Smart Bottoms Dream Diaper Review

With my older two children, my kids’ heavy wetting nighttime diapering needs led me to wool and fitteds, big time. By the time my second son potty trained I had a pretty healthy stash to get rid of. Five years later, and well past my diapering days (or so I thought), we were matched with a beautiful baby boy to adopt and…surprise! We were back in the thick of cloth diapering.

I didn’t want to get back into wool again, as the climate we currently live in is much hotter and more humid than where we lived when my older two were in diapers, and also due to space concerns. Our home isn’t small by Japanese standards, but it’s not massive by any stretch, and particularly not by American standards.

I learned with my first kids how much I preferred natural fibers, and when the the Smart Bottoms Dream Diaper came out, I was very intrigued. The Dream Diaper is an AIO with a snap-in snake liner and a pocket where additional absorbent layers can be stuffed. It’s made from PUL and hemp/cotton and is, like the rest of the line, made in the U.S., something else I liked about the diaper. I also was pleased to see it could be prepped in only one wash (not so common with natural fibers).

The diaper is very trim fitting (thanks, hemp!) and since I diaper a boy, I like how I can customize the snake insert to be folded several times in the front. It indeed prepped in one wash, and I had zero leaks from night one.

My son is 12 months old and still takes a bottle before bed and more nights than not, another bottle during the early morning hours, so I wasn’t comfortable using it unstuffed. We occasionally get leaks from disposables at night with him from them being overfilled. I didn’t buy the inserts that come separate from the Dream Diaper, and instead I stuff the pocket with either a birdseye flat (pad folded) or a Bum Genius organic cotton Flip insert (also pad folded). It still remains very trim on the bum, far more trim than a Bum Genius pocket diaper with microfiber inserts.

Overall, like all of my Smart Bottoms purchases, I am very happy with the quality level of these diapers. The performance is solid and honestly, I can’t believe how trim they are for how absorbent they are. I am considering purchasing a couple more to add into the rotation for daytime use as well (They’re so trim!). 

Meaghan Howard is a stay-at-home mom to three little boys. She and her family are enjoying living in and exploring Japan. She also writes at her beauty blog, www.meaghanrae.com.