Recommend: Mom to Mom Baby Wipes

Price: about ~$9.99 for 1 box (6 individual packs)

When standing in the baby section of the grocery store I was immediately overwhelmed. We've all heard of your standard Pampers, Huggies and Luvs diaper brands, and I'm pretty certain they all also have their own line of baby wipes. Knowing me, I would have just picked up the wipes that matched my choice in diapers, but since I don't use disposables (and wasn't about to use cloth wipes as well) I needed to start my series of trial and error with disposable wipes. 

I'm an on and off Safeway shopper/ACME shopper and by chance the day I ran out of the wipes I got at my baby shower and needed to buy wipes, I was at Safeway. I browsed through their selection and came across a brand called "mom to mom". I was looking for the best value and when comparing numbers, mom-to-mom was the best bet. 

Pros:

- come in value size boxes - 6 individual travel/refill packs (the hard plastic pop-top on top of each refill pack). 

- made of a heavy material to clean up big diaper messes. 

- unscented means unscented!

- Cheaper than or the same price as the value box of pampers (the box of pampers i compared them to comes with 5 refill packs, mom-to-mom comes with 6 travel/refill packs)

Cons:

- Only available at Safeway stores.

- If you're trying to environmentally friendly, I suppose the travel pop-top is not land-fill friendly and ultimately creates more waste.

Would I Recommend:

With out a doubt. Recently we were running low on wipes and I sent Ryan to ACME to pick some up. He got a large box of the unscented Pampers brand and I am not nearly as pleased! I'm anxious to finish the box of wipes he bought so I can go back to the mom-to-mom's. 

I've also read very good reviews on their diaper brand and although I have not priced them personally, they are said to be considerably cheaper as well. 

Recommend: Diaper Champ

Baby Trend Diaper Champ

Price: $35-ish

This is one of the only Baby Trend product I actually like.

There are several different options when it comes to diaper pails - and I think all of them get mixed reviews. You either love it or hate it. We registered for -and received- the Diaper Champ, and we really like so far. We have not had any issues with odor yet. I found that the medium sized white kitchen trash bags fit perfectly! Since those bags are too short for our kitchen trash can we simply keep the box in the nursery on a shelf next to the diaper champ, to keep things convenient. Word to the wise: make sure you have the sticky part of the diaper secured to the diaper itself. I once had a lose sticky stick to the side of the flippy contraption, causing the diaper to unfold and get poop on the Champ. It was, however, easy to clean.

The stores no longer sell the version of the Diaper Champ I own. Now there is a new and improved Deluxe version.

Pros:

-very convenient!

-you can use any brand trash bag

-comes in white with blue or white with pink

-easy to use

-designed for one-handed use

-i don't know how to explain it, but if you look at the picture you will see at the bottom there is a little ledge of sorts - if you use your foot to step on the ledge it's easier to get the dirty bag out of the Champ.

Cons:

-it can be challenging to get the bag of dirty diapers out of the pail if the bag is too full

-removing a bag full of dirty diapers can be tough on the nose

Recommend: Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

Do Not Recommend: Sassy Earth Smart Diaper Sack Dispenser

Price: $5.49

I often wondered what I would do with poopy diapers while I was out and about...namely, at a person's house.

While at BRU (Babies R Us) one day, this cute little accessory caught my eye. I thought it'd be perfect for us. It's only a couple inches big, so it'd fit right into the bottom of my diaper bag and be super convenient for those stinky diapers I was so concerned about.

Well, I've used maybe a dozen or so of the bags and I can honestly say this item is not worth the $5.49. It's not so much the container that I don't like, its the actual bags that are a waste - and the bags make up half the product. Every other bag I use rips before I even get it open! Because of this I do not recommend the product.

Since Trent's poops weren't super poopy-smelling for a while (until recently) I found myself simply putting the diaper right in the kitchen trash. If you don't feel comfortable doing that (understandably) I'd recommend putting the diaper in a grocery bag and tying it together and/or putting the diaper in the outdoor trash can.

Pros:

-snazzy colors/designs

-case has a hook for easy access

-refill bags are seemingly easy to come by at BRU

-the scent of the bags is very mild

-case comes with 25 bags to begin with

-biodegradable

Cons:

-bags are terrible quality

Recommend: Bum Genius 3.0 Cloth Diapers

Price: 17.99 each - If purchased in a package, the price may drop slightly
Recommended Quantity: about 15

When deciding which cloth diapers to use, I did a lot of research. To get started on them, there is a significant cost up front, so I didn't want to invest in something that wouldn't work for or wouldn't get us through at least the first year.

On almost every chat board I scanned at least one person would rave about the BG 3.0, so I started there. They seemed to be a great option. They were easy to use and didn't require pins, special covers or a special skill to put them on the baby's bottom and they grew with baby up to about 35 pounds. I still browsed around more and find a few other brands that offered similar features, but because of the great reviews, I went with the BG 3.0's.

I fell in love when I got them! They were the sweetest colors and just adorable. Unfortunately it took a few weeks for Jude to grow into them as they didn't quite fit a 7.8 lb baby very well. But, by the time he was approaching 10 pounds (probably somewhere around 8.5-9) he was fitting in them just fine. Being that Ryan and I had been using disposables up to this point, we were both uncertain how we would transition to the cloth diapers, but it was a breeze. They are easy to clean, and other than washing them, they go on no different than a disposable. The short period of time we were in day care, the infant teacher agreed that they were simple.

Pros:
- Save money in the long run
- Adorable colors
- Easy to use (especially in situations where you may need to leave your child with someone who's not familiar with cloth diapering)
- Growth with baby (one size fits 8-35lbs)
- Seemingly comfortable

Cons:
- We noticed a jump in his clothing size due to the bulk of the diaper
- Need to be washed every 1-2 days
- If you're running low, it'll take about 2 hours for clean diapers - no more quick trips to the store
- If not washed properly/frequently can get an amonia odor - but can be resolved with proper care.
- Will probably be more 'interesting' as he gets into solid foods
- More difficult to tell when he has a wet diaper, need to change baby on more of a schedule as opposed to just feeling for a wet diaper.