It’s been 7 months since we started using Happy Nappy Cloth Diaper Service and I thought it would be a good time to write another review. I did an initial review of the pre-birth starter package, and another review two months in. But I’ve had some people ask me more recently if we’re still happy with their service. In summary, we are. [Update: As of Feb 2013, in the Vancouver Lower Mainland, this diaper service company is now called Happy Baby Cheeks. There is no more Happy Nappy in Vancouver. Most of the below still applies but there have been some changes. Read their review here.]
Pictured above are two medium size Happy Nappy Cloth Diapers. The orange is an older version and the white is a newer version.
The strengths of Happy Nappy continue to be their excellence of service, the convenience of not having to wash diapers and the fact that cloth diapers are awesome. In the past seven months, our baby hasn’t even had one bout of diaper rash. That makes us happy.
Troubleshooting
As our baby has grown and changed, her diapering needs have also changed. Happy Nappy has been a helpful resource in helping us adapt to those changes and find solutions to her needs. At one point, I found myself cleaning poopy covers and clothes every single day. It turned out that our daughter was a bit skinny for the fit of the diaper and eventually, she grew into it and the problem resolved itself.
Happy Nappy cloth diaper with added liner (darker orange material)
When she started sleeping for longer stretches at night (12 hours between diaper changes), she’d wake up uncomfortable and her clothes would be wet in the mornings because the diaper would soak through. After consulting Happy Nappy about it, they sent me some liners to add to the diaper for increased absorption, as well as a couple Motherease covers to try for overnight use (more about the covers below). With the liners and the new covers, my problem was solved. I was impressed that the liners were included in the price of the diaper service and that they would send me covers to try for free. At no point did they pressure me to rent or buy the covers from them. They only charged me rental for the covers after I indicated to them whether I wanted to keep them.
Vacation
There was one week where we had planned to go on vacation for four days and the days we would be away were over our delivery day (Friday). I contacted Happy Nappy about the upcoming trip and we ended up working it out so that they delivered two week’s worth of diapers the week before we would leave, skipped a pickup and got the two weeks worth back the week after our vacation. I was fine with being charged the weekly rate as usual.
Motherease Air-Flow cover with snaps (available in various prints)
Covers
Prior to the overnight leakage problem, I had been using Bummis Super Whisper Wraps that I’d bought off Craigslist as our covers. They had worked pretty well so I’d stuck with them. But after Happy Nappy sent me the Motherease Air-flow covers to try, I understood why they recommend Motherease covers to use with their cloth diapers. They’d originally lent me the covers for overnight use only but I liked them so much that I bought a bunch to use regularly all day. The fit is more generous for the bum and the closures around the waist and legs are more snug. I haven’t had any more overnight leaks with the Motherease covers. And I only occasionally get poopy clothes (usually, the cover catches any poop that might leak from the diaper). In contrast, nearly every time our baby poops in a disposable, it literally explodes everywhere. Also, I found that the Motherease covers don’t smell of urine as easily as the Bummis (usually a hot water cycle gets rid of it).
One more note about the covers: as our baby has become more mobile and grabby, I’ve appreciated having snaps on the covers so she can’t undo them. Our previous covers were Velcro, which was great when she was younger and we had to do middle-of-the-night changes (snaps are hard to do up when you’re half-awake). But we like the snaps better now that she is older.
Odour Control
In my last review, I mentioned that we’d gotten to a point where our diaper pail was close to overflowing by the week’s end. Happy Nappy remedied that by providing a second bag so that we could swap out a bag mid-week. We’ve continued to use the two-bag system and it’s great. Even though our baby uses less diapers now than in the initial months, it’s still nice to have the extra bag to change out in the middle of the week. It definitely helps to cut down on any odours.
The other thing that is supposed to help with odour control is the carbon filter in the lid of the diaper pail. So far, we’ve changed ours every 1.5 months or so. Although I’m not sure exactly how much odour it absorbs (but then again, I have a high sensitivity to smell…). Anyway, it’s only $3 per filter so we think it’s worth it.
Diaper Fit
The only weak spot I have found with their diapers is that their construction is inconsistent. For the most part, they generally fit the same way. But there seem to be two batches – an older batch made of orange microfleece on the inside, and a newer batch made with white microfleece on the inside. My husband and I both like the fit and feel of the older, orange coloured ones. The newer ones are sometimes too bunched up (apparently, it’s because they haven’t been stretched out through washing yet). And the snaps on the newer ones sometimes don’t work. When we come across one with faulty snaps, we set it aside and give it to our driver separately at the next pick up so that they can fix it.
Excellent service
I cannot emphasize enough how excellent their service is. I sometimes need to adjust the number of diapers needed per week and they have been very accommodating. They will reply my emails within a day. They have been super helpful with my questions. And the one time I realized they’d forgotten to include liners in the delivery, I notified them. And the driver, Rick, came back to drop some off that very afternoon.
Great Referral Program
One final comment. They have a great referral program! This summer, they changed their policy so that only customers using pre-authorized bank withdrawal could qualify for their referral perks. We had been paying by credit card so we switched to pre-authorized payment. The free week shows up on your statement when your referral begins using the service. So far, we’ve received 2 weeks free, and we have another two referrals in the hopper. With their generous policy of 4 referrals = free service, we are looking forward to free diaper service sometime in the near future!
So there you have it. Part three of my Happy Nappy Diaper Service review. I hope this series has been helpful to you. If it has and you decide to sign up, please mention to them that you read Olive’s review. (Just so they know, and in case we have another baby to diaper some day. ;p )
Thanks for reading and happy diapering!
P.S.- My husband and I recently released our first (and FREE) eBook, “Fight With Me: How We Learned to be Married“