BumGenius 5.0 Pocket Diaper Review

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

When Miranda from Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot offered to send me a BumGenius 5.0 to review, I jumped at the chance. As you may know, I have a deep love of pocket diapers, and the BumGenius 4.0 has been a favourite of mine since The Heir was about  a month old (you can read my review of the BumGenius 4.0 HERE). Improve the 4.0? I didn’t think it was really possible. But when your favourite local retailer wants to send you a diaper for review, you don’t say no! If you haven’t checked out Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot yet, you really should. Not only do they carry a wide range of cloth diapers to meet your child’s needs, but they are a one stop shop for all things cloth diaper related. If that’s not enough, they just started carrying my favourite cloth wipes from Grovia! I’ve been putting the BumGenius 5.0 through some rigorous testing over the last while (read: putting it on Petit Prince’s bum over and over), and I have some things to say about it! Don’t worry, I’ve also compared it side by side to a new in package BumGenius 4.0, so you can see how it differs. 

The Details:

Much like the BumGenius 4.0, the BumGenius 5.0 pocket diaper has a waterproof PUL (polyurethane laminate) outer and a suede cloth inner. The suede cloth inner forms a pocket inside the PUL shell.  Because suede cloth is a stay dry material, baby will feel less damp and often ends up being more comfortable than non stay dry inner materials (like cotton or bamboo). Considered a one size diaper, the 5.0 fits from 8-35+ lbs and accommodates that weight range with 3×3 adjustable rise snaps. According to CottonBabies (the makers of BumGenius), the smallest rise fits from 8-16 lbs, the medium rise fits from 17-22 lbs, and the large rise fits from 23-35 lbs. The waist is adjustable with a double snap closure and has stretchy tabs that allow for a snug fit. The pocket opening is at the back of the diaper with a flap over the opening. At the front of the diaper, there is a strip of PUL on the inside that prevents leaks and wicking at the waist.

The inserts for the BumGenius 5.0 diaper are exactly the same as the 4.0 inserts. The inserts are made of microfibre, and the 5.0 comes with one one-size snap down insert and one newborn sized insert. The one-size insert can be snapped down to a small size, a medium size, and unsnapped to a large size which each correspond to the small, medium, and large rise settings of the PUL shell. When the one-size insert is folded and snapped down, the folded portion goes at the front for a boy and at the back for a girl.

How It Works:

Overall, the BumGenius 5.0 performs almost exactly like the BumGenius 4.0 diaper. You know what? That’s not actually a bad thing! Although CottonBabies says that the pocket has been updated to provide a trimmer fit, it was pretty well the same as the 4.0. By that I mean that the pocket opening is still nice and roomy making it easy to stuff the insert(s) into the pocket. This also provides lots of room for adding additional absorbency for overnight use if your child needs more absorbency beyond the two microfibre inserts that come with the diaper. Since Petit Prince is a heavier wetter than The Heir was at this age, I do find that the one-size microfibre and the newborn microfibre inserts together are not enough for him. I can still use the one-size insert, but I put it on top of a hemp or bamboo insert and stuff both into the pocket.

Before anyone had actually seen a BumGenius 5.0 diaper, there was a lot of chatter in the online community about the pocket flap. It sounded as though the flap that covers the pocket opening was going to be done away with. That was something I really didn’t want to see because I find the flap over the pocket opening to be a great feature. Not only does it protect baby’s skin from the microfibre insert at the pocket opening (because microfibre should never sit right against baby’s skin), but it also provided extra protection against EBF poop blow outs. Good news! The flap is definitely still there on the BumGenius 5.0. What has changed, is the size of the suede cloth flap underneath the big flap. Still with me? Where the suede cloth splits open to create the pocket opening under the flap, the suede cloth between the pocket opening and the back elastic is now shorter. I really don’t find this slight change to have any effect on the function or fit of the diaper, so I’m not entirely certain as to why it was changed.

The wonderful stretchy tabs that form the butterfly closure unique to BumGenius are still present on the 5.0 diaper. Thank goodness! Those stretchy tabs really help to ensure a perfect fit. The tabs can still be done up lopsided (ie. lower snap tighter than the upper snap or vice versa) to accommodate tummy bulge or thicker thighs without leaving the front of the diaper all bunched up. The 5.0 still has the strip of PUL across the inside of the front of the diaper to prevent wicking and it really is a feature I love. Moisture is trapped safely inside the diaper and tummy leaks are non-existent.

The stay dry suede cloth inner is just a little tiny bit different in the 5.0 than it is in the 4.0. It’s hardly noticeable, but there is a difference. The first difference is that the 5.0 suede cloth inner feels smoother and silkier. You really have to be holding a brand new 4.0 in one hand and brand new 5.0 in the other to notice, but it’s different. The second difference is that the suede cloth inner of the 5.0 is in fact just a teeny tiny bit stretchy. Not enough to make stuffing any easier (not that it needs to be), but there is just a pinch of give in the 5.0 suede cloth that is definitely not there in the 4.0 suede cloth. The stay dry suede cloth inner is something that works really well on Petit Prince. I have noticed that with other non stay dry inners that his skin can be sensitive to wetness up against it, but the suede cloth inner of the 5.0 keeps him feeling nice and dry.

