A Review of gDiapers Flushable Diapers
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Reviewed by Dasha:
Now that gDiapers has a working online store, I bought a starter kit. They shipped it out the same day I ordered from their drop shipment warehouse in Ohio. So far I was impressed.
I tried our first diaper for night time. When Tommy woke up for his first feeding at 12am, I ended up wet from the diaper not absorbing, right, or being on wrong, or whatever reason. I did the tear and flush and it worked great. Then we had out first poopy diaper in the morning. this time the rip and dump didn’t work very well… at all… everything was stuck and after about 5 minutes of trying to empty the contents I gave up and threw the whole thing in. After it becoming very wet it fell apart after being lifted again with the stick.
The white plastic liner that comes out got stained and still has not come out. I will try to wash it in the washing machine and see if that make a difference. After I was washing the diaper I noticed that everything is made in China. In this house, we are anti china products… so this was a big disappointment as I was still hoping these could work out for us.
Over all the quality seems good, but knowing that it’s a china made product I know its days are numbered. I will be writing the company about my experience and will post any interesting results. I was the 377th customer for their online store and they asked for my feedback.
This is Kim at gDiapers. I thought I might post on your blog in response to
some of your points…hope that’s ok. Firstly, I am sorry your first
experience was a leaky one! Our fit can take some getting use to, but
customers have found that once you get the hang of it, you really will be
leak free.
That being said, the inner liner will get dirty with most poops. It is why
we made it “snap-in/out” and give a spare. This way you only have to wash
the liner and not the entire pair of little g pants when your child poops.
Depending on your baby’s diet, the liner might stain, but usually it does
come out in the wash (you can wash/dry both the little gs and the liners).
I can also recommend a few flushing tips. Try tearing down BOTH sides, then
pulling open the top. This way, the entire inner core comes away.
As for the China issue…we certainly understand and respect where you are
coming from. We work closely with China Labour Watch and in a few months
will be opening the Happy Planet Mill. By increasing the standards of
employment, compensation, conditions and respect, we hope we are
contributing to a better China. If you prefer however, you can always buy
the covers/pants from our Australian company at eenee.com (made in
Australia). I did want to point out however, that parents only need 12
pairs of little gs for the lifetime of diapering their child, but you will
need 6,000 flushables….all made here in the USA.
Hope that helps clarify a few things. We obviously hope that you will give
us another try, but appreciate your feedback either way. We are committed
to making improvements going forward, so thanks for taking the time to
comment on us.
All the best,
Kim
I thought it was really nice of Kim to write back to you!
If they are made in china why are they so expensive? They are good for going out on trips, however when at home use cloth diapers as you will conserve more water washing them all at once instead of having to flush each diaper.
Also we have the leak problem too as well as the problem of poop around the leg area and staining.
I did not have leaking or staining, but I do have a fit issue. The velcro scratches my baby’s skin. She was using the medium covers, she’s 14 months and weighs around 16 pounds… could it be that because she’s long and thin I’m having this problem?
When my boys were in cloth (they were built like her) they had this problem with velcro covers. Any suggestions?
Hi-I am looking into buying gdiapers. My daughter- 9 week old Naomi Sabina- has an umbilical hernia, which has made it difficult to find a cloth diaper that fits her right. Do the little g’s have a low rise? I am trying to do cloth, but I have found that she soaks thru in 15 mins or less. This makes it a constant battle and such a water water. How absorbant are gdiapers? I want to do what’s right for the planet and my child!
I would like to try gdiapers with our baby - if we could afford it! We’ve used cloth, and 7th Generation. The 7th Gen Stage 2 is 22 cents per diaper. The med/lg size gdiaper liners are .45 or .40 per liner. It doesn’t seem right that the liners are so much more expensive when the design involves less material and is much less complex than the disposable diaper. And they are made in China! I think the only reason they can get away with charging so much is that they are appealing to a very elite demographic - environmentally aware, wealthy people who are willing and able to conteract their consumer guilt with $! Wish we could affort to mitigate our guilt, as well. Sigh.
Is the above comment fair? I mean, we don’t know what goes into this pricing. I presume there are alot of customs fees and overhead, for example. They are pricier than most disposables and cloth diapering systems, but I personally do not find the price totally overwhelming, and we are not rich. And, most importantly, I am so happy these are on the market!!! They should profit from their original kick butt concept!!! For moms like me, disposables are not even an option. At. All. I use cloth 100% of the time. These are giving me a much needed break and making my outings easier(no more dunking and ringing in nasty public toilets). I am thankful for this option!
