Charlie Banana One Size Pocket Diaper Review:
When Erica from Everything Mom and Baby Shop contacted me about reviewing the Charlie Banana One Size diaper for her, I was super excited as I had heard some great things about this diaper, and I was not disappointed!!
Everything Mom and Baby http://www.everythingmomandbabyshop.com/ is an Online Store run by Erica Ashmore. Erica is a stay at home Mom to a very active 2 year old. She started blogging in January 2010 about her passion for toddlers and to share her latest favourite product finds. Everything in Erica's store, she has personally tested, blogged about and LOVED!! Apart from the Charlie Banana line, she also carries Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap, Glup Bebe Drool Bibs, Zoe Organics Skincare, soon to come Manduca Baby Carriers from Germany and more. You can check out Erica's blog and her reviews at http://www.everythingmomandbaby.com/.
Erica also sent me a sample of Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap to try at the same time as the Charlie Banana Diapers. I was so impressed with Eco Nuts, that I have already ordered two bags to start using!! See my review of Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap here: http://ecbabies.weebly.com/1/post/2010/12/eco-nuts-organic-laundry-soap-review.html
When Erica from Everything Mom and Baby Shop contacted me about reviewing the Charlie Banana One Size diaper for her, I was super excited as I had heard some great things about this diaper, and I was not disappointed!!
Everything Mom and Baby http://www.everythingmomandbabyshop.com/ is an Online Store run by Erica Ashmore. Erica is a stay at home Mom to a very active 2 year old. She started blogging in January 2010 about her passion for toddlers and to share her latest favourite product finds. Everything in Erica's store, she has personally tested, blogged about and LOVED!! Apart from the Charlie Banana line, she also carries Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap, Glup Bebe Drool Bibs, Zoe Organics Skincare, soon to come Manduca Baby Carriers from Germany and more. You can check out Erica's blog and her reviews at http://www.everythingmomandbaby.com/.
Erica also sent me a sample of Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap to try at the same time as the Charlie Banana Diapers. I was so impressed with Eco Nuts, that I have already ordered two bags to start using!! See my review of Eco Nuts Organic Laundry Soap here: http://ecbabies.weebly.com/1/post/2010/12/eco-nuts-organic-laundry-soap-review.html
Features:
The Charlie Banana is a One Size Cloth Diaper that offers a lot of flexibility and options!
* It is a One Size Diaper, but unlike most on the market today, it is not adjusted by snaps on the front. This diaper has an elastic leg adjustment similar to the Fuzzi Bunz, Softbums, Lollidoo and Rocky Mountain One Size Diapers. There are 8 slots in the leg elastic, with an opening and button at the front of the diaper allowing you to create a perfect fit around your baby's legs! The sizing on this diaper fits 0-36 months.
* It is a Pocket Diaper, with the opening of the pocket being at the front of the diaper, which allows for easier/cleaner extraction of the insert when you have a messy diaper! The pocket opening is also an interesting design!! The opening is actually an overlapping flap, which leads into our next feature....
* This is also a Hybrid Diaper! The overlapping pocket flap design allows you to easily tuck a disposable insert under the front panel, securing it in place and now you have have a Hybrid Diaper, great if you are travelling and giving you the best of both worlds!
* You don't have to worry about diaper chains in the dryer with these diapers! The Charlie Banana has high quality snap closures, featuring a leg and hip snap as well as a cross over waist snap for the extra skinny little one's! I was really excited by this feature, as my daughter Rylee was born at 6lbs 12oz, with a tall skinny frame, and I had a lot of trouble finding diapers that would actually fit around her legs and waist neatly. (And this extra snap also allows you to wrap up diaper securely once used!)
* Other features include Stay-Dry Micro fleece inner, Wide Back Elastic allowing greater comfort and a slimmer fit, Wide comfortable Elastic Leg Casing that helps contain all messes!
* It comes with 2 Microfiber Inserts, (One One Size and a Smaller Insert) and you can also buy disposable inserts to go with it as well.
* Lots of great bright colours and prints! Boy prints too! :)
The Charlie Banana is a One Size Cloth Diaper that offers a lot of flexibility and options!
* It is a One Size Diaper, but unlike most on the market today, it is not adjusted by snaps on the front. This diaper has an elastic leg adjustment similar to the Fuzzi Bunz, Softbums, Lollidoo and Rocky Mountain One Size Diapers. There are 8 slots in the leg elastic, with an opening and button at the front of the diaper allowing you to create a perfect fit around your baby's legs! The sizing on this diaper fits 0-36 months.
