LilHelper.ca Review and Organic Bamboo Cloth Diaper

In my search for some Canadian cloth diaper companies I came across LilHelper.ca and was immediately struck by the friendly and humorous tone.  Reading further into the company I was surprised to find that the owners were two men – Mohammed and Nader.  Definitely not the norm… I was then further shocked when I learned that they both have a master’s degree in aerospace!

I was further impressed when I began reading about their “Baby Do Good” program.   LilHelper donates a brand spanking new cloth diaper for every 3 sold.  That means every single time you purchase one of their really diapers you are also helping out a family in need. LilHelper has already donated 50 new diapers to Cloth for a Cause, Ontario and plan to donate at least 400 more in the coming months!   What isn’t there to love about that?

As if I wasn’t already blown away by LilHelper, Mohammed’s customer service was just phenomenal.  I mean seriously, genuinely, fabulous.  I don’t think I’ve ever had the pleasure of doing business with a more friendly guy.

I was sent an amazing package for the purpose of my review including:
 
1 One-Size Original PUL Cloth Diaper in Red
1 One-Size Charcoal Bamboo Cloth Diaper in Green
2 Removable Unbleached Cotton Liners
2 Organic Bamboo Wipes
1 Leak-Proof PUL Drawstring Wetbag in White

I originally thought these would be pocket diapers but they are in fact All in Twos so instead of stuffing the insert inside a pocket, the inserts actually snap on top of the inner liner of the cover.  This means less laundry!  When one set of inserts get soiled, simply snap them off and snap in a new set of inserts into the clean and dry cover! 

 Each cloth diaper comes with a small and large removable liner.  The small liner can be used alone or for heavy wetters you can double up by snapping the small liner on top of the large liner.

Both the PUL and Charcoal Diaper are one size, fitting 7-35 lbs, and feature cross-over snaps to get a good fit on newborns (or lean babies).  They both feature gussets at the back and at the legs to prevent leakage as well as snaps at the waist to help get a perfect fit.

Aside from being one size these cloth diapers are super affordable because of the ability to re-use the covers and just switch out the soaker inserts.  The Diapers start at $19.95 and the inserts start at $7.98 so its fairly inexpensive to build a stash that way.  The inserts can also be switched around to use in any of their covers. 

One-Size Original PUL Cloth Diaper

This diaper comes with two liners made from outer layers of unbleached cotton and micro-terry inner layers.  The outer shell is made from breathable waterproof PUL with micro-fleece lining the inner shell.

I found that the liners weren’t quite uniform and after prepping they were a little bunched up and didn’t lay completely flat.  No worries though, this is really only an aesthetic problem – which in the end doesn’t matter because nobody really sees the liners.  They still did a fabulous job of soaking up and keeping the inner cover dry so I could just switch inserts rather than having to switch out the entire diaper.   

I found the inserts felt rough to the touch before pre-washing and was concerned it might bother her behind.  After prepping though I did find that it had softened, and now that they’ve gone through several uses and washes they feel much better and they actually never seemed to bother her at all.

As far as the cover goes I found it kept its colour through multiple washes which is really great because I loved the vibrant red we received.

One-Size Charcoal Bamboo Cloth Diaper

I was really intrigued by the charcoal bamboo cloth diaper and excited to try this one out.  The liners are made with organic charcoal bamboo and the production process is truly fascinating.  

According to LilHelper.ca these Charcoal Bamboo diapers have many benefits including:

• Keep Your Baby Feeling Dry: The charcoal liners can hold more than 180 ml of liquid and the great part is that your child will still feel dry. Keeping your child’s skin dry is the best way to remedy diaper rashes- charcoal bamboo’s wicking ability let’s you do just that.

• Let’s You Air-Out Your Baby: Most pediatricians suggest that it is best to let your baby go commando or without a diaper. This is highly impractical. The leak resistant organic cotton/bamboo cover will let your baby’s skin breath while still providing protection.

• Rash Creams Not Necessary: Rash prevention creams are supposed to create a water-barrier to keep your baby’s skin dry. But before application if your child is not thoroughly dry you could worsen the rash by trapping moisture on your child’s bum. You do not need any rash cream while using our charcoal bamboo cloth diapers. Our natural materials will keep your baby dry and well ventilated.

• No Ammonia Smell: The charcoal present in our cloth diaper neutralizes most of the ammonia in your baby’s urine. You will no longer smell the strong odour of ammonia coming out of your baby’s diaper the next time you change them. Ammonia also worsens a child’s diaper rash- thankfully the charcoal takes care of this miscreant as well.

