Shower Tip

This may be something you have already thought of, but for some reason it took me a while to start doing this. My children have longer hair, and the older they get the more difficult it seems to be. I thought it would get easier as I could tell them to tilt their head back, but it seems to be quite the opposite. The second water hits the top of their head, they throw their head down to keep it out of their face, effectively making all the water run towards their face.

They have hair. Lots and lots of hair.

I've tried resting my leg behind them for them to lay their head on. I've tried those little shower hats you put around their head that keeps the water out of their eyes. I've tried using a cup instead of the shower head. No luck with any of them.

Finally, the other day, I handed a cloth wipe to Squiggle for her to hold to her eyes as she held her head back. She was more willing to let the water hit her head without moving it because her eyes were "protected". If she leaned forward and the water/soap ran towards her face, it stopped and was absorbed by the wipe.

All this time struggling, and all I needed to do was grab a wipe. Of course, a washcloth would work just as well, but we have a million cloth wipes and no children in diapers anymore, so those were the first thing I thought to use.

These aren't even close to all our cloth wipes, either!

So if you have been having similar troubles, try a cloth wipe (or a washcloth), and see if it might work for you, too!

Disclaimer: Thoughts of Fluff is responsible for the content of this post. All opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Summer Must-haves from Kelly's Closet

 *Post contains Affiliate links*

With the hot weather upon us, playtime in water is inevitable with little ones! Between water play and summer travel, parents stay pretty busy this time of year! Kelly's Closet has what you need to help get you through the summer!

Kelly's Closet has posted their top 5 summer must haves (follow link in graphic below) here:

Here are a few other things you will want to consider taking with you either on your summer adventures!

A Baby Carrier!

Whether you're heading on vacation or just heading out of the house for a bit, it's a good idea to have a baby carrier with you. Whether you have an infant or a toddler, a baby carrier will get you through the day! 

Easier to pack than a stroller, a carrier, be it wrap or soft structured carrier, will help when your little one just can't go any further. (Any parents that went to an aquarium, the zoo, or even a nice hike will attest to that!) Not only can you keep your little one close to you, but if they want to get back down later on, you don't have a huge stroller to push around, empty!

Onya Baby Cruiser

The Onya Baby Cruiser can hold to 75 lbs, and has a sleep hood you can tuck away. This doesn't have to be just for sleep, though... you can use it to shield baby from the hot sun above if you forget your little one's hat!

MobyGO

The MobyGO is a NEW (from the same company that brought you the MobyWrap) soft-structured carrier that will hold to 45 lbs. This also has a lovely sleep hood (or sun-hood)!

Cloth Wipes!

Yes, cloth wipes! They are great for more than just wiping bottoms! With so many different types of wipes available, you can fit what you're looking for for any occasion! Wiping sand off of your munchkin with wipes can be more convenient than a towel, because you won't be trying to dry off later with a cloth wipe (thus getting sand all over you or your little one!). They are also great for all those sticky messes that popsicles and ice cream can create. On longer car rides, they can be life savers! Everything from drying tears, wiping noses, cleaning up messy faces, and wiping up spit-up... you'll find yourself thankful you packed extra! If you have a toddler like I do, you'll also be thankful you had extra on hand to wipe up what he decided to throw on the floor of your van or into the window (because we all love to see pretty patterns on the window, right?).

Grovia Cloth Wipes

Grovia wipes are great to keep on hand for many uses. They are great for everything from faces to messes. (Terry-fabric)

Thirsties Fab Wipes

Thirsties Fab Wipes are my favorite all-around wipe. I love keeping them on hand because it doesn't matter what the situation is that I need a wipe for, I am always pleased with the results from the fab wipes. (One side velour, one side microfleece)

Itti Bitti Ultimate Wipes

The Itti Bitti Ultimate wipes are by far the largest wipes I have tried, and definitely the softest. They are perfect for faces and hands! (Both sides velour)

For a more detailed comparison and breakdown of the wipes above (more pictures, too!) and of many other wipes you can purchase from Kelly's Closet, check out my Cloth Wipe Review.

Enter for your chance to win a $100 gift card to Kelly's Closet below! Looking to place an order sooner? Take advantage of this special coupon code (you won't find it on their website!):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 
Disclaimer: All opinions are my own and may be different from yours. All wipes mentioned in this post and in the Cloth Wipe Review were purchased by me. Thoughts Of Fluff is not responsible for prize fulfillment from Kelly's Closet.

All sprayers are NOT created equal!

Since day one of my cloth diapering adventure, I've been a huge fan of my diaper sprayer. We got the Knickernappies diaper sprayer with a purchase of a FuzziBunz diapering package (not this one since Elite's weren't in existence yet, but you get the idea) from Kelly's Closet.

Sure, there was a learning curve at first. I would spray the diaper and just squeeze the sprayer all the way and -=whoosh=- .... poop water on my face. Yep, it took a little bit for me to figure out the right amount of pressure to apply to get the perfect amount of water pressure.... and to figure out how to hold the diaper based on the different types of poop. Still, I became a pro after a while.

