Bambo Nature Classic Diaper
$0.37 / per diaper
Starting at $0.37/diaper
Gentle on the earth and your baby’s skin, these soft, eco-friendly disposables are made with natural materials and a sustainable manufacturing process.
Overview
Bambo Nature Classic is one of our favorite diapers for sensitive skin, if your aesthetic is a bit more minimal (no prints) and if your budget is a bit higher (e.g. size 3’s will run you about $0.37/diaper).
The Bambo Nature Classic diaper has above-average performance on both absorption and leakage. The absorption and leakage scores are good enough to put your mind at ease about frequent blow-outs and leaks — and the diaper really excels with high volume absorption, so you can be confident using it for overnights. Bambo Nature also maintains the coveted Nordic Swan Ecolabel, which means you’ll be helping keep the earth healthy, as well as your child.
Pick for:
- Performance – Above average performance for absorption and leakage, with solid overnight performance.
- Sensitive – Full transparency into ingredients used (and not used), with no fragrances or lotions, and elementally chlorine free.
- Eco-friendly – Maintains the coveted Nordic Swan Ecolabel certification, so mother earth is happy.
Skip for:
- Style – Includes a wetness indicator and some cute animal friends on the front waistband, but otherwise a blank slate.
- Budget – Ranging from $0.37 to $0.56 per diaper, but you do get a lot of bang for the buck.
Jump to:
Company Background
Bambo is a family-owned business in Denmark, run by parents dedicated to creating eco-friendly baby products that are healthy for your baby. Bambo believes that choosing safe, healthy, and environmentally responsible products shouldn’t mean sacrificing performance. The company works hard to achieve and maintain ecologically responsible certifications working with Abena, a Denmark company known for its environmentally sensitive manufacturing process. According to the Bambo website, “Bambo Nature was the first baby diaper in the world certified with the esteemed Nordic Ecolabel and EU Flower Ecolabel.” They are also members of the United Nations Global Compact.
Performance
Score 6/10
Bambo Nature Classic earned a slightly above average score for both absorption and leakage from Baby Gear Lab. This means that you will find better options if you’re not optimizing for baby-friendly and earth-friendly factors, but can also rest easy knowing that Bambo Nature Classic diapers will get the job done.
+ Absorption
Score 6/10
This is the “performance” measurement that matters most to babies. Bad absorption is what causes diaper rash and other uncomfortable situations for babies. Absorption should be quick and complete, in order to pull moisture away from a baby’s skin and lock it away. The diaper’s topsheet is the material that sits directly against the baby’s skin and (ideally) acts as a one-way barrier by allowing liquid to pass through into the diaper but NOT back out to the baby. The diaper’s Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) core is the material responsible for absorbing and holding moisture. It expands considerably as it absorbs moisture, which is why a wet diaper feels so bulky and full. These two layers are responsible for the “quick and complete” absorption — quick transfer through the topsheet and complete absorption by the SAP core. If one or the other is not up to the task, the diaper’s overall absorption score will suffer.
During Baby Gear Lab‘s testing, the Bambo Nature Classic did transfer some moisture to the test paper and some run-off in the pan, but the amount is not significant and is better than many diapers tested. The testing indicated that the Bambo’s ability to absorb higher volumes of liquid was one of the best, meaning it can be used confidently overnight.
+ Leakage
Score 6/10
This is the “performance” measurement that matters most to parents. Leakage problems mean parents are cleaning up wet cribs and the dreaded car seat blow-out. Diapers should form a comfortable seal around the baby’s legs and torso to keep the urine and poop in place between changes. There are a number of factors in the design, construction, and material choice of the diaper that will impact leakage. This is also an area where user error plays an important role. Proper sizing and fit are critical before assessing the pros/cons of one diaper vs. another when it comes to leakage. Oftentimes, there is a parental learning curve with a new diaper brand and leaks will become less frequent as you become more familiar with the brand.
Similar to absorption scores, the Bambo Nature Classic fell in the middle of the pack for leakage scoring. The run-off that was seen during testing indicates that the liquid (i.e. fake urine) did not absorb quick enough into the diaper’s core, allowing for potential leakage. After auditing online reviews across Amazon and other retailers, some parents reported leaks there as well. As noted above, much of this could potentially be contributed to incorrect sizing or fit.
Sensitive
Score 7/10
Every baby is unique, but one thing they all share is that their skin needs a lot of extra TLC. A baby’s skin is significantly more sensitive and permeable than an adult’s, which means that the chemicals and materials that you put on your baby’s skin need to be vetted and understood. We assess each diaper for potential allergens and known toxic chemicals. We also do our best to help you understand the relative risk of each factor and will not scare you into buying only the most expensive diaper.
The Bambo Nature Classic is top of the class when it comes to making a baby-healthy diaper with none of the hazardous chemicals you care about, including no fragrances, no lotions, no phthalates, no organotins, and no formaldehyde.
+ Certifications
Score 5/10
While transparency is key to a diaper brand’s reputation and understanding what goes into making their product, independent third-party certifications are absolutely necessary is holding the industry accountable. A good diaper brand tells you what is/isn’t in their diapers and a great diaper brand proves it.
The Bambo Nature Classic has the following third-party certifications related to baby health and sensitivity.
- Dermatologically Tested – Independent institutes consistently conduct dermatological tests on all our products. By testing subjects who are predisposed to atopic skin diseases such as eczema, we can ensure that even people with sensitive skin can use our products.
+ Transparency
Score 8/10
Transparency of ingredients, unfortunately, is severely lacking in the diaper industry. The lack of regulations in the US means that manufacturers are able to hide hazardous materials and obfuscate ingredient lists behind words like “fragrance” or “ink”.
