MilSpouse in the House: Cloth Diapering: On The Go Solution

I have been cloth diapering my daughter for ten months and it's been relatively easy. Well... It's been easy while at home. Traveling with cloth diapers was a bit more difficult. I've made numerous trips to South Carolina to visit family for weeks at a time and have gone on a few 3-5 day trips. Packing diapers along with everything else the kids need doesn't leave much space for my things. I am a fan of BumGenius (BG), Rumparooz (RAR) and Sustainablebabyish/Sloomb (Sbish) and those diapers take up a great deal of space in a suitcase.

I change Bunny about every 2 hours which equates to about seven diapers a day and we use a fitted diaper at night. When I'm going to be away from home for more than a day I usually pack ten pocket diapers, three fitted diapers, a few detergent samples, a hanging wet dry bag, a medium wet dry bag and a few disposable diapers. With only 13 cloth diapers I have to wash them everyday. Daily washes aren't a problem since I have access to a washing machine when I'm visiting my family in SC, but what if I'm traveling somewhere I won't have easy access to a washing machine? How can I travel and have enough cloth diapers without sacrificing suitcase/ diaper bag space? The solution I found was simple... Hybrid cloth diapering systems.

Hybrid or all-in-two (AI2) cloth diapers can be used with reusable or disposable inserts. You can buy two or three covers, pop in the insert and when the insert gets wet or soiled just replace it with another one. If the cover gets dirty simply use another one and wash out the soiled cover. After figuring out what I needed I started trying out some hybrid systems. Finding the perfect system for Bunny was as easy as I thought it would be. The first two systems (Flip and Best Bottom Diapers) I tried had great reviews, but did not work well for her. I always ended up having to change her clothes because the diapers leaked. I do not think the leaks had anything to do with the quality of the diapers, but every diaper isn't for every baby just like a style of dress doesn't fit the same on every woman.

Flip Diaper System

I thought I would love these diapers because I love BumGenius Diapers and the same company, Cotton Babies make Flip diapers. I really wish that these had a snap or something to hold the insert in place.

Flip Diaper Cover with Stay-Dry Insert

Flip Diaper Cover with Disposable Insert

Best Bottom Diapers

This hybrid system is very different from the Flip system. There is a snap inside this diaper to hold the insert in place and instead of one insert that can be sized you have to buy different sizes as your child grows. I used these on both my son and daughter so I had small and large inserts. They worked better on my son than they did my daughter.

Best Bottom Diaper Covers

Small and Large Stay Dry Inserts

Just when I was about to give up on hybrids and buy a pack of LUVs my friend and fellow MilSpouse told me about how she loved her daughter's Grovia diapers. I decided to give them a try and ordered two covers and four inserts. I was so excited when they came and prepped them right away. The first time I used them my family went on a day trip. I packed my diaper bag with the two Grovia covers four inserts and two BG diapers. I had so much more room in my diaper bag and the Grovia diapers worked great. I had no trouble getting a good fit and I had no leaks. The diaper covers are mesh on the inside and the inserts snap into place. The insert come in Stay-Dry and Organic Cotton and there are also disposable inserts. Unlike the Flip and Best Bottom Diapers inserts the Grovia inserts are backed with Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) making them waterproof.

Grovia had a buy two get one free sale during Black Friday and I purchased more covers and inserts. I have been using them for almost three months with no problems. However, that doesn't mean I'm not going to try any other hybrid systems. I've heard great things about SoftBums and I plan to try those next.

Grovia Ai2 Diapers