The Great Bumbino (Bum Essentials Cloth Diaper Giveaway) CLOSED

The Bumbino!  Don’t you just love the name?

The Bumbino is the product of Bum Essentials, a North Carolina-based cloth diaper company run by a husband and wife team.  Nora, the “wife” of the team, was generous enough to sent me one of their “great Bumbinos” for a test run.

FACTS:

The Bum Essentials Bumbino…

• Is a two-piece reusable cloth diaper system.  It is not a pocket diaper, so there is no stuffing of inserts involved.
• Is a One-Size (OS) diaper with adjustable rise snaps in the front.  Depending on the shape of the baby, it can fit babies from 8 to 34 pounds.
• Has elastic gathering in the front and back offers a snug fit to avoid gap from occurring at the waist.
• Has a soft, micro fleece-lined shell.
• Comes with 2 organic, slightly contoured soaker pads (called Bum Pads) that snap into the diaper and to each other (one larger and one slightly smaller soaker).  Because they snap-in, they stay in place.  The Bum Pads are available in two types of fabric, the Classic or the Terry Towel.  Both are made from super-soft organic bamboo and cotton blend, however, the Terry Towel is blended with polyester for added strength, flexibility and durability.
• Comes in 4 bold and vibrant colors that can be interchangeable between boys and girls.

MY THOUGHTS:

On Convenience…I personally don’t enjoy stuffing pocket diapers, and much prefer the AI2/hybrid diapers where you can reuse the shells if they didn’t get soiled.  It’s an economical choice and cuts down on the amount of washing, both of which are major pluses.  The Bum Essentials Bumbino scored huge in this respect.  I have a couple of other AI2 diapers, and this one performed just as well.  For outings, this diaper is ideal because you don’t need to bring a bunch of bulky diapers in the diaper bag.  Simply take a few Bum Pads and reuse the shell.

The Snaps…Right away I noticed that the Bum Pads snap into the front portion of the diaper, and not the back like most other snap-in diaper soakers.  I couldn’t help but think, why would anyone do this?  Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for the baby to have the snaps in the back rather than the front?  The simple answer is “no.”  As I have been using the diaper more and more, I have come to realize the wonderful qualities of their front snaps:

1. First of all, it’s more comfortable.  If you think about it, most babies are on their back and not on their tummies for the majority of the day.  That means, that their weight would be on the back of the diaper.  Front snaps seem more logical.
2. There is no more worrying about unsnapping the pads in the back whenever there is a soiled diaper (I am sure you can get the visual).
3. You are getting more coverage where you need it most.  With some of my other back snap soakers, the main bulk of the padding sits in the back, where you don’t need it.  Most of the time you need the bulk in the middle (for a girl) or in the front end (for a boy) of the diaper.  There are times where the soakers and doublers don’t reach all the way up in the front (which is fine for a girl but not ideal for a boy).
4. If you only use one Bum Pad, the female end of the snaps are the ones exposed to baby’s skin (not the poking male end).

Appearance and Absorbency…These diapers fit well and look great on the baby.  They are very trim, but don’t let that fool you.  Its lack of bulk is not an indicator of how absorbent it is.  In fact, it is extremely absorbent, as much and quite possibly more so than the majority of my other (bulkier) diapers.

The yellow is a little too bright for my liking, but then again, I’m more of a buttercream yellow girl.  Although, this little bum looks cute in any color, especially with a big pink flower and a pink and yellow shirt that matches!  The other colors look fabulous!

Laundering…Lately I have been having trouble with stripping my diapers.  It seems like every once in a while I must alter how I launder them.  But I have noticed that the Bum Essentials terry pads don’t seem to stink as much as my other inserts, namely the BumGenius microfibers and the SuperDos.

Before I received a Bum Essentials Bumbino, I was warned that the laundry tabs were not very strong, and would come loose in the wash.  I have had absolutely no trouble in this regard.  In fact, the aplix is very strong and I never get the “chain of diapers.”  I guess Bum Essentials must have corrected this feature, which makes me think they really pay attention to consumer’s suggestions in order to create a more perfect diaper.

