Rumparooz, One Year Later

I've had several questions about my cloth diaper love lately, and have decided to get serious about this blog so I don't have to write a book every time someone expresses interest in my CD experience. I get so excited when someone asks, so I tend to OVERinform. Using this blog would be a better alternative.

I thought I'd start where I left off: Rumparooz. As I wrote last year, when I received them I was really impressed. As we used them, I felt more and more like we should have gone another direction with the $100 we spent. Here is the lowdown on prepping the diapers, quality of materials, absorbancy, and overall satisfaction.

PREPPING THE DIAPERS:

First, the fleece of the outer shell repelled water for a LONG time. I preped and preped and preped, but the inside fleece continued to allow liquids to sit on the top and seep in very slowly. The inserts, however, preped nicely and are to this day some of our favorite inserts.

QUALITY OF MATERIALS:

When we invested in the Rumparooz, we purchased 3 snap and 1 aplix style one size diapers. We used them equally and washed all together, but within 5 months, the aplix diaper had died. The PUL (plastic under lining) ripped out underneath the velcro strip. Very disappointing. The fabric tab of the diaper does not have PUL and the material contains more elastic than the other parts of the diaper. When the diapers arrived they were all one color, but as they were washed the fabric color of this particular part of the diaper faded out dramatically. The rest of the diaper maintained it's original color.

ABSORBANCY:

The 6r soaker is awesome. I love being able to adjust the insert fold and have it stay in place with the snaps. The same is true when adding the newborn insert for extra coverage; it easily stays in place while you stuff the diaper. I can't say enough about these inserts.

OVERALL SATISFACTION:

Because of the repelling, we had frequent leaks with this diaper at first. These were the last diapers I reached for during the first few months. The inner gusset, while a fantastic idea, leaves marks on my baby's skin no matter how loose or tight I snap the diaper. I have learned over time to sort of close the diaper and then pull on the sides then retuck the elastic, which has lessened this problem. I should also say that my son has never indicated any discomfort while wearing these; the indentations left are only disconcerting Mom.

At first, I was disappointed by this diaper. Now, after a year of use, we still have 3/4 in working order and I don't dread using or get really excited about these when I pull them out of the drawer. In other words, I don't prefer them over my MUCH cheaper Rainbow BBs.