Okay, I'm late to the party =P I bought some GroBaby Hybrid daipers as part of my Mothers Day gift. What mommy wouldn't want a cute baby tushy for mothers day? ;) Anyways, yesterday GroBaby changed to GroVia and released a improved line of the diapers I have, but I got a great deal on my GroBaby's and I have no regrets! (well maybe one small one, but it's not that big of a deal.)
I bought the Seaside Stripe and the Sunset stripe. I really wish they came in snap closures, but the velcro is awesome, for velcro. It's not the normal hook and loop, it's a very thin and I can see it lasting a lot longer then the velcro on my bumGenius. Although it sticks to EVERYTHING on the diaper, which is good or bad. There isn't a ulgy velcro strip in the front (good) but it likes to stick to the mesh inner (bad).
The soaker (which is very soft) snaps in so there isn't any slipping around in the diaper. It's an organic cotton soaker and I prepped mine only 3x befor use (I know! I just couldn't wait though) and it was still very absorbant. Keira isn't a heavy wetter and the soaker wasn't even wet on the bottom. The GroVia line has waterproof (PUL) backing on the soakers to protect the mesh from getting soaked (which there were complaints.) I think thats a great idea, and my one regret was buying 2 extra soakers at full price before seeing the improved soakers and waiting a week =P. Not a big deal though, even is she did soak through the insert, the covers are easy to hand wash, and they line dry fast. Oh, the covers do reccomend line drying to reduce fading and wear. I love the colors and want to keep them the way they are so I'm sticking to line drying (I think even the bumGenius OS say to line dry the covers). One issue I have with the soaker though, is that it isn't wide enough to catch poopies. We're still breastfeeding and (sorry if this is TMI) her bms aren't always thick enough. Once she's eating more soilds and what not, it'll be fine. We didn't have leaks, just some of it got on the leg gusset on the cover and inner mesh. It washed out fine though...This time.
The Fit: I acutally really like the fit! Keira's long and skinny and some OS diapers don't go small enough in the thighs or the tummy to prevent leaks. I read some people complai ning about the rise of the diaper isn't enough (the GroVia line has a higher rise) but I think it's great. Keira's around 16lbs and 26in at 7 months and she fit the newborn setting (rise) and its still pretty small in the waist too.
The one thing I didn't like is that the extra waist fabric doesn't conform well to her tummy. You can kind of see where it indents because of the thick waist band. It's very trim for cloth, and with the bioinsert (like a biodegradable sposie insert) it's trim enough to fit in normal sized pants. I heard mixed reviews about the bioinsert, and we've only used it once (and for #1only so far) but I liked it. No leaks, good absorbtion and super soft. I got a pack of 20 for free with my purchase ($7.99 vaule) which puts them around $.40 a diaper! That is 1.5x the amount of pampers(/diaper). But they can be flushed (you have to tear off the backing) and they biodegrade. I guess since I use maybe 1 sposie a week, the cost isn't so bad considering the benefits, but still not saving money on them which is my #1 goal with cloth diapering.
Overall, I like them so far (it's only been 2 days) and I can see this easily becoming one of my favorite diapers to use and probalby get more of (2 more liners most likely).