This past autumn, my mother offered let me hook up a diaper sprayer at her house for when we come down. She knew it would be a lot easier on me since I was currently dunking the diaper and rubbing them together under the water. Sorta gross, but hey... so are disposables sitting in a trash can smelling up the room.

I thought about it and decided to take her up on her offer. It was very kind of her, and I kept reminding her how easy it would make cleaning out her toilet, her sink (very tiny bathroom!), etc. I had won a diaper sprayer from a giveaway either last spring or last summer, so I discussed it with my husband and we opted to take down my Knickernappies sprayer and install our new one (that I won). We have hard water, and our Knickernappies showed signs of that.... some calcification around the openings where the water sprays out. We figured it would be best to hook up the new one, especially with another little one on the way.

We took the Knickernappies sprayer and hooked it up at my mother's, happily using it for the messes Bobble left in his diaper. She's also called me to tell me how much easier cleaning the toilet is now. Unfortunately, it's not all been sunshine and roses for us with our new sprayer. Our new sprayer leaked from the bottom of the sprayer head (where the hose enters the handle) from the start. My husband tried fixing that, and he made it better. I also contacted their customer service via the e-mail address left on the installation instructions. Now, I slowly applied the pressure to the sprayer, remembering the poo water splashing in my face many months ago. Eventually I found myself squeezing it as much as I could and still disappointed that I had NO WATER PRESSURE behind the sprayer. Really? It took me longer to get the poop off the diaper with that sprayer than it did to just use my hands.

That's when I realized that not all sprayers are created equal. I understood why some people ranted about sprayers while other people raved about them.... it really does make a difference as to what brand you have!

It's not *all* bad with this sprayer. For example, a completely ploppable poo doesn't really need much, and the wipes from a ploppable poo get cleaned well enough with this sprayer. Also, if Bobble were to attempt to have fun with the sprayer, at least the mess wouldn't be as big as it would have with the other sprayer (with more pressure). Really, though, we're switching with my mother. When we go back down, we're taking this one and leaving it at her house, as we only go there a couple of times a year. I still don't know I'll want to use it, though.... I might just dunk the diapers.

I haven't heard back from the customer service for the sprayer yet. I checked to see if they still manufactured the product (thinking maybe they just went under, and that's why it's been over a week and I still have no email response from customer service!), but I found them for sale on a site I've purchased from before. Ironically, it had only 2 reviews, and both were 5-star reviews. Makes me wonder.

In the end, though, I want my Knickernappies back. I'd also love to try the Blueberry Flo, as I've heard great things about that sprayer, but I'll settle for just having a sprayer that does the job, at this point!

Disclosure: The product(s) mentioned above were either purchased by me or won. None of the above companies (nor the website) mentioned endorsed nor had anything to do with this review/post. My opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own.

Cloth and Childcare

This past Thursday Bobble finished up his third week of childcare at the Montessori School. This has been a big transition for us as he had never been in the care of someone else for any real period of time. My husband drops him off in the morning and I pick him up on the way home from work.

Each night that is a "school" night, I pack up a cute little backpack for Bobble. Inside I have a change of clothes, a couple cloth diapers, cloth wipes, a sample size of CJ's, spray solution, a wet bag, and some disposable wipes (in case they happen to run out of the cloth ones for that day -- I imagine that could happen if he has a couple of nasty diapers). It has worked out pretty well so far, though we have had a few unexpected issues.

Now, honestly, these "issues" might have been easily foreseen by someone, but I guess I just figured I covered all bases with the teachers already, and there would not be any issues. At the end of last school year I had gone in and showed the different diapers to the teachers, showed them a wet bag, and showed them the wipes. I explained that any diaper sent for him will be ready to put on (pre-stuffed, pre-snapped in, pre-whatevered to make it ready-to-go), and that he would always have a wet bag for dirty diapers. They were impressed by the changes in cloth since they last used them, and requested that I please try to send only aplix/hook&loop/velcro diapers since it's hard to get a wiggly toddler to hold still for the change, much less figuring out which snaps they needed. That was fair. I purchased a couple extra aplix diapers (oh darn!), and made sure I had enough to cover all 3 days of childcare since they are all in a row and I probably wouldn't have the diaper laundry ready to go in time. (I might have washed the load, but not dried it yet, or not stuffed something in time to run out the door so I'm not late in the morning, etc etc etc.)

So, the issues!

Issue #1: I picked up Bobble to find that he had one dirty diaper in an empty s'posies package to be sent home.

*blink* Really? I check to see if I forgot a wet bag. Nope. I stare in disbelief that he had ONE dirty diaper from 8:30am until 4:30 when I picked him up. I spoke with the husband about this and he agreed that if they are only doing one diaper change, then we have a problem. He spoke with them the next morning and we found out that they check at 9, noon, and 3pm (and if they smell something or see a diaper issue!). He had a clean diaper when he got there, changed at noon, and I guess it didn't seem dirty at 3pm or they got confused. It was their first day and a different teacher changes them each time. I figured I could overlook this since it was day one and they were trying to get things straightened up and in order. The teacher that did change him did a horrible job putting the diaper on! He didn't leak, but I feared a future visit with a diaper changing 101 theme to it. She also didn't realize what the wet bag was. I later learned she thought it was a cute shirt since she saw a cute dinosaur print (never took it out) and just figured she needed to find a bag.

