Rearz Review and Giveaway

Rearz Review

Brand : Rearz
Type : fitteds, covers, wet bag
Overall rating : 8/10

I was about seven months pregnant when I first discovered Rearz brand cloth diapers. I was doing one of my near daily Kijiji searches for used cloth diapers, and came across an ad for a "newborn pack" of Rearz diapers. It came with four itty bitty white diaper covers with the cut out for the umbilical cord, one purple newborn Couture cover with double leg gussets, four cloth wipes, 6 microfiber inserts and a huge wet bag/pail liner. It was $60. I was excited and made arrangements to pick it up that weekend. I wish I'd taken a picture then - it all was packaged up nice. Of course, it was a couple of months later before I got to try them out.

Noah was three days old when I first used the covers. The white ones were so stretchy and thin - they worked over all of his fitted diapers and were nice and trim. It was July so I didn't need to worry about putting pants on him very often, but it was still nice to have that trimness. Those white covers were used and washed so much they literally started falling apart at the seams. I still have two of them in good shape to use again with our next baby, though.

The purple cover was a newborn Couture cover.

Here's Noah, 3 days old, wearing it.

It has double leg gussets which was awesome at holding in the newborn poop, and it was my go-to cover for the first four weeks. I used it over tiny newborn fitteds and prefolds. It was a sad day when I realized he had outgrown it.

I loved It so much that I bought the same cover in the next size up, small, along with two Rearz fitted diapers - red and green stitched. The light green small Couture cover was (surprise!) my go-to cover until Noah was about 16 lbs, when it started being too small. I used it over his small BG fitteds and small Thirties fab fitteds, mostly. That cover is now packed away, waiting to be used again for our next baby. It fit big, and the elastic wasn't too tight on his chubby thighs like many other covers were. And of course the leg gussets again was a plus. If I was still using PUL covers, I would have bought this cover in medium as well.

Here is Noah wearing the small cover, at about 1.5 months old

The red stitched fitted (French Velour, size 1) still fits him now at 20 lbs, but maybe not for alot longer. The green stitched (size 2) is bigger and will definitely fit him for awhile, probably until potty learning. What I love about the Rearz French Velour fitted diapers is the shape and the trimness. I now use mostly wool covers with fitteds, but these are usually the first fitteds I grab for. They dry alot faster than my other fitteds (I air dry everything), they stay soft after being washed and air dried, they wash up well (no stains) and they are perfect for day time use and for naps. I've never used these fitteds for overnight, mostly because I've always used a bamboo fitted for overnight and I've never had a leak. The French Velour fitteds do absorb alot and contain poop very well, so if I didn't have a super heavy wetter I'd probably consider them for nighttime as well. These fitteds are a great addition to any cloth diaper stash!

Picture from their website

I'm itching to try Rearz newest diaper, the Smitten. If only I could convince my husband that I (Noah) needs more diapers.

Lastly, I will quickly tell you how much I love my Rearz diaper pail liner. It's huge and bright yellow and has a drawstring rather than a zipper, which I like. I love the outer material of it too, it's sort of stretchy. It washes up great and dries fast, and still looks brand new, even after almost 6 months of being washed at least once a week. I love this pail liner. It stays upstairs in the pail, in Noah's room (and I have a hanging wet bag downstairs as well). I use this one for upstairs because the pail gets the stinky morning diapers. My hanging wet bag downstairs is smaller and doesn't fit in my huge diaper pail. I'd love to get a second Rearz pail liner for backup/wash days. Again, if only my husband would understand. :)

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Rearz is a Canadian (local to me, actually) company. I love supporting Canadian companies, and they have graciously allowed me to do a giveaway! So everyone that comments on this post before Friday, January 6th, 2012 will be entered in a draw to win a $20 gift certificate for Rearz!

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Travelling with Cloth Diapers

I've been using cloth diapers since my son was born, so naturally when we planned our trip across the province to visit my family in early December, I didn't question whether or not I'd be taking cloth with us. We were flying, and it's only 1.5 hours the air. We were staying at my Mom's house. I just didn't see how there would be a problem. But yet I still had people asking if I was using disposables for our trip. My mother-in-law even told me she'd pick me up a pack [of disposables] the week before our trip. I politely said no thank you. She said, "oh, the cloth diapers will be too much work."

I knew it would be just as easy as always, and it was. I made sure I washed diapers late the evening before we were leaving. Then, I took the dirty diaper from the next morning with us, packed in a wet bag. This was so that no dirty diapers were sitting in a wet bag at home for five days. We drove to the airport, and I changed Noah's diaper before we got on the plane (and zipped it into the same wet bag). The flight was short enough that he didn't need to be changed on the plane, but if I had needed to, I would have changed him in the washroom and zipped the dirty diaper in the extra wet bag that I keep in the diaper bag. By the time we got to my Mom's house (she picked us up from the airport and only lives five minutes away), I changed him again. He didn't have to go any longer than usual without being changed and the dirty diapers were safely tucked away in wet bags in our luggage.

Of course we stayed at my Mom's house so washing diapers wasn't an issue either. I asked her to buy a bottle of my cloth detergent, Nature Clean, in advance. She has a top loader machine (I have a front loader) so I had to figure out a routine, but it still worked well. I only brought a day's worth of diaper (plus the one from that morning and the one he wore when we left the house), so I had to wash them every evening, which I'm not used to. But still, not enough of an annoyance to bother me.

I did get the dreaded question from my sister, who lives with my Mom. "Doesn't that leave poop in the washing machine? That's gross, I wash my clothes in there." She even tried to convince my Mom to not let me wash them in the machine. Did she want me to hand wash them? I had to tell her, with a laugh, that no, it won't leave poop behind. The cold rinse gets rid of the yucky stuff, and the hot wash definitely sanitizes the machine as well as the diapers. She still rolled her eyes and said she didn't "get" why I cloth diaper my baby. I guess there's always going to be people who disagree with my parenting decisions.

We were only gone five days, but I'd say my first experience traveling with cloth diapers was easy. I got to show them to lots of people who'd never seen modern cloth diapers. My Aunts who came to meet Noah were amazed - they had cloth diapered their children (my older cousins) the "old fashioned" way. They used flats and diaper pins and plastic pants, just as my Mom did with us. It was fun to show them the different kinds of how they work.

To be honest, cloth diapering is just a way of life for me, so traveling with them was just my "normal". We are planning a week-long trip to a beach town a few hours away, in July. Noah will be one (holy crap!) and we will be staying in a cottage with no washing machine. I'll figure out exactly my plan as it gets closer, but I think I'll probably bring a couple days worth, wash them at the laundromat once and also buy and bring a box of disposable liners for my Grovias.

Anyone want to share your stories about traveling with cloth?