Bamboo is not just for pandas anymore. Bamboo diapers are becoming increasingly popular among cloth diaper aficionados. Bamboo diapers are eco-friendly for a variety of reasons including how quickly bamboo grows and without the use of pesticides. Other people like to use bamboo diapers because of how incredibly soft the fabric is as well as how absorbent it is when compared to cotton. Others prefer it for their children because of the “breathable” nature of the material and its natural antibacterial properties.
Whatever the reason, bamboo diapers are here to stay. If you want to try out a bamboo diaper there are two “big name” bamboo diapers that come to mind. First is the “Bamboozle” made by TotsBots in the Turkey and is one of the most popular diapers in the United Kingdom where the company is based. The next bamboo diaper worth mentioning is the “bumGenius! Bamboo Fitted Diaper” made by CottonBabies in Egypt who also make the wildly popular “bumGenius!” line of diapers.
This article will compare the fit, sizes, absorbency, and cost of these two types of bamboo cloth diapers. Before that happens though, there is always this truth: everyone has a favorite cloth diaper, every child has a different body shape, and that the “goodness” of a cloth diaper is subject to personal interpretation. Both of these bamboo diapers are fitted diapers, which means that they are not waterproof and if you’re interested in keeping your child’s clothes, yourself, and/or your furniture dry you’ll also need a diaper cover.
Sizing and Fit
The Bamboozle diaper stands out from the bumGenius! Bamboo diaper first because of the sizing. The Bamboozle cloth diaper is a “two size diaper”. Size One is recommended for children 5-18 pounds and Size Two is for children 10-35 pounds. The bumGenius! Bamboo diaper follows the more traditional sizing and ranges from Extra Small, which starts at 6 pounds and is designed to fit under the belly button to keep that area dry in newborns, to Large, which is up to 30 pounds. The bumGenius! bamboo diaper fastens with crossover hook and loop tape (the generic way to say Velcro) while the Bamboozle uses snaps, also with crossover ability.
The big difference between a 2 sized system and a multiple size system usually comes down to fit. A diaper that will accommodate a ten pound baby as well as a 35 pound baby will have to be folded down for the little one and that results in a bulkier diaper. When there are multiple sizes to buy you are more likely to get a true fit without the bulkiness or confusion of folding the diaper to fit, but the downside to that is that you have to pay for multiple sizes of diapers.
Snaps versus hook and loop closure is a big debate in cloth diapering circles. Snaps tend to last longer, are usually “toddler-proof”, and aren’t a concern in the wash. Hook and loop is definitely faster and easier to fasten on a squirming baby, seems less intimidating to other people when they’re changing the baby because it’s more like a disposable, and is more adjustable to help get a perfect fit every time. The downside to cloth diapers that use hook and loop is that it can lose it’s “grabbiness” eventually and if you don’t use the laundry tabs to close the hook part (and sometimes even if you do) you can end up with a “diaper chain” of all your diapers stuck together. Hook and loop can also require drying at a lower temperature so that it doesn’t shrink and curl so sometimes they need more time to dry.
As far as sizing goes the Bamboozle wins out in the fact that one diaper will fit for a longer period of time due to the design of the diaper and two-size system. However, that longer fit comes at the cost of a trim fit. I’ve found for the first half of the size range for each diaper size the diaper is bulky on my son. Some people don’t mind bulk, but personally I don’t like it. I prefer a nice tight trim fit every time I put the diaper on my son.
On this same note regarding fit and the two-size system. I don’t think (with all due respect to the Bamboozle’s given size range) that there is anyway possible to get a good fit on a newborn baby with this diaper. I think that bamboo fitted diapers make a great newborn diaper since they are so soft and absorbent, but I believe this diaper would swallow up a newborn and be almost impossible to adjust on a tiny infant. Having discovered the bumGenius! Bamboo diaper though I would happily recommend a newborn stash of these diapers and if were going to do it again this is what I would use. For small babies I don’t think there’s anyway to beat having a diaper specifically designed to be tiny and fit under the umbilical cord while still having great absorbency.
