Rearz Brand
Monkey Doodlez Tuck and Go System
AppleCheeks
Green Line
I own upwards of 30 different brands of diapers. I'm not sure why this is the first review I'm writing. I think this will jumpstart me into writing a whole whack of them in the near future. But I'll start with this one, today.
I am part of a cloth diapering Moms group on Facebook. It’s just a group of amazing women who have joined together through our love of cloth and all things natural. I’ve "known" many of these women for well over a year, and we all have babies around the same age - but recently a Mama joined who is more of a "veteran" cloth diaperer. She has a 2.5 year old daughter and an almost five-month-old son. Coral is an amazing sewer, her Facebook page here shows off her stuff - clothes, blankets, diapers and more. She helped my friend Jennifer, also from the cloth diaper group, make this adorable owl fitted diaper.
We did a Secret Santa gift exchange in the group, and I was the lucky one to get Jennifer as my Secret Santa. She has just started making diapers, and she posted a picture of this one a while ago. Well, last week I went and checked the mail – there it was! The package with her name on it. I was so happy I almost cried. Not only did she send me the diaper, but also a nursing necklace, which can also be seen in the photo above.
Now for the review:
Type of diaper: Fitted (WAHM)
Needs a waterproof cover: yes
Size: Large (I’d say would fit 18+ lbs)
First and foremost, the diaper is made of the most incredibly soft material – bamboo fleece. I wish my underwear was made of such a soft material! Also, I sort of feel bad now about putting on Noah’s pocket diapers – the synthetic material that touches his bum often leaves indents and isn’t anywhere near as soft as this bamboo!
And of course the outer fabric is adorable – I’m sure that Jennifer knew in advance about my love of owls. It’s the cutest print in my entire diaper stash. The soaker is snap-in style, much like Goodmamas and Piddle Poodles and other sought-after, expensive WAHM (work at home Mom) diapers.
The soaker is two layers of bamboo fleece, very absorbent and, yes (have I said this yet?) soft! The stitching is very nice and the snap placement is right on. The shape of the diaper just so happens to fit my boy really well. It has a tall rise, which my son needs. He’s long. And the leg holes fit his chunky thighs with room to grow. This particular diaper is a size large – which I’m glad about, because it will fit Noah for a long time. I’ve only used it once so far, and I didn’t even put a cover over it for the 1.5 hours he worn it. It was quite wet when I changed him, but didn’t feel very damp to the touch on the outside. I was very impressed. It's a bonus when I don't have to put a cover over top of an adorable printed diaper like this! (unless, of course, I was putting pants on him or leaving the house)
Also very importantly, the diapered washed very well. The bamboo fleece is still very soft and it looks and smells great! I washed with Nature Clean liquid detergent and hung to dry.
This diaper looks, feels and fits like a “brand name” made diaper. I’m not-so-secretly hoping they decide to start making and selling these diapers as a business. I have no doubt that they could be sell-out diapers!
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 microfibre 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 cover was my go-to cover until Noah was about 16lbs, 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. 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 almost 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 use them for nighttime as well. These fitteds are a great addition to any cloth diaper stash!
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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Monkey Doodlez Tuck and Go System
Type: hybrid, two piece system
Price: $15 cover, $30 for 3 inserts
(so, technically $45 for three diapers)
Overall rating : 9/10
Let me take you back to March of 2011. I was 5 months pregnant and had already decided that I was going to cloth diaper our son. My husband wasn't so sure about it. One Saturday afternoon I dragged him to a local baby boutique called Diapers and More so he could see some cloth diapers in person. The storeowner started showing us a display of Monkey Doodlez brand diapers. He was mostly showing us the all-in-one type (which at the time, I thought I wanted to use). My husband was totally intrigued by the fun colors and soft materials that would cover our baby’s bum. Before we left that day, we signed up for a cloth diaper seminar that was going on there the following weekend.
That seminar changed everything, especially for my husband. Cheryl, the founder of Monkey Doodlez, was there to speak about her product. While she definitely sold me on the (very new at the time) Tuck and Go system, she also talked about the harmful chemicals in disposables. Of course I already knew this, but I hadn’t gone much into detail about it with my husband yet. Cheryl said that the chemicals being that close to babies’ (especially boys) reproductive parts could be damaging. And that really hit home with my husband. We left the store that day with three small Tuck and Go covers and a pack of hemp inserts. These were the very first cloth diapers I purchased. I was thrilled (and my husband was on board!).
