Thursday 29 November 2012

Bambino Mio - Mio Solo Review

So here's my first review for the reuseable nappies I tested for the Mother & Baby Awards 2012.

Back in 2008 when Jorja was a toddler we tried out Bambino Mio prefolds. We didn't have such a great time with them sadly. The wrap would fold in on itself at the belly and cause wicking which defeated the point of wearing them so we gave up on them.

The Mio Solo is a relatively new nappy on the market. There are no prefolds and wraps involved this time it's a simple pocket nappy with a fold out insert. It's a one size pocket and claims to be from birth upwards. The colours are based on retro sweets from parma violets, flying saucers to cola cubes. Bambino Mio have very recently released prints too.


The Mio Solo

When we tested the Mio Solo Kellan was 8 months old and he's not big for his age, his waist is quite wide but his thighs aren't that chunky which has caused problems for us with nappies before. I had to set the Mio Solo on the medium setting for Kellan as they are quite generous in sizing. Kellan had just started moving on to the large setting on one size nappies around then and he still had plenty of room for growth at that medium setting.

So Kellan had an ok fit with the Mio Solo. The waist was great for him especially the velcro which allowed for more range of fit but there was one very big draw back with having velcro as a fastener for us........ yes Kellan loves undoing velcro and laughing as I run to go do it up before we have a puddle on the floor, don't you just love babies lol. Now this wouldn't really be much of a problem if your baby wears clothes a lot but Kellan doesn't really wear much except a t shirt or if we go out then I dress him. So yes it was annoying for us. The fit around the legs was another problem. As I said before his thighs aren't that big and we had gape at the legs, aka I could easily put my finger between the nappy edge and the inside without having to stretch the elastic. This posed a big problem 1. he's a heavy wetter and he'd leak quickly from the leg and 2. he is breastfed and his poo's, sorry you can't escape the poo talk when it comes to nappies can you, were runny and so we had escaping poo, booo!

But............ I also used the Mio Solo on Gwen who at the time had just turned 3. She seems to have had a sudden growth in the hip area which has meant a lot of her stash, collection of nappies for those who aren't there with the lingo yet, has become useless until Kellan grows in to them. The Mio Solo fit Gwen with room, not a lot of nappies are like that with Gwen so I was impressed. Gwen can undo velcro but with her being older she knows to leave it alone so she gets on well with them. Gwen used to be a heavy wetter but seems to be less so as she's gotten older and she can go overnight in a Mio Solo which Kellan stood no chance of unless we wanted him soaked with wee in the night. She is in the large setting and the rise, measurement from the top of the front of the nappy down between the legs and up to the top of the back of the nappy, still had plenty of room.

Now when it came to washing the Mio Solo it was simple. Fold the velcro tabs on to the washing tab and put in the machine along with the other dirty nappies. The fold out insert makes it easier and quicker to dry. We don't have a tumble drier so it takes a while for our clean nappies to dry and when compared to other brands the Mio Solo is one of the fastest to dry. It's also easy to get the insert back in the pocket. You just put your hand in the little pocket at the end of the insert and push the insert in to the bottom and then tuck the flap over at the back of the nappy. Then just velcro the Mio Solo up and put it with the rest of your stash until it's next use.

So in conclusion the Mio Solo worked better on our older child mostly due to it's sizing. If there were a popper version of the Mio Solo then I'd be willing to try them again with Kellan now that he's grown a little.

It's definately worth giving them a shot especially if you see them on offer or on pre-loved nappy groups. Don't invest all out as you may not get on with them but that can be said for every nappy as each baby gets on with each brand differently.

Kellan in the Mio Solo


Wednesday 28 November 2012

Testing posts to come......

I firstly apologise for the huge absence from the blog, who'd have thought 6 kiddies could keep me so busy. I will have quite a few review entries coming in the next week or two as I was lucky enough to be picked to test reuseable nappies for the Mother & Baby Awards 2012. Now the winners have been announced we can now make our opinions known on the products we tested.

I tested;

Tots Bots - Bamboozle Stretchy
Bumgenius - Freetime
Bambino Mio - Mio Solo
Smartipants - Onesize Pocket
FuzziBunz - Elite

Testing for the awards was such fun and one of nappies I tested won gold!

I also tested swim nappies, they were;

Charlie Banana - swim/potty training pants
Splash About - Baby Snug
Splash About - Happy Nappy