Absorbency and Drying:
Bamboo diapers are said to be between 40-60 percent more absorbent than a cotton diaper. Using the Bamboozle diaper on my son has resulted in some leaking around the legs and once up the front. I think the upfront leakage was due to user error because of how I had folded the doubler in the Bamboozle diaper. I have never had a poop blowout while using it though. The bamboo fibers seem to just suck that messy newborn right up which is great. I would say that the Bamboozle diaper is slightly more absorbent than a prefold, but not by a great deal. On the other side, the bamboo diaper seems to hold the moisture further in and my son’s skin doesn’t seem to be as wet as compared to a prefold.
The Bamboozle has a fold out soaker that is sewn into the front of the diaper. The soaker is also made out of bamboo and can be folded differently for boys or for girls to better target the “wet zone”. This is slightly confusing for say, husbands or babysitters, who don’t immediately know that they need to fold the soaker, fold the diaper down and then keep those both in place while trying to snap it onto a wiggling infant. Personally, I don’t find it confusing, but it is a little time consuming when dealing with a squirming baby. This was also how I ended up with a leaking diaper because when I folded the soaker up and the front of the diaper down it didn’t fit snugly around his waist. I’ve also found that if you fold the soaker to the front then it leaves only a very thin layer of bamboo in the back so you might get more pee absorbency, but you’re risking having a big poop leak straight through the back.
The advantage to a fold out soaker is that it allows for a faster drying time than if it were sewn together since the layers are thinner. It also allows you to really see that the diaper is clean after a wash since there are no hidden layers. However, thin layers also seem to mean less absorbency.
The bumGenius! Bamboo fitted diaper is probably the softest diaper that I’ve ever touched and it gives my mother’s heart a little thrill every time I put it on my son knowing that it’s so gentle on his skin.
My son has also never leaked through this diaper and I readily reach for this diaper at naptime feeling fully confident that it will contain whatever my son dishes out. The absorbency is just fantastic. I think that with the addition of a hemp doubler and a fleece cover that this would even work for a nighttime diaper. I find the bumGenius! Bamboo diaper to be significantly more absorbent than the Bamboozle diaper. The key to this is that inside the bumGenius! diaper is their amazing microfiber soaker. The absorbency is one of the things that bumGenius! is famous for and coupling this with the natural absorbency of bamboo makes for a diaper that is trim, super absorbent, soft and easy on baby’s sensitive skin.
Since the bumGenius! Bamboo fitted diaper does not have a fold out soaker it is one-piece and with an internal soaker therefore thicker than the Bamboozle diaper. When it comes times for drying the diaper I find that it is not fully dry at the end of the drying cycle. It is usually slightly damp still in the middle of the diaper and so I set it aside to finish air drying. Comparatively, the Bamboozle diaper is almost always completely dry with the rest of the cloth diapers.
Now, to calculate cost we’re going to use a very simple method. First, as I already mentioned, I don’t think that the Bamboozle would work on a newborn and so you’d have additional cost finding a diaper that fit better until the baby was at least between 8-10 pounds. Conversely, the bumGenius! bamboo diaper only goes up to 30 pounds and so if your child isn’t potty-trained at that point you’d have the additional cost of needing another diaper. So, we’ll call them even on that front because no matter which diaper you choose you will probably need either more diapers at the beginning or at the end of your diapering experience.
We’ll assume twelve diapers per size, which is a small stash, but would work if you supplemented with let’s say, prefolds, since you’ll already have to buy covers. For the Bamboozle at $19.95 per diaper (from Jilliansdrawers.com) you will spend $478.80. For the bumGenius! Bamboo fitted diaper you would spend $430.20. That is based on a discount price of $143.40 for a pack of twelve. The Bamboozle doesn’t have a discount for buying multiple diapers. The discount for buying a twelve pack averages out to only $11.95 for each diaper instead of $12.95 to buy them individually. So, by purchasing the bum!Genius bamboo fitted diaper you would save $48.60.
Personally, I would choose the bumGenius! Bamboo fitted diaper over the Bamboozle every time. They are more cost effective despite having to buy more sizes, even if it’s only a modest difference. They are more absorbent and provide a better fit. The only downsides to them (in my humble opinion) is that they’re not offered in snaps and they do have microfiber internally so if you’re very adamant about ONLY natural fibers in a diaper (we’re not) then they would not be for you. Just to be clear, I do still use my Bamboozle diapers and I’ve been happy with the quality and performance, but if I were going to help someone choose between the two…the point of this article…I have to recommend the bumGenius! Bamboo Fitted Diaper as the better diaper.
