Diaper Review: Covers

We've tried a few different cloth diapers, but prefolds with covers are what we've settled on as our daily go-to (overnight is a different story, I'll save a whole post for that). We've tried a variety of different covers, so I thought I'd give a rundown of all of them for anyone trying to decide:

Thirsties Duo Wrap, Size One - These were my favorites when E was a newborn. We started out with these and Blueberries, and looking back at the photos the Blueberries were just comically large on him. Even the Thirsties were bulky at first, but that's how it goes with prefolds. But they did fit his skinny little frame until he was 5 months, at which point he grew out of the rise. Amazingly, though, we were still snapping them as tight as they'd go! I especially like that they have a double gusset at the leg - this makes it much easier to keep the prefold contained, and cloth sticking out is the surest way to get a leak. They come in a good assortment of colors and a few fun patterns, and we had almost all of them. In the summer, E was often wearing just his diaper or diaper + shirt, so his covers were part of his wardrobe! The big downside is that because he grew out of the rise but not the width, he won't fit into Size Twos for quite a while. So the Thirsties are now put away in the outgrown clothing box, and we've moved on to other brands. But these were my favorite while they fit him.

Blueberries One Size - Like I said, we had these from the start, and they were huge and bulky on him at first. They continued to be a bit bulky for my liking for quite a while (I do have a VERY skinny baby, mind you), but around nine months he finally really grew into them, and at the moment (10 months) they're my favorites. They have a double gusset like the Thirsties, but unlike the Thirsties they have two rows of snaps - this wasn't so important when he was a newborn, but I'm finding it works much better than a single row now that he's bigger.

Flip and Econobum - These are the two covers made by Cotton Babies, who also make BumGenius pockets and AIOs. They are very similar, with two main differences: The Flip covers have two rows of snaps while Econobum only has one, and Econobums are made of thinner, cheaper material (which makes sense, since they're meant to be budget covers). Both come only in one-size. I didn't buy any of these until E was a few months old, so I'm not sure how well they would fit on a newborn, but I suspect they would be bigger than Thirsties Size One but not as bulky as Blueberries. I like the fit now, but the big downside is the lack of a double leg gusset. I can understand this oversight in the Flips, since really they're meant to be used with the Flip inserts rather than prefolds. We use the inserts for overnight thanks to their stay-dry layer, and the lack of a gusset is no problem then because they don't come close to sticking out. But the Econobums are made for prefolds (they even sell Econobum prefolds); I assume this is another cost-saving measure. On both brands, this makes it annoying to tuck the prefold in at the leg and leads to the occasional leak when some fabric pokes out and wicks liquid onto clothes. Now, if you want to use the Flip inserts, or prefer a pure newspaper fold (folded into thirds and laid in the cover) for your prefolds, these covers are great. But I'm considering selling mine and buying more Blueberries.

Best Bottoms One Size - I just bought one of these recently. They're very similar to Blueberries in size, although they have one more rise snap so there's more flexibility there. The main difference is that the material is thicker and stiffer - this might mean that they'll last longer, but it also makes them a bit bulkier. Probably even worse than Blueberries for newborns, but for bigger babies they're fine. I haven't tried the inserts that are supposed to go in them. They do have only one line of snaps, but that hasn't really been a problem for us.

Overall, after trying these I think that I consider the double leg gusset to be the most important feature to look for in a cover in terms of ease of putting it on and leak prevention, assuming you use prefolds. Beyond that, it's going to depend on the build of your baby - for a peanut like mine, Thirsties were the clear winner until about 4-5 months, and Blueberries fit the best now at 9-10 months. Between 5-9 months, honestly I was having trouble finding covers that fit him well. That was when I bought the Flips, Econobums, and Best Baby, and none of them fit him that well until more recently (but the Flips were better than the other two). A chubbier baby will probably have less problem with bulky covers, and a shorter baby (E is always right on 50th percentile length) will be able to stay in the Thirsties longer.

My suggestion if you're starting out, especially if the baby isn't born yet, is to start with a few Thirsties for the newborn stage (they also come in sized rather than the two-size duos), and then buy one of each of a few other brands and see what fits your baby best!

Baby Loggers

If you don't have kids, you probably think the idea of a baby logger is at best obsessive and at worst pretty creepy. What is it? Just what it sounds like - an app that lets you track when your baby falls asleep, wakes up, has a diaper change and what was in that diaper, when he eats and either how long and which side if you're breastfeeding or how much if it's from a bottle. Some also let you track development, keep track of doctor's appointments, and more.

The thing is, when the baby is first born, the doctors want you to track this stuff. You need to make sure enough food is going in and coming out, and that the baby isn't sleeping too long between feedings, to make sure everything's working right. At first we wrote it all down on a paper they gave us at the hospital, but then I discovered apps that let you track it with one tap. More recently, it's been clear to us that E has never really slept as much as they claim newborns sleep, and we wanted to keep track so we could try and get his sleep patterns into more of a, well, pattern. With the help of a baby logger, we now know for sure that he sleeps an average of 11-12 hours a day instead of the usual 14-16, including only 2-3 hours of naps instead of 4-6. Now that we know what we're dealing with, and what a bad night looks like versus a good night, we can start to address the problem.

