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Friday, March 23, 2012

Guest Blog Entry: Heather Nelson reviewing 3SP

3 Sweet Peas Diapers

I couldn’t wait to buy some of 3SP diapers. Once I bought them, I couldn’t wait to wash them. She was really fast in getting them to me. She did custom make some fleece covers and longies. Let’s start with the fitted diapers. I love these diapers. I never thought about doing fitted diapers but I thought, what the heck, I will try it. I love it!

So with that said, this is the first diaper. This diaper holds so much that sometimes I go to change my son and I don’t need to even change him yet. It holds so much pee! It has two layer doubler which holds a lot.



I have washed this one but I haven’t used it yet. I just got this one in the mail. It’s a size large but I have a medium size one just like this and I love it. You can use the diaper without the double in it but I like it. I don’t think it’s too thick or anything. It fits trim on my little man. Here’s the inside of the diaper.


Pros: It holds a lot. It’s cute and soft.
Cons: I wish it came in one size.

I call these fleece shorts. They are the covers for the fitted diapers she makes. I love them! They are so soft. I love that you can wash in the machine when they need it. Also, you can wash them with your clothing if you wanted to. I love that she has a booster sewn in so they won’t leak. They are really cute. I also have a puppy one.



I love the longie cover. The only thing is that I wish it had the extra pad she sews in the short ones. I love everything I’ve gotten from her and I will make sure I tell everyone to buy from her. I think everything is great and she works hard what she does. They hold a lot of pee. Thanks so much for everything. She also sells crib rail covers, wool diaper covers, and hip carriers too.



Written by Heather Nelson

Thursday, March 22, 2012

[Biased] WAHM Wares: 3 Sweet Peas products

[I will be 100% honest and forthcoming; this is a biased review. I am the owner and creator of 3 Sweet Peas WAHM business. I made these diapers and covers. I'm reviewing them honestly, but with an obvious bias because they are my own creations. Just know that before reading.]


3 Sweet Peas (3SP) is a WAHM business based in the US. Along with fitted diapers and 3 kinds of diaper covers (PUL, fleece, and wool), 3SP sells baby carriers, diaper bags, hats, car seat blankets, and other random children's items. 3SP occasionally offers discounts to facebook fans. This review is for the fitted diaper (large), PUL cover, and fleece embellished waist wrap.

Let's review the features.

Fitted diaper:
Cotton interlock outer
1 flannel and 1 bamboo fleece hidden layers
Cotton interlock inner
(2) 5 layer snap-in soakers
side snapping closure with 4-5 size settings
elastic at legs and back top
sized with generous measurement ranges

PUL cover:
front snapping closure
elastic at legs and top back
back flap to tuck flats or prefolds
one layer of PUL
two rows of snap for customizable fit

One size, fleece, embellished waist wrap:
front snapping closure
elastic at legs and top back
one layer of fleece along entire interior
one layer of fleece on outside along wet zone and top front
embellished woven cotton print along top back and wings
two rows of snaps for customizable fit
two settings on rise snaps for smaller babies

Out of the package, or rather hot off the sewing machine, the fitted diapers are very soft and cute. I pop them in the washer with her other diapers to prep them. Out of the dryer, they are still very soft and plush to the feel. The serged edges have frayed slightly but the stitching is still strong. The bamboo baby loop material gives the soakers a frayed look, but when I tug at the frays, it doesn't unravel. I am guessing it's just the way the material reacts to being cut and serged. It seems that the fitted has shrunk a little, so I hope the large fits her as I anticipate it will. The fleece wrap is just as pristine as when it was unwashed. The PUL cover has been washed many times by now and the raw edges of PUL are slightly frayed, but otherwise looks new.

The first wear of this particular fitted diaper will be overnight (*gasp*) with a PUL cover. We've been using this particular 3SP PUL cover for a while, at least 2 months. It's very trim but effective. The snaps are easy to use and the ability to stagger the settings for waist vs thighs is handy when you have a pear shaped baby like mine. The PUL is still going strong after regular washings and tumble drying in the machine. Tonight over the size large fitted, I need to make the thigh setting larger than the waist setting which is usual for my big thigh baby girl. The fitted is actually two sizes staggered on the snaps. She is on the smallest setting for waist and second largest setting for thighs. With just one size staggered, she has a slight gap at her belly. That was about what I expected in this size diaper. I knew she needed the extra leg room, but I didn't expect her waist size to be the smallest setting. That tells me she'll be able to wear this size for a long time. She seems to move well in it before I put her down to bed. I did have to adjust the PUL cover to make sure all areas of the fitted were covered. I also put her in fleece footie pjs, just in case there is leaks.

