Since I’ve been getting a lot of questions about how I like my eco-diaper experience, I thought I’d take a few minutes and talk about some pros and cons in my mind. I’ve read about a million different experiences online – positive and negative, so here’s mine.
Why I Chose gDiapers
First of all, I’ve been using gDiapers since my baby hit about 8 lbs and could fit into the small size about a month and a half ago or so. I had been looking at cloth diapering long before we even started trying to have a baby, just because it was something I was interested in and really wanted to do once we had a kid. During my pregnancy I started worrying that I wouldn’t have the stamina for cloth diapers and that I’d fall back on disposable for the sake of convenience.
That’s when I started seriously looking into gDiapers. Back in the day when I was researching diapering options, I had come across gDiapers but they only had disposable inserts so I kind of lost interest. Now, though, they offer cloth inserts so you can do either disposable or cloth, which I thought was perfect. Then I could use them without worrying about hating cloth and losing all the money I invested if I decided to do disposable. I also thought it would be convenient to use disposable when I go out, cloth when I stay in.
In addition to that, I liked that they were more environmentally friendly than regular disposables. I see arguments online all the time about how environmental it can really be when you take into account water for washing/flushing or how much faster than normal disposables the gDiapers are really going to decompose in a landfill once stuffed into a plastic garbage bag and thrown out with the rest of the trash anyway (if you decide to throw away the inserts instead of flush them). Good points, but I think if you put poop in the toilet where it should be or cut back on the amount of crap that you have to throw out every week, it just seems like the better option.
Anyway, it just seemed like a good hybrid of cloth and disposable so that’s what I decided to do and I asked for supplies for baby showers and gifts so that I could actually afford it, although I still have to put in a little investment myself as well, especially for the bigger sizes.
My Personal Experience So Far
I got a mix of cloth inserts and disposable inserts as baby gifts, but to tell you the truth, I have yet to even try the disposables, so I can really only speak about their cloth inserts so far and their system in general.
When I was looking at cloth options, a lot of other diapers I looked at had one size that you could adjust as your baby grew, from birth all the way until they were ready to potty train. GDiapers don’t work that way. You have three sizes – actually, I take that back, they now have four sizes if you include the newborn option – and you have to buy supplies for each stage. And there are quite a few supplies: the outer part called gPants, the plastic liner, then the cloth or disposable inserts.
So buying all those for each stage gets pretty pricey. If you use cloth only, I’m pretty sure you still end up saving money over disposables every year, but it is a hefty investment especially if you move up sizes the whole time which is what I’m planning on doing. Because of that, if I had known that I would like cloth so much I probably would have gone with someone else that does cloth diapering only and has diapers that adjust with the baby because I would’ve saved a lot of money that way.
I also had a lot of problems with major diaper leaks. My baby was wearing the right size diaper, I was putting it on her correctly, and following all their tips for avoiding leaky diapers, but my baby still went through a lot of diaper changes (even the parts of the diaper you’re supposed to be able to reuse for several changes) and, more annoying, a lot of clothes per day because of these leaks. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been putting two cloth inserts in her diaper because it’s the only way I could avoid the leaks, and it’s working great, but it goes through my inserts twice as fast, which is a little frustrating.
Like I said, so far I haven’t used the disposable inserts, so I’m kind of curious how well those would work or if I will be more inclined to use them as I leave the house more often or have other people watching her. If so, that’d make gDiapers a more logical fit for me than a different company that offers only cloth options. So I’ll have to see about that. If you really think you want to mix it up between cloth or disposables or want to use disposables only and feel like you’re helping the environment in some small way, I don’t think gDiapers can be beat.
Overall, though, I would say that my experience is good. They are extremely cute (superficial, I know, but a bonus anyway), and I love not lugging a huge trash bag of poopy diapers out to my trash all the time. My two biggest complaints are definitely that I have to keep buying bigger sizes and that I had so many pee leaks, but now that I’ve got the leakage problem under control, I’m going through way fewer outfits and gPants (the outer diaper cover) than I was so I’m liking it a lot more, but I’m also having to wash my inserts more often. When it comes down to it, I still prefer it over normal disposables and plan to keep using them.
