Bambino Mio Review

When we started looking into cloth nappies, it was very overwhelming. There were many brands, different types of nappies, a lot of terms, and as somebody who had used disposables with her first child, I had a lot to learn. Thankfully there are some cloth nappy brands out there that can make this switch really simple by being manufactured to be quite similar in style to disposable nappies and this was why I confidently took our first steps into the cloth nappy world with the all-in-one Bambino Mio. In this Bambino Mio review I will provide everything we have experienced in using them, how they fit, absorbency, care and our overall thoughts.

About Bambino Mio

Bambino Mio was founded in 1997 by couple Jo and Guy. Whilst travelling in India they came up with the idea of creating a reusable nappy that would be simple for all parents to use. Today, over 20 years later, a wedding, 3 children, an MBE, over 100 awards and 50 countries worldwide; Bambino Mio are the biggest reusable nappy brand in the world. You will probably recognise their nappies even if you aren’t a cloth user (yet) because you can purchase them in most supermarket stores in the UK and are often seen flying off the shelves during the Aldi Baby Events.

Sustainability is at the heart of what they do and Bambino Mio ensures that they make all of their products ethically and responsibly. They also work with NGO’s, local and national governments, as well as policymakers to raise awareness about the benefits of reusable nappies. They also give back by getting reusable nappies to those who really need them and by working to prevent single-use plastic waste.

Bambino Mio bring some amazing prints to the cloth nappy scene, they are easy to use and very comfortable nappies which make them an extremely popular brand.

Bambino Mio Review

We have been using Bambino Mio for 3 years now so I have experience of using them from 6 months old, through developments, through teething, overnight, all the way up to the age of 3 1/2.

The Bambino Mio raccoon nappy was the very first cloth nappy I ever popped on my little one’s bum. What I loved about this as a complete newbie was the fact that it was simple to use. With velcro fastenings for the waist, poppers to adjust the rise and with the sewn-in insert, you just cannot go wrong. All I needed to focus on was that fit, getting used to changing and washing cloth nappies as well as checking if he needed a booster.

Wear

From the first wear, he was comfortable and happy. He had previously been in disposable from birth as he was premature and I didn’t find the time to research cloth nappies or purchase them beforehand. Then once he was home, he was just so tiny that he was in premature disposable nappies for quite a while. As soon as he was large enough, I made that switch and even though he had never worn one before, he wasn’t at all bothered. People so often think that the extra bulk of a cloth nappy will hold a baby back in terms of movement but he could easily crawl and pull himself up just as he did in a disposable. In fact, William proved to be a climber from quite early on and his cloth nappies never ever prevented that!

I will always be grateful for this brand because they gave me the confidence to try cloth without overwhelming and this led to us trying other brands and designs and loving reusables for years.

Overall Fit

The Bambino Mio IS one of the more bulky and larger brands that we own so you will need to bear this in mind when looking to purchase. If you have a smaller baby or if they are quite slender, this may not be the right choice for you. I did find that when William was younger and chunkier, he filled them out quite well but as he grew and his legs became a little more slender, I had to have a big readjust to get a nice fit around the thighs/hip area. However, this is very simple as they have rise poppers on the front which adjusts the nappy up and down plus velcro which is easily adjusted to your baby’s size.

Clothing for these nappies does need to be a little more stretchy for coverage or you may find you will have to size up. But it is also worth adding that there are many small businesses who now also make clothing for cloth bum babies so options are becoming wider.

The great thing about Bambino is that these are a birth to potty nappy which means the nappy will grow with your child and they have easily been worn by my son at 3 1/2.

Velcro Fastening

The velcro fastening is a great option if you are new to cloth, if you need something easy to do up, if you have grandparents or childcare settings looking after your child who may find poppers a little fiddly. The only problem with velcro is that it can wear over time and collect a lot of fluff. Top tips for dealing with this would be to wash your nappies with the velcro stuck down on the laundry tabs, leaving these stuck down for storage so you aren’t overusing it and purchasing a nit comb for careful extraction of the fluff etc. If your velcro does become worn, you can have this replaced by a seamstress.

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The All-In-One

When we talk about an all-in-one nappy we simply mean that the insert is sewn in. This means you don’t have to think too much about parts of the nappy and it makes it easier to use. The insert slots into a pocket to provide the absorbency and there is plenty of space in there for extra boosters if you require them.

Your baby will wear the nappy just as they do a disposable, but once used, you take the nappy off (tip any poo down the toilet) and place the nappy into a wetbag or nappy bin until you wash it. On washing, the whole nappy gets placed inside, make sure your stick down the velcro onto the laundry tabs in order to protect them, wash as per the care instructions state and air dry.

Once dry, you can pop the insert back inside the pocket (it has a handy hand pocket for you to push it back in with) and it is ready to be worn again.

Absorbency & Leaks

Bambino Mio inserts are made from microfibre which is great for absorbency but this material only takes so much and can often leak due to compression from say a car seat or pushchair straps. However, there are no rules when it comes to boosting a cloth nappy so you can go ahead and team this up with other boosters made from other materials. Using bamboo or hemp with this microfibre can give you the perfect combination.

For daytime, we never got more than 3 hours from the Bambino Mio but as long as you have enough nappies, this shouldn’t be an issue. Once I began to add more brands to my collection, I could mix up what nappies he wore and knew when to gauge his changes.

As William grew and became a heavier wetter, I did start to use Bambino Mio nappies a lot less and preferred Baba and Boo for reliability – you can read all about this nappy brand here.

However, we then discovered that we could use Bambino Mio at night when he wasn’t drinking quite so much milk or waking as often – this surprises a lot of people when I tell them but it has really worked well for us. I like velcro nappies for nighttime simply because I think it must be far more comfortable for them to lay on so I thought I would have a go at stuffing the Bambino Mio’s in a different way to see if I could get him through the night in them. We have used one Bambino Mio booster with a charcoal booster and found that this gave us a really good result.

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Washing & Drying

You can wash Bambino Mio nappies on a 60, with detergent and no conditioner. Their top inner layer has a stay-dry technology but as it isn’t fleecy I have found that it can be a little tricky to get some poo off of it and if you use Calpol, this can often leave a purple tinge after washing. Stains like these are only cosmetic issues, the washing machine will still get them clean and they usually come out with the next wash. If you want to remove them naturally, hanging them out in sunlight will help. You could also choose to add a liner which will protect the nappy from becoming soiled. We’ve never had any permanent staining or any stinks with these.

The drying time of a Bambino Mio is a little longer than say a pocket nappy as you have to wait for all parts to dry before you can use it again. The insert takes more time to dry than the outer so you will want to consider this when planning how often you will be washing and how you will be drying (air drying is always recommended over tumble drying).

Overall Thoughts

The Bambino Mio nappy is ideal as a first cloth nappy, it is easy to use, easy to fit and comes in lots of wonderfully fun designs. I would definitely recommend trying it out if you want to make the switch from disposables to reusable. However, it may not be for you if you have a very heavy wetter or want to get more hours per wear from your cloth nappy. As cloth nappies come I would say it is well-priced at £15.99, it is a very basic system and widely available in both supermarkets and online.

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