I just bought some g-diapers this evening and have been trying them out. I have a two year old who is about 27 lbs and narrow hips and waist. He has been cloth diapered since birth. I sell cloth diapers in my store and have been getting alot of questions about g-diapers, so I thought I better give them a whirl. My first impression of the g-diaper was that there as a lot of of steps to prepare the diaper. I did like the idea of the velcro in back though, unitl I put it on him. I found it made it more difficult to get one properly. I also found the diaper to be very small. The rise was extremely low and I thought he was going to pee right over the top of it! THe gather nylon insert actually covers a very small area of the bum and came just over his penis. About half of the coverage of a cloth diaper. I checked online for a bigger size and couldn’t believe there isn’t one. He is very small for his age and I know several babies who just would never fit in a large. I had the same experience as the first person of the poop getting on the nylon insert. I found that ripping and swishing and then washing the soiled insert was way more time consuming (and gross) then dealing with a cloth diaper. With cloth I would have dumped the poop into the toilet(never dunk and ring!)and thrown it in the pail. After that I calculated the cost of the inserts (which are made in the USA, by the way-the covers are made in China)and I couldn’t justify the extra work, extra water use and extra cost of g-diapers as compared to cloth. One of the claims on the site mentions putting waste where it belongs “in the sewer”. Well, I think I will stick with the easier and cheaper method of doing that-washing cloth diapers in the washing machine!
We have just started using g-diapers on our newborn and are very happy with them so far. We don’t have enough experience and are going to try some Happy Heinys as well. We’re going to find what’s best.
I will say this, however… and I find that many of the comments on here are misguided. In terms of evaluating the diaper for price and environmental impact it’s more like 32.5 cents per insert if you are buying the large pack. Disposables are barely cheaper than that.
As far as environmental impact let’s weigh each:
Disposables - plastic and toxic gel. Take 500 years to dispose (and this is a stretch). Who knows what the gel does in terms of health/environment. Why not make a disposable diaper out of a natural gelatin like a gdiaper with a cornstarch based plastic?
Pockets - Very high upfront cost. Have to buy a lot of them. You will have to do laundry every 3 days even with 24 pairs of each size. They aren’t very good for out of the house diapering either. A good amount of water and detergent are added to your output from this much additional diapering. The environmental impact of freshwater usage is so much worse and more imposing than that of landfill usage. Don’t get me wrong - our amount of solid waste is obscene. But the amount of safe freshwater on the planet is dwindling fast and water bills aren’t all that cheap anymore. Using so much extra water and adding more soap to the environment seems like it’s not a great alternative either.
GDiapers (hybrid) - slightly lower per cost up front than pockets but you also need a lot less. Laundering these is as easy as pockets and needs to be done much less often as you can use one diaper cover a full day. As far as the plastic liners getting messy and stained… who cares? You don’t see them and they’re plastic. They sit next to poopy butts… who cares if they are stained… as long as they’re clean and stop liquid movement. Lastly, the option to throw out, compost or flush the inserts is wonderful. Flushing can be done on top of your normal flushing (which is what we do… not wasting any additional water.) Throwing them away uses no water and they degrade very quickly and are totally biodegradeable. Composting is the ultimate solution as you’re letting everything return back to it’s original state.
Each choice is a personal one and everyone has reasons for each. But it seems like people are bashing these diapers too much without understanding that they probably have the lowest environmental impact.
Personally we don’t buy things made in China and I was disappointed as well. On the flip side though, we were having real problems with nighttime diapering. We cloth diapered, solely, until my daughter was 8 months old by then she wasn’t waking much at night and so I didn’t change her diapers as much as I did prior to that time which meant WET! Wet bed, wet clothes, wet baby! Either that or I had her SO stuffed she couldn’t have been comfortable.
So we began to buy disposables for our nighttime solution. Desperately looking for an alternative solution, we bought the gDiapers. And lo and behold, yes a little bit of a pain the butt, but I’m getting good with them. I line my pockets, or just put them straight in her wool & fleece covers. I won’t be buying any more of the gDiaper covers unless I buy them direct from Australia, but the inserts are a great nighttime solution! She’s dry again, and I can’t be happier, especially since the inserts are made in the USA.
Now for our next child, we probably won’t be using the gDiapers inserts until we are past the bf poop that you get in the beginning, that’s a LOT of diaper changes and cloth worked great for us at that time, you change every 2 hours, a nice poopy so I can only imagine what a waste of diaper inserts that would be!!
Final review for a toddler: thumbs up!
I love gdiapers! I’ve found that they work great with cloth inserts inside or with the flushable refill. I highly recommend them. I haven’t found that they leak any more than the cloth or disposables that I had been using in the past.
Hi all, I just saw the gDiapers at the store but couldn’t commit to buying them before reading customer reviews, so thank you all for the comments (and the comparisons).
I recently read “Garbageland” by Elizabeth Royte and would like to point out a couple of relevant points she makes.
First, the idea of using water - especially fresh potable water and especially in the American SouthWest - for disposing of fecal matter is absurd.
Second, all these biodegradables (fecal matter as well as food scraps) in the sewage then ends up mixed with whatever else is being dumped into the sewage system - much of it toxic : “ordinary” household chemicals, motor oil, industrial waste etc. This is then precipitated. In the best cases it is then composted, usually just pelletized and either dumped or sold as “organic” fertilizer. As we know, almost nothing in a landfill actually degrades - it is usually bagged in plastic and then soon ends up buried under other refuse, away from the light and air required. Most of the mass loss in a landfill is just due to water leaching away or evaporating. We recently unintentionally observed this effect when I discovered in a misplaced backpack forgotten about for months, an old banana - dry and black and spotted with a bit of fungus or mold, but otherwise intact.
