Charlie Banana Cloth Diaper Review

The cloth diaper world can seem overwhelming in the beginning.  This is because cloth diapering is addictive.  When you start, you will LOVE it and soon you will want to talk about it to anyone who will listen.  The most receptive audience is other cloth diaper loving families so writing about it is a good way to talk, talk, talk about it!  There is so much information out there: forums, blogs, Facebook groups!  These can be a great resource if you can narrow down what you are considering.

Like any other part of parenting, there are a lot of choices.  What works for one family can be very different from what works for others which is why all the information can be intimidating.  So! Many! Options!  Please don't let it scare you off.  I plan to do a series of posts about how we cloth diaper so that I can talk about it in the hopes that you can find the information you need.  This post is about how we chose a brand and why we love our Charlie Banana diapers.  

Without any further adieu, here is one story about how one family started cloth diapering their rainbow baby.

Early on, I decided that we would use pocket diapers.  They consist of the diaper itself which has two layers:   the waterproof, adorably designed/colored outside (seen here in Orbit) and the wicking, super soft fabric that will keep baby feeling dry inside.  The soft insides are one of the first things I fell in love with in our Charlie Banana's.

Charlie Banana diapers also come with two inserts each: one small and one medium/large made from microfiber.  You stuff these in the pocket depending on how much absorbency your baby needs.  You can also try inserts made of different fibers (sold separately) which I'll write about in a future post.

We chose One Size diapers which will work for baby D until he potty trains.  Yes, the diapers we own now will be the ones he wears until he is in underwear.  Charlie Banana One Size diapers work for children weighing up to 35 lbs.  The leg elastic is adjustable with a bra strap like fastener which makes Charlie Banana diapers different from most.

Charlie Bananas also have lots of snaps so that you can adjust the fit for your baby's size.  I expected to start cloth diapering D when he was 3 months old, but we started at 6ish weeks.  He's a big boy so he easily fit into his Charlie Banana OS at that age.  Maintenance was easier than I expected making it a smooth transition.  I also anticipated using disposables when we were out and about, but I don't do that much because they are so prone to up-the-back blow outs.  While we've had some compression leaks with our cloth, we have NEVER had a poop blow out.  I would take a million wet-around-the-leg onesies to even one poopy-up-the-back one, but thankfully we haven't even had enough wet leaks to count on one hand.  When you do have a leak with a cloth diaper, it is usually because you need to change something about the fit of the diaper or how you are washing it.

Lastly, another favorite detail of mine about Charlie Bananas is the one side tab has a snap so that you can make the diapers extra tight while the baby is wearing it, but I've noticed that you can also wrap a dirty diaper up on itself like this to contain all the mess inside until you get to your diaper pail.  I'm not sure if the CB company intended for this neat wrap up, but it makes this momma extra happy to have discovered it.  

So that's how D started wearing adorable cloth diapers.  Now it's your turn:  What are your thoughts on cloth diapers?  What questions do you have for me for future posts?  Let me talk about these diapers more, please!?

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I was not compensated for this review.  The opinions are my own.  We just love our Charlie Bananas!  We also welcome the opportunity to review other cloth diapering and reusable baby products.