Cloth diaper review: Swaddlebees OS AIO

Swaddlebees Simplex OS AIO
Monster print

When buying more diapers this year, I wanted to include a couple AIO's (all-in-ones). About 85% of my current stash is made up of pockets, and once he grew out of his Ragababe AIO, he didn't have any AIO's that fit. So after going over reviews, I decided upon 2 different AIO's... Peachy Green and Swaddlebees. I'll review the Peachy Green in another post.

Most of the reviews given loved the fact that the soaker part wasn't completely sewn in and that it had a stay-dry side to it, as well as just a regular cotton side, which is the same cotton the inner fabric is made of. I was drawn to the cotton inner, because I really believe that when babies can't feel when they're wet, it takes longer to potty train later on. And all of my pocket diapers have stay-dry inners, much to my dismay. So while I won't be replacing all my pocket diapers, I at least wanted to add a few diapers that don't have a stay-dry inner.

Anyway, the soaker. I had wondered how one would take out this soaker to be washed, and saw that there was no need to fish it out... that it would agitate out in the wash cycle. Score. Anyway, these diapers got great reviews on function as well.

I loved the prints, too. My favorite was the Dino, as we have a burp cloth made from the same print, but in flannel. I wanted to match. Alas, on Black Friday, that print sold out pretty quickly. I settled on a new print, Monsters, which is cute, too.

So once it arrived, I quickly prepped it (as quick as diaper prepping can go, anyway). The feel of it is a little different than I expected. The inner cotton is thick and kinda stiff. The outer layer is more plastic-y than fabric-y. It feels cheap. But at the same time, it feels substantial... if that makes sense? Anyway, point being, it doesn't feel like any of my other diapers.

Once it was done prepping, I noticed something... the soaker didn't agitate out. I'd intentionally left it in on a clean load, just in case it didn't come out (then I wouldn't worry that it didn't get clean). I figure it would agitate out in a top loader with lots of water, but not a front loader with far less water per load. So I'm a little disappointed that I have yet another thing to fish out of a dirty diaper. Yeah, I could leave the soaker out and have the stay-dry side facing up, but I like the fact that he feels wet, and I like the fact that he doesn't like feeling wet. And I can live with it seeing as though I have to fish inserts out of the pocket diapers all the time anyway.

As far as functionality, it works just fine. He's worn it a handful of times and pooped in it a few times as well. No leaks or blowouts. Due to the nature of a OS diaper, it's kinda bulky on the small setting for the rise, which is where it is on Bubba. We'll see how it holds up the older and bigger he gets.

Hmmmm... I dunno.
Matthew @ 5.5 months, about 17 pounds

Sorry it's blurry. Wiggly babies make getting clear pictures difficult.

All in all, I can't say it's my favorite diaper, but it serves its purpose. I can't help but feel that this will be resold at some point though.