Okay, so none of those issues were ever "issues" again. He is frequently sent home with 2 diapers dirty (which makes sense since he gets there 30 mins before a check), and the wet bags are almost always used.

Almost always.

Issue #2: I was so proud of my adorable wet bags with prints that by the time I finally sent a plain (solid white) wet bag, they didn't realize what it was without the adorable print, and put diapers in plastic bags to send home. D'oh!

The next time I sent that wet bag, it got used.

Issue #3: Wipes. It didn't dawn on me that I didn't have to replace the cloth wipes in his bag until after week 2. I asked my husband if he had put more wipes in, and he said he hadn't. I mentioned that I haven't noticed any wipes in the wet bags. Then I noticed a note. That same day they had sent home a note asking for more wipes. I then realized they had been using the disposables only. I purchased another pack of disposables and placed them in the bag, but wrote a little note requesting that they please use the cloth and spray solution since he tends to break out when using disposables, but that I will keep disposables in there in case there is something too difficult (for them) to use cloth on, or if they run out. Granted, he is much better with the disposables since we started buying Earth's Best wipes, but that doesn't mean I want to use disposables regularly. If they had put up a fight, I would have conceded since they were still using cloth diapers (which I'm thankful for!).

They have not used the last few disposable wipes, and the new package isn't open. I have had to replace the cloth wipes though. Awesomeness.

And finally, an issue that is 100% MY FAULT:

Issue #4: I have a horrible tendency to take the wet bags from childcare out of his backpack, throw them next to the pail in his room, and then grab the clean diapers and wet bag to refill his backpack with and place it near the door for the next morning. I do this so I won't forget to put the stuff in there.... but I forget about the wet bag. What's worse, I forget that they CANNOT empty any diaper into the toilet, even if it's a ploppable poo. I guess it's a hygiene issue (the poo could splash water up, they might miss the toilet, where they would have to set the diaper until they got the child re-diapered, dressed, cleaned up and out of the room... ), and I understand that, but I forget about that possibility.

A lot.

Bobble normally goes first thing in the morning, before school and everything. This fact makes me forget that there is the possibility he could have gone at school. A couple of times I've grabbed one of the bags and taken it to the washer along with my hanging pail and pail liner, only to find a nasty diaper in there. Yep. Those are fun to clean out the next day. Heck, those suck to clean out at the end of that same day, let alone any amount of time past that!

Looking at those issues, they all resolved themselves except for #4, and #4 is totally my issue, not the school's issue. We've had great luck with cloth and childcare so far, and I look forward to the rest of the school year going even more smoothly. They've noticed when he was a bit red and applied the CJ's cream I had in his bag. Their diapering abilities with these diapers have DRASTICALLY improved (you wouldn't know they were newbies anymore!). They use cloth wipes and spray without hesitation. I really couldn't ask for more. Well, aside from use of a diaper sprayer, but they turned down my offer to supply one (the whole hygiene reason, remember?).

In case you're curious, here are the types of (APLIX) diapers I send for him on any given day:
BumGenius 4.0 with just the large insert
BumGenius AIO
Kawai'i Baby (just 1 insert)
Grovia (with a liner already laying across the snapped-in insert to help keep wetness away from skin)
Thirsties DUO AIO

The 'Scoop' on Powdered Laundry Detergent

When we started using cloth, we switched detergents for all of our laundry. I did lots of research and already knew we needed to stop using fabric softener (thank goodness wool dryer balls softens everything up!), but I hadn't considered the residue left behind from using different detergents. At that time, we were using a Free & Clear liquid detergent for laundry, and powdered detergent for our diapers. I got samples of BumGenius detergent, Rockin' Green detergent, and Tiny Bubbles.

It wasn't too long into our cloth diapering adventure when my husband washed some massage sheets with the 'cloth diaper' detergent, Tiny Bubbles. Okay, so it's not only for cloth.... we just only used it on cloth. For the first time in years, his massage sheets smelled clean! They looked better, smelled better, and had less chemicals on them because the 'cloth diaper' detergent had very few ingredients. He then asked me if we could just use that detergent for everything from that point on. We sent the liquid home with my mother (might as well not waste it!), and used our Tiny Bubbles on everything after that.

Since then, I've gone through trial and error with the amount of my detergent. I wasn't using enough at first because I cut the amounts in half (I have a front-loader, HE machine)... but Tiny Bubbles is apparently formulated for HE machines, so I shouldn't have done that. *sigh* Then I had too many bubbles and was running a ridiculous amount of rinse cycles to ensure all the bubbles were out. That's when simplicity really should have been looked at: HOT WATER. Sure, the diapers got washed on HOT, but I had read a long time ago that dissolving the detergent before adding it would work wonders.

