Bum Genius Flip System
Natalie at 19 pounds on the smallest size
Bum Genius brought out a new system in the last month or so that is to be compared to systems like gDiapers and Gro Baby. It consists of a cover, cloth insert (3 layers of microfiber and 1 layer of staydry suedecloth) and a disposable insert. There is an organic insert you can get, I didn’t try this out though. It does cost more. The idea is you use cloth at home, and the disposable biodegradable pad while out and about. So I bought the system to try out on Braden (and as you will see further down, my friend’s little girl Natalie tried it out for me too).
I must confess while I am a fan of Bum Genius 3.0’s, Organics, AIO’s sized and fitteds, I cannot say the same for the Flip system. I think with a few improvements, I would be on board, but as the design stands now, I am not liking it enough to stock it.
The positives:
- * One size. It is actually sized bigger than other bum genius products. And while Braden is on the highest setting for other one sized products, I found I had to put him on the medium setting for the flip. Braden is 25 pounds at 20 months when we tried this out. Little Natalie is 19 pounds at 17 months, and she had to wear the flip on the smallest setting. So I do have to wonder if it really does fit the 8 pound minimum it says it fits. Perhaps someone with a smaller baby can post a comment letting me know! So anyway, this is a diapering system that should fit to the top range it says it will of 35 pounds.
- * Trim fit. This is one of the more trim fitting diapers I have tried. Because there is not alot of padding going into this diaper it is very trim, especially using the disposable pad.
- * Fits over regular fitted diapers and you can use a G-Flapper in it.
Braden at 25 pounds on medium size
The negatives:
- * There is nothing that really holds the pads in place, cloth or disposable. There is flaps at each end of the diaper but they are loose, and the pads slip around despite these flaps. So when I was trying to put this diaper on Braden the pad kept shifting. And I kept having to put it back into place. gDiapers the pads are held in place by the white liner, and with Gro Baby they are held in place by snaps for the cloth and adhesive for the disposable pads. Even when Braden held perfectly still for a friend to change him (novelty of someone else changing him had him lying there like an angel), the pad still shifted. It was a real pain when Braden was being his usual squirmy self at change time.
- * The pad will shift while on. At one point Braden was peeing directly on PUL as the pad slips down in the cover.
- * The disposable pad gets rather fluffy and sheds little hairy things.
- * Fails the daddy test miserably. I left the baby with Daddy for the morning. And I made a point to leave out “easy” diapers next to his change mat. I had a couple of thirsties AIOs for him as he likes those. For some reason he didn’t look for the diaper next to the change mat, but rather on the shelf behind where I keep the rest of the diapers, and pulled down the flip off the top of the stack. It fell apart on him, despite being pre-stuffed. I found it thrown on top of the diaper I had left out for him, and he had grabbed the next diaper down off the shelf. (An Otter Blotter which he admires the reason for the hidden closure but is a bit intimidated by, but he went for that over the easier closing flip!)
- * As I mentioned above, I don’t see it fitting smaller babies when a 19 pound baby needs to wear it on the smallest setting.
- * The disposable pad does not appear to be as absorbent as Gro Baby and gDiaper pads. It is longer and narrower.
- * Also be careful of the bottom side of the cloth pad, I did it, and so did my friend, we put it in upside down microfiber side up! And this is not good for baby’s skin. Thankfully we both realised our error soon enough.
Small Setting at 19 pounds.
So in conclusion, while it has a trim fit and will fit Braden in the larger sizes, I didn’t like the way the pad shifted etc.
On a side note, the flip system I have here., I will be using the pads in Braden’s gDiapers (yes they do fit a medium/large just fine, with the end folded down) and using the covers over his fitteds.
Possible improvements for me. A cloth insert that has a mix of hemp and microfiber. Though a G-flapper works fine and there is the organic pad that I didn’t try. A better method for securing the pad into place, snaps or elastic on the flaps to better hold it. Another row of sizing snaps perhaps so it better fits smaller babies.
We are currently testing the flip and the inserts that come with it. My thought on them is that the insert shouldn’t be able to shift so freely. I’ve gotten poop on the cover more times than I can count and he always poops in the diapers I don’t want him to it’s obnoxious. My son is in the diaper on the largest setting @ around 28lbs I’m sure I could squeeze him into the next smaller size but I choose not to because it’s working just fine how it is. I tossed the diaper my husbands way for him to try out since he was changing my son and for starters he couldn’t figure out which side was the front and which was the back (we’ve been using cloth since my son was 5mo and he’s now19mo so you do the math for how long my husband has been dealing with weird diapers). Anyways then he had no idea which side of the insert was supposed to face baby’s skin, thankfully he knows to ask since he knows microfiber isn’t supposed to touch baby’s skin. He was trying to tuck the insert under the extra flaps in the cover because he’s used other diapers where he’s had to stuff the insert. I told him it wouldn’t work in this one it would only cause issues. So my final review is that this diaper system is basically a cover that you lay in an insert. You could create this system yourself with a series of covers and just plain inserts or invest in something less frustrating and more daddy friendly. Sorry if that was harsh.