I was also asked how many diapers I have for her. Since I use gDiapers, it’s a little more involved than that because there are three parts: the outer covering (gPants), the plastic liner, and then the cloth inserts. I have about nine gPants which seems like a good amount, a hell of a lot of plastic liners (I really have tons because I kept running out and finally stocked up with lots, so I’m not sure how many I have but probably about 20 at this point), and 36 inserts. Like I said, 36 inserts would be plenty if I didn’t have to double up to avoid leaks. They don’t last too terribly long when I have to use two at a time, but whaddya gonna do? I don’t really want to buy any more in the small size since she’ll be moving up to medium in not too long.
Anyway, there you have it! Any more questions, feel free to ask in the comments!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I wouldn’t feel bad about leaks, I think every diaper known to man has leaks so matter what the salesman says. Medium is the most perfect size. At least I think, size 3 in disposables is the most perfect size, there is something comforting about knowing they will be in the same size for almost a year or more. Oh I love it.
Yeah it’s true, but these were extreme leaks every wet diaper though. I mean, it wasn’t that unusual for her entire butt & clothes to get soaked & if she were sitting on me at the time for me to look like I wet my pants & have to change. But since doubling up the inserts, we haven’t had a single leak. It’s been so refreshing.
My two cents: I love the g’s. I’m so glad you introduced us. I have forced myself to try the “flushies” a couple of times, but pretty much just use the cloth. Flushies: stay put better than the cloth (stiffer) & seem about as absorbent as regular disposables (to me), maybe I just change my kids more frequently than some folks. I like the cloth so much I wish I had started with cloth with first kid and every once and a while wish I could go cloth all out and look at some others to try but start getting overwhelmed again and confused. Finally told my self to just stick with what works for us & not worry about it. I love that they are nice & trim compared to other cloth diapers & easy to use. I think EVERY kind of diaper will leak & takes some practice. Even though you have to do multiple sizes, you still save TONS of money compared to even cheap disposables, esp. if you can use with multiple kids. I’ve had a couple snaps rip off, but you just stitch ‘em back on (duh). I don’t use them at night (b/c I paranoid it will mess up his fabulous nighttime sleep, thought about doubling etc, but why bother) and I don’t use them when he’s in the nursery at church & I won’t at MDO next year b/c those folks just aren’t receptive & it’s only a couple of diapers a week. I hope he’ll potty train faster, ppl swear cloth diapered kids do. Oh, clean up is a breeze (washer wise), there’s no stink (after almost five months use), and no issues with needing to “strip them” (and I’m using regular ole ALL free & clear). I just pre-assemble them and have lots of extra liners & cloths. Do maybe two loads of diapers a week. Have to change liner with every poop & I try to rotate two pairs of gPants a day. Been meaning to do an update post on my blog, but just did one here. I still get a kick out of them: the cuteness, the money saving, the eco-goodness . . . Love ‘em.
@Kristy: Man, I should’ve just had you guest blog on the subject! :-) Just kidding. I LOVE your thoughts, and really, I should’ve raved more I guess in my blog because I really do love them sooo much more than disposables, but I wanted to be up front about things I might have done differently if I’d known how much I’d like cloth diapering in general. I really should’ve raved more about cloth diapering in general because I haven’t once thought about going back to regular disposables, although I don’t think it’s for everyone. It definitely takes a little more work & getting your hands dirty. I think it would be interesting to try different cloth diapers, but at this point, I have so much invested, I’ll probably just stick with what I’ve got.
Another bonus to gDiapers & one thing that won me over over other cloth options was that it was easy to purchase. You can just purchase from their site. That sounds like a small thing, but a lot of other cloth options are so much more difficult to find and purchase. I wanted something easier especially since I was asking for them for baby showers and such.