It does.

I just heat up some water in the microwave now (or even hot tap water) and stir the detergent in. When it's mostly dissolved (note I said "mostly" and not "completely"), I just add it into the detergent spot. I'll add a wee bit more hot water to the container to get the residue out and voila! So you could totally dissolve the detergent, but I never seem to think about it when I would have enough time to bother with it. My diapers are getting every bit as clean, and now need none of those extra rinse cycles!

As far as detergents go, I'd like to say that I like ALL THREE detergents mentioned above. I just went with the Tiny Bubbles as our main detergent in the beginning because my husband said he wanted to use "only this detergent" (meaning what got his sheets clean), so I bought that one. I would highly recommend any of the above detergents, however. Also, while Tiny Bubbles and BumGenius Detergents have the exact same ingredients, Rockin' Green has the awesome scents!

Blogger Beach Bash!

Welcome to week 5 of the Blogger Beach Bash sponsored by Kelly’s Closet! I’m honoured to get to participate with all the other lovely bloggers, and to work with Diapershops.com! Don’t forget to head on over to the Diapershops.com blog and enter the prize package of sunscreen, a reusable swim diaper, and a medium wet bag! You can also enter to win a $15 gift certificate to Kelly’s Closet at the bottom of this entry!

I thought long and hard about what to post, and I was torn between summer traveling tips and making a long list of must-haves for the summer time…. So I am doing both, but a shorter version! I have my top 5 summer must-haves on Pinterest, and a little tidbit about travel too!

Traveling with Pocket Diapers

We never travel more than 4 hours to get to our destination (well, we haven’t yet, anyway!), so please keep that in mind if you’re going to use this for a travel guide! We also normally do NOT wash diapers while we are gone, as we are normally only gone 3 days/2 nights. Yes, I have that many (pocket) diapers. That aside, Bobble is now 18 months, so you need to adjust any amounts to take into consideration that he does not mess as many diapers as a newborn, or even a 6 month old.

When traveling for an extended period of time (read: over 2 hours), I always use a “night time diaper” on our Bobble. A “night time diaper” is really just any pocket (aplix) diaper that I have double stuffed, or a double-stuffed Rump-a-rooz diaper. Since Bobble likes to peel at aplix, we generally cannot put them on him unless he’s either sleeping, or in a carseat. I always pack enough “night time diapers” to get me through however many nights I’ll be away from home, however many naps he’ll take in that time frame, and one for each leg of the journey. That normally equates to 5 diapers since we try to travel during his nap time to make everything easier on us. Our favorite diapers to use as “night time diapers” are:

• ·         BumGenius 4.0
• ·         Rump-a-rooz
• ·         Blueberry Deluxe Pocket

We also make sure to bring a FuzziBunz hanging pail to use while we are at our destination because this is easy to transport and the elastic at the top, while it doesn’t seal anything, helps keep some of the smell inside. I also take a medium wet bag (either Bummis or Blueberry) for each leg of the journey, one of the non-traveling day, plus one more (one extra one to sit in the diaper bag in case we end up with wet clothes that don’t need to be with smelly diapers). Since they are size medium, I am able to fit all dirty diapers for that day (while out and about) into the bag.

We made our own liners from a yard of anti-pill fleece (just cut them into rectangles!) to use for non-clothdiapering safe creams, but they also work great for traveling! I almost always place one of these liners in the diaper while out of town so any messy diapers keep most (or all) of the mess from staining our actual diaper. This is great since we often don’t get to do diaper laundry while out of town, and I’d much rather have a discoloured piece of fleece than a discoloured diaper, and I’d much rather have any leftover particles stuck on a liner than my diaper!

I’m not very squeamish, so I had no problem taking the liners and holding them under the water in the toilet (hey, that’s clean water anyway! Well…. It was clean!) and folding the material of either the diaper or the liners and rubbing it together to break off any particles. It works pretty well for those messier diapers! In an ideal world, my mother-in-law would let me hook up a diaper sprayer at her house to leave there.  I tried explaining how much easier it would make cleaning her entire bathroom (mostly tiled), but she was convinced her water (heavy on the calcium) would ruin the sprayer. I would definitely recommend providing a diaper sprayer to your family to keep there if they will go for it. I just explained how great it was for helping clean toilets, providing water for mopping (seriously, no bucket!) and more, and it was pretty convincing for them. It would make cleaning more convenient for them, and spraying diapers more convenient for you when you visit!

We do our diaper laundry as soon as we get home, especially in the summer time since the heat doesn’t help the smell of those dirty diapers!

Top 5 Summer Must-Haves On Pinterest

Speaking of summer heat, I wanted to share with you my must-haves for summer! Best of all, you can find 4 of the 5 items on Kelly’s Closet! So what are the top 5 Summer Must-haves?

