Gdiapers - Seattle,WA

K., I don't know about Gdiapers, but I do know about cloth, I have used the same ones on both of my children, and it's much easier than people think (and saves LOTS of money.) Here's some washing info...

http://www.diaperjungle.com/washing-cloth-diapers.html

My experience with cloth, and even something like a seventh generation disposable, is that you absolutely get more leaks earlier than you do with something like Huggies. For a long time we used Huggies at night because the cloth didn't hold enough.

Its a really mixed bag, though, this changing more often. You keep your kid dryer and cleaner, which seems to help prevent problems with the skin in that area. You also start earlier to teach them about basic hygiene. I don't know if studies back me up on that last point, but i'm convinced its true.

If you'd like to try it, i'd suggest that you can use a different system at home than you do while you're out - at least until you get used to the rhythms of your kid.

(I just washed my cloth diapers and covers in the washer, on the 'white setting', with an extra rinse. I didn't use fabric softener, and did use baking soda and vinegar. I suspect that you can be a LOT more anal than i am about how you do these things, and get longer lasting diapers as a result.)

Hi I love the G diapers and have been using them for a few months with my son who is 19 months old now. After I purchased one starter pack and i decided I liked them and that they were worth it, I purchased another starter pack and a couple different colored outer peices along with severeal liners. I wash them about once a week maybe twice. The only time the I wash the liners is after poopy diapers and the outside I wash only when it gets dirty. i don't put either of them in the drier. I lay them out to dry. I also find that my son hasn't had a blow out since I switched to g diapers. The customer support at G diapers is also great. Elizabeth really helped me out with a few tricks that made it easier. They aren't as expensive as people think, especially if you are use to buying disposible diapers. Hope this helps. Hope you have a great day.
L.

I used G diapers with my last daughter and LOVED them. I mainly used a variety of cloth inserts rather than the "flushies" but did compost the wet flushables she used. The fact that they bunch up is not what causes leaks but the fit. They do have a "learning curve" to get the fit right and if you happen to be using the wrong size you will get leaks frequently. Of the 15 pairs we used we had no velcro problems. As far as changing more frequently: would you want to sit in even a tiny bit of pee? The flushies do not "hold" as much waste as disposables but to me it is better for the child to be changed right away anyhow. I was able to go several hours between changes with my daughter if needed. There is a yahoo group that I highly recommend for anyone with questions about the G's. ____@____.com
They are a very upbeat community and do share the pros and cons of G use.
Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
L.

I don't have any first hand experience with gdiapers. But you probably need to wash the covers at least as frequently as washing the covers for cloth diapers.

Regarding the environmental benefits of gdiapers, it is important to remember gdiapers are designed to be flushable. If a gdiaper liner ends up in a garbage can on its way to a landfill, the potential "waste stream" benefits are lost. They can't decompose effectively in an landfill.

Also, although gdiapers does a great job of eliminating all the other additives and chemicals, they still use the same chemical gel (sodium polyacrylate) found in standard disposable diapers for absorbency.

Now as to you question about washing cloth diapers, I did a post on my washing routine a while back:

http://milagrosboutique.com/2008/09/01/washing-cloth-diap...

Take a look, and if you have any additional questions on washing cloth diapers, feel free to email me directly. My contact info is on the milagrosboutique.com website.

Enjoy!

J.

I hated the gdiapers. The covers had a weird smell that I could never wash out. The liners aren't that great, they leaked onto to the cover almost every time.. They are expensive. I think they are gimmicky.
I would highly recommend just using cloth pre-folds and covers. For less than what you will pay for gdiapers every week you can have cloth diaper service. And they wash the diapers through an 8 cycle rinse that uses less water than a washing machine.
I still have a box of gdiapers in my closet cause nobody wants them:)

Hi K.. I was really excited when I found out about gDiapers before my son was born. I got a whole slew of them and felt like I was doing a really good thing for him and the environment. It turns out, they didn't work for us at all. I got really frustrated with how many leaks there were constantly and how labor intensive they are and how bulky they are (don't fit well under clothes). And, I figured that the amount of laundry I was doing made them not all that environmentally friendly after all. Fortunately I found what I consider to be the BEST diapers on the planet! They are called Nature BabyCare diapers. They are disposable yet totally biodegradable (not like
Seventh Gen or Earth's Best which aren't at all) and they are totally natural. So not only are they fantastic for our environment (even the packaging and wipes are biodegradable) but they are the best for baby's skin and sensitive areas. We've never had a rash with them or a leak. They are infinitely less expensive than gDiapers and SO much easier to deal with... you can just toss them into the trash or compost with them knowing that they will completely break down! You can order them online at diapers.com or buy them at Babies R Us and some Target's carry them. They are about $10 for 40 diapers and they hold A LOT of pee! My son is 18 months old now and we are STILL as excited about Nature BabyCare diapers as we were when we found them. You should definitely check them out. Good luck and great job on looking for environmentally friendly products! Spare tires and disposable diapers are the WORST pollutants out there filling up our land fills.

