Bambino Mio - MioSolo

These are the nappies we've used since we first started. Thus, they are the ones that convinced us to carry on. In some ways that makes a review unnecessary - just go for it! - but I'll say my piece anyway.

These are proper all-in-one, birth to potty nappies. They have microfibre inserts and you can buy microfibre boosters from bambino mio. They come in many gorgeous prints and are so easy to use that they can be found in some large scale supermarket chains - we bought ours at Aldi. RRP £15.99, but I think we paid £7.99 each at Aldi.

Don't panic about the jargon - I will explain!

Here is one example:

So, you can see that it basically looks like a disposable nappy. Except rather than sticky bits to fasten, it has velcro. Oh, and it looks awesome! The velcro means that you have to do up the left side (looking at it) first everytime, as the right side goes over the top. It means it is just as adjustable as a disposable, if not more.

Here you can see the microfibre inner. This is the feature that makes this nappy 'all-in-one'. It has the waterproof and the absorbent part all attached together. If she messes one part, the whole thing has to be cleaned.

The inner is attached at one end and provides the absorbency. During use, it is neatly stuffed inside and fills the entire nappy. The dirty nappies can be thrown into the washing and the inner pulls out in the wash - easy peasy. No touching of yucky wet icky bits. 

It does mean that between drying and use you need to restuff the nappies. We do this in the evening in front of the telly. There is a little flap at the end of the insert that works as a 'handle' for the stuffing. A washload of around 8-10 nappies takes around 5 minutes with both of us stuffing and now we can do it without even thinking. Some people I know stuff as they go, just stuffing before they change the baby.

Even though you'll rarely need to (as they unstuff in the washing machine), I like that there are little handles on the inner to help you pull it out. The only time I use these is before I put Flower to bed, when I pull the inner out of a nappy and restuff it with a booster as well. The boosters we currently use are also microfibre (they're the ones from bambino mio - we bought it in a kit with the nappy bin) and generally can see Flower through a night. We have ordered some hemp boosters and will be experimenting with these soon.

The above two pictures show the birth to potty feature. Those poppers adjust the rise of the nappy (and the velcro can adjust the width). Flower is currently on the middle size and has lots of space. I think it is fairly normal for newborns to need different nappies and then move into birth to potty ones between 1 and 2 months. Equally a particularly large toddler might struggle with this. But for the majority, I think these will fit.

 

One of my favourite features is the laundry tabs, which I know most but not all cloth nappies feature. These stop the velcro hooks damaging anything else. I just flip them as I'm removing the nappy.

Issues:

In the early days we had a few blow outs, but if I think carefully I think we had fewer blowouts in these compared to when we were using disposables, so not sure we can complain too much.

Another early day problem was that on the smallest setting, the microfibre inner only *just* fits into the nappy. So stuffing the nappies was a bit slower. Not an issue now that we're into the middle size, and I can't report on the bigger size yet, but I imagine it'll be fine.

We did have an issue for a little while with a strong smell whenever Flower weed in them, but once we figured out that it was detergent build up we fixed it quickly. We gave the nappies a strip wash (a long wash with, then without detergent, then rinsed until all bubbles had gone) and switched back to Tesco non bio. Problem solved!

Night time has been a bit more of a challenge. When Flower was up several times in the night she got through these quite quickly and we found that she woke up wet a few times. Now that she isn't waking up for feeds (touch wood) things are better, but we've decided to give hemp boosters a go anyway. 

(Note: Microfibre is fantastically absorbent and fast drying, but we've been reliably informed that hemp can hold liquid better under compression, so is less likely to leak at night. My understanding of fibre choice is that bamboo is most common as it's a good balance of absorbency and drying speed. Cotton is slightly less absorbent but super tough and quicker drying. Hemp is a slow absorber and dries like cardboard, but is very environmentally friendly and doesn't squidge out.)

Raccoons in action!

Overall?:

Pros: 

Easy to use, even for people who are used to disposables.

Washing is super easy - just chuck it into the washing machine.

Easy to add boosters.

Lots of fun prints available. (see here!)

Cons:

Microfibre isn't the best for night time nappies - our solution is to get hemp boosters.

Occasional leaks through the leg holes. It can be tricky to get the fit right on the legs. I'm looking forward to trying different nappies to see if others are easier for this.

We really do love this nappy and recommend it to any beginner cloth nappy users out there. It is very easy to use and not mucky. The worst bit is getting rid of the mess after a poop, but with flushable liners this really isn't any worse than with disposables. (Some people use fleece liners and scrape the poop into the loo. Not for me, but very committed!) This is a feature of ALL cloth nappies, so it is unfair to include it in any comparison.

This is such a good nappy that in my hunt for a beginner 2 part nappy, I'm likely to head to Bambino Mio first...