GroVIa commentary

You know that I cloth diaper, although those days are coming to a close with my now 2-year-old daughter.  I've been eyeing the new GroVia diaper systems for a while now, especially since the Natural Baby Company decided to stop selling my favorite Wonder Wraps online.  I hoped that the GroVia would be a comparable replacement for them.  And then they came out with two beautiful new colors, cosmos and ice (pink and turquoise).  I hate the other colors they have right now.  Blechy eggplant purple, nasty tangeriney orange, and split pea soup green.  I do not like these colors, although many people do, and that's fine.  I personally hate  them.  Anyway, then to top it all off, they went on sale at one of my favorite diaper sites, so I did it.  I bought one set of each color.  That means I got the outer shell (cover, waterproof, to hold in the mess) and the absorbent inner layer that snaps in.  That's 2 diapers if you're trying to figure this out.  They call it a set when you get the shell and the insert.

The new colors are super pretty.  The inner part absorbs great, and the insert has a waterproof backing so the cover stays really dry.  It's nice and trim.  And therein lies the problem.  What a disappointment.  I had hoped to use the shells like a regular diaper cover, which is basically what they are.  But my prefolds won't fit in them without creating huge gaps either in the legs or the back, depending on how I fold the prefold.  So basically, if I don't use the inserts that came with them, I can't use them at all.  A huge, huge disappointment, especially with all the hype and positive reviews and everything they were getting.  And really especially disappointing since I still can't buy my Wonder Wraps unless I go to Bozeman, Montana, which I am not likely to do anytime in my life, since I live nowhere near there.

Let me restate for the record:  the GroVia diaper doesn't have anything inherently wrong with it when used with its insert.  In fact, it worked great.  It fit well, it was nice and trim, it absorbed really well.  So in that sense, there is nothing at all wrong with it.  But that's not my complaint.  My complaint is that I can't use my prefold diapers with it, and that is what I wanted to do, because the company discontinued my favorite covers.  I was hoping, and expecting, that the GroVia shells would be a comparable substitute.  They are not even close.

Those Wonder Wraps are the absolute best, and it boggles my mind why they would ever want to stop selling them.  If anything, they should have marketed the heck out of them.  You can use them with anything: prefolds, other inserts, fitteds.  And they NEVER leak.  In fact, they're the only diaper I can put on my child for a nap that doesn't leak.  All my pocket and all-in-one diapers leak when she naps because she curls her legs up under her and the pee just comes out the top.  Not in the Wonder Wraps.  Nope, those suckers hold it all in, the prefolds absorb like total awesomeness, and there's never a problem (and I'm not using super expensive, fancy shmancy prefolds.  They're just Gerber premium prefolds you can buy in the store--NOT the birdseye though).  Well, there was some leaking when I was first learning about diapers, and I was using the wrong kind of diaper and didn't know it.  I was given three packages of birdseye cloth diapers by a well-meaning aunt (who did not read the part on my registry that said I wanted diaper service quality, not birdseye).  I figured I'd give them a shot anyway.  Well it turns out, they're worthless as anything but a burp cloth.  They're full of stuffing, like fiberfill or something.  That's the only time those covers ever leaked, and it was because there was literally nothing inside them to hold in any liquid.  Once I got her out of those, it's been smooth sailing ever since.  So you can see now why I am so incredibly disappointed in the GroVia diapers.  My Wonder Wraps have held up unbelievably well, considering I use them every single day and have for 2 years.  Two of them did delaminate, but seriously, I was using them constantly.  If I got used that way so much, I'd delaminate, too!  (Delaminate means that the fabric comes away from the waterproof part causing separation of the two pieces and potential leaking.  The fabric is made waterproof by laminating it with a waterproof polyurethane coating.)  I did score two more Wonder Wraps from Babyhalfoff.com recently, but I'm worried that my stash won't last for another baby.  And what if I have a boy?  I have a lot of girly covers that I won't want to use on a boy.  What if I have a girl?  Most of my girly covers are really well-used.  Then all I'll have are boyish colors.  Sigh.  I kept hoping they'd come out with pretty colors again, but instead they let me down and discontinued them altogether.  All for the sake of GroVia, a nice, but not very versatile diaper.

Bring back my Wonder Wraps!!!!!!

**UPDATE** I just went on their website, for the first time in ages, and they have Wonder Wraps there!  So maybe now I don't have to go to Bozeman.  When they first discontinued them to retailers, they weren't even on the website.  I am much happier now.



Please note that these are my own opinions and others may have different opinions.  I did not get compensated in any way for writing this, and I'm not sponsored or anything by anyone.  I just actually love those diaper covers, and I was just disappointed that the GroVia (which, when used as it comes, is perfectly fine and works great) couldn't be used in place of the Wonder Wraps.  Really, I wanted to cry.