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.
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
[This post was written by Susie Kim.]
I think the reason that the sodium polyacrylate was implicated in Toxic Shock Syndrome is b/c it was so absorbant that women weren’t changing their tampons frequently enough (some were going for a day or two!), and as such, it was adhering to the vaginal mucosa, causing tissue breakdown and an opportunity for bacterial growth. IMHO there isn’t much concern about TSS unless you don’t change your baby’s diaper but once a day and you don’t treat diaper rash. And by definition, the skin on baby’s bum is much less delicate than the vaginal mucosa.
Definitely a good aRticle to give a breakdown of the cost involved. I opted for these diapers for several reasons for my second child:
1. he has firm stools b/c he’s now on solids, even though he is only 6 months and still breastfeeding (my first child still has blowouts and he’s 2.5!)
2. I had some extra covers from the cloth diapers that I used early on but the pre-folds are now too small.
3. I have a neighbor who composts (we just moved and haven’t gotten there yet) who will put them in her heap. Our plumbing is a little delicate, so I haven’t flushed much…that said – I question the idea that it will break down when put in a land fill – no matter what you put into a land fill it won’t break down with out some kind of composting process going on – that’s why you can find newspapers that look like they came off the presses yesterday in the middle of a 50 year old landfill.
4. the covers are actually really great with cloth – I’ve used them with “Thirsties” doublers and with pre-folds and I think they contain things pretty well – just have to fold the ends “in” – I like them every bit as well as the cloth covers I’ve used – even a little better b/c you don’t have to wash the outer cover.
Thanks for your article! It’s great to read how differently people do things with cloth/dispos, etc.
I believe Kendra is right… the association with TSS and sodium polyacrylate was its super-absorbency leading to too infrequent changing of a woman’s tampon.
Assuming your baby doesn’t poop, the gel would stop absorbing urine a very long time before your baby would experience any ill effects from sitting in his/her own urine.
I had the same experience with blow outs and gdiapers. We don’t use them anymore.
I’m curious as to why you wash your cloth diapers daily? We only do diaper laundry once or twice a week. We have about 30 pocket diapers for our toddler and some prefolds for back up.
We’re going on 5 months of using g-Diaps pants with OG Cotton prefolds and rice liners. We only use the gDiap inserts once a month when the diaper bag runs low when we’re out and about.
We’ve had the same issue with blowouts but not everytime. Infact, less often than with our other pants thanks to the snap-in liner.
We do laundry every 3-5 days. It’s pretty low effort. We throw the whizzed-on rice liners in the washer and dryer with the prefolds.
It works well for us.
I do wish the gDiap legs and waist had more elasticity but we’re not using them for their intended purpose.
We have 6 pairs of pants and about 6 dozen prefolds (Laundry every other day was too much).
I have had great success with the Bumkin pants and gDiap liner… A hybrid of a hybrid.
I just wanted to say that we have been using the gdiapers and we love them. Every diaper method has its little challenges that the user has to get used to. We decided we would rather deal with snaps and inserts than washing the cloth ones and all that jazz. Also…the diaper service we attempted to use for our brief stint with cloth diapers claimed to be earth friendly, but must have used bleach in their laundry because every time we started to try them out again ( we gave it a month) the baby started getting a nasty rash within the day, and we were changing her frequently so it was not an issue of the diapers being on for too long.
Have you ever heard of Elimination Communication? We started it when she was 3 weeks old by having her in cloth diapers most of the time but offering her opportunities to use a potty after naps and when we thought she might be signaling. Now at 10 months old my daughter often naps without diapers and is diaperless while she plays often too. It is completely non-punitive, and the babies learn from the beginning what a potty is for so potty training happens naturally and usually early. My daughter has no problem holding pee for a few minutes (so no rushing her to the potty), as she has never lost that ability by always going in diapers. There is lots of information about it, I really like this site: http://www.tribalbaby.org
Love your site by the way. Stumble got me here earlier today and I’ve been looking around ever since.
I could not agree with you more! I felt more wasteful when I used g diapers. And my son had rashes, which makes me think something is not ‘safe’ or tested enough.
