- Certified organic cotton
- Smaller diaper loads
- Less waste in our landfills
- Save hundreds of dollars each year
- Healthier for baby, less diaper rash
Product Description
The Gro Baby one-size diaper is a revolution in cloth diapering. Our innovative shell design minimizes diaper waste and cost. When your soaker pad is wet, simply snap in a fresh soaker pad.
After months and months of research I decided to go with Gro Baby for my second child who would be my first in cloth diapers.
Pros:
-One size. I love that they will grow with her. I started using them on my 8lb 11oz daughter the moment she came home from the hospital. They fit and did not leak but they were definitely bulky while she was that small. Not the case anymore since she is 4 months old. I got the tip to try prefolds underneath the shell while she is a newborn and that works well too, although the prefolds are not as absorbent as the soakers that come in the shells.
-Reusable shell. I think its great the shell is reusable, because in the end it saves me money. I own about 12 shells and 19 soakers and do the wash every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. With this routine I hope the shells will last me through potty training and after four months of use I see no reason why the won’t. -No leaks. With a newborn and her breastfed poop she does get poop on the shell sometimes but we have had only one or two leaks. I used disposables on vacation a couple of weeks ago and had 4 leaks in just 2 weeks. Since I have had half that many leaks in 4 months I know I made the right choice.
-Organic fibers. I prefer things to be natural fabrics/fibers and even more so when they are against my baby’s bum. The fact that these soakers are organic is an even bigger plus.
-Easy to launder. I have no stains after 4 months. I have a pretty cheap washer and dryer so I am pretty limited in what I can do laundering wise but my routine is as follows. I do a cold rinse (no detergent), then I do a warm wash (1.5 scoops of tiny bubbles), then I take all the stained soakers and all the shells and hang them in the sun for about an hour or two, then I leave the shells on the line and throw all the soakers in the dryer with a towel and set it for 80 minutes. Like I said I earlier I do this 3 times a week, I was hesitant about using cloth diapers because I thought all the laundry would be a burden but its not. Its easy and I actually enjoy doing it unlike the rest of the laundry I am responsible for.
-No scratch Aplix(velcro). The aplix is not scratchy like regular velcro so if it rubs on the baby’s tummy (which it hasn’t yet) it won’t be uncomfortable.
-Colors. The colors are bold and beautiful. Kiwi is my favorite. I have kiwi, blackberry and vanilla. The mandarin looks great online but I don’t think it would be great with our skin tone so I skipped that color.
Cons
-Laundry tabs. Now this review is written in Nov ’09 and i know they are working on a laundry tab solution but with the product I have right now the laundry tabs stopped working after a couple months of washing (and I never throw them in the dryer). I wrote the company and got a response back from the CEO with some tricks on how to prevent diaper chains. A few of them didn’t work for me but this one did: Put the aplix on the front as if putting the diaper on the baby then turn the diaper inside out. Since I have started doing this I have no more diaper chains, woohoo! Also if you hate aplix they have a snap conversion to turn all your hook and loop dipes into snaps.
-Soakers can take a while to dry. I always throw a dry towel in the dryer with them and that works well. Every so often though I need to run a second cycle to get them fully dry.
No comment on using them overnight since I have never tried. I used my left over disposables when she was a newborn and I bought some pocket diapers during a seconds sale that I use now. The pocket diapers were just too bulky to use during the day but work great for night.
All in all I am so glad I decided to go cloth and Gro Baby. I highly recommend them.
Rating: 5 / 5
Why I bought it:
I wanted to change to cloth diapering to save money, trips to the store, and reduce my family’s amount of waste.
Pros:
With two kids in diapers, these definately cut down our diaper costs, they are very cute, one diaper could fit my new born or my toddler with the simple snap design. These are made with very durable construction. The snaps work well and the velcro holds tight. The inserts snap in holding them in place. They work very well with my infant daughter who sleeps on her back as the majority of the absorbant insert’s padding is in the rear end. The shell prevents leaks very effectively.
Cons:
My toddler son is very active and the soaker pad tends to bunch up in an uncomfortable way in the front. The soaker is not very soft and tends to rub him a little raw when he is especially active. The soaker does not wick away moisture at all. The amonia smell from these soakers tends to be a lot stronger than other brands that I have tried.
What I’ve done to make this product work better for my family:
I mainly use these diapers for my infant since she is not as active. The soaker pads have a booster liner sewn on to them which adds to the bulk and doesn’t really add much absorbtion, it also tends to bunch up, so I ripped it out. The diapers are now much more comfortable and not as bulky. If I use them for my son, I use a different brand’s soaker pad and things work fine.
Rating: 3 / 5
First, I’d like to say that I have been cloth diapering for over 5 years now. I’ve tried just about every type of cloth diaper and every brand of cloth diaper. I even became quite accomplished at making my own and was an approved seamstress.
Now on our third child, and having her and our 2 year old in diapers, the sewing became too much and I started looking for a brand that would work well for both of our girls. Gro Baby’s work AMAZING!!! They are trim, yet the most absorbant diaper we have ever used! Not a single leak! We have been using them for about 4 months now and there’s no turning back!
If you are hesitant, do what we did, try a couple. Once we were hooked we bought the Live Gro Baby set. We’ve sold off all other diapers and use Gro Baby exclusively!
Oh, and we’ve tried the disposable inserts as well. LOVE ‘EM!!! They are incredible for trips out of the house, naps, night time, any time. I often turn to them when I get a little lazy on laundry.
Good luck!
If you have any questions, the Natural Baby Company staff are amazing as well!
Rating: 5 / 5
I love the gro baby system. I have 6 covers, one vanilla snap, 2 kwiwi, 2 blackberry and one mandrin. I have used gro baby from the beginning of my CD experience (for 6 months). I loved the concept of using the covers over again. And when they came out with the bio saokers, I was thrilled. I reviewed them separately.
-Pros: The gro baby systems is super easy, snap in the organic soaker, and put it on baby. I have used these overnight with a booster, and no issues. I love how trim these diapers fit, even with the booster. I send her to daycare with them, I just have to teach the providers to reuse the cover. The new longer rise fits my baby great.
-Cons: For EBF babies, there is a tendency to get poop on the covers, which will prevent you from reusing the covers, and more wash. On the plus side, the covers dry fairly quickly. I have found the organic soakers can take awhile to dry and do stiffen over washing. The good news on that is you can use fabric softener on these with out worry. I found Ecover works great. You do have to watch the fit for chunky babies, and make sure all of the soaker is tucked in.
Rating: 5 / 5
I bought a trial set of these diapers when my daughter was about 6 months old. Admittedly, she’s on the larger size, but I was nonetheless shocked when these diapers were too small! She was 18 pounds and very round. The rise on these diapers are very short.
The idea behind these diapers is great. Just take out a wet or soiled liner and snap a new one in. Since we usually use some pretty bulky pocket diapers, I thought these would cut out the bulk in our diaper bag since we could get away with just the snap in liners and maybe an extra shell, just in case. Since they are so tiny, I can’t use them at all!
The company needs to come up with a better way to size these diapers so that they truly are “One Size.” If I’m going to shell out extra money for this diapering system, I expect it to last longer than six months.
Rating: 3 / 5