New Pocket Releases : Blissful Booty and FuzziBunz Elite

Recently, a couple of new pocket diapers have been released. And, as usual, I was eager to try them out. Pockets are generally "eh" with me. I actually love stuffing them, but my go-to diapers have evolved into mostly being AIOs. So I was interested to see if these new pockets changed my mind at all.

Fuzzibunz (left) and Blissful Booty (right)

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Blissful Booty

Blissful Booty on smallest setting

Blissful Booty on medium setting

Blissful Booty on largest setting

The Blissful Booty pocket is made with TPU or minkee outer and a stay-dry suedecloth inner. The inner features a row of internal double gussets, and the diaper features elastic at the front and back. There are three rise settings.  The Blissful Booty pocket comes with a single bamboo insert, though additional inserts are available for purchase. The diaper comes in 22 solid colors and prints (13 with TPU and nine with minkee) and is available in snaps or aplix. The snap diaper offers hip snaps as well as crossover tabs. A TPU diaper is $16.00 and a minkee diaper is $17.00.

Laundry tabs on the aplix diaper

Snap diaper configuration

Single bamboo insert

Front elastic

Elasticized back pocket opening

Double gussets

What do I like about it?
I love the double gussets - especially for little babies who have (ahem) runny newborn poo. The extra gusset really helps keep the messes contained! I also love the extra elastic at the front of the diaper - this is great for older babies who nap or sleep on their stomachs. Very few companies offer elastic at the front - AppleCheeks and AMP diapers are the only two I can think of off the top of my head. But it's brilliant! I don't find that it cuts into her stomach or is uncomfortable for her at all. I love how soft the outer TPU is. I don't usually like minkee, but I was able to feel one of their minkee diapers and it was extremely soft and seemed trimmer than other minkee diapers I've seen.  I used an aplix diaper, which seemed to have high-quality closures and the laundry tabs especially were VERY sticky - I can't see those coming undone in the wash! The snaps configuration on the snap diaper seems like it would work well for many babies and the hip snap is always useful, but I can't speak to the fit specifically, as I didn't use it. The fit on my daughter was perfect, and it was very trim. The quality seems decent.

What don't I like about it?
Their AIOs came with super soft fleece inners, which I loved. These come with suedecloth. You know how I feel about suedecloth (if you don't: it's a love/hate relationship! I love that it doesn't stain and stays relatively soft, but I hate picking lint and hair out of it!).  The biggest downside to these diapers that I can see is the insert: one just isn't going to cut it for older babies or heavy wetters. They do sell additional inserts, but I feel like it'd be a better option if they came with two like most pockets.

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FuzziBunz Elite

Smallest elastic size setting

Medium elastic size setting

Largest elastic size setting

Snap configuration

The replacement elastic and sizing guide on back of package.

The FuzziBunz Elite is an updated version of their classic one-size diaper. The outer is PUL, and the inner is stay-dry microfleece. Rather than using rise snaps to adjust the size of the diaper, you adjust the leg elastic and back elastic with a series of buttons. The FuzziBunz Elite comes with two minky inserts that can be used alone or together, depending on your needs (one is larger and one is smaller).  FuzziBunz products are only available with snap closures. Every FuzziBunz diaper comes with a set of replacement elastic. The Elite retails for $19.95 and comes in 14 colors.

The inner adjustable elastic

The pocket opening

 Two minky inserts

What do I like about it?
I was surprised - I acutally like this diaper and reach for it regularly. Why does that surprise me? I NEVER reached for our old one-size FuzziBunz (though I used and really liked their small Perfect Size). The adjustable elastic is either a plus or a minus depending on how difficult it is for you to get the right fit - I was lucky and got it on my first try, but I know people that seemingly have tried every setting and still couldn't get it to fit correctly. The elastic does, however, give an very large number of size settings rather than the three or four with most one-size snap-down rises. The minky inserts are very soft and seem to be quite absorbent - at this point I'm only using the larger one with my daughter, but would definitely need two for naps or longer periods of time. Right now, it fits very well and is extremely trim.  The inner microfleece is extremely soft as well.  I also like that I can replace the elastic easily should I need to do so (haven't had to yet). The quality is excellent.

What don't I like about it?
The elastic can be very difficult to get sized correctly. They don't have crossover tabs at the waist, which was a huge problem when my daughter was smaller with both the Perfect Size and the old one-size (even with the elastic at the tightest setting, the front would gape open). She's big enough now that she wouldn't need them crossed over, but I imagine it would be an issue for littler babies (maybe this is why I didn't like our old one?).  The pocket opening is HUGE (good for husbands stuffing pockets) but it has tons of excess fabric, and it can be difficult to get the excess to stay tucked in neatly. At the smallest setting, there is a lot of leftover elastic inside the diaper, which I can't imagine would be comfortable for the baby. At the largest setting, there is barely any stretch to the elastic and I don't think it would work well for holding in messes. However, most people are going to be using it on one of the middle settings, so neither of those should be a huge issue.

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Now, to compare the two.

Trimness:
Thanks to the unique sizing system, there is no fold-down rise on the FuzziBunz (FB), so it's a bit trimmer overall. I believe it's a bit narrower between the legs as well (though only very slightly).  However, they are both very trim diapers.


Fit: 
They both fit extremely well. The FB is a bit narrower and I really like that, but the elastic at the front waist of the Blissful Booty (BB) gives it the edge.  And I know from first-hand experience that it can be difficult to get a good fit with the FB.

Absorbency:

Since these are pockets, you can customize the absorbency as you need. However, the FB comes with two inserts (super soft minky) and the BB only comes with one (super soft bamboo).  I used a doubler with the BB and didn't have any leaks.
 

Quality:

While I love the BB, something about it seems slightly different than the FB (which feels very high quality). I can't figure out what though. The sewing is fine, the materials feel nice...I think it might be in my imagination because the TPU is softer and a little floppier than the PUL on the FB, and the bamboo insert is also floppier than the minky insert...which means the overall diaper is a bit floppier. I'm used to diapers with a bit more structure, so the extreme softness and floppiness of this diaper is different for me. But I bet that equals comfort for the baby (sadly I can't try it on myself to see).  The one thing I do like on the FB more is the slightly thicker leg and back elastic; I feel like that doesn't cut in as much. The FB also has two layers of microfleece for reinforcement at the wings, while the BB (and most pockets) only has one layer of the inner fabric.

Double gusset:
Only on the BB! A great help for keeping poop IN the diaper!

Pocket opening:
I definitely prefer the elasticized pocket of the Blissful Booty to the wide-open pocket on the FuzziBunz. The extra fabric can be difficult to corral at times.  Thought the BB pocket opening SEEMS smaller, even my husband was able to stuff with ease since the elastic stretches. 

Spelling:

Blissful Booty spells it minkee. FuzziBunz spells it minky. WHO IS RIGHT? We may never know.

Overall:

It's a toss-up. I like the high quality feel and trimness of the FuzziBunz, but I love the waist elastic and super-soft TPU outer of the Blissful Booty.

(Note: I received the Blissful Booty for free from the Blissful Booty company.)