I wonder if “biodegradable” is a term like “recyclable”, as in “This is recyclable, but nobody will recycle it.”. I learnt in “Garbageland” that the little “recycling” symbol for plastics, the arrows in a triangle with a number inside, is copyrighted by the Plastic Manufacturers Association and has nothing whatsoever to do with “recyclability”.
Finally, Royte points out that the upstream waste we are responsible for (used for extracting, mining, producing, packaging and transporting our household consumer goods) is about 50 times as large as the amount we throw out as garbage.
Returning to gDiapers, I use a composter for food scraps and like the idea of composting the refills if I use this system. Has anyone experimented with this, and with what results? I would also like to know what they are made of.
I would like to know from Kim at gDiapers how much and what kind of upstream waste is generated in producing a refill. I am sure it is much less than that for a disposable, if so, perhaps you can use that in your marketing. If it is made from cornstarch, prices are going to rise due to increasing demand from the corn-ethanol industry.
Kim at gDiapers, I just went to your website and found the info on what they are made of - sorry, I should have done that before asking you.
Everyone keeps talking about water waste for cloth and g-diapers as opposed to disposable. Well, there is also a TON of water used and wasted in the manufacturing of disposable diapers! They are all together much more harmful. No contest.
I’ve been considering gDiapers for my newborn.
I’ve been to the gDiapers website.
Realistically, how many covers should I keep on hand?
Thank You.
I used cloth diapers for my son and washed them at home, it was great but my husband wasn’t as excited about it.
When I had my daughter we had just bought a real nice washing machine and my husband said he didn’t want me washing diapers on a regular basis in the new machines. Luckily we have a diaper service in our town and I was able to continue with cloth diapers.
Then we went on a trip and I couldn’t cart around stinky diapers, I heard about g diapers and gave them a try. Ihave used them for around town and at church for the past 8 months. They are pricey but have worked out well. I thought the environmental impact was worth it.
Now my diaper service company is closing down and I am trying to decide if I will use gdiapers full time or try something else. I can’t imagine using sposies with all of the plastic etc.
Then I started searching the web on gdiapers AAGH, there are so many people that argue on the environmental impact.
I flush our liners when I use the restroom so it is not extra water and I do not have to flush an extra time as long as I swish it enough.
I have started composting the wet ones, but don’t know exactly how that will work. I agree that if you just throw them away in your trash they will probably not disappear (I bet they will still disappear faster than sposies)
I think they have to be changed more often than pampers or huggies, but no plastic.
I only have to have about 6 covers and don’t have a problem with running out.
They sure are cute on my daughter’s bum
Sorry for the rambling, I would like to hear more discussion about the gdiapers. and maybe if there are sposies with simliar environmental impact.
Having just started using the gdiaper, I must say that I’m very pleased overall. Once you get a system going for the poop, things go pretty smooth! For example, I keep a small, step operated garbage pail at hand to chuck the non-flushable wipes and I toss the dirty liners into a bowl full of soapy water next to washing machine. They come out, stain free, once they pass through the wash. My beef is that in Canada, you can’t get a liner for under $0.66!!! I tried contacting the Canadian distributor and their price only brought it down to $0.58. Nowhere will sell by the case and if you try to order from the gdiaper website, they slap you with a shipping fee that almost doubles the cost. Having hit so many walls, it’s doubtful that I will continue using the diaper; it’s just not realistic to have to pay that much per diaper!
Hi,
I just wrote an article about gDiapers, and I have been using the liner in cloth diapers. This has been easier than purchasing the cloth panty’s which get dirty after each poopy diaper. please check it out at http://www.envivant.com
i love g diapers - though up here in canada it’s important to note that it’s pretty much THE most expensive diapering option out there. i can get them shipped to a shipping broker in the US and drive down to get them (1 hr) but that’s an ironic little environmental trip…i REALLY hope the prices come down for us because these diapers are really awesome.
anyway - i only have 2 covers but use bambino mios half of the time. the g diaper insert fits perfectly into the bambino mio shell - which is what i take with me when i’m out (lighter to pack the g refills than cotton nappies - plus disposing of these in public is a cinch). i would actually love to see gdiapers make a similar 1-piece shell (as opposed to their 2 piece system).
i have never had a leak with the Gdiapers - ever. my little guy is a big kid but i find the fit to be perfect.
my favorite thing about the gdiapers is the “trim” fit of them. we have a few AIO’s on hand and they are SO thick it’s nearly impossible to dress him overtop. G diapers are nearly as trim as a conventional disposable.
my only complaint would be that the Gdiapers don’t make it through the night and they sort of “bunch up” when they’re wet.
as for the flushing - don’t be a hero. flush most of the wet ones but if it’s a major pooplosion, just toss it!
