside of the diaper is made with 100% bamboo charcoal micro-fleece. All natural and great for fighting bacteria and smells! Plus it's very soft. I actually love this part of the diaper because unlike some other AI2 diapers that I have tried there is no sticky PUL up against the babies skin, just gentle fleece!

Here is the outside of the diaper, nice and simple.

Here is the inside without the insert snapped in. The insert is also very soft and has stayed that way after lots of washes. It is made of 5 layers - 2 of natural bamboo and 3 of microfiber.

Here is the diaper on my son the first time he wore it. I have the hip snaps a little tighter and now do them on the next snap over. He is on the middle rise setting with the tabs closed all the way with out crossing over. So plenty of room for growing.

Rear view complete with diaper crack. lol

Side view. I think this is incredibly trim, especially in the front. It has a comfortable fit on him. I like that there isn't a lot of bulk in the front area. I don't want him feeling uncomfortable by having too much materiel bunched up around him.

We haven't had any leaks with this diaper and we use it for nap times too. I haven't used it for night time though because my son is such a heavy wetter - I am not brave enough. lol!

This is probably one of my favorite AI2 systems. I love how soft and trim it is. The fleece on the inside makes cleaning off the poo really easy. However, you can't reuse the cover if it gets pooed on, but if it were only wet then you would be able to use the cover over.

You can go here to purchase a Smart Snugs diaper.

*I was sent an AI2 diaper free of charge to use and review. All opinions expressed are of my own. I was not paid to write this review. My experiences may differ from yours.*

Cheeky Cloth

Right now I am very much into fitted diapers. I often switch what my favorite kind of diaper to use are but like I said I am very much into using fitteds (and wish I had more!). I am currently in love with my Cheeky Cloth fitted diaper, not only it is stinkin' (no pun intended) adorable it is also well made, super soft, has a great fit and is trim.
How can you not love this print? It is so boy or you could even put it on a girl. I love it. The fitted is made with one row of snaps across the waist. It also has three rise setting options. The snaps are strong and put on very well. The surging around the edges is also very nicely done.

The inside of the diaper is made with a bamboo velour to go against baby's skin and also has bamboo hemp inside with the cotton print on the outside. The snap in soaker is also made with the bamboo velour on the outside and bamboo hemp on the inside. The diaper also features cross over tabs which is something I love to have on diapers.The out side of the diaper. There is elastic across the back of the diaper but not the front. I haven't had issues with it gaping away at the front though.
And onto the diaper being worn. The backside, its so cute. I love to let him run around with out covers so he can air out and so I can see the cuteness of this diaper.
I tried to get a better side shot but that's hard to do on a 1 1/2 year old! It is very trim and so soft. You can kind of see in this picture that the tabs on the front of the diaper do roll down with his belly sticking out but that isn't an issue at all, mainly because it needs a cover anyways.

Then a front shot of the diaper. They fit up to 35 pounds and my 25 pound son wears it on the middle rise setting.

I love this fitted diaper if you haven't figured it out already. It has a great fit, the sewing is well done, the material is so soft, snaps are strong. I don't think I have found anything at this point that I dislike about this fitted diaper. If you would like to purchase a diaper you can head over to Cheeky Cloth and pick one up.

I was sent a fitted diaper to use and review. I was not paid to write this review, all opinions are my own. Your experiences may differ from mine.

Herbal First Aid Kit by EcoChic Boutique

Our family is slowing making changes in the items we use around the home so, I was thrilled to be able to review the brand new Herbal First Aid Kit from EcoChic Boutique. The kit comes in a small gauze bag with some band-aids and an instruction sheet:Inside the bag is a handful of very useful items that all work amazingly well!

First up:

CleanWashThis is a natural equivalent to hand sanitizer. You can apply it directly to abrasions or to your hands after exposure to pathogens.
The ingredients are distilled water, witch hazel, colloidal silver, and essential tea tree oil.
Because there isn't any alcohol in this, it takes a bit longer for it to 'evaporate' from your hands, but we chose to use this after all our doctors appointments as my kiddos fought and shared the crud over the past few weeks. Did it work better or just like hand sanitizer? I'm not sure, BUT I definitely felt a lot better using this over the typical hand sanitizer.

