Biehl Adventures: Diapering a Newborn - Part 1: Top to Bottom Baby Boutique Newborn Rental Package Rental Review

Awhile back, I put some feelers out for a friend of mine. She and her husband were preparing to adopt a newborn girl and were interested in cloth diapers. Top to Bottom Baby Boutique was kind enough to let Kimberly test their Newborn Rental Package from their store.

Kimberly got quite an assortment to test:

11 Tot Bots with micro fiber/terry cloth inserts
1 Nifty Nappy bitty bum ooga booga with 2 liners
2 X-small Thirsties wraps
1 Kissaluv insert (hourglass shaped)
6 Kissaluvs snap diapers, sz. 0
5 xs Thirsties terry cloth diapers (aplix)
1 Lil' Joey
6 flat burp cloths - prefolds, unbleached with green trim (medium sized)
2 oz. CJ's Butter (diaper cream safe for cloth)
extras she gave for me to try (not clear if that typically comes in the package:

2 NB Bummis Super whisper wraps (1 for 4-9 lb., 1 for 7-10 lbs.)
1 Snappi

You have 3 different options with regards to your newborn rental from TTBBB! How great is that?

How does the rental work?

Packages range from $50-$60
Each package is for a 2 month rental.
Additionally, each package comes with specific diapers and instructions--you can find each here:

All-in-One Newborn

Pocket Newborn

Fitted Newborn

Newborn diaper rental is an affordable option when you don't want to spend a whole lot of money on newborn diapers that are outgrown quickly!! For around $30/month, it's an affordable option if you want to use those cute little diapers!!

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Kimberly has provided reviews of these products so maybe you can better decide which package will work for you!

Covering her bum

from Maya’s home
by: Kimberly

Overall review: I have siblings that are much younger than I am. So, as a teenager I changed a lot of diapers! The youngest is in her early 20’s and all of today’s covers and cloth diapers are a vast improvement over the plastic pants and pins of the past. Whether I am using aplix (Velcro) or snaps, our daughter’s diapering in this century is a snap! I wouldn’t have chosen disposables over cloth. My husband and I remain committed and glad for that decision, since it reuses resources rather than filling up the landfill, saves money, and feels like a healthier option. Since I have been learning more about dioxin toxicity, particularly affecting female reproductive systems, I wanted to reduce our daughter’s exposure as much as possible. Using unbleached prefolds and organic cotton diapers are a couple of the ways we try to protect her sensitive skin.

My husband and I adopted our daughter, Maya, and are grateful to have been with her since her first breath. When we thought she might come 9 weeks early, I got connected with Crystal Biehl to get the scoop on tiny sized cloth diapers. With the generosity of Crystal’s connections and two retailers, we felt a big weight of relief that we would have diapers that would fit our baby before the time All in Ones would be useful (at about 8 pounds.) When Maya arrived at 38 weeks (hooray!), I got to be the first to feed and diaper her…and the first diaper on this little 5 pound, 10 oz. love-of-our-lives was a cloth prefold and Bummis wrap. She has rounded out now but had three months to wear her newborn diapers that we tried from Top to Bottom Baby Boutique . Thanks Jessica and Justin!

Thirstiess cover over a prefold holding up to Maya’s initial time of pushing herself up

Thirsties diaper covers – It was best to wrap the back around higher and bring the tabs in at a 45 degree angle pointing downward, rather than straight across the Velcro, for the best fit. The extra small sized wrap is still fitting our 11-12 lb infant. It fit better in recent weeks, once her legs filled out, than in the beginning. The wraps come in solid colors. They are a thinner fabric but still plenty sturdy. Of course, in northern Indiana, it doesn’t matter much in the winter or early spring, because it’s too cold to go without pants!

Thirsties inserts – We liked that they were easy care. They washed well, dried quickly, and were comfortable for our daughter, whether we dried them on the line or in the dryer. They fit very nicely for the first two months of her life, but she outgrew them before the kissaluv My husband found them convenient because he didn’t have to guess during the night where the snaps would fit and they were plenty absorbent for a newborn. Having elastic on the cover and the insert added extra protection for the baby (and us), in case one of us didn’t put them on correctly.

Some of the diapers we tried with our tiny tot. Above are the celery dot and pink Bummis covers, the blue and orange Thirsties covers and convenient inserts by Thirsties (in pale yellow, green, and white on the left) and Kissaluvs (in white and pale blue to the right.) Both of these go under covers.

Kissaluv inserts – These were a little more bulky and not quite as soft if air dried. They are a tiny sized diaper that grew with her longer than most of the other newborn sized diapers, until she was nearly 10 lbs. What I liked least about these is that they took longer to dry than any of the other diapers that we used. The flip side is that they could absorb more, too! The plastic around the legs creates pleats. Sometimes it was hard to get stains out of the creases of the pleats.