It's been awhile since we used these (we are getting ready to switch back to them in prep for potty training) but I don't recall changing any more diapers than I was when I was using regular disposable diapers. If you are leaving the house at all, though, you may want to consider adding a third type of disposable diaper to the mix. gDiapers come with a little wand that you swish in the toilet to break up the pieces before flushing. Unless that process has changed, I'm guessing you don't want to 1. have to carry around that wand and 2. stick that wand into public toilets.

I really liked gDiapers. For our son, when we did use them, they worked great. How often you wash the outer cover really depends on whether or not the poo leaks through the inside cover. If your baby's poop is generally pretty runny, this might not be the diaper for you as the consistency would be hard for the gDiaper to contain. But if the poo is regular old poo, you'll probably really like them. If you compost, the wet diapers can be thrown in there so that is an added bonus since you are trying to be more environmentally-friendly.

The Velcro did not seem to deteriorate from the washings. The instructions recommend closing the Velcro tabs before washing and I think this helps if you can remember to do it.

As for your last question, I can remember my mom sitting near the toilet dunking our diapers in there to get off any gross parts before placing them in the washing machine. She would then use hot water and bleach. (Do people still use bleach?) Anyway, pee diapers, of course, are a no-brainer, just wash 'em as you would any other load. But with the poo diapers, you want to remove as much poo as you can before placing them into the machine. If you think there is any weird residue (for lack of a better word) left at the end of a load, you can also run the rinse cycle again or something to ensure your next load of clothes doesn't get tainted.

Good luck!

(I did a few posts about the gDiapers on our blog. You can read them if you're interested: http://darrenandchristie.blogspot.com/search?q=gdiapers)

The starter pack is definitely the way to go! I really like the g-diapers, but I don't use them all the time. I use cloth at home and use the g-diapers for situations where I don't want to be carting around a bunch of dirty diapers, like when we are traveling.

Don't be put off if you get leaks at first. g-diapers and cloth both depend on a good fit and that isn't as much of a no-brainer with g-diapers and cloth as it is with disposables. A good cloth diapering store will help you get everything down. I have had great experiences with both Punkin Butt and Mother Nature's here in PDX. Mother Nature's was very friendly to the idea of using g-diaper covers with cloth inserts. Audrey at Punkin Butt has a website with a ton of information about caring for and using cloth diapers. (BTW, I break the rules and use a little bleach on my cotton diapers when they get stinky and stripping and sunning them no longer takes out the smell. Never bleach the covers.)

Good luck! I found the transition was a lot easier than I expected and I really feel good about making another choice that is a little better for the environment. Small choices add up.

I used cloth diapers until my son was potty trained--and once you get the hang of them they are pretty easy--A friend of mine had her plumbing sort of messed up because of the gdiapers--she had roots in her pipes and it really backed them up and cost a lot of money to fix...so, just something to keep in mind.

In terms of "more" it depends on your definition. I used G and cloth (mostly AOI and pockets). I found with the G diapers that while the hold more than 1 pee, they bunch up terribly so that if I didn't notice it before my daughter needed do it again it wouldn't hold it (although it was usually contained in the liner and cover). I also had trouble using them away from home (maybe it's just me though, lol) There is a learning curve to tearring open the insert (while wet and/or poopy) and having it land where you aim.

E.

I used the g diapers with cloth inserts for a while with my 18 month old. I used an additional liner (bummies brand) that was flushable so that you only have to lift out the liner with the poop and flush (most of) the mess. Then I rinsed the cloth insert and stored it in a diaper pail until I could l do laundry, which was just a regular load with bleach. The plastic inner liners get dirty, need to be changed and laundered with every diaper change, but the outer pants can stay pretty clean. I would say to get 4-6 of the pants and 1-2 dozen of the plastic liners.
I didn't use the biodegradable inserts because they cost so much, but I know with the cloth you need to change about every 3-4 hours.
I also did not do this at night, I used disposables. After the first night of wet bed I figured convenience sometimes needs to trump environmentally conscious!

I liked the concept of gdiapers, but they didn't really work out for us. The inserts bunch up as your baby moves and the diaper starts leaking.
Now I did like the little G pants and just used them with prefolds as inserts.
I would just buy a starter pack and see if you like them.

K., you shouldn't have to change your baby more often with GDiapers with disposable inserts vs. cloth. GDiaper covers are far superior to the diaper covers that were out there a few years ago. You can just wash the covers in your washing machine (i didn't soak mine first, but i know some people do) on a hot cycle.

You may also want to look at Bambino Mio which is something we recently switched to. It's an australian cloth diapering system with the best diaper covers i have seen yet. They have a very snug / and adjustable fit with great velcro. They have cloth diaper inserts that you wrap a thin biodegradable liner over (you can just flush this along with any solid waste). I have found it to be really inexpensive because you only have to change the size of diaper cover as your child grows (they have 5 sizes newborn to around 30lbs) and then purchase liners, which come in packs of 200 for around $20 - way cheaper than g diapers liner system and certainly cheaper than disposables. Even better they have an antibacterial, biodegrable detergent that last about 6 months and sanitizes in COLD water -- which makes laundering them really inexpensive too. You don't have to soak the cloth diapers inserts or covers while you wait to accumulate a load worth washing.