1.       Episencial Sunny Sunscreen

Source: kellyscloset.com via Thoughts on Pinterest

Everyone needs protection from the sun, so why not go natural with Episencial Sunny Sunscreen SPF 35? Great for all ages (and water-resistant, too)!

2.       Imse Vimse Swim Diapers

Source: kellyscloset.com via Thoughts on Pinterest

Looking for a great swim diaper? Imse Vimse Swim Diapers not only come in adorable prints, but they are super trim! (Sizes run a little large, so size down if you're unsure!)

3.       Planet Wise Wet Bags

Source: kellyscloset.com via Thoughts on Pinterest

Planet Wise Wet Bags are fantastic for storing wet clothing in, and have great prints/patterns like Tropical Retreat (shown above).

4.       Episencial Soothing Cream

Source: kellyscloset.com via Thoughts on Pinterest

Re-moisturize your skin after playing in the sun with Episencial Soothing Cream-4OZ. Safe for all ages, and all-natural!

5.       EnviroSax Reusable Bags

Source: envirosax.com via Thoughts on Pinterest

Looking for the perfect beach/pool bag? Check out Envirosax (pictured: Sydney)! Many different prints to suit your style, large enough to hold everything you need, but with a wide strap to prevent it from digging into your arm! Rolls up to be compact for storage!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am part of the Kelly’s Closet Blogger Beach Bash.  Kelly’s Closet sent me Super Undies (size Medium) for my participation in the campaign.  To see a complete list of bloggers who are participating visit the Kelly’s Closet blog.

Bummas Cloth Wipes Review & Giveaway

After writing my review and comparison on various brands of wipes, I saw that a brand I hadn’t even tried had just won an award. I wasn’t overly familiar with Bummas cloth wipes, though I had seen the name a time or two in various places online. I had heard good things about them, but had a lot of wipes already, and never really looked into purchasing any Bummas wipes. When Bummas offered to send me a set to review, I gladly accepted. I can tell you that I am pleasantly surprised with these wipes, and I’m not the only one!

I’ll start out by saying my little Bobble loved the bright colours. We were sent a set of “Wild Ones” to test out, and I couldn’t get a picture of them without my son trying to steal them. This was as close as I got to a good photo!

When I took the wipes out of the package, I was surprised that they were rectangular instead of square. In fact, they are 5”x7”, not the squares I’m used to! I wasn’t sure what to make of that at first. Honestly, I thought that it was going to take me more wipes to use on my son since I had less surface area to work with. I figured they would be great for just a quick wipe down after a wet diaper, and they are so soft I knew immediately they’d be great for blowing noses! They are 100% cotton, woven velour terry cloth. Like I said, they are soft! One side of the wipes have the little loops of fabric, while the other side has a closer weave and is incredibly plush. Even better, the package even says they won’t pill, shrink, or fade. After having some of my other wipes shrink (or just having one side of them shrink), this is welcome news!

I prepped the Bummas and folded them, placing them atop all the other wipes we have so that they’d get used first. I forgot to tell my husband that I put new wipes in the container (he is a SAHD, for those who didn’t know), so I got to test them out myself before I heard his opinion. In fact, I got to test them out with a messy diaper. I grabbed for a wipe and pulled a Bummas out of the container. I looked at the diaper (and the mess on Bobble’s bum!), and back at the rectangular wipe. I still didn’t see how this was going to be as effective with less material…. I’m going to need more wipes! I grabbed 2 more wipes and set them to the side as my back-up wipes. I sprayed Bobble with our wipe solution and used the side of the Bummas with more loops (to grab this mess better!) and wiped. It did a great job! I was done cleaning up my Bobble with ONE WIPE! I used a second for good measure, but it wasn’t needed. The first wipe took care of all of the mess! I patted him dry with the other side of the wipe and did up his diaper. 

Now came another test…. cleaning the wipe out. We have a diaper sprayer, and we spray out our wipes when they were used on those messier diapers. They sprayed out very easily. I didn’t have to spray one section repeatedly, waiting for anything to break free. It was a spray down and they were clean (well, clean enough to go into my washer, at least!).

I’ve decided that I like this rectangular size better than the square size of some other wipes. Not only was I wasting surface with the other wipes (by bunching, folding, etc.) while wiping, but these fold better for storage too! My husband also wanted me to share that he *REALLY* likes these wipes because they fold better and spray clean easier. Spraying clean is a big deal for him, especially while he’s the only one at home with Bobble and he doesn’t have time to stand there spraying and spraying… he has a toddler to chase after!

Overall, I would say I’m VERY pleased with Bummas Wipes. They are super soft, work fantastically, and come in adorable colours! You can pick up a package of Bummas Wipes for $14.95, or enter to win one below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I receive sample(s) for the purpose of testing and review. These opinions are my own and may differ from those of your own. Thoughts Of Fluff is not responsible for shipment of the prize(s).