I started using the g diaper with my seven month old son and have been using them for about one month now. I love this product, but the Canadian pricing is really unreasonable. My son rarely leaks, his rash is gone and they are very environmental. I just wish that g diapers would look at the strength of the canadian dollar and make it more reasonable for us. I would like to be able to purchase boxes of refills or different coloured pants and not be slapped with an astronomical shipping fee.
Me again!
Love the g-diaper; can’t justify the (CDN) price.
I’m out!
How do the cost of Gdiapers compare to the cost of cloth diapers like fuzzibunz or bum genius? I can’t afford to put forth $400 for good cloth diapers. I think I will only need about 6 Gdiapers at about $15 a piece plus liners. How do they compare to disposable?
Rob, you might be interested to know that gDiapers also contain SAP - the same gel that is in disposables.
As for the wastewater issue. Do you not wash your own underwear? Water is a renewable resource. No matter how much water you use in your washer (which won’t be much if you use a front loader), it is still treated and recycled back into the water supply. How much water does it take make plastic disposables, SAP, and other petrochemical products? And please, plastic out of corn? How much energy does that take?
Cloth diapering can be very simple and easy. Good prefolds and diaper wraps are not expensive and can be used for multiple children. When those prefolds have finished being used as diapers, they make great rags. And after that, you can throw them in the compost pile and they’ll go back to the earth.
When I was diapering my daughter, I washed diapers every 3-4 days. I would venture to guess that the water I used to wash her diapers probably was equal to the amount of water that would have been used by her flushing a toilet once she was potty trained. I certainly never saw a difference in my water bills once she stopped wearing diapers, so how could my washing have been such a burden on the wastewater system?
And no matter what is said about the biodegradability of these inserts, unless you are throwing them into your own compost pile, I would venture to guess that they will still be found in the middle of a landfill 100s of years from now. When you wrap your trash in a plastic bag that is then buried in a landfill, it doesn’t get the air & sun needed to biodegrade. Besides, there’s still all that SAP in them.
Mary, just what do you think our waste-water is treated with?
We need to drop this debate because the fact is that we cannot force our choices or views on anyone else. Every family is different, every parent is different.
NO matter what ridiculous studies are made up next, the fact is that gDiapers are an excellent invention and a wonderful substitute for parents who do not want or do not like cloth diapers (yes they are out there), but still want something better for the environment than disposables.
~~In my opinion~~
[…] found some practical and realistic information about using gDiapers at diaperjungle.com. It’s nice to read some reviews with real-life experiences, both positives and negatives. For […]
[…] found some practical and realistic information about using gDiapers at diaperjungle.com. It’s nice to read some reviews with real-life experiences, both positives and negatives. For […]
I have to say I love G diapers, but, and it’s a big BUT, they’re practically impossible to find a local affordable dealer here in western Canada. Also, I have tried to buy from the store, but they don’t take my credit cards….none of them. Curious since I buy from all over the US and have never had a problem. Maybe PayPal would be easier?
Another thing I would like to say is I wish G diapers starter pack didn’t have that ugly orange diaper cover….how about a neutral green? Or another vanilla color. I generally try to hide the ugly orange cover on my daughter. Not very good for free advertising.
Still I love them and since we live out on a farm with no garbage service g diapers have cut our driving trips in half to the wonderful dump! :o)
babycenter.com sells packages of the flushable inserts for $14.95 for 40 flushable inserts. I think the gdiaper website sells them for $45 a package. I also found a free shipping code, and I think if you order through Big Crumbs or one of those sites, you can get a 5% rebate. Not bad.
my son is 8 months old and was thinking of using g diapers.my apartment doesn’t have a washing machine,so cloth is not looking so good!i’ve been using tushies diapers but was looking for other options.can i use maybe a diaper genie or something for cloth diapers until i do landry.are kushies flushable liners another product i could use for g diapers?
I bought the gdiapers at first as an option to help out the planet. I felt ill when I heard that a disposable took 500 years to biodegrade. However, the flushable liners were VERY expensive, so I purchased some bumGenius diapers. The BG (bumGenius) diapers worked well, but I felt like I was doing laundry all day so I began putting the bumgenius inserts into my gdiapers. The gdiaper covers last through the whole day without getting wet and I don’t have to pay for the flushable liners. A match made in heaven!
For the record, I used disposables for years and I spent $40 every other month on them. Price is not going to convince most people to change to cloth!
I have been using gdiapers for my daughter for about 2 months now and overall I am happy with the way that they working. It took a few days to get used to them, with tiny slight redding on my girl until we got the hang of the fit, but now we are all pros.
I began with 2 but now have 6 diapers and find this is a good amount to have. They do bunch up but I haven’t had that many problems with leaks. The poop almost always just leaks onto the inner liner of the diaper and not the cloth. When I swish the poopy diapers in the toilet, they basically break down into not much more than regular toilet paper - i was suprised at this.
We use about 5-7 flushables (compostables) a day and I was concerned about the price, however I realised that they are still about the same price as my partner’s coffees that he insists on having every morning.
