Fiyyah Econo review
I found Fiyyah when I was looking about for UK nappy producers (watch this space, a post to come!). I was immediately struck by the Econo offering. My personal nappy collection largely contains preloved Bumgenius Flip nappies, which is a flat insert that fits into a wrap. I think this was an old style when I first picked it up 3.5 years ago and now it’s a bygone dinosaur that you can’t seem to get now. Seeing the Econo with its beautiful wrap and flat inserts pulled at my heartstrings a little. So close in principle to what I’ve spent over 3.5 solid years using with my own two! It’s priced at the premium end of the market @ £22.99 for a wrap with 2 inserts, but the quality of the materials explains the price point. One insert has a stay-dry fleece layer with bamboo underneath and the other is hemp. Bamboo and hemp are the most absorbent nappy fabrics and they’re premium natural fibres. The colourways for the wraps lend themselves to classic and muted tones which emanate a gentle classiness. But of course, these are a premium London nappy, darlings! Everything about the Econo looked appealing and I knew I wanted them in the library.
I struck gold when it came to buying my initial nappies as Fiyyah were having a sale and I snapped up 2 Econo’s @ £15 each! That’s a steal for the materials, so I was super buzzed and couldn’t wait to try them on my 21 mo son! The first thing that struck me upon opening the package (which was a beautifully decorated brown bag, so bonus points for no plastic!) was the wrap. It’s a poppered BTP with double layer PUL which feels vinyl-like on the inside. It felt so sturdy and reassuring that leaks were not on the agenda for this nappy. The Fiyyah wrap means business! Alongside its sumptuous thick PUL, the wrap is endowed with a generous double-gusset. Ahhhh, how I love a double-gusset wrap! Any parent of a heavy-wetter will know the value of a good double gusset!
The inserts snap into the wrap, but can also just be laid flat. And let’s now turn our attention to those inserts. Wow. Huge. Ginormous! Gargantuan, even. Their elegant hourglass shape maximises absorbency across the entire bed of the wrap. And even when the wrap is set to its smallest rise setting, with only a little gentle fitting the inserts both fold into the smaller unit size nicely without clumsy creasing. Chapeau, Fiyyah! Very well thought-out.
As mentioned, each insert has a snap to fit into the wrap. However, they don’t snap together. So you can either snap one insert fast into the wrap and lay the other flat, or you can snap one end of each in. Either option leaves shuffle room if this nappy were left in a changing bag or taken out clumsily by an unsuspecting grandparent, say. I’d love to see the two inserts popper together so it all fixes into place to make neater for out and about use. (Yes, we’re still in lockdown but it won’t be forever – hopefully!) But that’s a minor detail.
After oogling and ogling the fabrics, shapes and designs, I threw the Econo in for a prewash. (BTW, the Econo comes with some lovely instructions on recycled card and came with a lovely little “thank you” message from Fiyyah). Then it was time to get this bad boy piece of kit on my boy!
Alas, alack and heartbreak! Through no fault of Fiyyah’s, their particular wrap shape simply doesn’t suit my little boy. He has super chunky upper thighs and the double gusset fixing on the wrap goes quite high towards the back of the wrap. So while the outer gusset looks generous, the inner part of the gusset is rather trim.
I tried all sorts of popper hacks on several occasions and couldn’t get a fit that allowed the inserts to work to their full potential. HOWEVER, let’s not write this nappy off. Not by a long shot. Just as clothes come in different cuts and styles, not all of which suit all body types, so it is with nappies. What works for one might not work for another baby body type and that’s no one’s fault. Our babies are gloriously unique and the Fiyyah wrap is a fairly tailored piece of work. Even though the fit wasn’t right for my son, its containment of a teething disaster poo still stood the test. We got wet leaking through the top of the hip where my boy’s sumo thighs forced the wrap too open, but never a poo leak. And the leak always occurred long before the nappy was at saturation capacity. I was determined to give the inserts more of a fighting chance, so I put them in a large wrap that works well for my son. It was a bit of a squash and a squeeze to neatly tuck in the inserts (they ARE huge!), but we managed and the inserts themselves smashed over 5 hours without reaching capacity. I usually like to give each nappy I trial one shot to failure and note how many hours it took, but my son’s current biological schedule and middle of the day poonamis render this impossible for now.
However, from looking at the inserts after 5 and a bit hours, it could have handled one more wee. So I estimate I could get 6-7 hours of absorbency from these inserts in fair conditions. This would make this nappy GREAT for long journeys where baby is likely to spend a fair amount of time in a buggy/sling/car seat. Mircofibre’s absorbency suffers under compression but this isn’t an issue for bamboo or hemp. Along with the double gusset = cross-country car journey saviour!
OK, so the wrap wasn’t for my son. I still think this is a great nappy. Yes, it’s premium, but so are the materials and performance capabilities. I’d love to see the two inserts snap together, but anyone who’s read my other reviews knows I’m pernickety. If you have a slim-legged baby prone to leg-leaks, I’d suggest giving the Fiyyah Econo a good look! I understand that Fiyyah are a new player on the cloth bum market, but they’ve started out with a great nappy in the Econo and I look forward to seeing where the brand heads in the coming years.
Watch my YouTube review here https://youtu.be/BSWvsihCTPE
This nappy is available to hire from the Cloth Bums library, which operates in the North Herts area. Contact support@clothbums.co.uk to find out more.