It was over 4 months later before I got to try them out. Noah was born 8 lbs 2 oz, so I probably could have used the TAG system from the start – size small fits 6-18 lbs. But I’d purchased a pretty hefty newborn fitted stash as well, so I waited until he was about two weeks old to try on the dark blue TAG cover with hemp insert.
It definitely fit him well with the snap done up, as he was around 9 lbs. I think I un-snapped it when he was about 12 lbs to give it a longer rise. The diaper was trim under shorts and pants as well. The aplix closure was very sticky and made it very easy to get a good fit. Noah wore the size small until he was about 3 months old and about 16 lbs – when it became a bit too short in the rise. I then – after quickly realizing how much I missed the TAGs in my stash – ordered three medium covers and some medium hemp inserts. Noah’s weight has begun to slow down, and now at 21 lbs the medium covers fit well and should fit for a while longer. I am pretty sure I’ll have to get him a couple medium-long covers in the near future though – he’s a tall boy and though the mediums fit to 28 lbs, he’ll have a case of plumber’s bum as he gets taller, for sure. This is one of the only diapers I’ve heard of that has the medium-long size – it fits 18-30+ lbs and is perfect for tall, heavy but younger babies. This is very exciting to me, because if Noah outgrows the mediums around 25 lbs, I know the larges would be too big for a while. Having that in between size in a system like this is great.
My absolute favourite thing about the TAG system is the versatility. I can stuff the covers with the hemp or cotton inserts that fit perfectly and are trim and absorbent, of course, but if the inserts are in the wash I can just as easily tri-fold an infant prefold and tuck it in the cover as well. I can also add a second hemp booster behind for added absorbancy – these are our “going out” diapers so I often do that if I know I won’t be changing him as often as I do at home. They are our “going out”/diaper bag diaper because I can put it on him before we leave and just toss an extra insert or two in the diaper bag and go. That takes up so much less room than carrying around two AIO or pocket diapers.
When Noah was younger, he pooped around 5-6 times a day – and poop often got on the edges of the inside of the cover, so they were washed nearly every time they were used. But if it was just a pee, I loved being able to just hold the edges of the cover, shake the insert into the diaper pail and use the cover again. Now that he’s pooping less often, I get to reuse the covers at least twice before tossing them into the wash. The pee stays on the insert and the cover stays in great shape, since it’s not washed as often.
I guess one of the downfalls is that the aplix closure on the smalls weren’t super sticky when I packed them away a couple months ago – when I pull them out to use again for baby number two, in the future, I’ll probably realize this. They were used and washed quite often, as they were (are) a favourite diaper of mine. I have no doubt, though, that all of the TAG covers and inserts I purchased will diaper two, if not more, babies in total.
Pros: Trim fitting, covers come in five beautiful colours (light blue, dark blue, brown, yellow and light green) and four sizes (small, medium, med-long and large), versatility, hemp inserts are very absorbent
Cons: Only come in aplix closure (some people would probably love to have the snap closure option) newborn breastmilk poop gets on the fabric inside requiring it to be washed more often
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AppleCheeks
Type: pocket style
Price: $20 cover, $26 for 2 bamboo inserts
Overall rating: 9/10
When I was pregnant, I was a little obsessed with checking Kijiji for used cloth diapers. It consumed a good part of my day. I started out checking just locally, but branched out to cities within an hour to two. When I started checking Toronto, I really felt like I struck gold. I offered to pay shipping costs, and got alot of great deals. My husband initial suggested checking Kijiji because we could probably get more diapers for the same price (as buying new). Boy, was he right.
I had seen AppleCheeks diapers in person (at the Baby Boutique) and online, and had watched some youtube videos on how they worked. I was loving them already, but then I saw the price tag. I knew I'd never be able to convince my husband I needed a bunch of $20+ diapers, especially since I'd only spent about $10-12 per diaper until this point. So, I kept my eyes peeled for AppleCheeks on Kijiji. It seemed like everytime I saw them on there, by the time I contacted the seller, they had already sold (but they hadn't taken down the ad). It was heartbreaking. Finally, I tracked down two size 1 covers, red and blue, used but in great shape, from the Toronto Kijiji page. She agreed to ship them and I was so happy when I *finally* had my hands on them.