The Cloth Wipes Review

*This entry mentions snot, poop, and other messes... you've been warned!*

When I started out with cloth diapering, I wasn't going to use cloth wipes. Sure, I was okay with cloth diapers and spraying the poop off of them... but wipes? That's just plain silly! Fast forward to a large order I placed for FuzziBunz from KellysCloset.com -- I got a cloth diaper package that included a sprayer and some cloth wipes. It was the one-size FuzziBunz, they didn't have the Elite then... but same package pretty much. I wasn't going to discard the wipes, so I figured I'd hold onto them for just wiping up whatever mess needed it. Essentially, I got "wash cloths".

Not long after we started using our cloth diapers, I realized how wasteful the disposable wipes were. (Especially when my husband would always leave the container OPEN!) I started looking into cloth wipes and quickly saw the reviews saying they only needed 2-3 at most for the messiest of diapers. What?! Here we are using like, TEN! That was that... the disposable wipes had to go. I decided that paper tissues were too wasteful, so I decided I was switching to cloth for that too.

Since that day, I've acquired many different brands of wipes looking for the 'perfect' wipe. Perfect for bottoms, perfect for noses, perfect for hands, and for those (upper!) cheeks. I wanted to compare them, but to do so for all aspects, I needed something my son (unfortunately) shared with me: a cold. What better way to test out all the wipes for noses than on my own? I would like to preface this by saying that my nose was already chapped from the disposable tissues that I had been using at work. On the bright side, this will let me know just how gentle the wipes can be when you're already sensitive like that!

I would like to offer the following information in regards to the reviews:

- All items were prepped/washed with GroVia™ Tiny Bubbles detergent and are dried with Wooly Rounds Wool Dryer Balls
- For cleaning hands/faces, only some water was used on the wipe(s)
- For cleaning Bums, only Baby Bum Drops Wipes Solution was used
- For cleaning up messes, evaluation was performed on my son's highchair tray. I purposefully let the foods dry on there (or partially dry to get a bit rubbery), as well as used on fresh foods for a full range of cleaning capabilities.
- Since my son is a toddler (and I didn't use cloth when he was a newborn), I can only compare to what I've experienced when referring to bum cleaning. For the most part, his poops are "moldable" solids that will leave discolouration or pieces stuck to his skin. He is still breastfed, however, and while he was sick, he did end up with very runny messes as he primarily nursed and wanted no food.

*We use a spray bottle and store the wipes dry*

I would also like to state that all of the wipes had pictures taken *AFTER* I did a complete stripping using chlorine bleach. No, they don't really look any different (nor do they feel different), so that might be a relief for some people to know. I was very concerned about them since my first time stripping anything I used colour-safe bleach and some of my wipes got really dry and stiff feeling. Very disappointing since they were normally so fluffy and soft! (They were Thirsties Fab wipes).

Along with the discovery of colour-safe bleach damaging my Thirsties Fab wipes, I also learned the hard way to not dry my FuzziBunz Wipes on high-heat. I didn't think anything of the fact that one side is cotton, the other fleece.... until the cotton side strunk causing them to curl a bit (as you can see in the pictures). All of the wipes shown below were dried on high heat after their initial prepping. I experienced this happening to a couple of my Thirsties Fab wipes, but nowhere near the degree of curling/shrinking that the FuzziBunz wipes had. In fact, it was only a slight curl if any at all with those.


Wipes being compared from Left to Right:




Left to Right: IttiBitti, Thirsties Fab, Grovia, FuzziBunz, Planetwise, AppleCheeks, BabyKicks


Up against each other (thickness comparison/stitching comparison) from Bottom to Top:




Bottom to top: IttiBitti, Thirsties Fab,  GroVia, FuzziBunz, Planetwise, AppleCheeks, BabyKicks

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itti*bitti Ultimate Wipes

Both sides of this 2-ply wipe are velour, making them the thickest (and softest!) that I've seen. The velour is held together with stitching around the edges. The wipes come in either packages of white velour on one side, colour on the other, or two different colours per wipe. They measure about 9.6"x9.6", also making them some of the largest I've seen.




*Please note that I accidentally did not have my hand all the way down to the corner of the wipe like I did in all the following photos. This wipe is larger than it looks due to my hand placement.*

Noses: These are the thickest wipes I own, but also the softest! They were divine against my poor, chapped nose! They easily held up against my ever-draining nose and did a good job grabbing the snot. Like the other velour wipes, they did smear a bit when I tried to use them on my son. Again, this is likely due to the fact he doesn't understand how to 'blow' his nose yet.

Hands/Faces: Messy faces are a breeze with this wipe, and so are the hands (if you can hold them still!). They grabbed sticky and grimy things really well. Not only are they super soft against the skin, but they have a lot more surface area, allowing you to potentially use one for both hands and face. (No guarantees, I don't know how messy your kids get, and my little one has pretty much no hair!)

Bums: Being larger, you need less of these wipes when cleaning up messes. Both sides are super soft to be gentle where your little one needs it, but have enough texture (if going against the fabric grain) to grab poop particles. Like the other velour wipes, I have noticed a bit of a smearing or pushing-around of poop, but not as much as with the other velour wipes.