Action shots!



Fast forward 12 hours (don't be jealous, she didn't sleep for 12 hours straight). Her pjs and bedding are still dry! The fitted is soaked, but not completely from top to bottom. The PUL cover held all the wetness in well. I'm impressed with myself. I now have another overnight option, but it's way too cute to not see in the light of day.

The next day, we're in another size large fitted. This particular fitted is made from upcycled t-shirt material (new). It's really super soft but seems very stretchy. I'm not sure if I like that yet or not. We paired it with the fleece wrap. Since my baby girl has some chunk to her thighs, we use the largest rise setting. She's pretty average with the waist snaps and one size bigger on the thigh row. The Lorax print is super cute and my husband's favorite print. My older daughter even commented on baby E's Lorax diaper. I love the fleece because it breathes and is very easy to clean. I literally wash it with the next load of wash, cloth diaper or otherwise. It can be tumble dried on high heat too.

The fleece wrap is pretty bulky over the fitted. Turning and top-stitching (T&T) with two layers of fleece makes the edges pretty hefty looking. I'll be honest, it's a little too bulky to wear under clothes (unless you're into that whole HUGE fluffy butt thing). Good thing it's got the cute embellished waist so it's adorable without covering it up. This will definitely be my go-to cover for summer when she can wear a t-shirt or tank and stay cool. For today, I am using regular clothes over top to test if the pee wicks through at all.

This pair was used first thing in the morning.  I am used to snapping the fitteds closed in the front (under her belly button) so it took a little wrangling to get my squirmy into these side snapping diapers. My girl tends to have a big pee in her first change of the day. We also had to take big sister to preschool so baby sister was in a car seat. You can understand how I was a little apprehensive about it. The pairing did great! No wetness on her pants and time to spare on the fitted, so I left her in it for her morning nap too.

Overall though, I give them two thumbs up, but keep in mind, I did make these myself. I have a review coming up soon with FTM. I also have a couple guest reviews of 3SP coming soon to this blog. Stay tuned for more impartial opinions of 3SP products.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Detergent Trials

Cloth diapering wash routines vary widely from family to family. Much depends on the type of diapers, the kind of material, the type of washing machine, and the hardness/softness of household water. Detergent build up on cloth diapers can cause smell issues or ammonia burn on your little one's bum. It's a fine line between using too much detergent and not using enough. The important thing is to use trial and error until you find the routine that works for you. You shouldn't have to strip your cloth diapers often if you're using the right routine.

We have city water here and it's very hard with lots of minerals. We get brown stains on our water fixtures, it's that hard. When we were using microfiber pockets on our twins, I used Arm and Hammer Sensitive, dye free liquid. I thought it was working well, but I was stripping the diapers with vinegar and baking soda about every 6 weeks. I switched to Rockin' Green (Hard) because I had heard so many people rave about it. I immediately didn't like it. Not only did it not get the diapers clean, but it didn't wash out easily. It was a shame too cause I ordered it in bulk! I'm still trying to get rid of it...

When we moved our singleton into fitted diapers with covers and AIOs, I switched to Tide liquid. It worked GREAT... at first. It made the diapers smell nice. It's a cheap detergent that you can get in most stores. I didn't even need to strip the diapers for 6 whole months. Improvement!

Once I did strip the diapers, I've had troubles with them. The fitteds are doing great with the Tide, but the AIOs seems to hold on to the suds a lot more. Even with doing multiple rinse and spin cycles, the AIOs have an issue with stink after my baby's peed in it. It's hard to explain, but it smells like she's got a dirty diaper when it's just pee. I'm willing to put up with it though seeing as how the AIOs with H&L are the only diapers my husband can adequately use.

So at first, I was using just a little splash of Tide Essentials with Baking Soda (Lilac scent). After stripping and the smell problems, I tried using a full clothing load amount. The washing machine was very angry with me and kept giving me the "suds" error message. It took a lot, a lot, a lot of rinses to get all the suds out of the diapers. So now I'm back to using a splash with a little vinegar to help the AIOs not be as stinky.

While I recommend liquid Tide to the customers of my business and I use it myself still, I have heard that Tide powder rinses out a little more easily. Once our supply of the liquid runs out, I will be trying powder. I'll let all you readers know how it goes when I try it.

What's your favorite detergent?