bumGenius Freetime Cloth Diaper: Review and Giveaway! {Green in 365}

 

This is Day 195 of the Green in 365 series!

This post is brought to you by Diaper HQ, one of the fabulous sponsors of Live Renewed this month! If you’re thinking about cloth diapers, but not sure which kind would work best for you, you need to check out their Test Drive Kit! 

Six years ago I was pregnant with my first baby and was just beginning to learn a little bit about the importance of green living and using less toxic products for my family. My cousin had encouraged me to try using cloth diapers, and I knew that my mom had cloth diapered my sisters and me, so I figured if they could do it, then I could to!

At that time, I was mostly concerned with the amount of garbage that disposable diapers created, I knew that cloth diapers would be much less wasteful. I hadn’t yet learned about all of the chemicals in disposable diapers that I would later realize I wanted to avoid – both putting into the environment and on my sweet baby’s bum.

Because this was our first child, I didn’t jump into cloth diapering right away. I did some reading and research, settled on the type of diapers I thought I wanted to use, and then did some more reading and research. Our daughter arrived and we finally made the switch over to cloth when she was about 3 months old. The first diapers I bought were size small bumGenius All-In-Ones.

They were about as close to disposable diapers as you could get, the diaper was all one piece, with a waterproof outside, sewn in absorbent layers, a moisture wicking inner suedecloth layer, and even stretchy velcro tabs. They went on the baby just like a disposable and were perfect for my husband, grandmas, and even the nursery workers at church.

But, they had their downsides as well. They weren’t super absorbent and my little super soaker would often leak out of them. They took a looooong time to dry in the dryer, and I realized that the aplix (velcro) closures would wear out over time. Also, they were sized diapers, which meant that I would have buy them in each size – small, medium and large – and they were one of the most expensive styles of diapers.

So, I didn’t purchase any more all-in-one diapers but moved on to pockets diapers, and fitted diapers and prefolds with covers for most of our stash. As we added two more babies to the family over the next few years, I would pull out those small sized all-in-ones and use them until my baby grew out of them, appreciating their simplicity in those early newborn days.

When Ashley from Diaper HQ gave me the opportunity to test a new bumGenius Freetime All-in-One diaper I jumped at the chance. The Freetime diaper addresses all of the issues that I had with the original bumGenius All-In-Ones.

bumGenius Freetime All-in-One Diaper Review

The Freetime is a one sized diaper, so you only have to buy them one time and they will fit from the time your baby is 6-8 weeks old until they are potty trained (approx 35 lbs.) I know this diaper will fit that range of sizes because I’ve used their one-size pocket diapers on my two older babies for that length of time.

Also, the Freetime diaper is an all-in-one with no stuffing required, like with a pocket diaper. But, the absorbent inner layers are only semi-attached, so the absorbent layers of the diaper can open up in the dryer helping it to dry more quickly. I’ve also found that it takes about the same amount of time to dry hanging on the line as a cotton prefold or fitted diaper.

The semi-attached soakers are also nice because you can customize the absorbency of the diaper better. You can fold the soakers to provide extra absorbency where you little one needs it most, and you could also add an extra soaker insert between the sewn in soakers for added absorbency for a heavy wetter, or naptime or overnight use, while still keeping the moisture wicking suedecloth next to your baby’s bum.

Finally, the diaper comes with snap closures which I like so much better because they don’t wear out the way the aplix does, and they don’t get all stuck together in the wash! And one of my favorite things about bumGenius diapers is the PUL layer that folds over the top of the diaper – you can see it above in the picture of the hanging diaper. Other brands don’t offer that feature, and it really helps to cut down on leaks and wicking around the tummy!

So basically, I think the Freetime is the perfect all-in-one diaper! 

If you are interested in using cloth diapers, but have been hesitant to try them because you need a super simple and easy system, then the bumGenius Freetime is perfect for you! And a stash of Freetime diapers is completely affordable too! Diaper HQ offers a discount when you buy 12 or more diapers, making the Freetime diapers just $18 each (they are $19.99 regularly), so you can get a stash of 24 diapers for just $432.00 (plus tax)!

I have seen estimates that you can spend anywhere from $2000 to $4000+ on disposable diapers over a 2 1/2 year time frame! So by using the Freetime cloth diapers, you could save at least $1500! And maybe significantly more! Plus, cloth diapers can be reused for new babies, which multiplies your savings even more because you don’t have to buy new diapers each time you add a child to your family! I’m still using the BG pocket diapers I got for my first baby now with my third baby! (Although I do wish they were snaps instead of aplix closures!)

Diaper HQ’s Test Drive Kit

I also wanted to mention that if you are interested in using cloth diapers but feeling overwhelmed about the different types of diapers and options available, Diaper HQ has a great Test Drive Kit that allows you to try out several different styles and brands of diapers for yourself to see what works best for you! It includes the Freetime diaper, as well as six other styles and brands of cloth diapers!

They will ship you the test drive kit for just $25.00, and after you try out the diapers on your baby for ten days, you send the diapers back and get a coupon for $15.00 when you order $100 or more from their store! They also offer a Newborn Test Drive Kit and a Trainer Test Drive Kit so you can try using cloth on either your newborn babe or potty-training little one!

I absolutely love the Test Drive Kit and wish that it would have been around when I was first trying to decide what kind of diapers to use with my first baby! Click here to read more about it!

Also, Diaper HQ is hosting a giveaway at the end of July – For every $75 you spend at Diaper HQ in July, you will be entered to win 3 Rumparooz G2 Pocket Diapers, a $76 value! Read more about the giveaway here.

And of course, this review wouldn’t be complete without a Giveaway! One lucky Live Renewed reader will win a bumGenius Freetime Diaper, a FuzziBunz Diaper Tote, and a copy of the amazing cloth diapering ebook Confessions of a Cloth Diaper Convert! (aff) Fill out the form below to enter the giveaway. (If you are reading this post in an email or RSS reader, you will have to click through to the post to see the form.)

*I’m leaving the giveaway open until midnight on Monday, June 22nd because my server was down a lot last week and I know people were having trouble getting onto the blog to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway open to US Residents 18 years of age and older. Giveaway will end on Saturday, July 10th at 12:00 midnight, EDT.  

Find all the Green in 365 posts.

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*Disclosure – I received a Freetime diaper from Diaper HQ to review. All opinions are my own. There is also an affiliate link in this post, marked with (aff) after the link. If you make a purchase through one of my links, I’ll receive a small commission. Thanks for supporting Live Renewed!

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