Sunday Review: Bambo Nature Nappies

A few weeks ago on Twitter, the Conscious Parent Company were asking for parent bloggers who would like to try and review the award-winning Bambo Nature Nappies. I’m not a huge fan of using disposable nappies, but struggle to fit reusable cloth nappies into my daily life (as lovely as they are). As these nappies are eco-friendly disposable nappies, they’re somewhere between the two, so I jumped at the chance!

When they arrived, I didn’t hesitate before taking them out of the packet to have a look at them. My first thought was that the design was pretty cute – with different coloured ovals, blue at the sides and a panda at the front.

My second thought was that it was a shame that the picture of the panda didn’t look a little clearer on them, but I think it’s just down to the material where you stick the sides of the nappy on to. Here’s a close-up:

Of course, most people may not even pick up on this and there are much bigger things to worry about when it comes to nappies.

After I’d finished looking at the design of the nappies, I felt them all over. They feel very good quality and feel significantly softer than our usual nappies. Autumn has nappy rash at the moment and I think it probably feels much kinder on her skin.

Another thing I worry about when it comes to disposable nappies, as well as the environment, is the chemicals that are in them as babies have such delicate skin. I don’t want to harm Autumn’s skin or exacerbate the problem we currently have with nappy rash. Fortunately, Bambo Nature nappies don’t contain any chemicals, parabens, allergens or perfumes and are dermatologically tested. Phew!

When I was reading the website, I found the following information:

Our Nappies and Training Pants come with a super soft top-dry layer which quickly wicks away wetness from your baby and, locking it into the core, along with the fully breathable back sheet

I thought that was excellent, as it’s obviously not very good for her to have any wetness against her bottom, (nappy rash or not), and her skin needs to breathe.

These nappies are certainly a lot more guilt free than the nappies I’m used to using on Autumn. Bambo Nature manufacture them at their own plant in Denmark and are completely in control of everything that goes into their products, as well as their carbon footprint. They’re big on recycling; all materials in the nappies are bio-degradable (unlike regular disposable nappies which are thought to take around 500 years to decompose) and the fluff used in them is from sustainable forests, where more trees are planted than felled.

So far, it all sounds fantastic…but are they actually any good? I decided to conduct an experiment to find out. I was given two nappies to try, so I decided that stress-testing was the way to go!

Experiment #1: The poonami

At the moment, Autumn seems to do a huge poo around the same time each day. As such, I decided to put the first nappy on her around 20-30 minutes before I thought it was likely to arrive.

When I put the nappy on, I found it a little difficult to unstick the flaps at the side with one hand as I usually do. I was worried that it was going to rip, but it didn’t and when I stuck them down at the front they stuck well. The frills around the edges of Autumn’s legs seemed a little bigger than on the nappies we’re used to, so I was concerned that I was going to end up with a huge mess to clean up! However, the nappy seemed to fit well, was nice and lightweight on her and her movement wasn’t restricted at all. When using cloth nappies, we’ve found that they’ve been a little too bulky and she’s had trouble rolling over.

Autumn had some more milk, we played together and read a book, then lo and behold, 20 minutes later I heard some suspicious noises! Sure enough, there was a lovely smelly present waiting for me when I got her to the changing mat and undressed her. A tiny bit had made its exit from the nappy and got on her leg, but her poo at that particular time of the day is especially explosive and all nappies I’ve used have allowed a tiny bit (or a lot!) to escape. Therefore, I was pretty happy with the performance of the nappy. It had contained the majority and the poo wasn’t all down her legs and over her clothes as I’ve experienced several times recently.

As such, I considered my first experiment to be a successful one!

Autumn tends to sleep for up to 10 hours overnight – we’re very lucky! As a result of this, when you change her nappy of a morning, it is very wet and heavy. Therefore, I thought overnight usage would be a great second stress-test for these nappies.

Experiment #2: Overnight

We put the nappy on at about 11.30pm and after about 11 hours in her crib, it was 10.30am the next morning before she was ready to be changed. We were concerned that it may have leaked, but she felt dry to the touch when we picked her up (which was very promising!)

As we removed her clothing, it was all dry. There were no leakages at all and it had contained all of the wee! Her bottom felt quite dry and didn’t feel sticky at all, which was excellent. We were very pleased with its performance!

Bambo Nature nappies are available from premature size (1-3 kg / 2-6 lbs) to size 6 (16-30 kg / 35-66 lbs); at which point training pants are also available.  As you may expect, for the quality and eco-friendliness you get they are also a little on the pricey side (although competitive with other similar nappy brands!)

Currently, Autumn wears size 3 Mamia nappies from Aldi. At £3.49 for a pack of 56, it works out at roughly 6p per nappy. A tall pack of size 3 Bambo Eco nappies contains 66 nappies and is £18.30, which works out at almost 28p per nappy. That’s a huge difference! Bambo Nature do offers though and delivery is free.

Pros:

  • Cute pattern and well-designed
  • They feel good quality and are lovely and soft
  • There are no chemicals, parabens, allergens or perfumes and they are dermatologically tested
  • They are designed to keep your baby feeling dry
  • They allow free movement of legs
  • They are bio-degradable and environmentally-friendly
  • They stood up well to my 2 stress tests of 11 hours of wee and a poosplosion*
  • They are a good price when you consider other similar products on the market

*Yes, that is a genuine scientific term.

Cons:

  • The picture of the panda on the front is very unclear, they could look a little better?
  • They are quite expensive

So, the bottom line…would I buy them? Probably not, unfortunately, as with little income on maternity leave I don’t really feel as though I can afford them.
If money wasn’t an issue for me? Absolutely! They do their job well, they’re kinder to Autumn’s skin and they’re so much better for the environment without the impracticality and learning curve that comes into play with cloth nappies.

Disclosure: I was sent two Bambo Nature nappies in exchange for a review and testimonial. This is an honest review of my true thoughts on this product and all opinions are my own.

4 thoughts on “Sunday Review: Bambo Nature Nappies”

  1. Great review! Bamboo Nature nappies sound pretty fab. I’m really similar to you in terms of not really being able to use reusable’s and not being too keen on disposables because of the chemicals they have in them. So I tend to switch between Naty’s which are similar organic nappies to Bamboo, and then Pampers and Little Angels. I’d say Bamboo sound very similar to Naty’s and probably have a similar, higher price point too! I’d definitely love to give them a try though if I ever come across them near us 🙂 Fab review, thanks for sharing it on #MarvMondays. Emily

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