If you are doing elimination communication, this is the most amazing diapering system out there! Or I imagine it would be similar if you’re in the midst of potty training. For this review, I’m specifically talking about the full system including the chappie nappy pants. Or the diaper on its own if it’s warm enough that your kid isn’t in pants.
Here are the major benefits:
1.) These diapers make it so so easy to offer your baby the potty. Before I had these I felt like I was constantly having to wrestle a little alligator to get my baby in and out of pants and a diaper to put him on the potty. With the ease of undoing the flap and putting it back up, doing elimination communication feels really easy!
2.) An outdoor “side of the trail” pee is really easy with these while preserving your baby’s modesty somewhat. Instead of having to pull pants down, undoing the flap still leaves their tush covered, which is nice. It basically feels like the baby boy equivalent of a man undoing his fly for a quick pee in the woods. Plus the added bonus of baby not peeing all over his rolled-down pants.
3.) For pottytunities at public restrooms, these REALLY help because my baby hates having his pants down around his ankles. If he’s sitting on the toilet with pants around his ankles he just wants to get them off, but in a public restroom I really don’t want to take his shoes and pants all the way off, gross! So it’s really nice when he’s wearing the flappy nappies because then I can just quickly undo the flap, set him on the toilet, and he’ll actually go instead of struggling with his clothing.
4.) Full range of movement! Unlike other cloth diapers (or even disposables to a degree), this diaper system does not hamper the baby’s range of movement at all! Since the chappie pants are not attached to the diapers all the way around, it means he can fully move his hip joint and isn’t constrained. In a traditional cloth diaper, it’s so bulky that I would worry about my baby’s ability to crawl/walk/play, but with these he has so much freedom to move and I love it! Even in disposables, if he’s wearing tighter pants he can suddenly be so much more constricted. This is something you wouldn’t think about until you have a baby and realize how much some clothes/diapers restrict their movement! But it seems like it could be pretty important developmentally!
In the previous iteration of these diapers, there were some funky fit issues, but this new version seems SO much more adjustable and so far they are fitting my 16 month old perfectly and I can’t wait to try them out in newborn mode on our next baby and see how it all works out! I definitely recommend checking the size chart and actually measuring your baby rather than just going with the age-related category for sizing. My 16 month old currently fits the 9-month-wide chappie pants as an example (babies really vary so much don’t they?!).
A final note, if you are just starting EC or maybe you’re intimidated by cloth diapers, I encourage you to take the plunge! I recently switched to full-time flappy nappies and am finding it easier than disposables just because of how much easier it is for him to quickly use the potty. My baby is not fully potty trained yet but honestly at this point I don’t even mind him technically being in “diapers” because these diapers are so easy to use (and all his poops go in the potty).
A final note on the wool. When I started this whole EC and cloth diapering journey I had zero experience with wool, but after the initial learning curve it was not as hard as I expected! I honestly really love these so much! They’re 100% natural and they’re so beautiful and look really cute on my little guy.