Bambo Nature Classic is NOT one of those diaper brands — they are the #1 diaper company when it comes to ingredient transparency. They have detailed ingredient lists on their website and packaging, a glossary of each ingredient with details on usage/function, and also comprehensive lists of what is NOT in the diaper and its manufacturing processes.
+ Ingredients
Score 5/10
Bambo Nature Classic was significantly above average when it comes to the quality of their ingredients that go into their diapers and the manufacturing process. Let’s start with what IS in the diapers.
- Non-woven backsheet (outer side) of polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE)
- Absorbent of polyacrylate (SAP) and cellulose (ECF fluff)
- Topsheet of non-woven (PP)
- Acquisition layer of non-woven (PET/Co-PET)
- Hook tab fastening system of non-woven (PP/PE)
- Adhesive made of synthetic rubber—no optical brightener added
- Wetness indicator
- Elastics made from elastane.
Equally important, if not more, is the list of ingredients NOT found in the Bambo Nature Classic diapers or their manufacturing process. Let’s take a look at that list.
- Chlorine (elementally free of chlorine, ECF)
- Latex
- Lotions
- Perfumes
- Dyes (though does use ink in the waistband)
- Parabens
- Deodorants
- Phthalates
- Organotins
- Heavy metals
- Formaldehyde
- PVC
+ Comfort
Score 7/10
Unfortunately, we can’t ask a newborn how one diaper fits over another. We can, however, ask parents to gauge the comfort of their child and get a good sense for which diapers are the most comfortable for different babies. Our scores for comfort are subjective measures based on real-world testing and analysis of thousands of product reviews (i.e. asking and listening to parents). Diapers are meant to be universal, but in reality there are differences between diapers that will make the fit and comfort better for one body type over another. Honest diapers, for example, are significantly more narrow than Naty’s line of Eco diapers. This means that a longer, thinner body type might work better in Honest diapers — or it might simply mean that you’ll need to size-up on Honest earlier. We try to provide all the context you need in making the right decision for your child, as well as the right decisions on when/if to size up.
Bambo earned an average comfort score. The high in this metric is 9, with about nearly half of other diapers scoring higher. However, we found that many of our top scorers did not do much better in this metric, indicating that comfort doesn’t translate to functionality and/or performance.
Bambo uses bamboo for the back fabric and inner liner. The material is soft, and the motion points are skin-friendly with no roughness compared to the competition. The Bambo diaper is a comfortable option with a soft fabric-like inner liner. The elastic on the sides and back aren’t our favorite, but the rest of the diaper is cozy. Testers liked the higher back for keeping poops contained and felt the inner liner was soft and very skin-friendly.
Eco-friendly
Score 7/10
We assess the eco-friendliness of the various diaper brands with a complete lifecycle philosophy (cradle-to-cradle). As best we can, we look at the manufacturing, supply chain, materials, and disposal of each diaper brand to give a full picture of their impact on our environment. Some of this relates to climate change (e.g. energy intensive production, long-distance supply chains, etc.), while others relate to the health of our environments and ecosystems (e.g. chlorine used in manufacturing, landfill compostability, etc.).
Bambo Nature Classic is definitely a “green” diaper, with bragging rights earned through maintaining the coveted Nordic Swan Ecolabel, which is a world-leading certification that ensures the company is meeting high standards of sustainability and eco-friendly practices.
+ Sustainability
Score 9/10
Bambo maintains a strong list of independent third-party certifications that prove its commitment to being a sustainable, eco-friendly brand and company.
- Nordic Swan Ecolabel – With the goal of creating a sustainable society through sustainable consumerism, the Nordic Ecolabel evaluates the environmental impact of products throughout their entire life cycle—from raw material selection, to the manufacturing process, straight through to the disposal of the product.
- Forest Stewardship Council – FSC is an international non-governmental organization dedicated to the promotion of responsible forest management worldwide. FSC certified products are made from raw materials from well-managed forests and responsible sources. The label’s traceability and integrity are upheld through stringent control measures, and by choosing FSC-certified products, you help take care of forests and the people and wildlife that call them home.
+ Ingredients
Score 6/10
Many of the ingredients using in diaper production find their way back into our ecosystems — whether through industrial by-products, off-gassing, or landfill disposal. For example, all diapers will claim to be “cholorine free”, while the details vary significantly between an “elementally” cholorine free (ECF) process and a “totally” chlorine free (TCF) process. ECF pulp production results in the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment such as halogenated organic pollutants and chlorinated compounds, which TCF pulp production is (as you’d expect) totally free of these risks.
Bambo Nature Classic diapers use the ECF pulp production processes and do pose a risk to local environments. That said, the other ingredient choices in Bambo Nature Classic diapers show a company that is making concerted effort to minimize these risks and potential impacts.
+ Supply Chain
Score 4/10
Manufactured in Denmark, there is no way around a large carbon footprint, as diapers are shipped overseas for consumption in the US (more than likely, shipped several times between various distribution centers before arriving at your door).
A baby can use more than 2,500 diapers in their first year, with 10+ diapers used each day as a newborn. The costs can add up quickly and every family’s budget is a personal consideration in picking diapers.
The Bambo Nature Classic is a high-end diaper with high-end pricing.
- Size 1 costs: $0.38 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
- Size 2 costs: $0.41 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
- Size 3 costs: $0.37 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
- Size 4 costs: $0.41 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
- Size 5 costs: $0.46 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
- Size 6 costs: $0.56 per diaper for the Bambo Nature Classic
Style
Score 3/10
These diapers are not covered in patterns, but they do have a cute animal design on each diaper. As the sizes increase, the design becomes more prominent on the diaper. This is pretty clever, as older children better appreciate the fun factor of these Danish bears and tigers.
What makes them Danish? We’re not sure, but they definitely have that Scandinavian feel.
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