How’s the fit? Well, much the same as the 4.0, honestly. I had Petit Prince in the 5.0 between 16 and 17lbs and it’s still on the smallest rise setting. There’s ample bum coverage, snug leg openings, and the stretchy tabs allow me to accommodate his chunky thighs and big tummy just fine. He’s definitely getting close to being able to move up to the medium rise setting, but he’s still got enough room that there’s no plumber’s crack!

As far as absorbency goes, it’s identical to the BumGenius 4.0 (for obvious reasons). I can still get 3-4 hours out of the one-size microfibre insert during the day without any leaking. The newborn insert is still more of a booster than a stand alone insert that could ever work by itself, but it’s great for adding a fast absorbing layer over a bamboo or hemp insert. I imagine it will be the perfect booster to add to the one-size microfibre insert once Petit Prince starts holding his pee longer and flooding the diapers. I expect that to happen around 14 months old or so, as it did with The Heir. I love using the BumGenius 5.0 pocket shell overnight because I can easily stuff the pocket with the combination of night time inserts that suits Petit Prince the best, and I know it isn’t going to leak through the seams even when it’s almost totally saturated.

The one thing that I felt needed improvement on the BumGenius 4.0 was the elastics. They performed just fine for one child through potty training, but those elastics absolutely needed to be replaced before they could go on a newborn again. This is the biggest change that was made to the BumGenius 5.0 diaper (aside from the packaging). The BumGenius 5.0 diaper has “proprietary elastic made exclusively for cloth diapers, which means it is more durable and will not break down as easily” (from CottonBabies). This is something I really can’t comment on at this point. I can’t say if these elastics will perform better or last longer than the elastics in a BumGenius 4.0. Ask me when Petit Prince is potty training and I’ll have a much better idea! What I can say, however; is that these elastics look different than the BumGenius 4.0 elastics. Lucky for me, the elastics of the 5.0 are still exposed at the ends just like they are in the 4.0. That means I didn’t have to go ripping seams open to get access to the elastics. It appears as though the elastic is the same width and same make up as the 4.0 elastic, but the 5.0 elastics have a black zig zag stitch going over them. I can only presume that this additional zig zag stitch is intended to reinforce the elastic, but I don’t sew and a google search didn’t really provide any insight into this. Again, only time will tell.

Pros:

• Stretchy tabs
• Generous pocket opening
• Slightly stretchy stay dry inner
• Strip of PUL inside the front prevents wicking
• Improved elastics (?)

Cons:

• Newborn insert is not absorbent enough to use alone

The Deal With The Elastics:

Now this isn’t totally related to my review of the BumGenius 5.0 diaper, but I thought it was worth mentioning anyway. Originally I had planned to compare the 4.0 Alicia print to the 5.0 Love print. The 4.0 Alicia was in the old BumGenius 4.0 packaging and the 5.0 Love was in the new BumGenius 5.0 packaging. When I took them both out of their packages to compare them, I could not detect any difference between the two whatsoever. The suede cloth inner felt equally smooth and silky, and both had just a touch of stretch. That little flap under the big flap at the back of the pocket opening was the same length too. It was a little baffling, but I chalked it up to the 5.0 being identical to the 4.0 with the exception of the elastics. When I turned the 4.0 Alicia inside out to photograph the difference in the elastics, imagine my surprise when I saw that the 4.0 Alicia had the same black zig zag stitching on the elastic as the 5.0 Love. But how could that be? That’s when I pulled out my still new in package 4.0 Harper print (released back in November/December 2014) and noticed all the differences between the 5.0 and 4.0. Sure enough, the elastics of the 4.0 Harper were plain white without the black zig zag stitching. What does that all mean? Well, it seems to me that BumGenius actually changed the 4.0 diapers to 5.0 diapers before they renamed the diaper and changed the packaging. So if you bought a recently released BumGenius 4.0 diaper in late 2015, turn the pocket shell inside out and check the elastic ends. You just might have a 5.0 that came in 4.0 packaging.

Final Thoughts:

Now that the BumGenius 5.0 has the improved elastics that I so wanted for the 4.0s, the BumGenius 5.0 might just be the perfect pocket diaper. To add to that perfection, three new solid colours were introduced with the BumGenius 5.0 diaper: Jelly (a lovely purple), Pepper (a true red), and Kiss (a lovely peach). You can find BumGenius 5.0 pocket diapers at Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot (they can only ship within Canada, so if you’re in the US you can order them from Nicki’s Diapers).

Who wants to WIN a BumGenius 5.0 pocket diaper all of their own? Thanks to the generous Miranda of Calgary Cloth Diaper Depot, I’m giving one lucky Canadian reader a chance to WIN one BumGenius 5.0 pocket diaper in the in stock solid colour of their choice! How awesome is that? Just scroll on down and enter the giveaway! GOOD LUCK! The giveaway is open from 7am MST January 19th 2016 and closes at 11:59pm EST January 29th 2016. Open to Canada only, 18+.

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