* It is a Pocket Diaper, with the opening of the pocket being at the front of the diaper, which allows for easier/cleaner extraction of the insert when you have a messy diaper! The pocket opening is also an interesting design!! The opening is actually an overlapping flap, which leads into our next feature....
* This is also a Hybrid Diaper! The overlapping pocket flap design allows you to easily tuck a disposable insert under the front panel, securing it in place and now you have have a Hybrid Diaper, great if you are travelling and giving you the best of both worlds!
* You don't have to worry about diaper chains in the dryer with these diapers! The Charlie Banana has high quality snap closures, featuring a leg and hip snap as well as a cross over waist snap for the extra skinny little one's! I was really excited by this feature, as my daughter Rylee was born at 6lbs 12oz, with a tall skinny frame, and I had a lot of trouble finding diapers that would actually fit around her legs and waist neatly. (And this extra snap also allows you to wrap up diaper securely once used!)
* Other features include Stay-Dry Micro fleece inner, Wide Back Elastic allowing greater comfort and a slimmer fit, Wide comfortable Elastic Leg Casing that helps contain all messes!
* It comes with 2 Microfiber Inserts, (One One Size and a Smaller Insert) and you can also buy disposable inserts to go with it as well.
* Lots of great bright colours and prints! Boy prints too! :)
How easy is it to use?
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is very easy to use. Once the slotted elastic has been set to the size you need, you can just forget about it, and use the diaper like a sized diaper until you need to go up a size! (If you have more than one in different sized diapers, you will have to fiddle with the elastic each time to set the correct size, OR you could just use different colour diapers for each baby!)
As I mentioned above, the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper comes with high quality snaps. Snaps on a diaper usually mean that Daddy stays well away, but Daddy seemed to be able to use this diaper no problem at all, and Daddy Approved diapers are always welcome in this household!! (Although, I am sure he has no idea that the diaper is adjusted by elastic, he just puts it on! lol) There are a total of 6 snaps to fit, but these are not sticky snaps, they are very easy to click in and out.
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is very easy to use. Once the slotted elastic has been set to the size you need, you can just forget about it, and use the diaper like a sized diaper until you need to go up a size! (If you have more than one in different sized diapers, you will have to fiddle with the elastic each time to set the correct size, OR you could just use different colour diapers for each baby!)
As I mentioned above, the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper comes with high quality snaps. Snaps on a diaper usually mean that Daddy stays well away, but Daddy seemed to be able to use this diaper no problem at all, and Daddy Approved diapers are always welcome in this household!! (Although, I am sure he has no idea that the diaper is adjusted by elastic, he just puts it on! lol) There are a total of 6 snaps to fit, but these are not sticky snaps, they are very easy to click in and out.
How well does it fit?
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is one of the best fitting diapers in our house! The adjustable elastic and the hip, waist and crossover snaps ensures that this diaper will fit both very skinny babies, very chunky babies and everything in between. I had trouble finding diapers to fit my little girl when she was born as she was soo skinny! She didn't actually fit any of the One Size Diapers in our stash at the time well until she was about 6 months old. I truly believe that this diaper would have fit Rylee in the first week (after her umbilical cord fell off). To illustrate my point, I have taken a photo of the Charlie Banana on the smallest setting between the Lil Joey on the smallest setting (to the left) and the Bum Genius XS AIO (to the right). As you can see the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper can get very tiny! On the other end of the scale, when I compare the Charlie Banana One Size to a Bum Genius 4.0 or Rumparooz One Size Diaper, the Charlie Banana does not quite stretch to be as large as those diapers so may not fit for quite as long. However in saying that, I know that the Charlie Banana will easily last until my little girl is out of diapers!!! :) This diaper is also very, very trim and looks fantastically cute!
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is one of the best fitting diapers in our house! The adjustable elastic and the hip, waist and crossover snaps ensures that this diaper will fit both very skinny babies, very chunky babies and everything in between. I had trouble finding diapers to fit my little girl when she was born as she was soo skinny! She didn't actually fit any of the One Size Diapers in our stash at the time well until she was about 6 months old. I truly believe that this diaper would have fit Rylee in the first week (after her umbilical cord fell off). To illustrate my point, I have taken a photo of the Charlie Banana on the smallest setting between the Lil Joey on the smallest setting (to the left) and the Bum Genius XS AIO (to the right). As you can see the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper can get very tiny! On the other end of the scale, when I compare the Charlie Banana One Size to a Bum Genius 4.0 or Rumparooz One Size Diaper, the Charlie Banana does not quite stretch to be as large as those diapers so may not fit for quite as long. However in saying that, I know that the Charlie Banana will easily last until my little girl is out of diapers!!! :) This diaper is also very, very trim and looks fantastically cute!
