Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Update on Happy Heiny's diapers

A whole two months ago, I told you about my latest cloth diaper purchase and promised I'd give you a review of Happy Heiny's diapers in case you were interested in them.  They fit my definition of the perfect cloth diaper, complete with a cow print diaper option.  But I never told you about them! 

I realize probably only about 10 of you care about cloth diapers, so the rest of you can click the little X in the corner of this window any time you like.  Sorry, but I just love being a cloth diapering mom.  There's nothing quite so lovely as leaving Wal-mart with the satisfaction of not spending an additional ten bucks on diapers and wipes.    

So here's my review.  First of all, here's a picture of my cutie sporting her green Happy Heiny's one-size with snaps.  And her BabyLegs.  If you're not familiar with BabyLegs, you must know that they're the trendiest thing with babies right now.  If I were Oprah, these would be one of my favorite things, and you'd all get a free pair.  But I'm not, so you don't.  Anyway, it was a chilly day, so she had to wear her legwarmers while modeling her new diaper. 


Fabric and construction:  These diapers are very well made.  When I first opened the package, I was impressed with the fabric used in the lining of the diaper.  It's probably a soft fleece, and it's got that fleecy, slightly bumpy look to it, which is great for umm..."dumping" diapers in the toilet.  Sorry if that's too much info.  But her poopy doesn't stick to the diaper as much as it does in others, so it's easier to get the diaper clean.

I also love the snap tabs, which are where you would typically find velcro in a normal diaper (be it cloth or disposable).  The ingenius thing is that the tabs can snapover each other.  So you fasten one side, and if you have a skinny baby (like Isabelle), then the other tab can overlap on the first tab for a snug fit. 



Function:  There are so many different ways to fit this diaper on your kid that it can be pretty confusing.  I played around with different settings and tightnesses to make sure I had the best leak-proof fit.  I've never left this diaper with a church nursery worker or anyone else to use because I think it would be a little overwhelming for someone who doesn't diaper my child on a daily basis.  I've had a few leaks in it, which is pretty normal, I suppose.  In general, Isabelle has begun soaking her diapers more, so I've had leaks in some of her other diapers too.  And a few weeks ago, I put disposables on her for a couple of nights when she had a diaper rash, and she completely soaked through the Pampers.  So she's getting to be quite the super soaker, and it's hard to blame a few leaks on the diaper, but it's not completely leak proof.  

Overall, I really like this diaper, but I'm afraid I loved it more in theory than in real life.  Another friend of mine tried the same Happy Heiny's one size with snaps and found that they did not fit her son well at all.  That's another problem I had with the HH.  Sure it fit Isabelle well, but would it fit every child I'd ever have?  Maybe not. 

For the past two months, I've been debating on what diapers to purchase.  We'd put money aside specifically for buying 4 more diapers, and I couldn't make a decision.  Here were my options:
  1. Buy 4 more Happy Heiny's
  2. Buy 4 one-size diapers of another brand
  3. Buy a ton of prefolds and covers
But then a friend told me about sewing your own cloth diapers.  Evidently you can purchase kits for about $10 with fabric already cut.  And then I read that I could buy everything on my own and make them for about $5 each.  My brain could've exploded with information overload and all the possible decisions.  I'm a perfectionist at times, so I can let it completely paralyze me in my desire to get it right.  So that's what I did.  I did nothing and kept washing diapers every day.

And then last week, a family member told me they wanted to buy 5 pocket diapers for us.  I insisted that this was way too kind and would cost nearly $100, but they too insisted on buying them for us.  So I had to make a quick decision.  I called my husband at work, agonizing over this (I know, so silly isn't it?).  I'd narrowed it down to this:  Do I buy the Happy Heinys with snaps that make the diaper last longer than velcro?  Or do I buy BumGenius diapers, which do have velcro, but leak rarely, if ever?  I can't stand velcro, and since I first started researching cloth, I'd decided I didn't want velcro diapers. 

You can probably guess what I decided.  BumGenius!  I'll share the why tomorrow.  

2 comments:

  1. I love your thoughts Gabby! Not too long ago I did an article for a local magazine on FuzziBunz, a polar fleece cloth diaper that was supposed to eliminate diaper rash. The creator is originally from New Iberia. It sounds like you've already found your brand, but I thought I'd send some info your way.
    Meanwhile, once I figure out how to really work my blog, I want to add yours to my homepage. I think it would be an interesting combo!
    -Elise

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Elise! I had no idea that the creator of FuzziBunz is from NI. That's so neat! The reviews I read said that they don't work well for skinny babies (Isabelle is tiny), which is why I never tried them. But diaper reviews are so conflicting anyway! I probably would've given them a shot just because of they're kind of local. Thanks, that would be neat to have the blogs tied in together.

    ReplyDelete