The main reason that I decided to try gdiapers is because I am composting the wet liners and they are the only compostable diaper that I have come across. (?) We live in a small townhouse but I picked up a composting box free from the city and even our strata approved it. There there is zero odour or leakage from the box as well - I love it!
However, what i do not love is dealing with the gdiapers company. The more I read about them they strike me as kind of arrogant. I am considering no longer using their product over their canadian shipping charges - on their website they claim that they charge over $27 shipping on one $16 diaper - PLUS an extra $5 “handling fee to canada post” AND canadian and provincial taxes on top!?!? What kind of US company collects canadian taxes and fees to canada post? I wrote them an email trying to understand this but they didn’t bother to respond.
So I shoved one of my gdiapers in a padded mailer, weighed it and used the USPS website to calculate shipping - there are 3 cheaper shipping options available including the priority mail international flat rate envelope at $9.45, or even first class mail at $2.66!!!
I’d like to believe that gdiapers simply are overwhelmed with a new business, but given the price of these diapers, and that that one of the founders is, I believe, a former stockbroker, my gut says that - well frankly - they’re ripping us suckers off.
Will I keep using the diapers? now that i’ve invested in 6 diaper covers I guess so. For now. I love the bumgenius insert suggestion and I think i will try that. …Can anyone else recommend another compostable diaper?
I agree with the last posting about the gdiapers company and the cost of shipping.
I just received a package of 3 diapers (covers and inserts) this week via USPS. No extra packaging and in a small box. My vast experience with shipping boxes tells me that it was a 5 minute task to prepare the package. The box clearly shows that $4.80 was the amount charged by the post office. I was charged $13.35 by gdiapers!!!!!!!!!!!! If they had to walk or bike with my package to mail it … I might understand. Or if they had to drive a long distance ….. But I doubt that is the case.
Bad business. and not very inspirational for those of us trying to go green with diapering.
I just purchased a box of gdiapers (4 bags of 32 each) from diapers.com and only paid $52. They have free shipping over $49 and since I was a first time customer I put in a discount code that I found online and saved an additional $10–so $42 for 128 inserts. There was no tax either. I live in Canada but my inlaws are just over the border in the US so I was able to bring them back–I declared them and they let me go, no duty. I know this only helps if you’re able to get to the US to pick them up, but thought I’d share.
Ok, I have tried lots of diapers and wanted to do cloth originally and even purchased several different brands but being a single mom of three children of varying ages I could not keep up with the laundry and quite frankly I HATED the fit of cloth diapers. I have looked at the gdiapers and did a lot of research but I just couldn’t make that leap. There were so many complaints about them and also information that they are not nearly as good for the environment as touted. I DID find a 100% compostable disposable diaper at diapers.com called Nature babycare and I have to say that those I am really pleased with. Here is what is posted on Diapers.com about them.
NATURE BABYCARE - Eco-Friendly Baby Diapers
Nature babycare, the award winning ECO diaper - A proven success in Europe and now available in North America!
Product features:
-Award winning premium performance Eco-Friendly Disposable Diaper
-Kinder and more gentle to your baby and the environment
-Breathable and chlorine free with natural based material, for natural protection.
-Ultra-thin construction gives a non bulky fit, enabling your baby to move around freely
-Consumer pack based on natural renewable material. No oil-based plastics!
-Winner of the 06-07 Silver Award for “Best Disposable Diaper”, featured in Mother & Baby Magazine, a leading UK baby magazine
Features and Benefits of Nature babycare:
-Chlorine-free absorbent materials – does not contribute to dioxin pollution
-100 % natural based back sheet – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse effect
-100 % natural distribution layer – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse effect
-100 % compostable consumer packaging – NO plastic - reduce the greenhouse effect
-No latex, fragrance, or TBT (tributyl tin)
The use of compostable natural materials based on renewable sources reduces the green house effect.
The story behind the first ECO-friendly high-performance baby diaper
It took a concerned Swedish mother to make it. Marlene Sandberg, former law firm partner and the mother of two boys:
“It all started with a newspaper article. It said that every year of a baby’s life resulted in a mountain of used diapers weighing half a ton, every year. Half a ton! Even more disturbing was the fact that the traditional diapers were mainly made of plastic made from oil!! An oil product that comes in contact with the child’s delicate skin. I got really upset. Couldn’t this be done better?”
Nature babycare is the result of many years of intense work and development:
-The first ECO-friendly high-performance diaper, based on new green technology, protected by a Swedish patent.
-Soft, thin, comfortable and with perfect sizing.
-With an exclusive chlorine free absorbent material.
-With natural based material against the baby’s skin, breathable and extremely kind for the baby.
-And performance as well as the best “traditional” diapers.
Marlene: “I don’t believe in compromises or shortcuts. If you want an ECO-friendly diaper to be successful, it must perform at least as well or better than the best “traditional” diapers.”
