Which holds the most?

Bamboo? Cotton? Hemp? After looking at posts on facebook, talking with the local diaper store (All Things Diapers) and reading other blogs.  It seems as though there is a lack of truly tested information on natural inserts.  I don't mean "Where is it from?", "How was it turned into an insert?", blah blah blah. That stuff bores me.  I mean the important stuff like - "Which is the softest to the touch?" and "Which one holds the most?"

With the help of All Things Diapers (supplied the inserts), I am putting a few to the test. This is completely done on my own and isn't "scientific" at all.  I am just a mom that wants to visually see some results.  So here it goes:

So that video is kind of long.  Especially if you don't like inserts.  So here are the final results after being prepped (3 washings). They were tested with water, for those of you that didn't watch the video.

• Imse Vimse Flannelette (organic cotton): 1/2 c.
• Amp Bamboo: 3/4 c.
• Fuzzibunz Hemp: 1 1/8 c.
• Imse Vimse Terry (organic cotton): 1 1/3 c.

This is not at all what I expected.  I honestly thought that the bamboo was going to take home the grand prize. I was teetering between that and the flannelette, but landed on the bamboo.  I was dead wrong!  I had just heard so many wonderful things about bamboo holding so much.  I do plan on washing these a few more times to see what happens and I will update with a follow up.  After that I'm going to add them to my collection and see how they do on a baby.  So look for that update later.

When I was talking in the video I thought the terry held more than it did, once measuring more closely, the amount listed above, and written in the video, is correct (not what I said in the video).

So how do you get your hands on these and other inserts?  Just head to MY favorite diaper store (All Things Diapers) and shop away.  They have an actual store at this address:

12064 Central Ave NE,

Blaine, MN, 55434

(763) 439-1973

and of course you can shop their online store. Here is a breakdown of their stores prices of the products I used for my testing:

• Fuzzibunz Hemp Inserts - 3 pack for $14.95
• Amp Bamboo Inserts - $4.95 each
• Imse Vimse Terry Doubler - 2 pack for $10.75
• Imse Vimse Flannelette Doubler - 5 pack for $14.95

There are other types of inserts out there, but I wanted to focus on natural materials for this test.  Of course other brands may fare differently, but these are what I had and I think they are a good representation of the fiber. 

Oh, I forgot to mention what I thought of their "feel". The bamboo is by far the softest.  Next I would choose the hemp or flannelette for next to my butt. The last choice would be the terry. It's still very soft and wouldn't hurt or be uncomfortable, but since I need to rank - those are it.  However if you're going to be stuffing these into pocket diapers none of that matters.