Friday, February 19, 2010

The Great Fluffy Review: Kissaluvs Marvel

I still remember the day we got our first fitted, this Kissaluvs Marvel in the mail. My very first thought was that it was too cute for words, and my second thought was that the soft fuzzy layer against Snadragon's skin was quite soft, and I liked that.
My third thought was "gee, that's a heck of a lot of snaps."
The Kissaluvs Marvel has a line of female snaps on the inside and the outside of the diaper across the top of the front. That way you can fold it down and use the inside ones to fasten it to the male snaps on the wings to make it smaller. This is a really easy and convenient way to make the diaper smaller for a smaller baby. This only works because it is a fitted and requires another cover to go over it, and is the same method of size adjustment used by Goodmama diapers.

You did catch that, it's a fitted. It needs a cover.

Because this is a fitted diaper, we almost never used it for a while, because the only diaper covers I had were the Gerber plastic pants and I hate the red lines they leave on Snapdragon's legs. That, and they're noisy. However, we later got a large FuzziBunz pocket diaper, and it fit over the Marvel quite marvelously, so I could then find out if I really loved this diaper or not. I also found that the AMP Duo one size pocket diaper shell also fit well as a cover for this diaper. The GroBaby shells (of the current production run, not the first production run) also do a passable job as functioning as a cover, and WonderWraps (actual covers) make covering Marvels easy peasy.

The Good:
Absorbant as all get out. I trust our Kissaluvs Marvels when we go out and about and for overnight. We now have two of them.
Adjustable. It has grown with Snapdragon since he was a little bitty 14 or 15 lb baby (above) to the hulking 21lb behemoth he is today without any sign of being too small.
They're cute. They come in three prints of absolute "I want-itude."
You can put this on your baby without a cover for a while around the house for extra baby bottom air circulation.

The Mediocre:
I sew, so I am, at times, a seam-snob. There were some loose threads on the one pictured above, which just seemed a little lackluster. Nothing wrong with the diaper, and I trimmed them off without any trouble, but it wasn't perfection.
They take a long time to dry if you're hang drying them. Yes, that's the nature of a fitted, but they take longer than all my other fitteds. This is because they are a one piece fitted, with no snapping in (like ES Baby or Goodmama) absorbency, or lay in layers (like Nifty Nappy). Because the one piece-ness is convenient though, I'll call it a wash.

The Not So Good.
I am not in love with the snap layout. Because the snaps on the wings are male and set precisely the way they are, if your baby's thighs are uber chunky and your spouse is putting the diaper on baby, there is a very good chance that one of those male snaps will end up not getting fastened, but rather pressing into baby's soft hip flesh. You know, the soft hip flesh that's against your leg when you're nursing him, or that he sleeps on? So I find I have to be extra careful about those snaps, and not leaving this style of diaper out for daddy changes (however few they may be.)
Point the second- I am not in love with the snap layout. Because the line of snaps across the top has female snaps on the inside and outside to allow for simple adjustment, it means baby is liable to have a funny pattern on his belly when I take this diaper off (which doesn't bother me, but is weird) or if I fold it down to make it smaller, it creates a lot of bulk that I can't imagine being particularly comfortable for tummy time.
I'm not saying the snap layout is bad, just that it hasn't been my favorite.

The bottom line: I like these for going out, I trust them not to leak. They don't build up stench like microfiber diapers do, but they are not my absolute favorite.
Kissaluvs Marvels run about $25, so they are a little pricier than some OS fitteds, but not outrageously priced.


Disclosure- I was not compensated in any manner for this review. Should someone want to compensate me though, feel free. :-) All snark expressed in this review is my unbought opinion.

4 comments:

Nifty Nappy Cloth Diapers said...

wow, I'm not sure I want you to review my diapers now.... if you are a seam snob, I might be in trouble! :( j/k

Anonymous said...

It's a seems a shame that a fitted that pretty needs a cover. Seems a waste.

Upstatemamma said...

We have three or four of the marvels and Little Sister wears them for bed. Overall we like them but I agree with everything you said as well.

Slee said...

@keepingmumsane
yes, it is a pity that it needs a cover. our owly one is possibly even cuter. i swear, i want yardage of their prints.

@upstatemomof3
yeah. i mean, he wore both of his quite happily yesterday, and they don't leak, and so i really want to love them, but the whole hip snap thing stops me from expanding my collection of them.