I got into gdiapers aftermy third turned one. I saw them at the grocery store and said why not? We are not supper earthy either. I did have a really hard time with my boy potty training it took almost a year and we still have issues. The Disposables are to absorbent. My third child is also a boy so we switched to these so he becomes aware of bowel movements early. They work great and we have only 2 liners we have been using for 3 months and just now are going to buy some more. We did start him on these when he has pure water for stool and they only leaked once. Yea, Gdiapers! I also love how you can put cloth inserts in if you need to! My huband even thinks they are awesome, it did take a little training on how to do it backwards and all. We all love them, try them when your child gets older and bowels are easier to predict if you have trouble with newborns.(also no one every tells you with a newborn you can go through 10 diapers in a 5 minute diaper change!:)
I love the idea of gDiapers and can’t wait to try them with my next child. I know they will be more costly than conventional diapers but to me, the safety of my child from chemicals and the benefit to the Earth is worth it. I actually found a coupon for gDiapers and posted about it on Dealio.com. Check out this link to see the post and the coupon details…. pretty good deal!
http://www.dealio.com/blog/2009/01/amazon-coupon-alert-20-off-eco-friendly-gdiapers/
We have used g-diapers since our son was a week old. So far its worked out much better than disposables. He is not as red or rashy, and although I agree that snapping in the liners takes work, it seems like just a little more work than the disposables. Haven’t tried cloth or cloth inserts, but they’re not an option for us right now. As far as blowouts, etc., we have not encountered anything out of the ordinary. Have seen the occasional blowout with disposables, but the odd thing with the g’s is that it seems like blowouts occur more often the tighter the diapers are strapped onto him.
all in all, we’re happy with the gdiapers.
I have used the inserts for gDiapers in regular diaper covers. I purchased proRaps seconds and paid $4.50 each for them. In size small, I have 10 covers and find that there are times when they are all dirty. This way you could have more covers at the beginning when they poop every hour. They are also super easy to hand wash if you wanted to purchase less covers.
As they get older and have fewer blow outs, gDiapers work better if you don’t have a washing machine… or you could make a whole bunch of liners for your gDiapers from receiving blankets.
I just want to say we LOVE g diapers and have been using it for about a month now. I found that they are even selling at Babies R Us and am really excited that it is taking off. After doing many blog readings online, I have found a lot of parents on the fence about this product.
I understand that g diapers were made with the intent to have a flushable liner but we use the product with a basic trifold cloth insert.
With this said, I really know and understand that the product was not made for cloth in mind-but I think it is an amazing product for such a use!
I have told everyone about the cost effectiveness and about the lack of bulk compared to the other cloth diapers out their (due to the elasticity). As well as the lack of washing both the inside and outside every time! So there is less washing, but still no leaking…yeah!
My husband and I found over 2 years:
disposable -$2,000 + and NEVER green
“modern” cloth diaper-$500+ and GREEN
g diapers with cloth inserts-$150+ and GREEN
PLEASE SHARE THIS!!!
We started gDiapers with my son when he was 8 months old, after using every different brand of sposies for most of his life and always battling diaper rash. Within a week of using g’s, his diaper rash was completely gone! One of our biggest reasons for getting the g’s instead of cloth was because we only had a coin-op laundry and couldn’t afford to wash dipes all the time. We used g’s until he was 23 months old and potty trained… the transition went SO well! When our baby girl was born (at almost 9 pounds), we used the 7th Generation until she got to 13 pounds, then started using the medium sized gPants. Still love them for her! I recently bought the gCloth inserts, and use them at home. Love those too! We have our own washer/dryer now and with 15 gPants and 12 gCloths, we’re doing laundry SO much less often than a friend that uses BumGenius dipes. I “sell” everyone I know gDiapers. More and more of my friends and family are trying them and loving them!!
We love these diapers. Super easy to use and great on both my toddler and newborn. Love the fun color! Also, though I always flush, they can also just be tossed in the garbage if you are not sure about your toilet. Since the inserts have zero plastic, they will stil biodegrade in under 150 days, not several hundred years like disposables.
Though they can be somewhat expensive, I have a great coupon for $30 off an Everyday G’s six pack (3 orange and 3 vanilla) So you get 6 covers for only $40, that is less than $7 a cover. Just use coupon code g1492Torres. You can’t go wrong!
Hi! If anyone is still interested in using gDiapers (they now have cloth inserts as well as flushable refills) Everyday g’s six pack, 3 orange and 3 vanilla and now available for just $40!! I promise, this is no scam! the price is usually $70, but until the end of the month, when you enter the code, $30 comes off!!! Go to gDiapers.com and at check-out,Just enter in the coupon code g832Mulhern (case sensitive) and get a great deal! 6 gDiapers for only $40!! i have been using them for months, and I love them. They work just a well as disposables!
