Pre-Baby Review #1 - Thirsties

Alright ladies and gentlemen (well, I guess just ladies since I'm the only male follower of my blog so far). Here's what you've all been waiting for....drum roll please....seriously, start slapping your knees or the desk.....that's better......I give you my first diaper review!!!!!!!! (and the crowd goes wild!!!! But all I hear right now is crickets?) When I do get some male readers I know that they won't read everything I typed in this blog....heck, I almost fell asleep several times writing all of this myself....so I will use this red font to tell you what YOU need to know about the diapers.

Where to start? How about with the Thirsties Summer/Fall 2010 Catalog that came with my shipment! I am so glad that Sonya at Thirsties realized who she was dealing with and sent me the catalog along with my order. This is already giving me useful information that I had been asking my friends about. Page 3 is a great example of this because at the bottom it tells me "How Many Daily Diaper Changes Should I Expect" and "How Many Diapers Will I Need In Rotation." For a first time Dad, this information is crucial and for a first time cloth diapering dad, this information is life or death! The LAST thing I want is for one of my friends that I talked to months ago about the benefits of cloth diapers to see me frantically looking for disposables at the Walmart because I, the DIAPERING DAD!, didn't have enough cloth diapers. Men: Read the catalog that comes with your (your wife's) order.

What a great question, I'm glad you asked. I'll repeat it so that the rest of the readers can hear me. This reader just asked me what the answer was to the questions about how many diapers to expect to change and will we need in our rotation. That was a great question, thank you! And no, it's not a dumb question......! Since I don't want to fill my diaper in one post, I am going to stick to reviewing the diapers in this post and will use the wealth of knowledge I am building to formulate future blogs about that very topic. It's like I'm leaving a cliffhanger! (which by-the-way is a much better word than it is a movie). Men: Yes, it is a terrible movie...prove me wrong, I dare you!

Let's start with the Thirsties Duo Diaper. My first impression of the diaper was how cool the design is on it. That's it in the picture, they call this pattern Blackbird and I think it's pretty cool and can be a very gender neutral design. The Duo Diaper comes in 2 sizes, Size One (6-18lbs / 0-9 months) and Size Two (18-40lbs / 9-36 months). This diaper is described as a hybrid adjustable pocket diaper ( I could go back to my car references, but I'll hold off for now). Right off the bat, I see some things I like about this diaper. First, it has an adjustable rise to better fit whatever shape my baby is going to be. I also like that these diapers have openings at both ends of the pocket. This seems like it will be a lot easier getting the inserts in and out, and maybe even avoid getting poop all over myself....which is most likely going to happen anyway knowing my need to speed through every task. Another really cool feature is the leg gussets. These help keep the diapers snug up against the baby's leg. It looks like it is going to keep the mess inside the diaper no matter what position the baby is in....that's pretty cool! Like all pocket diapers, this one will need to be washed along with the inserts after each use. Men: this diaper is cool and has a secret compartment that can be accessed from two areas. Stick inserts in that compartment. You must wash this after each use!

The next diaper I have from Thirsties is the Thirsties Duo Wrap. Again, these diapers come in several different colors and patterns, the one I have in the picture is called Cool Stripes. This one is not as gender neutral as the Blackbird design is, but fear not....they have a pattern called Warm Stripes which will definitely work for girls. Color and pattern aside, these to are very cool like their Duo Diaper cousins. They share many of the same or similar features including coming in the same 2 sizes as the Duo Diaper, having the adjustable rise and the Thirsties signature leg gussets. You can get these with the durable Aplix or indestructible snap closure option. Unlike the Duo Diaper, the Duo Wrap is an adjustable cover that does not have inserts. This can be used with prefolds or even the Thirsties Stay Dry Duo Inserts. I like this option as a way to save on washing so many diapers. This cover is good for approx 4 diaper changes, requiring only a wipe down after the first three messes. This will definitely help cut down on bulk in the diaper buckets. Men: First off, thank you for reading this far down! Secondly, this diaper does not have any secret compartments. It is a cover, like the thing we put over our grill. We can only use this cover 4 times before washing it. What does it cover? Read the above paragraph or ask your wife.

I am going to try both of these styles out when we have our baby and then may come to a conclusion at that time as to which option I like best. At this point, I am stuck right in the middle seeing the benefits of each and not knowing which will work better for us and our baby. Men: I'll hopefully have an answer on which one I like better sometime during the NFL Playoffs.

One last thing that I am curious about is something that our friend Ami told us about. At first I was shocked, but I am warming up to it. Yes, I am talking about using cloth wipes........! It just so happens that Thirsties has these as well (Thirsties Fab Wipes - see picture). These are obviously an alternative to disposable wipes. The main benefit I see of these right now is that they can save about $500 on the cost of wipes from birth to potty training according to Thirsties. That on top of the savings of using cloth instead of disposable makes it hard for the money conscious person to deny seeing the financial benefits. Now, you may ask, am I really going to use these???? Right now the answer is.....I don't know! In one of my earlier blogs I talked about how the old prefold cloth diapers ended up being used as car wash cloths and "barf" rags....... Alright, I am not going to do that quite yet because the very generous people at Thirsties sent them to me so I am going to try them out once we have our kid. Who knows, I may even like using them! I guess if I'm going to be putting soiled diapers in the washing machine, what difference would it make to be putting a soiled rag in there as well? Baby steps Dan....baby steps! Men: You may be wiping your baby's butt with cloth rags....yes, I'm serious.

I'd like to send a shout out to Sonya at Thirsties for supplying the Duo Diaper, Duo Wrap, Stay Dry Duo Inserts and the Fab Wipes for this review....YOU ROCK!!!

As I get more styles and brands to review, I will post my thoughts. As always, I am open to comments and suggestions!

Thanks for reading

Dan the (soon to be) Diapering Dad
(6 months in - 3 to go)