Tell me about Alva baby diapers

[Mrs Dragonfly]

Okay, they're cheap and shipping can take a couple weeks. Are they worth it or awful?

Right now we're building our stash with prefolds, were gifted some Charlie Banana's OS and going in with disposables to do combo until we have enough fluff to full time cloth.

 

[Mrs Dragonfly]

Kawaii baby too, I've been browsing their website and their prices are still nice and shipping is closer.

 

[redneckhippy]

I have also been wanting to know about Alva. I have a couple Kawaii I ordered and I really like them and they seem good, but baby isn't here yet, so can't speak to that. Also, I've ordered some on Etsy. You can find some good prices and they are hand made with patterns you pick.

 

[sixtwelve09]

I own both kawaii and alva baby and my only complaint with either is that i hate snaps! I bought some of the diapers that velcro that are kawaii brand and they suit me much better, but thats a personal preference. As for absorbency they seem to work just as well as my high end diapers. The quality is pretty good to, my baby has only been wearing them for a month but they seem very durable.

 

[Mrs Dragonfly]

Thanks for the input! I actually want snaps because I hate velcro

I think I might end up ordering Kawaii baby instead of Alva because the shipping is closer (Canada) and won't take weeks to get here like Alva diapers will. I'm not good at waiting!

How many times did you have to wash/prep your Kawaii diapers? With my Charlie Banana's so far I've washed them 3 times and hope to get started on my Green Mountain prefolds tomorrow to get them washed a few times before baby arrives.

 

[sixtwelve09]

I washed my kawaii's 3x for prepping and that seemed to do the trick.

 

[Mrs Dragonfly]

That's a relief, I hate that all the instructions say wash 4-6 times and it feels like such a waste so I throw them in with my white washes.

 

[JenX]

I liked Velcro for the newborn stage, as it is more adjustable to get the best fit. I stopped using all Velcro and went to snaps at the point when my LO was sitting up, because when she sat, her belly would crunch over the top of the diaper and get irritated by the scratchy Velcro. For snap diapers or covers, the kind with two rows of snaps is much better in my opinion. That way the diaper "wings" lay nice and flat.

 

[TTC First]

I have kawaii diapers, I use the cover and the bamboo inserts.

I love these diapers and would never change. I would never even change to the pocket diapers. I find that the covers with inserts are easier to use, cheeper, easier to wash. I would hate to change the whole diaper when the cover is clean. I love the fact that you just change the insert and you are done. When I go out I can just grab a handful of inserts and I have a ton of diaper changes covered.

I am a foster parent for infants so I have been using the same diapers for a couple years now. The only issue I have is when I get a newborn, I get more leaks till the baby grows a bit. I also find that the elastic is starting to stretch out so they are not as good for the really small babies.

Kawaii has amazing sales every once in a while so it's great to wait for one to come.

I also use the bamboo inserts from Alva, I find them much thinner than the kawaii bamboo inserts. I never use them on their own. When I have a heavy wetter or I have to go out of the house I will use one thick Kawaii bamboo and a thin Alva bamboo for a little extra coverage.

I have microfiber inserts from Kawaii that I only use after the bamboos are gone. Since they can't go next to baby, I will use them with the Alva bamboo insert.

I tried the Alva pocket diapers and found them to be similar to kawaii. I don't know how either stand up over time because I never use the pocket diapers I have.

 

[MommyJogger]

I personally find the Alvas to be lower quality than other cheapies, just based on the microsuede/fleece inners. They're just not as nice and soft and they pill very easily. They also haven't held up very well compared to other cheapies I have (sunbaby, go green, kawaii baby, some random nameless ebay ones). The alvas I have also run larger than my Sunbaby size 2s, so the sunbaby size 2s fit my youngest at 2 weeks with no leaks and I haven't done more than try Alvas on him because there are such large gaps at the legs. If you're still looking for some cheap diapers, I really like sunbaby ones. Their inserts (I have both bamboo and blend inserts from sunbaby) are nice, too. But again, you're looking at a potentially long ship time (though in the life of diapering 2-6 weeks is the blink of an eye). Mine have held up for 2 years now and I bought many of them used to begin with. If you wanted to look at alvas without the super long ship time, I find that the prices at https://www.getbacktobasics.net/ are pretty good, and it's cyber monday.

ETA: I also find that I don't like Kawaii inserts. The "bamboo" inserts I ordered were actually two layers of bamboo and two layers of microfiber, which is why they were so much thicker than other bamboo inserts, but they actually don't hold as much pee as you would hope by their thickness. I think I've tried alva inserts (they came with a random set of used natural fiber inserts I bought) and they were okay, but I can't actually be sure those were made by alva.

 

[Skittleblue]

I have some alvas and some kawaiis, and I've found the kawaiis to be better quality, but we get a much better fit with the alvas. That said, I bought a set of alvas, but a couple of those delaminate with in a few weeks, even being line dried. They've made great swim diapers, but that wasn't what I bought them for, ya know? For the inserts, I liked them both about the same.

 

[HBGirl]

I really like my Alvas. Never had a leak in the one size (newborns leaked like mad) and they fit well. All in all, I am happy.

 

[paintrider89]

I'm a kawaii gal myself. I got a charcole bamboo kawaii by chance, and completely fell in love all over, so now I've been buying more of those (like I need more diapers) I'm also a fan of WAHM hybrid fitters (need cover for long wear 3+ hours). They are more expensive, but I feel good supporting WAHM. I do have a couple Alvas as well, but they arnt as good of a fit for my baby.