I've tried three baby loggers since E was born, and the one I've stuck with is Baby Geek. The interface takes a little exploring to figure out, but you'll have it mastered by the end of the day. I used this to track diapers and feedings for a few days, but have been tracking sleep with it for two months now, so that's the feature I'm most familiar with. Baby Geek gives you simple one-touch tracking, with the nice touch that if you go to change the time of an event, there is both a clock to adjust and buttons to automatically jump it back 5, 10, or 15 minutes. It has the best graphs of any of the loggers I tried - you can view totals of each type of event by day, or timelines with all or only one type of event shown, and it separates day and night sleep (at times you pick). You can email the entries and have the program sync across two devices, so both parents (or one Nd a childcare provider) can keep track. And probably a dozen other features I'm not thinking of because I only use the most basic one. And all this is only $.99.

The other two I tried are BabyBix and Baby Log. I liked Log better than Bix, but not well enough to shell out $4.99 for it once the free version ran out, which only took about a day.

Here is how the three stack up (Some are my subjective ratings 1-10, 10 highest): 

	Baby Bix	Baby Log	Baby Geek	Winner
Price	Free	Free trial for a day or two, then $4.99	$0.99	Bix
Starting an event	Several taps	Two taps	One tap	Geek
Email reports	No	Yes	Yes	Log & Geek
Quality of graphs	5	8	8.5	Geek
Ease of use	3	8	9	Geek
Unique feature	Integrated message board	Bar and line graphs	Day vs night sleep shown on graph	Log or Geek
Unique annoyance	Crashes a lot	Past events must be entered by start time and duration, not start and end time	Only shows past two weeks' with of data	No one wins this!

This entry is cross-posted to Hey Hey, It's an iPad Blog!.

Mei Tai vs Pouch Sling

Babywearing can be a bit intimidating because there are just so many options (though cloth diapering is even scarier)! We have two carriers, and between them our five-month old has yet to touch a stroller. I'd thought people with multiple carriers were just looking for ways to spend money, but they're definitely good for different situations.

The mei tai
Pros:
- Very comfortable and easy on the back, even after an hour or more.
- Several different positions and carries: facing in, facing out, legs in, legs out, on the back, etc.
- Basic positioning is very simple, I had no problem getting it on and the baby in comfortably the very first time.
- Great for a wide range of sizes. We started using it at just a couple days old, and many people use them up to 35 lbs.
- Baby is very secure in it, even asleep. I truly have both hands free.
Cons:
- Difficult to store and carry neatly; those long straps want to fall everywhere.
- Takes a minute or two to put on and take off, and sometimes you feel like you're wrestling with an octopus.
- Wearing it without the baby looks and feels a bit goofy.
- I found it difficult to figure out how to nurse in it, though some women love their mei tais specifically because they find it easy to nurse in. I did work it out eventually, though switching from regular wear to nursing takes major readjustment of the carrier.
Best for:
- Anytime the baby will be in the carrier for a single long stretch - walks or hikes, or shopping trips to a single store.

The pouch sling:
Pros:
- Very quick and easy to get on and off, and the baby in and out.
- Compact, easy to stick in the diaper bag to carry around.
- Cheap - cost $20 used vs the mei tai's $60 used.
- Wearing it without the baby in it looks minimally silly.
- I find it much easier to nurse in. Once I figured out how to correctly position the baby for carrying, I made a minor adjustment and was nursing.
- Several ways to carry the baby, though fewer than the mei tai.
Cons:
- The #1 biggest problem: Because the weight is distributed unevenly, the sling hurts my back if I wear it for too long at a stretch.
- The baby is already getting too big for it. Soon I'll only be able to hold him in the hip carry, which requires one hand to balance him and isn't a position where he can nurse.
- Pretty much all carries will require you to use one hand now and then to steady the baby and keep him from leaning too far to one side. It's never a truly hands-free carrier the way the mei tai is.
- It took me a couple of days and quite a few YouTube videos to figure out correct positioning at first.
- Positioning is especially tricky before the baby has good head control. I don't recommend it for a newborn.
Best for:
- Short trips, or times when you'll be making several stops and the baby will be in and out of the carrier a lot.
- I use it more than the mei tai around the house; I toss him in it when I need a free hand to put laundry in or make myself lunch and he's feeling too clingy to be set down for a few minutes. I also use it when I want to nurse him while getting things done.
- Because it's so compact, this is the carrier I toss in the diaper bag when I'm not really expecting to need one, but you never know when you'll pop into the grocery store for something on the way home.

Overall, I love them both and find that between the two of them I'm covered for just about any situation. I'm disappointed that he's outgrowing the sling so soon; I'm considering getting a ring sling, since they're more adjustable for size, but with all that fabric it does lose the compact portability of the pouch sling.

(In case you are wondering, my sling is a Hotsling, and my mei tai is from Mei Tai Baby. Very pleased with both brands, both are very well-made!)