Five years ago...

Five years ago two incredible things happened to the Baba Me household, and they share a birthday.


Firstly our fourth, and final, baby Feidhelm was born, aka Mr Duracell. {So named because his internal batteries never ever ever run out! I always maintain if he had been our first child, we would only have had one!}.


This week we have been planning for his 5th Birthday party on Saturday. I realised that Mr Duracell was not the most reliable source of class names when we came to the fourth Lucy {in a small country school of less than 20 children!}. He also told me there was an orange Rachel and a bold Rachel in his class. I just got the class list, no Rachel at all!!! This should be fun.


On the day he came home from hospital, we were straight back at work. Back then it was just me and Pete, and quite frankly maternity leave was just not an option. When we arrived at work the parcel I had been waiting on from America had arrived. It was brand new nappies from Cotton Babies called the bumGenius. They had launched in America in December, but these were the first ones to hit Europe. Immediately {as all true fluffheads know!}, the cloth nappies were whipped out and on to his bum. Yes I know I lecture all the moms who buy from us about pre washing... but.... well you know.... They fitted his three day old bum perfectly. Amazing. More amazingly they also fitted his 22 month old brother perfectly as well.

WOW. WOW. WOW. I was in awe. Nothing like these had ever been around. The market for cloth nappies then was HUGE, and I mean HUGE two piece systems or sized pocket nappies. The pocket nappies were slim but were sized, not great with breastfed poo and expensive so not making huge grounds. Cloth nappies were a niche, only for the die hard fans and I truly believe if it was not for bumGenius shaking up and completely changing the market – they may have remained so.


I was determined to find fault, nothing could be this good, surely?.... I threw everything at them. The very clever Jenn and her team at Cotton Babies knew what they were doing. Jenn had been selling nappies for a number of years before this, and it was very clear she knew her fluff. They passed every test I could think off. Being onesize, they just made so much sense and made my life so much easier.


I knew instantly that these new nappies were going to be a hit, a huge hit. These nappies, were quite simply, revolutionary and market changing. Its no exaggeration to say that modern cloth nappies owe a huge deal to this design. I struggle to think of any cloth nappy launched since then which has not 'taken elements' from bumGenius.

Roll forward five years, and we are now on v.4 bumgenius. Baba me has grown from me & Pete to a wonderful team of 18, Mr Duracell started school in September, and the Baba Me days of changing nappies are long over. I still love working with Jenn and the Cotton Babies team. Jenn is simply amazing, not resting on her laurels she has since gone on to launch another revolutionary cloth nappy system – Flip. You can read all about the growth of bumgenius in her own words.


BumGenius and Mr Duracell birthday parties are this Saturday. The bumGenius one is being held in the new Baba Me baby shop in Newry and promises to be a fun packed day. Free bumGenius will be given to the first 5 people through the door and lots lots more.


But, our online fans want to celebrate as well so there will be some special things happening online. To kick off with we are giving away some free bumgenius nappies to random comments below, just tell us what amazing things have happened in the last five years for you.