How well does it work?
Incredible! The inserts in this diaper sure can suck up a lot of moisture. It is always hard to tell exactly how much pee diapers can hold, so I decided to test this insert, and it came out with flying colours! The One Size Charlie Banana Insert in my test showed it could easily hold 500mls of water. (That is 2 cups or 17ish ounces!!)
And the SUPER soft silky smooth stay-dry micro fleece inner of the diaper is going to pull that moisture away from your baby's bottom very quickly leaving your baby feeling dry! In fact it works so well, that I had trouble telling if my daughter had actually peed in her diaper overnight until I pulled out the dripping insert! :)
The wide leg casings, and back elastic are going to ensure that you have no leaks or any of those gross blowouts up the back with this diaper and I can attest to that!!
How long will it last for?
The Charlie Banana One Size diaper is a very well made diaper, that will easily diaper your child from birth through to potty training and the quality and durability of the diaper ensure you can use this diaper through multiple children!
Incredible! The inserts in this diaper sure can suck up a lot of moisture. It is always hard to tell exactly how much pee diapers can hold, so I decided to test this insert, and it came out with flying colours! The One Size Charlie Banana Insert in my test showed it could easily hold 500mls of water. (That is 2 cups or 17ish ounces!!)
And the SUPER soft silky smooth stay-dry micro fleece inner of the diaper is going to pull that moisture away from your baby's bottom very quickly leaving your baby feeling dry! In fact it works so well, that I had trouble telling if my daughter had actually peed in her diaper overnight until I pulled out the dripping insert! :)
The wide leg casings, and back elastic are going to ensure that you have no leaks or any of those gross blowouts up the back with this diaper and I can attest to that!!
How long will it last for?
The Charlie Banana One Size diaper is a very well made diaper, that will easily diaper your child from birth through to potty training and the quality and durability of the diaper ensure you can use this diaper through multiple children!
Is it good value for money?
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is a very affordable high quality diaper at only C$22 for a solid colour or C$24 for one of the cute prints. You will of course need to add more than one to your stash, as they are such great diapers, and at Everything Mom and Baby http://www.everythingmomandbabyshop.com/ you can buy a 6 pack of Charlie Banana diapers for only C$116.50. This means you are paying under C$19.50 per diaper!! (Basically that means you are getting 1 free - and you know we ALL like Free Diapers!)
This pricing is very comparable to most of the major players on the market, and in my opinion sooo worth it, especially as you probably won't need to buy newborn diapers or wait for your baby to fit into this One Size diaper!!!
Overall:
We love our Charlie Banana One Size Diapers! I love how versatile they are, offering different options for different needs! They are super absorbent, no additional cover is required, they come in great colours and look super cute!! If we could do things over again, there would definitely be quite a few Charlie Banana's in my stash. In fact I may look in to getting a few more for baby number 2! I highly recommend the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper and I can't wait to take it travelling with us and test out those disposable inserts on my very long flight to New Zealand in March!!! :)
The Charlie Banana One Size Diaper is a very affordable high quality diaper at only C$22 for a solid colour or C$24 for one of the cute prints. You will of course need to add more than one to your stash, as they are such great diapers, and at Everything Mom and Baby http://www.everythingmomandbabyshop.com/ you can buy a 6 pack of Charlie Banana diapers for only C$116.50. This means you are paying under C$19.50 per diaper!! (Basically that means you are getting 1 free - and you know we ALL like Free Diapers!)
This pricing is very comparable to most of the major players on the market, and in my opinion sooo worth it, especially as you probably won't need to buy newborn diapers or wait for your baby to fit into this One Size diaper!!!
Overall:
We love our Charlie Banana One Size Diapers! I love how versatile they are, offering different options for different needs! They are super absorbent, no additional cover is required, they come in great colours and look super cute!! If we could do things over again, there would definitely be quite a few Charlie Banana's in my stash. In fact I may look in to getting a few more for baby number 2! I highly recommend the Charlie Banana One Size Diaper and I can't wait to take it travelling with us and test out those disposable inserts on my very long flight to New Zealand in March!!! :)
I received 2 One Size Charlie Banana Diapers Free of Charge from Everything Mom and Baby Shop for the purpose of this review, but was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.