Next:
BooBoo StickThis can be applied to minor abrasions, scrapes, bumps and bruises.
It is made up of Apricot Seed Oil with Comfrey Root and Arnica, Bees Wax, Castor Oil and Essential Clove.
I have started using Arnica Gel on our bumps and bruises and it works wonderfully. The BooBoo Stick is a bit cleaner version (compared to a tube of gel) and works just as great in dulling the severity of bumps and bruises.
I had a couple of opportunities to try this out. First, my youngest is a biter (with two big brothers, you have to get attention SOME how, right?! sigh). Well, one morning, Benjamin (my middle son) kept taking toys away from Caedmon (my youngest) after repeated times of me asking him not to. I finally said, "Benjamin, he's going to hit you or bite you...you need to stop taking his toys..." Next thing I know, my 14 month old lunged at Benjamin and sure enough, bit him on the shoulder! ::facesmack::
The second time was when Benjamin bit his lip one evening (I think it happened as he was chewing his lip and sneezed... talented children I have!) but he kept asking me to put something on it. I honestly wasn't sure WHAT to put on it. It only bleed for a few moments, but you could tell it really bugged him. I finally emailed Nicole from EcoChic Boutique and she confirmed that I could most definitely use the BooBoo Stick on his lips (it should be noted this should not be ingested in large quantities - as in more than 1 tube of this!)
Within about 24 hours of application, both times, I started to see healing. Would there have been an infection without applying this? Who knows, but, at least I was able to put something safe on their battle wounds to help speed up the healing process.

After that we have:
KalmSkinThis can be used on rashes, bug bites and any venom bites.
Nicole informed me that in her area, this is highly regarded as a diaper rash cream and it is totally safe for cloth diapers!
The ingredients are: Plantain infused olive oil, bees wax, apricot seed oil, chamomile infused oil and castor oil.
This has worked wonders for us. I've been using it on all these nasty bug bites we have (we call them demon mosquitoes - these evil little critters), as well as my youngest sons eczema.
I honestly didn't even get a chance to try it as diaper cream. But I have it set aside for the first sign of a rash!

Finally:
Kalm TummyThis is a topical remedy only and 3-4 drops are to be applied to the abdominal area in a circular motion.
All herbs have been organically grown - Peppermint infused olive oil, plantain infused olive oil, chamomile infused grape seed oil and castor oil.
We have only had one opportunity to use this (thankfully!) and it worked fairly well as far as I can tell. My middle son was telling me that his tummy hurt one evening and I tried this out. There was no more complaining of a yucky tummy (but I'm not sure if he would have still complained or not).

I kept (oddly enough) hoping for opportunities to try the items (not counting the CleanWash - I about used that bottle up taking care of my sick crew!) on myself since with toddlers and pre-school aged children, it is sometimes difficult to tell if they are still hurting or not, or how well something is working. I was able to try the KalmSkin on my own bug bites and random rashes, and it worked great!

The Herbal First Aid Kit retails for $18 and can be found HERE.

You can find Nicole and EcoChic Boutique on Facebook, Etsy and Hyena Cart, where she also makes and sells a variety of baby carriers, children's items and cloth diapers.

Semilla Snack Bags Review & Discount

I think it's safe to assume that many families that chose to cloth diaper are also looking for other affordable ways to help the environment. One option that I found was Semilla Snack Bags. They are an eco-friendly company (everything from their tags being printed on recycled paper with soy ink to being produced in the US!) that according to their website offers bags that are "functional and funky." So true! Semilla has a really cool new concept (at least, I haven't seen it anywhere else...) - snack circles! They sent me two snack bags and a snack circle to review.

I was surprised by the design of the snack bags at first. The two brands that I was familiar with both had a flap to fold over and secure. These ones don't.

And that was just fine!

My kiddos didn't have any trouble opening these on their own. The velcro is pretty strong so I was worried they might have problems opening them - but I shouldn't have worried - they figured it out without me telling them what to do. =) There are times we eat snacks in the van while on the go...and sometimes I'm already in the drivers seat before I realize that I forgot to hand them their snack. Can you guess what I did? Yep - tossed the snack bags to the little ones in the back! Worked beautifully - nothing spilled out and the kiddos could open the bags on their own. Every time they see these bags now, they ask what their special treat is. =)

The smaller (Chiquita) bag holds 1/2 of a sandwich or 1 cup of trail mix. The larger (Grande) snack bag holds 1 whole sandwich or 2 cups of trail mix. I even did an overnight quality control test. =) I left pb&j sandwiches in the snack bags overnight and the sandwiches were just fine the next day!

