Recently I had the opportunity to try out a
Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted diaper (in orchid) and a
Thirsties Duo Wrap Cover (in Scottish Rose). I picked the colours thinking of Squiggle, but I got size 2 so I could do a review now instead of later. Bobble doesn't care what colours are on his bum, and neither do I! He looked good in pink, anyway! To help you get an idea of size/fit versus weight, Bobble is 30 lbs.
I was really excited to try out the Thirsties Fab Fitted diaper, as I had heard fitted diapers work wonders for night time usage... especially for heavy wetters! Bobble is a heavy wetter, and we are starting to encounter absorbancy issues or him waking up and asking for a new diaper at 3am. Either way, not fun. I had used a Thirsties Duo Wrap Cover before (and loved it!), so this whole experience was only a little bit new to me.
I decided to delve right in to the testing of this diaper and prepped it as soon as humanly possible. I was first surprised by how similar the fitted was to the Thirsties Duo AIO. I fell in love with the Duo AIO after my first use of it, so seeing how this was essentially the same thing (minus the PUL), I knew I was going to love it! Now to just test the limits of the diaper on absorption!
The Fab Fitted does not have double gussets (and you all know my love of double gussets!), but the seam for the absorbent liner is about a centimeter in from the leg gusset, meaning the diaper isn't holding the moisture in the main part of the liner/insert all the way up to the leg opening. This was nice to see, as this creates a groove that clearly helps hold in both moisture and messes. The top part of the insert/liner is super, SUPER soft, and the bottom layers are microfiber.
The liner/insert part of the Fab Fitted is sewn along the length of the diaper, not on the ends. While some diapers have them sewn on the end (or 2 sewn on both ends) to help with drying time, this looks more like a "regular" cloth diaper as far as my husband is concerned. (Read: it has nothing to fold, so he doesn't have to think while putting it on Bobble!) What I love about the way it is sewn is that it is left open on both ends. Not only can you stuff the diaper with a doubler or insert if you need to, but you can flip the entire thing inside out to help it finish drying!
As far as poop messes go, this is easier to spray out (obviously I'm spoiled enough to have a diaper sprayer!) than the diapers that have the inserts/liners sewn on either end, because the ones sewn on either end seem to end up with poop stuck to the side of them and it's really hard to spray off an edge of thin material!
You also have the adjustable rise snaps to help customize the fit to your little one. Bobble, being the shorty that he is, almost always has his diapers snapped down one rise level.
I got both the cover and the fitted in aplix closures so I could use them for child care and ease of night time use. Aplix is my closure of choice for night time, though during the day it is too tempting and Bobble simply
must undo them! If you think that's why snaps are superior to aplix... well, he undoes his snap diapers too. He started undoing both at around the same time! Just some food for thought!
The Duo Wrap completes the awesomeness of the combo with not only the adorable print and great fit, but double gussets! I love double gussets! Any mess that might happen to find its way out of the Fab Fitted (good luck, but I suppose it
could happen!) will be halted by the gussets on the wrap!
The interior of the cover has a flap of material in the front a couple inches long, so if you liked tri-folding flats or prefolds, you could tuck it in in the front. I was very surprised with the fit of the cover over the fitted vs. the fitted alone. As you can see from my pictures, Bobble actually had the closure tabs overlapping on the fitted, so I figured the same would happen with the cover. It didn't, but that makes sense since there is more underneath the cover than the fitted. Both diapers fit great, and both diapers looked ridiculously cute on Bobble!
* Thirsties Inc. does not recommend to tuck prefolds or
inserts into the flap on the Duo Wrap, as the wet diaper will cause
wicking from the stitching on the Aplix
So, how did they stand up to the test(s)? They passed with flying colours! I got them dry just in time for a nap for Bobble (which I always use a night time diaper for since he likes to stomach sleep and side sleep, thus causing more leaks than normal), so they went on to test out! When he woke up, the only thing wet was the inside of the diaper! I was concerned about how fitteds would work with Bobble since he is so sensitive to moisture. Most of the time he breaks out if he is in a flat or prefold without a liner, and I didn't use a liner with this. He had
no rash when I took this off. Yay! I figured it would not cause him to break out since it is so similar to the Duo AIOs and he doesn't break out with those, but I was still a bit nervous since it was a fitted. That was probably my biggest hesitation on trying fitteds was assuming my poor munchkin would be broken out with rashes all the time.
 |
| Double Gussets!! |
The next test was a night time test... and one in which we did NOT change him during the night. I knew the diaper would be fully saturated by morning, but if he isn't crying to be changed (or simply asking), I'm not waking him! I work full-time, remember! I asked my husband how the diaper stood up to the test when I got home (since hubby is the one who does the morning changes on work days), and he said there were no leaks. He did say there were red marks around the legs from the cover, but since there weren't the other times we've used it, we figured that was because I made it too tight in anticipation of a night time pee-fest and trying to hold it all in. Oops. Perhaps I should have a bit more faith in the diapers next time, eh?
So, the next time we did a night test, I tried to be more mindful of the cover. Bobble didn't have any marks on his legs (though the fit was quite snug still), but he did leak. The following time I tried with a hemp insert too, but he leaked. I then tried with a fab doubler. He leaked. In all fairness, he only leaks on nights where he decides to drink more throughout the night. If you think I mean a couple sips, you're wrong! He leaks on the nights he drinks 30 ounces of liquid from the time he goes to bed (with milk) until the time he wakes up. Let's face it: no diaper is going to hold 30 ounces. It just isn't. On a normal night, however, of only one bottle, sometimes another half to whole bottle, he wakes up without having leaked. These diapers definitely can do the job!
These diapers really impressed me. I had no idea they would work so well together, let alone for helping solve our night time leakage issues with Bobble (*again, assuming he doesn't consume ridiculous amounts of liquid)! Now if only these diapers would help us get him to stop taking milk in the middle of the night too... that would solve the problem of the rest of the time when they DO leak! If you're potty training, you can use the Fab Fitted without a cover so you can feel the dampness of the diaper if they go. It's not going to just pour out instantly, but you do want to keep an eye on them if you don't use a cover!
Of course, if you have more than one fitted, you can just wipe the cover dry and use the same cover for the next change, too. I really need to get a hold of some more fitteds!
As if the performance of these diapers wasn't enough, Thirsties are made in the USA and use only the best USA-sourced components for their products. To learn more about how Thirsties operates, check out their
About Us section of their web page!
The Thirsties Fab Fitted Diapers retail for $17.00, and the Duo Wrap Covers retail for $12.75-13.75 (depending on print/colour). If you're having night time issues or have a heavy wetter, definitely check these out! Be sure to check out all of Thirsties great products at
http://www.thirstiesbaby.com/!
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Disclosure: The product
mentioned above was provided to me by Thirsties Inc. for review. This did not
influence my opinion of the product in any way. My opinions are my own and may
differ from those of your own.
($15) There is no review for this item, they were just feeling generous :)