I have been using gdiapers with my second since she was a newborn(she’s now 3 months). She is exclusively breastfed and the gdiapers rarely leak even wih those explosive poops. I’ve had a few leaks when the diaper is pretty full when she poops, but only onto the gpant at the legs, never up the back, and never on her clothing, and even this is pretty rare. Maybe you weren’t fitting them quite right? You have to make sure the edges of the liner are right in the creases of their legs, then fasten the pants, then pull up front and back to ensure a good seal.
I’ve been using gdiapers with my newborn (after the cord fell off) and love them. I started using EC at 3 weeks and it has really cut down on poopy diapers. I use cloth while around the house and use the gdiapers while on outing or overnight. No problem with blowouts but HERE’S A TRICK TO AVOID BLOWOUTS – I turn the paper edge underneath the inner, absorbent liner when I’m stuffing them into the plastic liner. you really need to get a seal, if the insert is bunching that is where you will get a blow out.
we love gdiapers and they work great for our second daughter. she rarely has any blow outs, no more then with reagular huggies that we used before. the big reason we did the switch to gdiapers is because my daughter has really sensitive skin. she would get diaper rash at least once a week and once had it for 6 weeks without going away, 3 dr. appointments and a $200 diaper rash cream. since doing to switch to gdiapers, she hasnt had diaper rash again. i buy mine at Buy Buy Baby and use a $5 or $10 off Bed Bath and Beyond coupon. use the coupon and buy the $25 starter kits, you get the gpants for under $10 each. you can also buy new gpants on ebay as well. in the end, gdiapers ended up being cheaper then huggies + the diaper rash cream and dr. appointments. WE LOVE THEM and will use them for on our next expected baby in june!
Thanks, I was going to buy these (6 pack) until I read this post….it was a passing thought and I am glad I didnt waste my money, I think I will stick with Huggies Naturals for a sensitive little bum
If you don’t like chemicals, use cloth. We have had a great experience with gdiapers.
Any disposable diaper, even those claiming that they are “natural” and free of chemicals, are still bad for the environment, not because of the chemicals, but because of the plastic that keeps the pee and poop in the diaper. That plastic is what takes 500 years to decompose. so, you may be buying the “best” disposable diaper, but it’s still a disposable, and still has plastic that takes 500 years to decompose.
Best thing is cloth. Regardless of the system you use (gdiapers, prefolds na dcovers, AIOs, etc.), it is less harmful on the environment, becuase instead of 6000 diapers per child going to the landfill (which is the average for a newborn to potty train), only a couple of dozen (if that) go into the landfill, and that’s AFTER you use the cloth for all your children, something you can’t do with ANBY disposables on the market.
gdiapers may have gel in their disposable liners, but it doesn’t have plastic, and will decompose within 55 days. See their experiments on video on their site, or on youtube to see the comparison and see “live” how they actually do decompose.
I use cloth part-time, but I’m trying to do it full-time. I feel part-time is better than never. I use covers with inserts and prefold, and I love AIOs. I do want to try gdiapers too though, but I would use them with the cloth inserts, or use my prefolds in them and only use the disposable insert while out of the house. I’m hoping to buy some soon, if I can find a good price.
I bought G-diapers in mid 2007, and they were wonderful; survived everything my breast-fed newborn threw at ’em. To my great frustration, they completely changed the design of the outside sometime in 4Q 2007. As I really believed in the G diaper mission, I emailed them to let them know in the gentlest terms, I preferred the old design. I thought they might like to know what a Mommy using them really thought! My mistake. I received a call back from a service rep, who was adamant that I must be wrong; the new design was an improvement. I was totally shocked about her tone. when I hung up, I was just frustrated they didn’t want to hear back from their market. Good companies are able to evolve with their market only if they keep their finger on the pulse of what their consumers are saying! Needless to say, I transitioned more fully to cloth diapers and left G diapers behind in the dust.
I’ve been using gdiapers for 2 weeks now. My daughter is still in tiny g’s but we love them so far. No blowouts yet. She does have a small rash but our pedi says its from her pooping so often, not the diapers. We use them with gmd prefolds and the flushables