Product review & impressions from a FTM (first-time mum)
By Monica Slavov
Heading into cloth as a first-time mum can seem overwhelming, and deciding which brand is right for you and baby even more so. Reading what each brand & type has to offer can seem as complicated as car shopping when you’re new to cloth, and I wish I had discovered some more information showing mums in action with their chosen brands!
We’ve been using Seedling Baby’s product range for 2 months now, and have tested them in every way possible, so I thought I’d share some of the ways we use ours!
Seedling Baby is an Australian brand that has been around since 2006, which is a good sign when looking for a tried and trusted product. Their print designs are inspired by the nature-life native to Australia, which makes them a beautiful standout choice aesthetically. Their nappies & wraps are OSFM (one-size-fits-most) 8-35 lbs (3.5-16kg), so designed to fit from birth to potty training. They also have newborn sizes available.
We currently have 2 Multi-fit Pocket nappies & 2 Cómodo Baby wraps
The Multi-fits pictured here are in ‘Surf Reef ’ & ‘Icon Blue’.
They come with a 70% Bamboo/30% Cotton Diversifold (also known as a prefold). Personally I’m a huge fan of natural fibres for their absorbent capacity, so this really wins with me. The diversifold can be stuffed into the pocket, laid on top as a pad fold, or put on baby & secured with a nappy nippa if you prefer. It can be folded length-or width-ways depending on your rise setting so it sits inside the pocket or wrap nicely. It comes with a microfibre booster, although we use ours without it as I’ve found the diversifold is super absorbent on its own & gives a slimmer bum without. This is a very reliable nappy for coping with the morning flood wees, long train/car journeys & even can be used overnight boosted! It also provides excellent containment thanks to the double gusset, which our daughter has thoroughly given a run for its money with her explosive EBF poos.
I have the Cómodo baby wraps in ‘Native Blush’ &
‘Tropical Jade’ (pictured here). We use them for both day and night, which is a great versatile option!
At first we used these wraps over our Little Lamb Size 1 shaped nappies for nighttime, but baby grew out of them at 5 months old when she suddenly turned into a chunky monkey on us. We switched to using terries on her since they can be folded a number of ways to suit babies all the way up until potty training. I’ve used the Cómodo wraps with terries overnight many times now, and they provide perfect containment for up to 12-14 hours. What I like is that the wraps aren’t a struggle to get over the bulk of the terry like some other brands can be & fit nicely. You may have to go up one more rise than you would with daytime flats if you choose to use the wraps as a nighttime option.
For daytime you can use Seedling Diversifolds (or any prefold actually). These can be pad folded and simply laid inside the wrap. Just wipe the inside of the wrap clean & put in a fresh pad fold. This makes this a great holiday option as it’s less bulky than packing a bunch of AIOs.
Another option, if you prefer, is to put the Diversifold on baby & secure with a nappy nippa. Pictured here is the “bikini twist” on my baby as she’s rather chunky now & it works well on her. A bikini twist is simply where you twist the fabric once at the middle, which creates some nice fabric overlapping in the target area where she’ll be wee-ing. Then you simply put it around baby & secure with the nippa. If you didn’t know already, a nippa is a clever little thing that works a lot like a tensor bandage clip. It just hooks into the top layer of the fabric, working under tension.
All-in-all what I really like is the versatility I get with Seedlings, to fit a variety of scenarios/occasions. I’ve tried a lot of different brands and types by now 6 months into our cloth journey, and I have to say Seedlings has really been one of the most flexible options for us. It’s been a very reliable nappy for our family no matter which method we’ve tried with them. So I hope this blog post can provide some inspiration on how you can use yours!
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