The bumGenius Freetime Diaper is what we, in the cloth diaper world, call an All-In-One (AIO). It’s not a pocket diaper, so there’s no insert stuffed inside the diaper pocket. Instead, one or two inserts (depending on the diaper brand) are sewn to the front and/or back of the diaper. This is hard to describe with words, so I’ll use a picture instead:

I’ve been a fan of the pocket diapers since the beginning, so it was hard to branch out and try the bumGenius Freetime diaper. I’ve got two GroVia AIOs and I’m not a huge fan of their sewn in inserts. But then, I love bumGenius 4.0 Pocket Diapers, so I figured, heck, why not give their other product a try? Plus, I can’t lie…the temptation of a diaper I didn’t need to stuff was alluring.

I went ahead and purchased the bumGenius Freetime diaper in the limited edition Piccadilly Circus print (which I love). However, I’m fairly certain this print would be near impossible to find at this point without spending extra money for the special print. But the Freetime diaper is available in their standard colors.

Anyway, I gave this AIO a try and actually, I loved it. Honestly, I was very surprised at how easy it is to use. Here are the pros and cons, in my opinion:

Positives:

It doesn’t need to be stuffed! You just whip it out of the dryer (or off the clothes line), fold it in half, and you’re done. So if most of your stash consisted of Freetimes, folding diapers would take no time at all.

The stay-dry liners do their job. It has this suede material on the side closest to the baby’s bum, and microfiber underneath. The microfiber does the soaking, and the suede does the wicking, keeping the baby dry. It works a lot better than I thought it would. And having two inserts, one sewn to each side, makes the diaper very absorbent.

No extra drying time needed. This diaper seems to dry right along with the pocket diapers. I’m fairly certain I’ve read that that might not be the case, but I haven’t had any issues with this AIO.

Did I mention it doesn’t need to be stuffed?

Negatives:

The poo isn’t quite as simple to get off. Granted, I haven’t had nearly as much practice as I have with the pocket diapers. I’ve got the way to hold a pocket diaper while spraying it down to an art. So I figure, I could probably do the same with the bumGenius Freetimes if I had more of them. As things stand now, however, it can be a little complicated to try and spray off both inserts and anything that gets underneath.

The inserts aren’t replaceable. This isn’t that big a deal, and I haven’t really ran into this problem too much, but I’ve noticed that over time, microfiber looses some absorbency. With a pocket diaper, I have the option of buying a new pack of inserts and simply replacing the old ones. With the Freetime diaper, I can’t do that because they’re sewn in.

But did I mention that it doesn’t need to be stuffed?