Nifty Nappy Bitty Bum: Ooga buga – We loved this diaper, partially because the name is so fun and has cute little critters on the outside decorating our little one’s bum. As to the diaper itself, it had very soft material. Needs a cover, but had two different sized liners to use, so that you could increase the size or number of liners because, as you know, when the input increases as babies get older, the output does as well.

Little Joey – Oh my goodness! This diaper was so adorable. Jessica at TTBBB asked if I cared if one of the diapers was not “girly” and of course, I didn’t care! This one came with fire trucks and smiling flames which said “honk, honk,” and made me smile every time I put it on my baby. Little Joey is an all in one diaper and it was our favorite diaper early on, because it so reliant fit. It was very well constructed and made it even nicer to hold her. I would curve it, so that the inside was facing out in the washer and dryer. It does take longer to dry. Little Joey is a premie/newborn diaper and it seemed more prone to retaining a smell than the other diapers. But that also could be because we were just learning how to wash diapers with our HE, front loading washer.

Great fitting Tot Bots – featuring a pull out pocket and booster liners (in upper left corner)

Tot Bots – This is a pocket diaper, which was easier for me to stuff than my husband, but the lightweight material didn’t clump. With 11 in our packet, we had a vast array of colors, but no patterns until the larger model. With the pocket design, they seemed to wash and dry so nicely. This was my husband’s favorite – he did not have to wonder how to air the cover with an insert or wonder what to stuff where, since the primary liner is attached as a single piece. Having small hands helped me to stuff the pocket smoothly but Brian could manage tucking this tiny size diaper. The design was snug around the legs and it looked more like a disposable diaper than any of the other cloth ones. For the first six weeks, we had no need for the micro fiber inserts, but as her wetting increased, the diaper leaked excess urine and the inserts became necessary. They could be either placed inside the pocket or laid on top. These helped tremendously with increased absorbency, but added extra volume to the diaper, which made the diapers harder to close, especially as she got bigger. They were a favorite ‘go-to’ diaper, since no cover was needed, but were a little bulkier if trying to pack lightly for travel. Even still, I would recommend them highly. It was a sad day when we gave up our newborn Tot Bot, but now we’ve bought some in the bigger size.

Unbleached cotton prefolds – Six of these were added to the Top to Bottom package to be used as burp cloths. They are so versatile, we bought them rather than returned them at the end of our newborn package period. The package didn’t come with an inventory, so I’m not sure what brand they are. But they have a green edging and are a medium sized prefold. I found it handy to have one laying near the changing as a backup diaper, to wipe up a mid-diaper change emergency mess, or as a burp cloth. They are thick, absorbent and softer than other burp cloths we received from others.

CJ’s BUTTer – I was glad that TTBBB included a diaper ointment in the package. This was the first time that I thought about how different diaper creams might affect the absorbability and the durability of the cloth diapers. I personally have sensitivities to many chemicals, so don’t want to be putting unnatural things on my baby. Nor do I want to have to smell perfumed creams throughout the day, so CJ’s was great. I could pronounce each ingredient on the label. I could practically eat most of the ingredients (if I needed to) and for me that’s a good sign for things that I am placing on my precious child. It helped soothe any dry winter skin around the legs and helped wick away moisture from diaper rash prone areas. Now, most parents would be smarter than I, but living in Indiana, I forgot that having the diaper butter on the window sill in the winter would make it very firm and very runny in the summer time. It didn’t take me long to put it in the drawer of the changing table to keep it at a moderate temperature and thus keep the butter and nice consistency... and it melts on a warm bum like, well, butta.

TTBBB also threw in a Snappi, a three pronged, T shaped soft plastic diaper grabber used mostly with prefolds to keep them together. I have barely used it but it does hold the fabric together without getting poked or poking the baby. As soon as Maya starts crawling and walking, I assume they will be needed more to keep prefolds in place.

Maya saying, “Oh, my, these diapers are great!”

After the Newborn diapers no longer fit (oh, so sad.), we returned to Top to Bottom to purchase All in One size diapers – some as a surprise with their grab bags and other ones we ordered specifically. We had Maya’s baby parties after she was born and having this party when she was three months old gave us the chance to register with TTBBB to get some diapers that will last us until potty training. We have been using some larger sized Thirsties and Bummis covers but for the most part have purchased all in ones like GroVia covers and liners (plus I use the less expensive prefolds in the cover seen below.) Prefolds are a bit bulkier but are cost effective and dry more quickly, but the GroVia inserts are organic, which I feel good about putting next to my little girls sensitive skin. Our GroVia’s are solid purples, ivory, and green and hip purple patterns, a blue one with owls and others with trees. We are enjoying our larger Ooga Booga and Tot Bot and love the cool patterns!

Maya and Kimberly

If we knew we were going to have multiple babies in our home, we might have been more willing to get one size diapers but we’d rather cover her bum and our pocket book with fewer diapers that she will wear lots and perhaps even wear out eventually. I look forward to seeing how these diapers hold up after multiple washes and wears per week when she is crawling, walking and tinkering with tinkling in the potty chair. It all seems so far away right now but I am sure it will come sooner than I can imagine!