Review of Bear Bott All-in-Two Nappy

Cloth nappy use is becoming so much more popular in recent years, which is such a wonderful thing to see. As a result, there’s been a flurry of new nappy brands launching, each with something a little different to offer. Today, I’m sharing my experience with one such brand, launched by Scottish cloth bum mum Amy.

I tested this nappy over several weeks on my 6 month old baby girl. If my opinion of the nappy changes over time, I will update this review to let you know!

You can find all of my cloth nappy reviews here.

Summary

The Bear Bott All-in-two is a super slim-fitting nappy that dries very fast and is beautifully made. This is a really excellent nappy that will be perfect for people looking for something quick drying and trim. The only insert option is mostly made of microfibre, so it’s a little prone to compression leaks and isn’t the best option for people looking for natural fibres. However, other inserts will be available very shortly, and given the performance of the current insert, I have high hopes for Bear Bott!

The facts

Type: All-in-two
Absorbent material: Microfibre with a little bamboo. Other absorbency options will be available in future.
Reliability: Very good, though some compression leaks
Slimness: Very slim
Size: Average size for a birth-to-potty nappy
Fits like: Petite Crown Trima, Motherease Wizard Uno
Drying time: Fast
Natural? No. Better than a disposable, but inner is mostly polyester with some bamboo viscose.
Ethical? Yes, manufactured in China and SEDEX audited.

Bear Bott make a birth-to-potty all-in-two nappy. There are plans to release other kinds of nappy in future. The all-in-twos have a PUL waterproof outer with a polyester suede-cloth lining and come with snap-in inserts made of 85% microfibre and 15% bamboo. The nappy fits from approximately 9 - 38 lbs.

The nappy retails for £21.99 and extra inserts can be purchased separately.

Bear Bott recommend washing their nappies at either 40 or 60 degrees. The inserts can be tumble dried, though like all nappies tumble drying too regularly may shorten their life (and isn’t great for the environment!).

Because the inserts have a small proportion of bamboo, they may need a few pre-washes to reach full absorbency, but I put them through one wash and then change more often until they reach full absorbency (I’m too impatient!)

Since I originally wrote this review, Bear Bott have launched a bamboo insert for their nappy, though I haven’t yet had a chance to try it.

What I love

Slim fit: I think this might be the slimmest nappy I’ve ever used! I don’t know how they’ve managed it but the nappy is just about as slim as a disposable, which is unheard of for a cloth nappy. Although I have yet to test the upcoming bamboo inserts, it’s possible that this will be even slimmer since bamboo tends to be slimmer than microfibre, for the same amount of absorbency.

Ease of fit: The nappy is super easy to fit - I found I didn’t have to fiddle much with it at all, even on the first run. It fits really well, sitting lovely and flat across the front of the tummy and adding to the neat, trim feel. I do find the tabs quite deep and they did initially dig in a little around the top of Margot’s legs, but this is more down to her (tiny) shape, as we have this issue with lots of nappies. The nappy has a hip snap to prevent the wings from drooping, which is always a bonus particularly if you have a slim baby.

Absorbency: The insert is mostly made of microfibre, which is generally less absorbent than natural fibres like hemp and bamboo. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the absorbency of these nappies. Most of the time we found that the nappies lasted three hours with no leaks. The only exception was a car journey where I think that compression caused a problem (more on that further down!)

Shape of insert: The inserts are elasticated down the length, which effectively provides a double gusset (two elastics to provide two lines of defence against leaks). Double gussets aren’t always truly functional - sometimes they’re just not designed well enough for the first line of elastic to actually provide containment, but with these I found they did actually contain a poo to the insert, which shows they are actually doing something!

Drying time: Given that this is an all-in-two and that the insert is mostly microfibre, this is a really quick drying nappy, probably one of the quickest we own. It dried in a few hours on a warm, windy day, and was dry in less than 24 hours indoors.

I was pleasantly surprised by the absorbency of these nappies

What I didn’t love

Synthetic materials: I’m very much one for natural fibres in a nappy - you can get the same amount of absorbency with a slimmer fit, and they are more sustainable. This nappy has quite a large proportion of synthetic fabrics. Along with the usual PUL (waterproof) outer, the cover is lined with polyester suedecloth fabric and the only insert available at the moment is mostly made of microfibre, another synthetic fabric.

We also found that we did get compression leaks with the nappy, which microfibre is particularly prone to. Generally I would avoid using a microfibre nappy on a car journey or in a sling for this reason (though I wanted to test it for you!)

Suede cloth lining: One of my favourite things about lots of all-in-twos is that you can reuse the covers a few times before washing them, because they're wipe clean inside. The cover of the Bear Bott nappy has a suede-cloth lining on the inside which basically means you can't do that. I imagine some people would be fine reusing it as the suede cloth isn't particularly absorbent, but I can't imagine wanting to reuse it if I can't give it a quick wipe down between uses.

That being said, there are some benefits to the nappy being an all-in-two, namely that you can use the cover as soon as it’s dried if you have some extra inserts on hand. Some people may also like the fact that there is soft suedecloth next to baby’s skin, providing a stay-dry feel.