Household Messes: While handling food and sticky items fairly well (and being rather absorbent!), I feel like it's a waste of their softness using it on a counter or other surface! They are nice for wiping off a messy baby though, so if it's already messy, why not use it on a counter to finish cleaning up the mess?


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Thirsties Fab

These wipes are very soft and plush. They are made of two different materials. One side is a plush velour, and the other side is microfleece. They are stitched together around the edges, measuring 8"x8".







Noses: These are pleasantly soft on your skin, so they were a no-brainer for me when I got a cold. I did enjoy how gentle they were against my skin, but occasionally had issues getting them to 'grab' all the gooeyness, sometimes resulting in me having to wipe multiple times (which can add to the dryness, regardless of how soft the tissue is!). I also experienced this when attempting to wipe my toddler's runny nose. At 14 months, he didn't know how to 'assist' with the nose blowing/wiping, so he'd have long, slimy strings dangling as I pulled the wipe away.

Hands/Faces: Decent job cleaning up, but not grubby fingers. For things still wet (perhaps fresh yogurt or puree), these are great. For slightly dried stuff or grubby fingers I found stuff left behind and had to re-wipe the areas.

Bums: Being super soft, these are easily a go-to wipe for the diaper area. I'm never worried about being too rough on any of the sensitive areas with these wipes. The velour side is supposed to help grab messes and the microfleece is supposed to be good for light cleanings or drying off. I do find that if the poop is really runny that it sometimes smears it or pushes it around instead of grabbing it. This isn't always the case, but is frustrating when it does happen.

Household Messes: All food (dried, wet, and rubbery) wiped up easily with just some hot water and a little pressure. These wipes are a bit thicker than most of the others, so it was able to hold more water to scrub/wipe with.


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GroVia™ Cloth Wipes

These wipes are made of a soft terry fabric. They are comprised of two layers sewn together around the edges. They only come in white, and measure 8"x8".They are not overly soft, but still gentle and with a bit of fluff to them.


First picture without flash, second with (It was hard to get a good shot of an all-white wipe!)





Noses: These were easily gentle enough while still having enough texture to grab any gooey stuff. They were ideal for re-use because anything on the wipe dried well enough to not clump the wipe together or remain sticky.

Hands/Faces: These do a good job getting that grubbiness off of little fingers and faces while not being overly rough on the skin.

Bums: It doesn't matter what kind of poop you're facing, these wipes do a good job and will help with even the messiest of poops. I wish they were a bit larger, as I seem to have trouble getting them to get everything with one wipe. (This may have something to do with how thick the layers are so when I fold them to use clean surface, they get so thick I can't fold much more.)

Household Messes: These wipes handled all types of food very well. They also held water well for cleaning those dried-on foods.


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FuzziBunz(R) DOUBLE Sided Wipes - Organic Cotton / Fleece


One side of these wipes are fleece, the other side of fleece (as the name might suggest). They are 9"x9" squares with stitching around the edges. The colour is mostly white, although there are sometimes hints of light shades of other natural tones (cream, brown).

First picture without flash, second with (It was hard to get a good shot of an all-white wipe!)







Noses: It didn't matter what side was used, both sides equally wiped up snot very efficiently! Pleasantly soft, too! Successfully wiped snot (and grabbed it all) from my wiggly toddler. (...now if only he learned how to 'blow' when I ask!)

Hands/Faces: I was surprised how well these did with this, actually. I wet the wipe and tried both sides on my son's face after a particularly messy meal. Again, both sides performed equally well. They got the dried/caked foods with ease, the wet foods with ease, and I know they were soft on his face! I also used the same wipe to follow up on a hand after a different wipe I tried left stuff behind.

Bums: I was impressed with how well these cleaned up poop! I honestly expected them to smear a bit, or not grab very much, but my son put them to the test and we only needed a total of two (because I like using a clean wipe after he looks 'clean' to ensure that I got everything).

Household Messes: These wipes handled rubbery foods, caked on foods, and wet foods with ease. It was easy to contain the foods within the wipe too (if needed) when using the fleece side.


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Planet Wise Flannel Wipes


These wipes are thin, and take up very little space in a diaper bag, purse, wipe bag, etc. They are the a single piece of fabric with stitching around the edges, and are 8"x8". They are sold in colour sets of two. I went with the Lime/Chocolate. As far as softness goes, these are not as soft as I expected. Perhaps I was thinking of my son's super soft, thick, flannel pajamas when I ordered them. Due to this, I was a bit disappointed when I got them.






Noses: These work well for cleaning up noses, but they weren't too gentle after the skin got dried or chapped. It was easy to wipe up runny snot with this material

Hands/Faces: These are good little wipes for hands and faces. They grab food residue decently, and due to the small size, you can always keep plenty on hand.

Bums: These wipes performed better than I thought they would for cleaning up poop, but they didn't grab tiny pieces very well. If you pinched with the wipes, obviously it would pick up whatever you were going for, but if you're just wiping (like I did), pieces will fall because there isn't enough texture on the wipe to snag anything.