Compared to my other hybrids (which I already love)…It is softer than my GroVia shells and just as soft as my Urban Fluff shells.  The Bum Essentials Bumbino most resembles the Urban Fluff, so I went into greater depth with this comparison.

• Though the Urban Fluff AI2 is one of my favorites, we experience huge wing droop.  The reason for this is that we have to really tighten the waist in order to avoid the gapping in the front.  The one thing I’ve noticed about the Bumbino is that the gathered elastic in the front and back of the waist makes it so that I don’t have to tighten it quite as much, thus avoiding the wing droop.
• Like the Urban Fluff, the Bum Essentials Bumbino has overlapping (or crossover) capabilities for those with teeny tiny waists.  So far, it has the most perfect waist fit out of all my diapers.
• The Urban Fluff is also bulkier with its ONE pad than the Bumbino is with BOTH of its pads!
• Unlike any other hybrid I have seen (or any other snap-in soaker cloth diapers for that matter), you have freedom of absorbency.  For heavier wetter and overnight solutions, you can snap-in endless layers of soakers for as much protection as needed.  (Note: You cannot snap in any additional soakers once you snap in the smaller top pad.  That would be the final layer.)

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT?

1. Although it is convenient in aplix (velcro), I would love to have a snap option, especially when my baby is older and can figure out how to undo the tabs.
2. I don’t always use both soakers, so I really wished the tag on the main soaker pad was on the other side (facing the diaper and not the baby).

BOTTOM LINE:

The Bum Essentials Bumbino One-Size diaper is quickly becoming my favorite cloth diaper I have – and definitely my favorite of the velcro type.

BUY: The Bum Essentials Bumbino One-Size diaper is very well priced at just under $20.  It isn’t the cheapest diaper on the market, but it certainly isn’t the most expensive.  Considering that it is organic, that’s quite a steal!  You can purhcase a Bum Essentials Bumbino at these fine retailers:

• Diaper Junction
• Happy Baby Bum
• Fluff Envy
• Nicki’s Diapers
• Kelly’s Closet
• the Baby Store PLUS
• Cloth Diaper University

WIN: One extremely lucky reader will get one of these fabulous Bumbino diapers (in their choice of colors) with an extra Classic Bum Pad!!

HOW TO ENTER:

There are lots of ways you can win! Just make sure that you leave a separate comment for each entry. If any of the required steps for are missing, ALL of your entries/comments will not be valid. Bonus entries can be completed after the mandatory entry.

MANDATORY ENTRY

To enter, visit Bum Essentials and then leave a comment here telling me what color you would like if you won this giveaway. This is required and must be done before the extra entries!

BONUS ENTRIES

1. Subscribe to the Village of Moms blog via Email on the sidebar. You must confirm/verify your subscription by checking your email inbox to complete the process. (2 extra entries)
2. Follow Village of Moms on Twitter or join the Village of Moms group on Facebook. (1 extra entry each)
3. Follow Bum Essentials on Twitter. (1 extra entry)
4. Become a fan of Bum Essentials on Facebook. (1 extra entry)
5. Follow the Bum Essentials blog via Google Friend Connect. (2 extra entries)
6. Blog about wanting to win this giveaway and link it back to this post. (3 extra entries)
7. Tweet about this giveaway. You can tweet once a day for an extra entry every day. Copy and paste: #WIN #BumEssentials Bumbino Diaper @VillageofMoms http://anationofmoms.com/?p=2420 #giveaway #cloth (1 extra entry, daily)
8. Grab our teal button (on the sidebar) and display it on your blog or website until the contest is over. (2 extra entries)
9. Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post. (1 extra entry)

***Giveaway closes September 17th @ 11:59 EST and winner will be chosen via Random.org. Open to US.***

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