I have recently been writing a literature review for one of my college courses about the lack of regulation on cosmetics in the United States. As I have read countless studies and articles I have determined a few ingredients that I hope to phase out of the products I buy. The ones that are most important to me at this point are parabens, phthalates, sulfates, and fragrance although I am sure this list will continue to grow. I definitely would suggest doing your own research on these ingredients and making your own choices according to what you feel is best or possible right now. Just because I am trying to phase these ingredients out does not mean I am able to do it quickly, especially as good alternatives to products I already use and like are not always easy to fine. This is not meant to make anyone feel guilty, but just to be informative and let you know the journey we have taken with diaper brands over the last 16 months.
Around baby girl’s first birthday she suddenly jumped two diaper sizes in about a month and our diaper cost increased significantly. I decided to start looking for more affordable options. I have since found out that apparently I am picky about diapers.
Pampers: I felt these were sized too small and didn’t seem to last us long enough when she was a newborn, they were much smaller than Huggies in the same size and girlfriend got chunky fast.
Huggies Little Snugglers: These were my favorites for a long time because I loved how they fit her and how long we could keep her in one size, but these are the ones that became more expensive and I ended up learning they had ingredients I no longer wanted to use.
Abby & Finn: I thought they were adorable and soft, and I truly had high hopes for them, but either we ordered too small of a sample size (I have heard they do run smaller) or they just didn’t work for us because baby girl leaked out of almost every single diaper. Loved the ingredients! This was my first time trying diapers that were made with better ingredients! I also felt like they were a more affordable clean option.
Costco’s Kirkland diapers: These one’s I’m still kind of on the edge about, they are a lot more affordable than other brands but I felt like they were kind of rough and she peed out wearing these basically every night. After changing the sheets every single day for weeks, I decided to try a different brand.
Hello Bello: I really liked these. They are very soft, thin, and cute. The first time we got them I thought there was no way they would be absorbent enough because they are seriously thin, but we only have leaks on the days where she sleeps longer than normal (like 14 hours-so I would say they do their job). I love the ingredients they choose to leave out of the diapers and generally trust the company and love their other baby products. Unfortunately we hated the wipes so we quit their subscription after the first month, spending 70 dollars a month seemed like a high price especially when we don’t like their wipes!
Mama Bear Gentle Touch Diapers: These are the diapers we are currently using! I have heard great things about the regular Mama Bear diapers (Amazon brand) but unfortunately had never tried them yet, well now that I needed a new brand as our Hello Bello box was almost gone I looked them up and found they only say they are chlorine, fragrance, and latex free. Parabens and phthalates are the two biggest chemicals I’m trying to get out of my home first so I decided to go with their gentle version to see what we think of it instead. They are made without perfume, fragrance, lotion, parabens, and phthalates. I love how affordable they are, and that I can choose to buy a little pack to try them out before committing to a big box.
After using the Mama Bear Gentle Touch Diapers for a couple of weeks now I can say that I have been very impressed by them. They are just as soft as Hello Bello and very similarly sized. The elastic all seems great and soft on her, and they don’t seem to be irritating. They are also very nondescript diapers and are either white or have faint little polka dots which is helpful under light colored onesies. I am so grateful we decided to try them because they are so much cheaper than what we have been paying. For reference we were spending $23.94 for 74 Hello Bello diapers when we bought them at Walmart. That is about 32 cents per diaper. When we just ordered the big box of Mama Bear Gentle diapers we spent $28.64 for 148 diapers, which is about 19 cents per diaper. Diaper costs add up quickly so this feels like a fantastic deal, especially with the quality of ingredients. I totally get that different diapers work different for every baby, but I would highly suggest trying them out!
WELL BALANCED 