• Soothing: The organic, hypoallergenic and anti-bacterial qualities of charcoal bamboo are best suited to soothe your baby’s nasty diaper rash.

The outer shell of these diapers are also made of organic bamboo/cotton lined with PUL.
  

So  how did they hold up?  I can say with confidence that this is an amazing diaper.  Keira has had a slightly stubborn diaper rash that keeps coming and partially going but the last time I changed her out of this diaper I noticed only the tiniest hint of redness. I also left her in it overnight just to test the claims about moisture wicking and absorbency.   This charcoal bamboo diaper definitely put my overnight disposables to shame so I think this will be reserved as our overnight diaper from here on out.  
 
I can also attest to the fact that I didn’t notice any scent of ammonia from this diaper, even after leaving the soaked overnight diaper in a wet bag most of the day.  I think that says a lot about this diaper.

I’d also like to comment on the softness of both the inner liner as well as the soakers.  They feel as soft as fleece, as a matter of fact, my sister thought they were just grey fleece until I clarified.  Incredible.  

While I haven’t yet had straining issues, I also love that everything that could possibly get soiled is a dark grey.   I definitely don’t worry about this diaper getting stained and grungy looking over time which is a huge bonus and possibly a life extender.

I found the green on this cover, like the red in the original PUL cloth diaper,  did not fade after a few washes.  I had thought that it faded but when I compared pictures of when I first opened them to after a few washes I could barely tell the difference.

Unbleached Cotton Liners

For those of you wondering, the Removable Unbleached Cotton Liners was the test sample not yet in production which I mentioned in my post updating about our cloth diapering journey.  I am one of the first few who get to try it out.  Mohammed let me know that the cotton for this liner is pre-washed to remove shrinkage prior to sewing.

I loved these liners so much.  There was minimal to no bunching up of the inner layer and I found these liners lay quite flat in the diaper compared to the liners that came with the Original PUL Cloth Diaper. These liners are also ridiculously soft before even pre-washing so I definitely feel comfortable using them knowing how nice they must feel.  It’s hard to say if these work better than the other liners but I certainly prefer them in every way.  

Organic Bamboo Wipes
 
Seriously, I wanted to steal these for myself.  They are incredibly soft to the point where I don’t think I even have the words to properly describe it.  It’s the kind of softness that makes you think ‘baby‘.   After washing I found they got slightly pilly but no more than what you would expect in any cloth.  I pre-washed them with my cloth diapers to ensure absorbency so I am not sure how well they work without pre-washing.  After multiple washes they stayed soft despite never having seen fabric softener of any type which is great and I would feel comfortable using these even on a newborn.    I also think they are pretty much a perfect size for wiping baby’s bottom as I’ve found some are a little too small.

Leak-Proof PUL Drawstring Wetbag 
 
 I love this wetbag!  No zippers to mess around with (they hate me and I hate them… the feeling is mutual!)  This wetbag can easily hold 3 diapers and the necessary inserts.  It’s been double stitched to prevent leaks and features an elasticized drawstring with clip.   This bag is perfect for visiting her grandparents to just leave hanging off the bathroom door handle.  The PUL is also slightly stretchy so it makes stuffing it full a breeze which is important to me because I don’t tend to neatly place dirty diapers into wetbags.  (Does anyone do that?)

Overall

I definitely wasn’t disappointed in LilHelper.  Although I wasn’t 100% happy with how the liners that came with the Original PUL Cloth Diaper felt and looked I was really impressed with the functionality and absorbency of them which is about a million times more important to me.  Also the fact that the pre-shrunk Unbleached cotton liners resolve all my issues with the original ones, I couldn’t be happier with this system.

Although these diapers are pricier than the pocket diapers I have tried in the past, I think in the end these may be more affordable since you could realistically stock up on their inserts and at least double the use of the covers and reduce your laundry.  This is one of those cases that you can’t just look at upfront costs.  As far as savings this could be an excellent option.

I really feel like LilHelper.ca is a Canadian company I can really 100% support between their efforts with their “Baby Do Good” program, their excellent customer service and most of all the excellent quality of their products.
  
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Buy online through LilHelper  – They even offer free shipping on orders over $79 to Canada and the Continental USA!

Disclosure:   I was provided with the above mentioned products in order to facilitate my review, but as usual this is a personal blog and all thoughts and opinions expressed are honest and m own.