I recently won a Smartipants One Size Pocket Diaper in a blog giveaway. This is the first one size diaper that I have owned, aside from the Flip One Size Diaper Cover.
The Smartipants “claim to fame” is the smart sleeve which allows the insert to agitate out in the wash cycle, rather than requiring you to touch the soiled insert in order to remove it. My overall opinion of the Smartipants diaper is that it is a good diaper for a reasonable price.
The Value
The Smartipants diaper is priced at just $14.95, making it an economical choice, especially for a one-size pocket diaper. There is nothing additional needed to use this diaper.
Extra and/or replaceable Smartipants Smart Sleeve Diaper Inserts are also priced very reasonable at $9.99 for five inserts.
Pocket diapers are one of the easiest to use in cloth diapering, but some people may be unwilling to pay the price. For these reasons the Smartipants would be an excellent choice, giving you the convenience and ease of a pocket without as much expense.
The Function
The Smartipants One Size Pocket Diaper has a patented “smart sleeve” rather than a traditional pocket. The sleeve is open at both ends, so the insert is not actually completely encased in a pocket. The sleeve is made of a soft stay-dry fabric that wicks the moisture into the insert and away from the baby’s skin. The benefit of this smart sleeve is to allow the insert to agitate out of the sleeve during the wash cycle. This means you don’t have to touch the soiled insert to remove it prior to washing.
The outer fabric of the Smartipants is a waterproof fabric. You do not need to use a cloth diaper cover with this diaper.
There are three rows of snaps to allow you to adjust the rise to small, medium, and large. The waist features overlapping snaps so that you can get a better fit. Soft elastic forms the back of the waist and the legs of this diaper.
The Scoop
Here is what I think of the Smartipants diaper:
I prefer to have an enclosed pocket. I found that on the small setting, the insert was too long, and therefore it stuck out at both ends. Since it was not enclosed in a pocket, it was easier for the insert to poke out at the back of the diaper (from baby’s movements), and I ended up with a leak. I do not believe this would be a problem on the medium or large rise setting.
Many one size diapers on the market today come with two sizes of inserts to correct this problem. However, the Smartipants is offering value, and including two inserts would increase the price. I did find that the insert was well made and very absorbent.
To correct the leaking problem I used the smaller insert from a different pocket diaper and it works great – no leaks. I use the Smartipants Smart Sleeve Diaper Insert in an enclosed pocket diaper, and it also works great. The problem is not with the absorbency of the insert, but with the length of the insert.
The smart sleeve really does work – the inserts agitate out in the wash! I personally do not have a problem grabbing the edge of a pocket insert in order to pull it out and place it into the diaper pail. For this reason, the smart sleeve did not grab my attention as a major selling point. But I must admit that it is nice to just pull the diaper off baby and throw it in the pail! I got curious and decided to try throwing other pocket dipes into the wash without removing the insert. They only agitated out around 50% of the time. I guess it is the difference of the smart sleeve!
I love the idea of the overlapping snaps on the waist. I have both a fitted diaper and a diaper cover that also offer this feature. However, on the Smartipants I think the overlapping snaps are set too far apart, or in the wrong places. I have a skinny four month old weighing in at twelve pounds. There is no way she would have ever been able to use the overlapping snaps – the diaper would have been too tight.
I also wish that there were either snaps on the hip or leg, or double vertical snaps on the waist. To fasten the diaper with just a couple of waist snaps doesn’t seem to give the best fit. I have other pockets with a snap on the leg, or two snaps on the waist and I feel just a little more secure when I use them.
The stay-dry fabric is not a fleece, and the Smartipants website does not say what comprises the fabric. I tested it after my baby had been wearing the diaper for about three hours, and the inner fabric was still dry next to my baby’s skin. The insert was very wet!
Overall I would say the Smartipants is a good diaper.
Overall I would say the Smartipants is a good diaper. It’s not my favorite, or the one I reach for first, but the problems that I have with it are more personal preferences rather than actual functionality issues. It is a great value for a one-size pocket diaper – I haven’t seen anything cheaper.
Just keep in mind that in order to offer a great price some things have to be sacrificed. It should really appeal to those who have a problem with the “ick” factor in cloth diapering because you don’t have to touch anything.
The Smartipants is a smart choice!
GUEST BLOGGER
Andrea Hamilton‘s full time job is being Ben’s wife and Elaine’s mommy in Virginia Beach, VA. She started cloth diapering in November 2009 – initially to save money, and now because she loves it. In her “spare time” she enjoys studying God’s Word, playing the piano, scrapbooking, blogging, and bargain-hunting. Andrea has a Bible & Missions degree, and her family is preparing to move to NYC where her husband will be an assistant pastor.
You can read more from Andrea at her blog, Random Issues.
Bryana is the owner of 
Becca is a part-time Spanish Teacher and part-time Stay-At-Home-Mom. She's a cloth diaper expert who enjoys spending time with her family, crafting and selling her wares in her very own
Julie is a mom to three kids including a set of identical twins. Through cloth diapering her twins she developed a passion for the industry and is an avid cloth diaper advocate. You can also find her on her blog
I never thought about the small size; my daughter was about 6-9 months old when I got my first Smartipants diapers. I like the open sleeve, though like you, I don’t mind pulling out the insert. I do remember seeing somewhere that the insert is supposed to fold down to fit the smaller sizes. Maybe that would work? Although you seem to have found a solution that works for you already! :-) Thanks for a good review.
I agree with you about Smartipants on small babies. They never fit my daughter well until she got to at least 12 pounds. Now, at a petite 18lbs, they fit her fine. They’re definitely worth it for the value they are–but they’re just not a newborn to potty OS diaper.
I didn’t start using them until my baby was around 10 months. I prefer snaps and even though I don’t mind pulling out the sleeve I really like that I don’t have to. I started using the size small Loopydo or what ever that insert is called to make them more trim but they don’t hold as much as the insert that comes with it. I just fold it down
Smartipants is on my list of dipes to try and it may have moved even higher after this review!
One thing I’ve noticed is that in my front loader washer, the inserts in my pocket dipes will agitate out 99% of the time (I can only remember one time when an insert didn’t agitate out). I tested this at first because if I wanted my husband to use pocket dipes, I needed to make sure he didn’t have to do anything “extra”. Luckily it works for our front loader.
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I was NOT a fan of the Smartipants diaper. We tried them periodically for 5 months on our daughter, and we experienced leaks nearly every time. I would have expected that on a smaller kid, but mine is normal-to-large, so I wouldn’t have thought that there would be space around the legs or at the front and back for her to leak. I was very wrong. I was so excited to get these diapers and use them, but after changing my child’s clothes, changing area, and sometimes even my own clothes several times a day, it’s completely not worth it. If someone had tried these diapers and find that they work for them, I would love to sell mine at a deal!