In reply to the above post advertising “NATURE BABYCARE - Eco-Friendly Baby Diapers” -
it depends on what you mean by “eco-friendly”:
US landfills are specifically designed so that they *do not* biodegrade trash. The bottom of the landfill is lined with non-penetrable material so that groundwater is not contaminated, and each day’s worth of trash is covered with dirt and compacted to reduce biodegradation. Studies have found recognizable 25-year-old hot dogs and and grapes in landfills.
http://environment.about.com/od/recycling/a/biodegradable.htm
No matter what the diaper is made of, if it goes in the trash, it’s contributing to non-biodegradable landfill mass.
have tried gdiapers for a about a week now, it’s working fine. as for ppl arguing on how wasteful it is to flush each diaper, just consider if your child was potty trained, are you going to scold him for flushing after he uses the potty? doesn’t make much sense to me. anyway, i am enjoying the gdiapers and so far the two pants they include in the starter kit is enough, but i might purchase a third. i am buying more refills today.
I absolutely LOVE the concept, the look and the amazing benefits but I’m also in Canada and I am having a really hard time with the fact that they are more than double the cost of my favorite disposable diapers (Kirkland by Costco)! We already pay a premium for organic food, phosphate free and eco-friendly cleaning products for both bath and body, vitamins… and now the idea of doubling our diapering cost is overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that being aware of, and purchasing healthy and environomentaly friendly alternatives is so costly! I really want these diapers but just don’t think our budget can handle such a HUGE premium! If anyone finds a deal, please let me know.
I am a father-to-be and the thought of throwing so many diapers in landfills sicken me. I will definitely be trying gdiapers. There are two stores near me that carry them and I am thankful for that. Anyways, my question is can you buy the cloth inserts from BumGenius? I checked out their website and it didnt say anything about being able to purchase just the inserts.
Cotton Babies inserts are listed under Pocket Inserts. They are the bumGenius inserts. Hope that helps!
Hi there! Okay, didn’t read the eight bazillion comments, so forgive me if someone already mentioned this, but if you put the liners (or dipes) in the sun, the stains completely vanish. This is a very common practice among cloth diaper folks for getting out stubborn stains. The liners look bleached they get so white! Not a single poop stain left, at least for breastmilk poop stains. We’ll see what happens when we move to solids, but for now, a little time in the sun (and honestly it *is* a very little time, just an hour or two) is all it takes to get the dipes looking brand new.
My baby was diapered in Seventh Generation disposables until I discovered gdiapers at about 4 months. He is now nearly 8 months old, around 20-21 lbs, is primarily breastfed, but has started eating solids. I have had no leak or fit problems and they wash well. He sleeps 11 or 12 hours each night and the majority of the time is completely dry in the morning, sometimes he is wet on the inner seam of a leg. We wash the gpant and liner in a regular warm or cold water wash using natural detergent. I was tempted to use cloth diapers, but I am hesitant to start due to the double wash, using hot water and have been told by moms and retailers that natural detergent isn’t recommended for cloth. Flushing has never been an issue because we watched the video on gdiapers.com and followed their directions. We are aware of the amount of water it takes to flush these diapers so we try to wait before flushing the wet diapers until after one of us has to go to the washroom. I also justify the flushing by thinking that if he was potty trained he would be flushing after each trip. Highly recommend the gdiapers.
I use gDiapers with the bumGenius microfiber inserts. I then put a piece of fleece on top (bought a yard for $1 and cut it into strips). The fleece prevents the baby’s butt from drying out too much.
I love them! My son has really messy poops and it has all been contained within the plastic liner. You change the microfiber insert and fleece with every change and the plastic liner with every poop. No poop has gotten on my covers at all.
If you have stains after washing the pieces, put them into the sun. The sun removes all stains (weird, I know!)
I love gdiapers with cloth inserts!!!
My son was born a month ago and i had been using disposable 7th generation diapers since he was born. i must say that they are not only not that absorbant and cause diaper rash but they are ugly as well! i decided to try the gdiaper and was very surprised how easy it was. Just put the diaper on and grab one of your sweeties legs and push the liner into the crease w/ your finger! And about the cost:yes they are more expensive than disposables, however, when i factored in the cost of California baby products i use to prevent the diaper rash (my son doesn’t even get redness with gdiapers)@ $8 For a tube of rash ointment (3 per month) and $9 for diaper area wash(2 per month)im saving quite a bit! And as for disposal… save them in a bag when you have quite a few dig a hole and bury them! without the bag of course!
I’ve been using g-diapers on my 22 month old son for 10 months now and am pretty happy with my decision. I started off using disposables because we were overseas when my child was born and although I had a strong desire to use cloth I had no way to get anything decent in person and all the vast amount of choices online were so confusing along with no personal advice from anyone I knew. Anyway, I finally decided to go with gdiapers when I saw them on the bottom shelf at wholefoods one day. I kept the cost down by buying 4 starter packs (each pack comes with 2 diapers, 4 liners, 10 inserts and a swish stick cost: $28 a piece whereas buying seperately from g-diapers each diaper with 2 liners is $17).
