Over the Labor Day weekend I had the opportunity to put the Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefolds and Flip Covers I received last week to the test. Happy dance!
The Nitty Gritty
Imagine SmartFit Prefolds are 55% bamboo and 45% organic Indian cotton and are made in Pakistan. They come in four sizes: x-small (orange edge, 4-10lbs), small (green edge, 7-17lbs), medium (yellow edge, 12-25lbs), and large (blue edge, 15-30+lbs) rather than the infant, premium, and toddler sizes found with most prefolds.
I ordered a dozen each in small, medium, and large from
Nicki's Diapers to use the smalls as doublers or to stuff pockets with, the mediums for my 3-month-old & 17lb son's current size, and the large size so it would be ready and waiting for his next growth spurt.
Since prefolds are usually made from natural fibers (e.g., cotton, bamboo, hemp) they need to be prepped to allow for proper shrinkage and removal of the natural oils to increase absorbency before they can be used. Most prep routines involve washing multiple times (usually 2-5; bleached prefolds can take less cycles to prep than unbleached) in hot water with a little detergent and drying after each washing. Most manufacturers recommend tumble drying on low, but, to be completely honest, if you have a full load that takes FOREVER even with throwing in a few dry bath towels to expediate the process.
Rebel that I am, I always dry my prefolds on hot and do a wash-dry cycle of that looks like this: 1 wash-1 dry, 2 washes-1 dry, 1 wash-1 dry for a total of 4 hot washing and 3 hot drying cycles. In truth, I only started doing it this way because I would always get impatient mid-prepping.
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| Imagine SmartFit Prefolds BEFORE Prepping; small, medium, & large |
They were buttery soft before prepping, but, as you can see, were not quilted up at all. After prepping as described above...
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| Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefolds AFTER Prepping |
They quilted up with only some slight pilling of the fibers - about the same as my 100% cotton prefolds had after prepping. Still soft, too! Much, much softer than my cotton prefolds whichhave been washed many more times.
Just for kicks, compare the size difference of a prepped, premium 100% cotton prefold to the large SmartFit Bamboo prefold:
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| left to right: Imagine (100% cotton) Premium Prefold and Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Large Prefold |
See the difference? Since the SmartFit Bamboo prefolds are only 45% cotton, they quilt up much less than the 100% cotton prefolds. The other major difference is, of course, the overall size, but the premium prefolds and the Imagine SmartFit large prefolds are both sized to fit infants from 15-30+lbs. The SmartFit line from Imagine is cut shorter and wider to reduce bulk and allow for a better fit.
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| Flip Covers, from left to right, top to bottom: Grasshopper, Dazzle, Clementine, Moonbeam, Twilight, Sassy |
Now onto the Flips that I ordered from
Thanks Mama! Flip Diaper Covers are one-size diaper covers (to fit babies 7-35+lbs) that are a part of the Flip System put out by Cotton Babies - the makers of bumGenius. They are available in snap closure or hook and loop and have a snap down rise. The interior is, for the most part, the wipeable side of PUL; if the cover isn't soiled, it can be wiped down and reused. There are flaps inside, one near the front of the cover and one on the back, to prevent your insert of choice from slipping around. The Flip System gives you the option of using the one-size Flip Stay Dry inserts and/or organic cotton soakers. The cover can also be bought by itself and used with whatever your heart desires.
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| Flip Covers, left to right: small rise setting, medium, & large... Notice I forgot to adjust the waist snaps along with the rise, so feel free to look at the less pretty, haphazard night shot of that and the inside of the covers - another thing I forgot - below. Whoops! |
Because my heart(and pocketbook) desire prefolds, we have two options here.
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| Medium Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefold , Flip Cover on small rise. |
The first is to simply trifold the prefold and slip it behind the front and back flaps. Since they are rather loose pockets, the prefold had a tendency to slide down a little in the cover when I was putting it on my son, but I was able to reach into the cover and pull it back into place fairly easily.
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| Flip Covers, left to right: smallest Flip rise setting & small SmartFit Bamboo Prefold, medium rise & medium SmartFit Bamboo Prefold, large rise & large SmartFit Bamboo Prefold |
In the picture above, I did not tuck the prefold into the back flap so you can see the difference between the Flip rise settings along with the "same size" Imagine SmartFit prefold when it is used trifolded. In all cases, I had a little bit extra overhang to fold under if the diapers were stuffed flat, but if left like this I can fold over the prefold so there is more coverage in the front or in the back. (In the front for my little man!)
In this picture, I tucked in the ends of the prefolds without folding them under. They do indeed fit, but the covers are unable to lay flat. Not a big deal in my book.
Note: If you trifold against the seam of the prefold (width-wise) instead of along the seam, you can reduce the overhang a little bit, but not drastically. Another solution is to just use a prefold that is one size smaller than the rise.
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| (Poor attempt at a jelly roll fold on my wriggly baby.) Medium Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefold and Boingo fasteners. |
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Your other option is to use pins, a Snappi, or a Boingo diaper fastner (my preference) and wrap the prefold around your baby. This works especially well with breastfed babies to contain all that they have to offer :) :) and keep your cover clean.
Now for some comparison shots between trifolding and fastening. The prefold in both cases is a medium size SmartFit and the Flip rise setting is on small (more on that below):
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| Trifolded |
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| Fastened with a pair of Boingos. |
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| Trifolded & wriggly baby |
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| Fastened & complacent baby |
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| Trifolded |
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| Fastened |
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You can see there is some added bulk when trifolded, as to be expected, but not anything too obscene - and the ease of trifolding is a fair trade for some more cushion, in my opinion. (And who doesn't love some cloth diaper junk in the trunk?!)
The SmartFit prefolds are super easy to wrap & fasten and I love that I don't have to fold down the front of the diaper in order to make it go below his belly button - it fits as is!
Conclusion
My baby has had hard time in the past with cotton prefolds because he hated to feel the least amount of wetness. Since prefolds lack a stay-dry wicking layer, I simply made some microchamois liners at home and laid them along the middle of the prefold before I used it. And that solved that. But this time around I took a chance and left them out. He hardly fussed when he was wet. I actually was able to let him go 3 hours without a diaper change when before we maxed out at 2 hours and at 2 hours it would be soaked; yes, even in pocket diapers with uber microfiber inserts. Not so with these bad boys! Oh, and about washing them. No stink! We had the slightest hint of a stink after the first use of microfiber inserts way back when, but these smell like, well, nothing. Just how I prefer diaper items to smell. Natural fibers are said to be much less likely to hold odor and buildup and I hope, I pray, this is true. I would definitely recommend the Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefolds. They make me regret I bought plain ol' cotton prefolds first. They are THAT much of an improvement.
Overall, I did like the Flip covers. We never had a leak (even during a poopsplosion when the prefolds were trifolded), they seem to be of the same high quality as the bumGenius line, and they fit a wide range of babies. I do prefer double gussets though, and the single leg elastic on the Flips seems a tad...loose? My baby has chunk-chunk-chunky-chunk thighs and they never "gripped" his thighs on the small rise, BUT he didn't have any red marks on his thighs and, like I said before, no leaks, so that is a big plus in my book. The back flap irritates me a little, it's somewhat pleated and tends to bunch in certain areas if you aren't careful, but it is a small frustration for having the option to "stuff" a diaper cover with a prefold and have it at the ready.
I'm happy to say that both the Imagine SmartFit Bamboo Prefolds and Flip Diaper Covers are staying in my stash. Now if I could just convince the husband that a prefold isn't that much (if any when trifolded!) extra work... He's definitely a pocket man.
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