Flexible Parenting Reviews

This is a part of Formula Fed and Flexible Parenting. It contains a write-up of products and services that I review, mostly but not entirely related to parenting, families, and children.

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Sunday, July 1, 2007

BurpCatcher Review

Originally published on February 26, 2007

This is my first review as part of the Parent Blogging Network. I have had the opportunity to review the BurpCatcher. Let me start out by describing it. It is a double layer of flannel with a pocket sewn onto the end of it. The pocket opens when the Burp Catcher is placed over the shoulder of the arm. The idea is that the pocket then catches any spit up that runs over the cloth. You can get a package containing two flannel BurpCatchers for $9.99 or one BurpCatcher in fleece.

Just like in many areas of parenting, I could not get my baby to properly use the BurpCatcher. This really shouldn't have surprised me. However, in fairness to him, he just turned 8 months old. Thus, his spit up is completely unpredictable and also very small now that he is eating solids. On the other hand, his spitup also now reflects the cover of whatever he has just eaten. While he may burp after having a bottle, his actual spit up only seems to take place when I am dressed very nicely, he is dressed very nicely or I have just washed the floor. It also honestly usually involves him shimmying on the floor on his belly.

However, after having two babies who did spit up quite a bit, I think this would have been a great product to have when my boys were newborns. During the time when gently rubbing them on their backs caused a giant amount of spit up to be produced, this product would have worked well. They never projectile vomited (actually there was one scary time when my younger son did projectile vomit through his nose and looked like something out of a horror movie. I personally blame the hospital nurse because I never had that experience with my first son and was completely shocked as a veteran and know-it-all mother when he told me that most parents see it at some point with their babies). Sometimes the spit up did run down the regular cloth diapers that I use as burp cloths. The idea that this excess could be caught in a hood is appealing.

Of course the scientist in me wondered how truly absorbent the BurpCatcher really is. Since I didn't have a large amount of spit up to work with, I set up a lab in my kitchen. I put on my safety goggles, gloves and tied my hair back in a hairnet. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating the slightest bit, but I did pour a small glass of water on the BurpCatcher just to see if it would leak onto my shoulder. I have to say that it did pretty well. It's by no means water proof, but it is way better than using let's say a dish towel for example (I have no idea who would do that!) Although it eventually does leak through, you do have adequate time to remove it before endangering your clothing.

Here are a couple other things that I really liked about it.

It packs really well in a diaper bag. Unlike the bulky cloth diaper, this folds up pretty small and is very light weight, and so is easy to shove in a diaper bag.
It's very soft which is nice for babies' faces if you're wiping them after they have already spit up into the toy bin.
When you're out in public, it looks much better than a cloth diaper.
It was designed by a mom of three; I always like supporting ideas that other moms come up with when I can.

My overall feeling on this product is that it would make a good gift from a friend for a baby shower or right after the baby is born. If you have a baby though who does have reflux, or projectile vomits, I would go out and get this.

posted by Alex Elliot @ 9:18 PM 0 comments

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Name:	Alex Elliot
Home:	MA, United States
About Me:	Professional Mom of two cats, a dog, an ant farm, and oh yeah...two boys: a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Also found in my house is my husband who is known on this blog as The Big Giraffe.
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