The process is a bit to get used to in the beginning but knowing they are good for the environment and a “hybrid” made me stick to it. Putting make-up on is a chore too but we get used to it because we like the way it makes us look and feel.. it’s very easy to get into the habit of using g-diapers.
I live in the mountains where no one comes to pick up our trash. We have to haul it to the dump ourselves every couple months so using disposables was actually a very gross experience just on a stinky level what to speak of the 500 years they take to decompose. We compost anyways to keep our trash as “clean” as possible. We recycle any plastic, cans, bottles and I separate out plastic trash from paper trash and am able to use the paper to start our fires in the winter with our heating coming only from a woodstove. All food is rinsed off of anything else going in the trash and all vegetable bits and leftovers go to the compost pile outside daily. Now that I’ve lived in the country I have so much more appreciation for our earth.. I have seen compost units that can be used on a porch in the city and I would definitely do it if I moved.
I love cloth but when I go out I have to cart the poop around in a plastic bag in a hot car til i get home because my child hates those changing tables and so changing is easiest at the car. With Gdiapers I decided to go with the disposable inserts whenever I’m out (gas being more expensive , I go down only once a week).
I’m using cloth inserts while at home. With cloth inserts I make sure I’m using either a fleece top layer over a soaker or any insert that has a fleece top layer. That way the poop usually falls right off into the toilet without too much extra effort.
Everyone keeps talking about how water is being wasted to flush an insert.. If your child was using the toilet they are going to flush and use water too so I don’t see what difference that really makes??
When I go out I use the disposable inserts and flush when I can otherwise throw them in the garbage as-is without putting it in a plastic bag. Liners do get dirty with poo but whats the big deal? If you change your child soon after they poop it is much easier to do a little soapy rinse in the sink.
Flushing the diapers are also easy and I don’t even use the swish stick.. I rip one side and if the inner gel is heavy enough everything just falls out into the toilet.. then flush and when that portion is almost down the hole drop the outer liner in. I was flushing these at home in the beginning and being in the mountains with a septic tank isn’t too friendly for these inserts. I recommend composting them.. even poopy ones could be composted if the poop is a bit more solid then drop the poop in the toilet and compost the entire insert right away.
Leaking with any cloth system is due to poor fit so I would recommend figuring out what size your baby/ toddler wears before buying a bunch of shell covers.
For my son, if I use the disposable insert at night, I make it more thick in the crotch so that his pee is soaked more easily there because gravity keeps the liquid from going all the way to the back of the insert by his butt and so that part stays dry a lot of the time. I’m a breastfeeding mother and seeing other mother’s I notice that maybe my child doesn’t pee as much at night now because he has breastmilk before he goes to sleep but since he is almost 2, he drinks much much less than he did before and maybe only eats 1 time at night.. breastmilk is mostly absorbed by the body as it is more fat and less protein and so with less nightly feedings this makes for no pee at night now. The only time a diaper is actually wet is when i don’t get him on the potty when he wakes up.. then he pees in that overnight diaper which was dry all night. I can definitely see that breastfeeding is the way nature intended for both baby and mother. It has been a godsend through teething as well since he feels totally calmed by the breast milk and it makes my son so much happier even when the teeth are cutting in. Between homeopathic tooth gel and breast milk teething is a more pleasant experience.
Well, I actually am using less diapers at home these days because my son has started doing all his poops and pees on the toilet or potty on his own and only wears the diaper at night. Now that he is getting older and having less breastmilk his urine is very very smelly and so i’m very happy in general that he is taking well to being potty trained… my little man is growing up!
I noticed that a few people are complaining about the inserts falling apart and getting on their child.. ummm… that means that you are not changing the diaper often enough because the inside comes out when it is completely soiled and 100% wet and maybe even leaking onto the child’s clothing. With the gdiaper system you’ll have to change a diaper more often then a disposable.. almost as often as a cloth diaper.
For those of you in Canada.. I sell on ebay and noticed that there are a few people selling brand new packs of inserts there.. you might trying buying from them to minimize your insert cost.
By the way, I use g-diapers and I’m not rich.
I feel that gdiapers are a great way to be more eco conscious but they are only the beginning.. So many other things we do everyday also effect the environment; our future and children’s future. Please don’t stop at diapers! I hope that this post has helped others in some small way. Thank you and have a great day!
Well, I must say there is a lot of mixed opinions on the g diaper but I have had nothing but a positive experience with them. My little guy just turned one and I wanted to change our habits and become greener around our home. I have known about the g diaper for a year now and wanted to try them but I could not buy them in Canada. Just the other day I found them at London Drugs and was over joyed. I can’t say enough good things about them. Yes they do take a bit more time and effort then the disposable type diaper but the impact on the environment is the key issue. G diapers don’t have one!! they break down in 50 to 150 days and are gentle on my son’s little behind. He was having issues with the tabs on the other type of diapers rubbing his tummy, that is no longer a problem since I started with the g diaper.