Household Messes: These can't hold much water, so for something you need a good amount of wetness to wipe up/off these aren't the best. They did, however, do a great job scrubbing/wiping off any food stuck or splattered on the surface, but you might need multiple wipes due to how thin these are.


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AppleCheeks Plush Rayon from Bamboo Wipes


These wipes are very soft, and have larger loops for the material. They remind me of washcloths with the way the little loops stick out. They are 8"x8" squares, and all white.They may not be velour, but they are still super soft!


First picture without flash, second with






Noses: These did a great job with collecting and holding snot from both me and my toddler. They were also nice and soft against our skin, but the fabric was textured enough to where they grabbed what they needed with ease.

Hands/Faces: Essentially, these are like really soft wash cloths. They cleaned both hands and faces quickly and thoroughly.

Bums: Being so soft, these are one of my top wipes for bums. They are super gentle, but also super effective and snagging poo particles and cleaning up in general. The fabric has lots of little loops and that helps clean all the creases well, too.

Household Messes: Again, these are essentially super soft wash cloths. They took out any mess I put them up against with flying colours. I would easily use these for pretty much any task at hand (so long as it wouldn't ruin them).

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BabyKicks Hemp Washies/Wipes


These wipes are hemp fleece and, unlike the other wipes, are cut into 7.5" x 9.5" ovals instead of squares. The edges have coloured stitching.

I was very excited when I ordered these wipes because all the reviews said they were very soft and worked great for cleanups. Bonus? They are good for cleaning lenses on cameras, glasses, etc. Yes, very excited when I ordered these. I prepped them, dried them.... and thought I did something wrong. They are not soft. One side of them is smooth, the other textured (for grabbing messes), but it's always felt like a softer version of burlap material to me. I was hesitant to use this on my son's bottom due to the way it felt to me.







Noses: These are too rough to use on noses. They do a good job of grabbing up any of the gooeyness as opposed to smearing it around, but it was painful on my chapped skin. I had used them to experiment with prior to having the cold, and they were uncomfortable to use as a tissue then, too.

Hands/Faces: Due to how uncomfortable they were for blowing noses, I really don't like using them on faces. I will keep them handy for when my son randomly wants to just let whatever is in his mouth pour out because they do a great job with that, and they are good for getting that grubbiness off of hands (like after my little one eats his 'doodles' which leave a film on the fingers much like cheetos or doritos would)

Bums: I think these are too rough for use on diaper regions -- ESPECIALLY if your little one has any sores. I have taken to reaching for these and sliding them under his bum to prevent poop from getting on our changing table (and to catch any extra he decides to release... because he sometimes has to show off his pooping skills to me I guess)

Household Messes: Being a bit rougher (at least to me!), these wipes do a great job with helping loosen any stuck-on items. They performed equally well with the rubbery (partially dried) foods. Since they are one-ply and a thinner material in general, they don't hold a lot of mess in them if you're collecting food as you're wiping. They wipe up wet foods well too, but again, they cannot hold much. This limits them in terms of cleaning up since they can't retain water in the amount you might need if there is a dried-on mess away from the sink. These would work great as a dish rag in the sink though.

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There is one area that is the same for *ALL* of the above wipes.... they all grab cat hair super easily! We are in a household that has 3 cats, and all of the wipes seem to end up with hair on them, and they all seem to be equally as difficult to pick the hair off of!

With all that said, I still have more wipes that I could compare, but those will come in either an addition to this post (much later!), or a separate post all together. Out of all the wipes above, I like many of them for different purposes. I also have a few I simply reserve for uses other than bottoms because they are either too rough (BabyKicks) or just don't grab well enough (Planetwise).

What are YOUR favorite wipes, what do YOU use them for, and why?

If you have any brand of wipes that you'd like me to review, please feel free to contact me at: Thoughtsoffluff@gmail.com
or find me on FaceBook!

*All opinions expressed are my own and I was not compensated in any way for the reviews of these products.

A long process

I finally started the long process of actually reviewing all of the wipes we have used and comparing how they fare with alternate uses. This isn't anywhere near done, but I was surprised at how much I was able to get done today alone. I guess an important part of the process was my little one sharing a cold with me. Nothing helps you review wipes in lieu of disposable tissues like having plenty of snot to test them with! Thank you, child. Thank you.

I have more wipes that are not even prepped yet, and I am debating on whether or not I wish to wait until literally every single [type of] wipe (that I own) is prepped and reviewed, or if I want to do the majority of them and then edit the blog/repost when I make additions. I'm open to suggestions on this.

My husband also feels the need to give input for the wipe post in-the-making... probably because he has the honour of being a SAHD. I doubt he has actually realized the various ways I'm testing the wipes and the extent of what I've been comparing them, but I'll include any comments he makes on them. (Admittedly, I have a feeling he'll simply say something like, "I like this one best." and that's all.)

In the mean time, thank you for your patience with this review, and I hope you enjoy it when it's finally done!