AppleCheeks OS Pocket Diaper Cover Review: Great fitting and no leaks!

Meet AppleCheeks NEW One Size Envelope Diaper Cover

I’ve heard a lot about AppleCheeks diapers since I started cloth diapering my first daughter over seven years ago. I saw the adorable “ruffly” leg and waist elastics and thought they were cute. I admired photos from cloth diaper experts and regular customers like myself. I came across tons of different reviews and none of them were bad. I entered countless giveaways and never won. But when I looked into purchasing AppleCheeks diapers myself, I saw that they didn’t have a one size fits all option. At this point, the OS feature was a huge prerequisite for any of our cloth diaper purchases. Money was tight and we were just trying to scrape together a large enough stash to use cloth full time. Buying diapers that will fit your baby through all of their different sizes means that you don’t have to buy a cloth diaper stash more than once and though I understood that AppleCheeks wanted the excellence of making diapers that gave babies the best fit possible, I just didn’t want to have to buy my stash multiple times. Even after deciding that AppleCheeks wouldn’t be an option for us due to their sizing options, I always had the impression that they are adorable, well-made diapers and I’ve been extremely curious about them all these years. When Julie sent me an AppleCheeks one size diaper to review, I was so excited to finally lay my hands on this pocket envelope diaper myself. Then I actually looked at the diaper and saw that mine is a one size fits most diaper. AppleCheeks came out with a OS diaper!!! I can’t tell you how excited that makes me!

It’s an ENVELOPE COVER aka POCKET DIAPER!

As with all pocket diapers, you can purchase inserts made by the brand, or stuff with your own options. I stuff almost all my pockets with inserts I have bought separately and I did the same with the AppleCheeks envelope cover. Prefolds, Babykicks hemp inserts, bamboo inserts, and Bambino Mio boosters are only some of the insert options I used to stuff this pocket envelope diaper with the intent of testing the cover’s ability to function with different absorbency options. Did it pass? Yep! I can’t think of a single time in the last month that this cover has leaked.

First of all, the envelope cover is trim. There isn’t a lot of baggy fabric cinched into tight elastics or tucked up under rows of rise snaps. I mean, there is extra fabric, but some OS diapers are so big on their largest size that it can be bulky when sized small. AppleCheeks has somehow managed to make a OS diaper without doing that. The snaps on the tummy panel are contoured so that they are lower for smaller babies and higher for bigger children. The snaps on the closure tabs are contoured as well, and the tabs aren’t extra long.

For such a trim looking cover, I was surprised how much I could stuff it and also that it still fits my three year old, 40 pound son. It doesn’t have a lot of extra fabric but it does have a lot of room! There was no gapping at the legs or the waist and the diaper did well on him even double stuffed for bedtime and naps, which are the only times he still uses diapers.

The elastics are gentle and effective at keeping mess inside. I don’t have all the cloth diaper experience in the world, but I’ve never seen a pocket diaper with this “ruffle” design on their elastics. Elastics are found at both legs, the back, and the belly of this diaper and are encased between the layer of PUL and micro fleece, but the seams are serged, not turned. You would think this would cause leaks, but it doesn’t. Microfleece doesn’t actually absorb moisture, it wicks it away, which is probably why this design works so well. What this also does is give the baby a soft and gentle but snug elastic against their skin which makes the diaper comfortable and leaves no red marks.

Theoretically, the AppleCheeks is a pocket diaper—well it can function that way—but it’s actually an “envelope” diaper. The opening is towards the middle of the diaper (it looks like the opening of an envelope because layers overlap for about three inches) and is wide enough that your inserts agitate out in the wash, which means no unstuffing soiled diapers before throwing them in the diaper pail. Also, AppleCheeks encourages using the diaper like a cover too—sticking the insert on top of the inner microfleece, which means It could be used for multiple diaper changes if the cover itself doesn’t get soiled.

I would love to see this diaper in more prints and color options. The OS envelope color comes in only eight, gender neutral colors and prints. I’ve seen the AppleCheeks size 1 and size 2 diapers in a myriad of different colors and prints so I hope they add more of those to their OS diaper soon.

Pros
Trim
Contoured snaps
Gentle elastics
No gapping
Tummy elastic
Contoured snap placement
One size fits most
Great leak protection
Soft inner layer
Inserts agitate out in the wash
Versatile: can possibly be used as a diaper cover or pocket diaper

Cons
I would love to see the OS AppleCheeks come out in a wider variety of colors and prints.

Now that I’ve used it, I wish I’d had this pocket envelope diaper/cover back when I was cloth diapering my first child. I used pocket diapers almost exclusively for her in her first year and in retrospect, I think I can say I like this pocket diaper better than those we preferred back then, even though I really liked her diapers. This is a good diaper and after seeing how it functions and closely investigating the thought and care put into the design to make it so perfect, I definitely recommend it for all the Cloth Diaper Geek readers out there who are hoping to find that perfect stash builder.

To shop for the AppleCheeks One Size Diaper please visit Amazon. To watch a video demo please check out the embedded video below.