Plus they look way better than a plastic disposable on.
WOO HOO G Diaper!!
Thank you to the creators of this product.
All you nay sayers need to focus on the big picture and put your negative energy into something positive!
I have been using G diapers for 2 weeks now and love them. I flush the liners after I use the toilet so I am not doing any extra flushing. We are using the medium size on my 6 month old and have not had any “blow outs” or leaks. My concern was the price of the refills but London Drugs in Calgary sells G diapers and the price is cheaper ($19.99 for m/l refills) than some of the Organic Stores. I am sure the price will come down once they are in the bigger stores… we should start putting the word out to other stores????
I am going to try the cloth liners at home too! Yay positive energy…C
I echo most of the Canadian comments about the cost of the gdiaper liners. I was able to get a starter kit ($26) and one package of liners on sale ($17) at London Drugs a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully they will be on sale again soon.
I just started my daughter on the gdiapers and LOVE them. My only problem is cost. I am a stay at home mom. I love that I can be environmentally cautious, however, it is hurting my pocket book. But if you can afford them, they are so worth it. I also tried the seventh generation disposables. My daughter is only 2 months and the Size 2 are already tight, and I just bought them. Other than that they seem good though. I am planning on using them at night, in case of leaking. gdaipers rock, don’t want to stain them if possible!
I have been using gdiapers on my exclusively breastfed 2-month old for about 4 weeks. She weighed only 5.5 pounds at birth, so she was too small to use them then. I have generally poor feelings about this product. We use gdiapers primarily for outings and sometimes at night (cloth the rest of the time). We’ve had lots of leaky poops (spillage onto the inside of the little g pants) and a really difficult time with flushing — even after following the video instructions to a T — so we just trow them out now. They absorb urine quite well, but it’s not worth the hefty price tag. Once I use all of the pads, I won’t be purchasing another package.
Well, I, too, came here looking for parent reviews before purchasing for my 14 month old daughter plus a son due in February.
I appreciate all who have valid criticism for the usefulness of the product. That will definitely help our decision.
To those who just argue about which is worse, solid or liquid waste, please just let it go! For those of us who tried cloth and just couldn’t do it, it seems that gDiapers are a great solution. Please just be happy that these are here… and be happy that we’re on the right track?!
Thanks, Kim!!!
I started cloth diapering with pocket diapers (Bum Genuis 3.0, swaddlebees, wonderworks, etc) and thought it worked alright when I was at home all day (but I didn’t like the fact that I had to wash the whole diaper and insert after every chage)… I found a great deal on G-Diapers on craigslist and decided to give them a try! They only came with a limited amount of flushable liners, so I just started using the gdiapers with microfiber inserts (the ones I used to use with my pocket diapers). I LOVE them! I am able to go though the whole day with same diaper cover, all I replace is the cloth insert! The fit is good and have not a leak problem with my skinny little guy. They are not as bulky as pocket diapers and I love the fact that the cover is cotton instead of the PUL material, which had a tendancy to get a little stinky after a few uses. I highly recommend the gdiapers with cloth inserts!
Could Kim from gDiapers please comment as to whether the liners do or do not contain the same gel as disposables? (Anyone else, feel free to post where this information is available. I read the gDiapers website thoroughly and didn’t see any reference to that gel.) This is for us a CRUCIAL question. Great to know we could use cloth liners inside, brilliant!
gDiapers people: it seems like shipping overcharges are a major complaint. If I were you I would seriously consider lowering those charges, because people would be a lot more enthusiastic about your product!
ok maybe its just me but has anyone tried getting gDiapers over the internet???? there is a website called http://www.diapers.com they have gdiaper starter kits and inserts(in bulk too) as well as all the other cloth diapers and their cloth inserts. They sell a bulk pack of refills (4 packages for 52.00) there is FREE SHIPPING for orders over $42.oo. The fuzzy. for those of you who hate the inserts b/c of flushing there are bum genius microfiber inserts which are the most absorbant and softest I have ever seen! again FREE SHIPPING!!! and its fast too within three days!
Hi there,
I had really good luck with using the BumGenius microfiber newborn inserts with the small “little g” pants, but then I read that you’re not supposed to use microfiber against baby’s skin- does anyone have any recommendations of other inserts that fit well in the g-diaper liners than can go against skin? I’ve heard of some people using hemp inserts, but I’m hoping someone has a recommendation for a really good, absorbent fit.
I’m okay with using the disposable inserts while out and about, but I’d much prefer to use a washable insert when possible. Someone recommended using cotton prefolds, but I imagine that is for the larger g-diaper sizes.
Wouldn’t that be great if the g-diaper company started making washable inserts?
Any ideas?
You can just cut pieces of terrycloth or fleece or felt and lay that over the insert so it is between the baby’s skin and the insert.
My biggest frustration with the diapers has been the way the tabs curl! Mine basically don’t hold anymore, and the velcro itself seems fine–it’s just that the tabs curl away from the diaper and stick up under clothing and get caught on the carpet when my daughter rolls around.