All in twos
An All in Two (or Ai2) is a two-part nappy – wrap or cover plus inserts. As a rule, the inserts or soakers are snapped in to the cover, but some brands offer inserts that are designed to lay on the wrap, rather than snapped in to it.
Examples of snap-in inserts:
Examples of inserts that are not snapped in to the cover:
These nappies are oftentimes called “hybrid#, as they can be used in more ways than one, either with the soakers that come with them or others, for example flats, or even with disposable soakers.
The major advantage of this system is that the cover can be reused, if you have more soaker sets. This means it is a more economical way of using cloth (wraps and covers are more affordable than whole nappies). Each wrap can be reused up to three times, provided it is not soiled. However, there are all in twos that I don’t recommend you reuse, as they wrap itself has some sort of absorbent layer and we can’t tell for sure if they’re wet or not. An example of this is the Close Parent pop-in, a nappy I love but whose wrap I don’t reuse.
Close Parent pop in
This wrap has a fleecy interior and I don’t recommend you reuse it.
The wraps are really easy to wash and dry quickly. As such, if we have more soaker sets of inserts, all we need to do is replace these and the nappies are quicker to go on the bum! This is another great advantage this system has. It is estimated we need about 3 soaker sets per wrap; the soakers can be tumble dried and the nappy is much quicker to go on the bum.
The downside is that if the inserts or soakers are snapped in, they have to be of the same brand… however, the wraps, with or without snaps, can be used with whatever inserts we see fit – muslins, prefolds, terries… they dry quicker than modern nappy inserts and they have less layers and can be opened up to dry. Plus, these can be handwashed, making this the ideal system when travelling. For a video on how to handwash flats and prefolds, click here.
Another “downside” is we may take longer fiddling with swapping the inserts when changing the nappy, rather than picking one up that is already ready to go. In any case, this is something we quickly get used to.
This sytem has been winning people over and I’m a huge fan!
