Eco Child’s Play

Although, initially I had opted for Organic Cloth Diapers; plans changed when I realized that I would have to wash them daily. Since I do not own a washer or a dryer; this posed a problem. I was still resistant to the idea of disposables, (after the umbilical cord came off that is) so I decided to try out the supposedly Eco-friendly gDiapers. Even Julia Roberts is a fan of them.

Marketing itself as the solution to the poopy diaper conundrum;(disposable diapers are filling up the landfills and cloth diapers uses lots of water)  gdiaper is the hybrid of the two. It has the cotton outer pants, with nylon liner, and flushables made out of wood pulp and super absorbing gel (sodium polyacrylate). This is the part that made me weary. Although it’s supposed to be “safe for humans and environment” according to their website, this is the stuff that’s been taken out of tampons because of its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome. 

• » See also: The Joy of Green Cleaning by Leslie Reichert
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Further more, Breastfed babies might have a problem with this diaper. Daily (even several) blowouts are notorious in infants especially during the early weeks. Although the website claimed that poop would rarely get on the cotton pants, it happened with every single blow out. So I had the inserts, no clean pants. And I am not the only one who had this gdiaper problem. Although they recommend four, (and I had five) you would probably need about eight or nine.  Each outer pants are $16.99 and comes in two sizes. So you would have to get more when your baby reached 14 lbs. It’s a hefty investment to make, and the inserts are $52 per case with 160 small flushables which would run you about over $100 a month. Disposables run about $50 to $80 and Cloth Diapers $25 to $60 per month. It is the most expensive diaper option.

The gdiapers are also very labor intensive. I had to clip on the nylon and then tuck in the inserts. It was too damn time consuming for a mother of a newborn. Ok, it’s obvious, I am not a huge fan of these gdiapers. But it does have it’s good points. To break it down

The Good

• Cotton Outer Pants are Adorable. Baby could wear it with a shirt in the summer and it would be an instant outfit.
• Chlorine Free
• Certified Cradle to Cradle
• The flushables are actually quite ingenious; it doesn’t stink up the house the way disposable and cotton will.
• It does flush down pretty well. Just remember to rip it apart and use the swisher stick.
• You can compost the wet diapers if you are concerned about water conservation.
• Customer service was very prompt in their response and very cordial. Unused inserts can be returned for refund or exchanged for a bigger size if outgrown.

The bad

• Do not like the gel that’s in the insert no matter how much they say “it’s safe” Phthalate and BPA were once considered safe too.
• Expensive
• Poop got on the Cotton pants everytime and had to be washed all the time.
• Too much effort with clipping in nylon and inserts

With these factors in mind, I decided to go with cloth and deal with the daily laundry. I am slowly transitioning into cloth Hemp and Cotton Blend Diapers) and Tushies Disposable Cholorine Free and Gel Free Diaper when convenience is needed. Although gdiapers were good in theory; It just didn’t work for me.

Sources:

New Parent Guide

The Diaper Hyena

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