Fast forward a few months - these very quickly became my favourite pocket-style diapers (once he was out of the newborn diapers). I reached for them right away. They fit Noah from about 9 lbs (a few weeks old) and I never had a leak in them.
They contained very messy breastmilk poop. If they were clean, I always made sure I tossed them into the diaper bag so I could use them while we were out. My son had big thighs, even as a little one-month-old, and other diaper covers would dig in and leave red marks, or if I'd loosen them, I would get leaks. The elastic in AppleCheeks is perfect, not too loose and not too tight. I really wish I had had more than two size 1 AppleCheeks covers. I didn't have any of the bamboo inserts then - I used microfibre or hemp inserts with them because it was all I had.
One of the downfalls to the two-size system was that Noah outgrew the size 1 covers pretty early (around 3 months old - 16 lbs) but the size 2 covers were quite a bit too big. The size 1 covers say they fit from 7-20 lbs, but of course this depends on the baby. My son has big thighs and is tall, so he outgrew the size 1 covers in the rise and was on the last snaps on the legs by 16 lbs. I'm sure the size 1 would fit a smaller, thinner baby longer than it fit Noah. Realizing he was about to outgrow the size 1s, I bought two St. Lucia (blue) size 2 covers, one new and one used, with the bamboo inserts. Well, these didn't start fitting him well until he was 5 months old, around 19 lbs. He has lots of room to grow in them though and they fit him perfect now at 6 months and 21 lbs. They are now the first diaper I reach for at day time changes. The size 2 fits 18-40 lbs, according to their website.
Most of the pocket diapers I have have suede cloth as the inner fabric that touches baby's bum. It's fine, and stay-dry so keeps the moisture away, but its often leaves an imprint on Noah's sensitive skin. The inner fabric of AppleCheeks is a super soft microfleece, which is one of the reasons it's my favourite pocket diaper. That and the pocket opening is much wider on the AppleCheeks - it's much easier to make sure the insert is in place and flat. Lastly, the insert agitates out on its own, in the wash. I usually reach in and pull it out anyway, just out of habit since I have to unstuff the other pocket diapers before throwing in the wet bag, but there is truly no need. Seriously, this diaper system is like a pocket diaper, but better.
Pros: Canadian made, two-size system, bamboo inserts are very absorbant and soft, insert comes out on its own in the wash, microfleece is super soft, extra wide pocket opening
Cons: A bit expensive to buy new (but being Canadian made makes it worth the money), my son outgrew the size 1 before fitting into the size 2
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Green Line Diapers review
Type: All in 2 style, cover and lay in insert
Price: $17 per cover, $8 per soaker, sold seperately
Overall rating: 9/10
You know how I love Canadian made diapers?! I have another review here of a British Columbia company, Green Line diapers. I had always wanted to try this unique system but since I didn't *need* anymore diapers, I was holding off. Well, on my request quest for a new night time cover, I came across someone selling a Greenline cover. It was used but in great shape, and this super cute print.
I also then scored this all green cover a week or so later. Perfect timing.
The covers are made of cotton with a breathable waterproof layer. It can be used over any prefold, fitted or lay-in insert, but the Greenline Bamboo/microfiber folded insert is very soft and super absorbant. I've also used the covers with a trifolded prefold with great success. The unique features of this cover is the leg openings have a toggle system so you will always get the right fit, no matter the size of your baby's thighs. Another plus to this toggle system (and the entire cover) is that there's no elastic to stretch/wear out over time.
It has a very high rise (which can be folded down for younger/ smaller babies) and strong aplix closure. I seriously love this cover. It's a perfect match for my tall, chunky thighed, 8 month old and I have no doubt it will still fit him great when he's older. I'm really loving just folded a prefold or soaker, laying it in the cover and doing it up! I think I want more.
Pros: Everything? Well, literally almost everything is a pro for me. The toggle system at the legs means no leaks, but also no red marks, the super strong aplix that I don't think Noah could undo if he tried, the high rise. I also love that I can use any prefold or insert (hemp, bamboo) that I have laying around. Also, they come in many adorable prints and lots of solid colors.
Cons : The only thing I don't like is there's no elastic in the back of the waist. And, well, I don't like that I don't have more of these! There's so many prints I want now!
