HumBird Pull On Wool Cover Review

I received this item at no cost in order to facilitate my review. All opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links.

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full! Hopefully I’m not the only person that remembers that nursery rhyme from their childhood! Have I got wool? As a matter of fact, yes I do! I don’t just have any wool. Oh no. I have HumBird wool, and it’s divine. If you haven’t heard about HumBird, you’re really missing out! HumBird is Dawn’s line up of hand made cloth diapers and wool covers that she makes in Bavaria, Germany. She’s been creating cloth diapers since 2010 and launched her online store in 2012. Dawn has created a line of diapers that are breathable, comfortable, and stylish! As an added bonus, HumBird’s diapers are all CSPC compliant! What makes HumBird’s wool covers so special? So many things! 

The Details:

The first thing I need to cover is the reason you might want to choose wool. Even if you’ve been cloth diapering your babies for a long time, you might not be all that familiar with wool covers. Maybe you’ve heard about them, but they seem too complicated, too high maintenance, or too expensive? I’ll admit that I hadn’t entertained the idea of wool covers when The Heir was in diapers, but it was something I really wanted to try with Petit Prince. Wool covers do require a little more specialized care than your average cloth diaper cover. For starters, you do have to lanolize them in order to make them waterproof. Though they can be washed in the machine on a gentle or wool cycle, you really should hand wash wool. Because they require a little more TLC, you might think the advantages of wool aren’t worth the effort. I’m here to tell you that the advantages are absolutely worth it. Wool is a completely natural material, so it’s an excellent option for those who would like to minimize the use of synthetic materials in their diapers. It is also incredibly breathable and that can help reduce occurrence of rashes if your baby is particularly prone to them. You might assume that a wool cover would be really hot for baby, but the opposite is actually true. Wool will keep your baby warmer in cool weather, but its breathability will also keep your baby feeling cooler in the heat. In addition, lanolized wool has antibacterial properties. That means you can reuse the same wool cover multiple times without having to wash it. Yes, it will get damp from urine, but it won’t start to stink as bacteria doesn’t accumulate on it. When do you need to wash wool? If the wool cover becomes soiled with poop, you’ll want to wash it. Other than that, it only needs to be washed when you need to re-lanolize it, that is, when you notice it beginning to feel damp on the outside.

Now that you know the advantages of wool, let me show you what makes HumBird’s wool covers so special! HumBird has a variety of wool cover styles available. There are wool wraps (a one-size wool cover with a snap rise and snap closure), wool leggings and longies (full length wool pants), and pull on wool covers. The HumBird wool that I want to show you is a pull on wool cover.

HumBird’s pull on wool covers are available in merino wool interlock, or with an additional outer layer of Oeko-Tex certified stretch cotton jersey. The outer layer of stretch cotton jersey is available in a variety of adorable and fun prints. The inside of the pull on wool cover, the waistband, and the cuffs are all made of certified organic 95/5 merino wool interlock. The pull on wool covers are available multiple sizes from XS to XL, and in regular or long length (referring to the length of the rise). If you’re not sure what size your baby will wear, Dawn has a detailed size chart on the HumBird website. To measure baby for the correct size, you’ll put baby in the largest and bulkiest diaper in your stash, then proceed with the measurements. You’ll want to measure around baby’s waist above the diaper, around the thickest part of baby’s thigh, the inseam from the bottom of the diaper to baby’s ankle, and the rise from the back of the diaper up through baby’s legs to the top of the front of the diaper and then add one inch.

How It Works:

In order to determine the correct size for Petit Prince, Dawn asked me to take all his measurements and send them to her. She determined that he would wear a medium pull on cover. When the cover arrived in the mail from Germany (with lightning speed, I might add), I was blown away with how beautiful and soft the HumBird wool cover was. When I even think about wearing wool, I can’t help but get a little itchy. I was concerned that a wool cover would end up feeling itchy against the skin. This is absolutely NOT the case with HumBird’s wool. The certified organic 95/5 merino wool interlock is so smooth and soft, and simply not itch inducing at all. In a word, it’s awesome.

What about the fit on Petit Prince? It’s phenomenal. The very first time I put it on him, it was a bit of a struggle to get it on. This is perfectly normal with wool once it has dried after lanolizing. The great thing about 95/5 merino wool and the stretch cotton jersey outer is that it is meant to stretch a bit. Although it was a bit tricky to get it on the first time, I haven’t had any trouble getting it on since that very first time. The wool has stretched out just enough to make pulling the cover on quick and easy without stretching it out enough to cause any gaps in the openings of the cover.

After lanolizing, this HumBird pull on wool cover is completely waterproof. I’ve had it on Petit Prince about seven times overnight and it hasn’t shown any signs of needing to be lanolized again. More importantly, it doesn’t smell. It doesn’t smell at all. The beauty of this wool cover is that I can put it on Petit Prince for night time when I know he’ll be in the same diaper for at least 12 hours. Unlike other overnight combinations I’ve used, this cover is completely breathable and that’s so great when a diaper is going to be on baby for that extended period of time.

The cotton stretch jersey outer of the HumBird pull on wool cover is one of my favourite things about it. I use the wool cover over a beautiful HumBird HumBumHy hybrid fitted diaper. That diaper is so cute, but as is the nature of hybrid fitteds, eventually it needs a cover over it. Nobody likes to cover up a cute print on a diaper, but with HumBird’s stretch cotton jersey outer, you get to choose an adorable print for the pull on wool cover. You may be covering that cute print, but at least now you’re covering it with an equally adorable print (you could even order the pull on wool cover with the same print as your HumBumHy)! Let’s be honest, 50% of the reason you cloth diaper is because it’s so darned cute. I love not having to sacrifice that cute factor with my HumBird pull on wool cover.

Pros:

• Made in Germany
• CSPC compliant
• Certified organic merino wool
• Merino wool interlock is super soft and not itchy
• Stretch cotton jersey available in lots of cute prints
• Fits well even over the bulkiest diapers
• Available in multiple sizes and rise lengths
• Does not require frequent washing

Cons:

• Wool does require specialized care

Final Thoughts:

I wasn’t really sure how well I’d like using wool covers. I’d heard a lot about the specialized care they require and thought I wouldn’t have the time to put into it. Let me tell you that wool is way less time consuming than I imagined. Because of its antibacterial properties, this HumBird pull on wool cover rarely needs washing, and it holds onto the lanolin really well. I haven’t needed to re-lanolize it since that very first time, and despite multiple overnight uses there isn’t so much as a whiff of stink to it. In fact, if it smells like anything, it smells faintly of lanolin and that’s it. I absolutely love how soft and smooth the merino wool interlock is on this HumBird pull on wool cover. It’s not the slightest bit itchy, and it’s absolutely adorable. I never thought I’d want to cover up a cute fitted diaper, and yet here I am finding myself wanting to cover it up with my HumBird pull on wool cover!

The HumBird Pull On Wool Cover with stretch cotton jersey outer starts at $40 and is available to purchase directly from HumBird. If you’d like to learn more about HumBird’s wool covers or find out about special deals you can join the HumBird Chat Group on Facebook.