The snack circle is also really neat! My favorite part is that it doubles as a handy placemat when opened. These aren't the kind that you just hand over to your toddler though. Instead, they are great for sandwiches or bagels and cream cheese or other larger items that need a little "plate" once ready to eat. My son thought this was pretty cool! We have the "blue robot" print...I think we'll need to add the "pink robot" snack circle to our stash for our daughter...it's such a cute print!

Both of the snack bags and the snack circle are hand and/or machine washable. Hang to dry. These are also great because the inner material is a nylon that is really easy to wipe clean - you don't have to soak them every time you wash them.

Semilla's customer service is great! They were always quick to respond with the couple of questions that I had. I also love the company's desire to help parents teach their children about taking care of the environment *and* making healthy snack choices.

Semilla Snack Bags has kindly offered all of our readers a 25% off code valid now through December 15th! Need any neat gift ideas? Here's a way to give a meaningful gift to family and friends! Just use this link: {Semilla Snack Bags} or type "CLOTHDIAPER" into the coupon code box.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I received a set of snack bags and a snack circle to review. All opinions are truthful and my own. You may have a different experience.

Jen's Favorites

Jen's Favorite Things

One of my all time favorite things is seeing a line of freshly washed diapers! And as you can see from this picture, my favorite diapers are the Bummis Easy Fits Tot Bots.

It may seem crazy, but I love washing diapers!

We started cloth diapering when our youngest of three was just about 3 months old. Here is a picture of her in one of our first cloth diapers. A bumGenius pocket. It is still one that we use today!

My favorite diaper rash cream is Grandma El's. I may be partial though because I really haven't really tried anything else because it works every time! I got this container about the time we started CDing and it is only about 1/4 of the way gone. I also use this on my son.

DOOPSY! I love the Doopsy diapers. They have a unique sock insert that folds into itself and you can also add an additional hemp insert into that as well. This was my GO-TO diaper for bedtime for the longest time. Around 6 months or so, she couldn't make it through the night with out wetting through though. We decided to switch for the time being and we still use these during the day. They are so bright and cheery. Customer service with Doopsy is amazing as well.

Here is the Bummis Tot Bots! This was my first one that I bought-brand new! They are so incredibly soft and gentle against baby's bum. The prints are absolutely adorable and I wanted one of each! I am normally a snaps girl but the velcro on the Tot Bots is super strong and durable. I will let you know, however, that when Kynlie was teeny tiny, these did have some leakage issues. They just didn't get small enough for us around her skinny mini legs. Once she started growing, we have not had any leakage issues at all. (They do sell NB Tot Bots but we were past that stage-or so we thought!)

This is my favorite newborn diaper that we tried. It is a GroVia AIO. I LOVE LOVE LOVED the leg holes. They were just so cute. This diaper fit Kynlie amazingly and she was able to wear it for a long time. I believe she wore it until she was 13lbs+ and it normally goes up to 12lbs.
I highly recommend this diaper for your newborns!

One of my favorite whimsical diapers for her to wear was this fleece cover. I bought it off of a swap and used it with a fitted diaper. I have been trying to get my hands on some more fleece but it just hasn't worked out for me yet...but I hope to soon!

Kynlie was all THUMBS UP about getting some fluff in the mail!

This is a sneak peek of the review I am working on. It is a MotherEase diaper. My son (who is 2) is working on potty training and we used this for his "big boy undies". He loved them when normally he didn't want "cwaffa diapers!"

MY ALL TIME FAVORITE DIAPER (right now anyway)
This is the bumGenius Elementals diaper in Bubble. I love this diaper. I use it for bedtime, daytime, longer trips to the store, anytime! This one is my favorite color of the BG line as well, however some of the new prints are pretty dang adorable. I have had great results with using it for bedtime and longer "wear" times with no leakage. The only small issue I have with it, is that I have a bit of trouble getting the stains out, even if I wash it right after I change her. But I still love them!

Small stash shot of the Tot Bots. (Some are in the wash)

Here is where we keep our fluffy goodness.

All of these are my personal opinions based on my own experiences. You may have different opinions based on your experiences! I would love to hear what your favorite diapers are and why! Comment here or email me at Jen(@)clothdiaperaddiction.com