Autumn just loves playing outside when the weather is nice. I love that I can create a safe haven for her and let her explore while I do yardwork or sip my coffee at a table nearby. Even if she’s overtired or teething I can count on the great outdoors to pacify her when nothing else will do. I think in reaction to this a lot of the items I’ve been coveting for her lately are outdoor friendly. Harper takes great pleasure in showing her how to play with these large and usually brightly colored play structures, and I love that there is active creative and imaginative play with no screen time. How do your littles love to unwind?

I’m often asked what we use for cloth diapering at night and on long errands or drives when it might not be easy to change a diaper as frequently as is ideal. This is especially important to parents who may have used disposables in the past and come to rely on the highly absorbent who knows what inside, the absorbency of cloth by comparison may involve a little adjustment and troubleshooting depending on your baby’s personal habits.

Ease of Use ✩✩✩✩✩ This cover is generously sized with an exceptional amount of stretch while still reading quite thin. This means you can easily pull it over any fitted diaper or a prefold or flat which has been pinned or Snappi’d into place. The soft stretchy waist and leg bands are made of a very fine knit wool which provides great coverage against leaks and keeps everything snug and comfy.

Bang for the Buck ✩✩✩✩✩ The biggest hesitation I see with parents considering wool is the price point. Wool covers are often priced quite high which can be a deterrent for parents looking to save money by using cloth. These covers are exceptionally affordable, with lovely minimalist covers as low as fifteen dollars or beautiful one of a kind applique embroidered covers for less than forty dollars. With wool, you can reuse a cover many times before you have to wash it, just let it air out between uses and the natural antimicrobial properties act as a natural cleanser. So if you have just two or three covers you can use wool endlessly, perfect for parents whose children have allergies to PUL and other less natural materials.

Performance ✩✩✩✩✩ This cover is incredibly absorbent, and very durable as well. Autumn is very curious about her world these days, and has no qualms army crawling across a rough slate floor to rescue a lost toy, or rolling around in the grass just to make her sister laugh. I don’t mind her playing hard in this cover, because despite her best efforts it still looks brand new. I just hand wash it with room temperature water and a bit of wool wash and let it dry outside and she’s ready to wear it again. Some of our other wool covers are lovely but just cannot stand up to the abuse of an ambitious little girl. This one will last a very long time.

Fit ✩✩✩✩ Thanks to the thin European boiled wool HumBird uses, this cover fits great over bulky fitteds as well as under a child’s clothes. I do need to size up on Autumn’s pants, but I need to do that for some of her bulkier pockets and all-in-ones, too. I love using a soft bamboo flat in an origami fold with this cover, it can last for hours of play and is considered “bulletproof” for a reason. I will say the boiled wool is a little stiffer than some types of wool you may have tried, but it is still fairly soft and pliable and the waist and leg bands are extremely soft, which should be the only parts up against your baby’s skin most of the time. I think the slightly stiffer material is an easy tradeoff considering how thin yet effective the tightly knit material is.

Overall: HumBird makes beautiful and very useful wool covers, perfect for nighttime, gifts (especially the embroidered showpieces), and solutions for children with PUL sensitivities or allergies. I love how little care these need, I washed them three times with lanolin to prep and since then have barely needed to care for them except to remove food stains from my adventurous and impatient little girl. I love that these are made by a mom in the Bavarian Alps, and that she’s been doing it for about five and a half years now. Her loving attention to detail and carefully chosen materials reflect in the quality of each cover.

Where to Buy: Humbird