Grovia Hybrid Diapers- Why I chose them, and how I prepped, use, andcare for them. Part 1.

Hello all! Well this is a departure from home improvement, but while I was pregnant I became obsessed with shopping for and learning about cloth diapers. Once I realized how much money I could save, and my Mom informed me she'd cloth diapered ME- I was hooked. The Hubsbeast took a bit more convincing, but some comparison charts and YouTube videos helped to bring him over to the light side.

What took some HARD convincing was the "process" cloth involves. I quote: "I am not putting TWO diapers on him every time!"...what he meant by that was when I showed him prefolds/fitteds and covers he was not impressed. Having to learn to fold them, pin them, and cover them was not something he was interested in doing. He was good with cloth- but he wanted them to be as disposable like as possible. Fine. That's why AIO and AI2s were designed! I did my research and came up with three systems I liked and could see working for us: Rumparooz One-Size Pockets, Grovia Hybrids, and BumGenius 4.0s.

So why these three? Well I had a few criteria:

1. One-size. I wanted them to fit from the time his cord stump falls off till he's ready to toilet train. 
2. Not to many parts. Each of these systems has 3 bits to them, max. A cover, a soaker/stuffer, and a booster. 
3. Economy. I wanted to be able to buy an entire system that would do us at least a day in the early days until we figure out how many we go through daily. This meant the discount given for buying a "stash" was factored in. I wanted to pick a system and stick with it- not have to sit for hours matching up which inserts and boosters went with which diapers. 
4. Ease of Use. I wanted to be able to show Hubs/ my mom/ MIL/ babysitter/ whomever how to use the darn things ONCE and not have them be incredibly overwhelmed. 

Once I came down to these three I handed it over to Hubs and told him to pick. He asked me about the different systems and why I liked each one, did his own research, and decided the Grovias. From what I can gather he liked the colours & prints, the price for the initial system, and that for the most part that there's only two pieces. We chose to go with snaps because everything we read said that eventually the velcro/aplix/ hook and loop wears out- and we hope to use these for this baby and the next one.

The contents of the Grovia Live package (note: these are Hook and Loop, mine are snap closure.)

So we ordered the Grovia Live package which includes 12 shells, 24 soakers, and 4 boosters. The company I bought mine from (One Posh Baby) allowed me to mix and match colours for the shells and get half and half organic cotton soakers and stay dry soakers, and we chose stay dry boosters.

So I ordered them and they came to about two weeks later (there was a slight delay because apparently the Cloud colour is in HIGH DEMAND.) After unboxing them all I put the shells into their basket by the changing station since those don't require prepping. The soakers and boosters require 5-6 washes though according to the Grovia website.

I've done a lot of research on cloth diaper safe detergents/ prepping/ stripping diapers. Basically what I've learned is that residue = repelling = bad. So anything that may leave a residue on your diapers is a no-no.

I decided to initially wash my soakers and boosters in a combo of Synthrapol and Soda Ash. This is a combo that's used by people who are prepping fabrics to be dyed using Procion dyes- and it's meant to remove oils, grease, and waxes that may be present on fabrics from manufacturing that would interfere with dye taking evenly. Since this is basically what I want to happen with the diapers (though just to be clear- NOT dyeing my diapers!) I figured this would be a good initial wash procedure. *Note: this is not a Grovia-approved method of prepping. I take no responsibility for any harm that may come to your diapers as a result of following my method, even though no harm came to mine.* So I dumped the lot of them in with 3 tbs of Syntrapol and 2 tbs of Soda Ash and set it to a hot wash, cold rinse, medium sized load on a low soil setting. (I don't have the option to do a hot rinse on my machine unfortunately.) Out they came looking good and into the dryer on low heat for as long as it would let me. My dryer has a "sensor dry" setting only for low heat drying, which seems to get the soakers MOSTLY dry. They're still a bit damp afterwards. So they have to go through twice and/or I have to put them on a timed high-heat dry. For those interested I used the Jacquard Product's Synthrapol and Soda Ash.

After that first wash I switched to BerryPlus Liquid Laundry Soap. I stumbled across this at my local baby supply store, and the fact that it only had 5 ingredients really caught my eye. Also the SMALL package. It claimed to do a whole load with only 3 ml of detergent (for a top loader- which I have. Only 2 ml for a front loader!) I did some quick research on my iPhone while I shopped and discovered it's a Canadian product (score!) and cloth diaper safe. It uses soap nut concentrate and a few other things to get stuff clean, and doesn't have a scent after drying. So I bought a 40 load bottle. Soakers and boosters go in, three squirts out of the bottle, hot wash and off we go. I find when I open my machine there's an almost cinnamon-y smell- but not when I actually take a good wiff of the contents. It's just a hint in the general direction of the washer. After drying everything there is NO SMELL. It's amazing. I tested it out on a full load of heavily soiled week-old dirty laundry too and same results. So unless we have issues I think we're sticking with this stuff- I like that when we travel to my parent's house I can bring his detergent that he's familiar with with us (or when we go on our family vacation to Florida in February) and not have to scramble to find cloth safe detergent where ever we are. I also love that they're a Canadian company- and after following them on Facebook I discovered they're advocates for individuals with special needs- which you probably already know is incredibly important to me. So awesome eco-friendly Canadian product who use their voice to support a cause near to my heart? Yeah, they're getting my repeat business. Since I've discovered them it's all I've used on both LittleBeast's and my clothing AND his diapers- and my intial 40 load bottle lasted me just under two months. Love this stuff!

Part 2 will be about how we use our diapers on a daily basis.