Zookies Diaper Cover - Review & Giveaway! (Closed)

As a 2-piece cloth diapering kinda girl, I've had my eye on Zookies for quite awhile! I first discovered this awesome WAHM diaper cover shop several months back the same way I've learned about other great products - via a blog giveaway. My first thought - what a cute & catchy name! :) And upon clicking through to browse the available covers, I fell in love with the huuuge selection of totally adorable prints! Needless to say, I was stoked when Michele, the owner, agreed to sponsor a review/giveaway here at M2M!

Zookies offers a variety of sizing options (sized or one size) and both snap and aplix closures. For the purpose of the review, we decided on a sized snap closure cover. The challenge we faced, however, was choosing the size! During our early discussion, S was about 14 pounds putting her near the end of the suggested range for small. As such, we decided on a medium (15-30 pounds), figuring she'd grow into it by the time the cover arrived. Problem is, she's a long, skinny baby so even when she reached 15 pounds, the medium cover turned out to be much too roomy. Due to this, Michele generously offered to create and send another cover, close to the medium but sized down a bit mainly in the rise, to fit S a little better. Thanks Michele!!

Here is it! Check out the elegantly simple packaging. Love it! :)

Zookies covers contain a waterproof PUL (polyurethane laminate) inner layer, a 100% cotton outer layer and soft fold over elastic trim - both at the back AND front. This results in an exceptionally soft and stretchy cover, which I noticed immediately upon removing the packaging.

Two rows of snaps are included to help keep things in place. Eight snap columns provide flexible sizing options.

Note that there are no crossover snaps, so the tightest waist setting you can get is when the snaps are secured next to each other in the middle.

(Side note - if you have a funny feeling you've seen this "zoology" print here at M2M before, you would be correct. I have a bit of a thing for it!) 

The fold over elastic appears to be a signature aesthetic feature of these covers, and Michele always matches the colour of the elastic perfectly to the print. As it can be seen, my cover has simple white elastic, however she often uses brown, black and other colours as well. Very pleasing to the eye!

Oh, and one more design element to point out. There are no leg gussets, however the cover is wider across the bottom than most others I have tried, which likely achieves the same effect of preventing leakage.

Alright, let's get baby girl in there for some testing!

We decided to try out our Zookies cover with two types of diapers - a small, trifolded prefold (which we're currently using with our smaller covers) and a fitted (which we use mainly for night diapering).

The elastic trim made it nice & easy to get the cover on her, which I appreciated as S is really starting to fight me during changes! Since she is on the low end of the recommended weight range for her cover, I used the tightest snap setting which produced a snug fit around the waist and legs. It did leave her with a bit of a billowy butt, but this is unavoidable when babe's just growing into a new size! It reassured me that she'd have plenty of room to grow in this cover.

S was very active during our testing period, which was perfect as it allowed us to see how the cover handled a lot of exuberant movement (crawling, pulling up on things, etc.)

A few observations emerged from our testing:

1) All in all, the cover kept everything in place with no leaks. Thumbs up!

2) When we removed the cover, there were no significant marks left on her waist or legs, thanks to the soft & stretchy trim.

3) The cover currently works better with a fitted diaper (or snappi'd prefold, presumably) than a trifolded prefold. The prefold shifted and bunched quite a bit (though still didn't result in a leak). I suspect this is due mainly to her being on the lower end of the weight spectrum and isn't an issue with the cover itself.

4) We did experience some "wing droop" (i.e., when the front flaps peek down under the back flaps buttoned in place.) I think this may be one downside of the super-soft material in that it is more susceptible to getting worked out of place than stiffer cover material. Also, I'd guess this is most prominent with the snaps on the tightest setting, as there is more "wing" available to droop out. So as S grows bigger, I suspect we won't notice this as much.

One more thing worth pointing out is that the cover seems vulnerable to pilling. Again, probably an unavoidable downside of having such soft, stretchy trim. I washed my cover twice and hung it to dry each time, and there is already some minor pilling visible.

I think this happened because the laundry tab aplix is wearing on some of my night dipes. Boo. :( I might start handwashing this cover or washing it separate from the offending aplix to keep it in top shape.

All in all, this is definitely a nice cover that will make the regular rotation! I plan to use it right now as a night cover over my fitteds, as I looove how the exterior is 100% cotton (and therefore more breathable). When S graduates to her larger prefolds, I'll use it more during the day as well, since I'll be getting back to snappi-ing.

Here is a summary of the pros & cons, for those of you in a time crunch. :)

Pros:
+ Great-looking design; many adorable patterns available
+ Various sizing and closure options offered to suit your preferences
+ Super soft and stretchy; comfy for baby and no waist or leg marks
+ Exterior is 100% cotton, so more breathable than PUL-only covers

Cons:
- Susceptible to "wing droop", especially when baby is on lower end of recommended weight spectrum
- Soft trim can pill easily when in contact with rough material such as aplix. May want to handwash or wash separately from such material.


Buy It:

Head on over to Zookies Diaper Covers & More and grab yourself some of these sweet covers! Be careful, though - you might end up with way more than you bargained for since there are SOOO many sweet prints! ;) While you're at it, check out her other items; she offers quite a few such as burb cloths, bibs, reusable snack/sandwich bags and more!

Win It:

Michele has generously offered to give away a Zookies cover to one lucky Manager to Mom reader! Winner chooses size (or one-size), closure option (snaps or aplix) and print!

To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below. Comments do not count as entries, however feel free to add a comment to remind yourself that you entered!





Disclosure:  The prize is being provided and shipped to the winner by Zookies.  I received no financial compensation for writing my review or offering this giveaway, although I did receive the sample items free of charge.  This is my completely honest opinion above and may be different from yours.