G Diapers, the Verdict

Family

I’m talking about diapers in this post. If you don’t care, you should totally check out this awesome article on the erotic appeal of the Land’s End Catalog.

All right, now a while ago I mentioned that we were switching out to G-Diapers and I’d tell you how it went. The verdict is, I still love them. I eased into using them overnight and for travel, and it’s working out. More stuff I learned:

–Pay attention to the clock.You have to be on top of the diaper changes (about every two hours) because when the diapers get full, they’re actually damp against the baby’s skin. Upside is, this should help with toilet training. Downside is, if you’re not careful, you could have a diaper rash on your hands. Or rather, on the baby’s butt.

–Fine for travel.They’re awesome out in the world because you can flush the poopies instead of carrying them around with you in a gross little plastic bag (so you don’t rudely stink up the public restroom). This is my favorite thing about them. However, they can be a bit bulkier in the diaper bag if you want to carry an extra cover and liner in addition to the absorbent pads.

–No plumbing issues so far.We have old plumbing, and it doesn’t seem to be a problem. I’m really careful about making sure the diaper is completely stirred around and broken up before I flush.

–They’re super cute.They come in great colors, are easy to use, and are way less bulky than cloth or even some disposables. In warmer months, I’ll let him wear the diaper in lieu of shorts without ruining his cute little outfit.

–They do cost more. Like many things that are better for the environment, they’re more expensive. Disposables are about 19 cents each, G-diaper liners are about 36 cents apiece, and that’s not counting the initial investment of about $68 for the cloth covers. This may be a deal breaker for many.

–Poopy diapers, even bad ones aren’t really a hassle. I’ve only once had a poopy diaper that made it past the liner and onto the cloth. This is probably because I run my finger around the leg bands every time I change him, but you have to do that with disposables too. You can also just rinse the plastic liners, and they dry within minutes.

In conclusion, thumbs up! Way to go G-Diapers.

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6,042 thoughts on “G Diapers, the Verdict”

  1. so in terms of good-for-the-environment-ness, which wins: cloth or biodegradable flushable disposable? cloth sounded like a good idea till people started telling me about the chemicals diaper services use to whiten/clean their diapers, and until i thought about the amount of water i or the diaper service would be using to clean them. i’m about to have my first kid, and i’m debating whether to use cloth or go for g-diapers or 7th generation ones. (this is all hypothetical, of course, till we see which kind of diaper the kid’s butt likes best…)

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  2. G-Diapers rule! I discovered them a little late and only used them for a few months before my daughter was potty trained, but we’ll definitely use them for the next baby from the start.

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  3. Kate — We tried the 7th Generation Diapers. I like 7th Generation — good folks. But the diapers really sucked. Leaks, all the comfort of cardboard, and the cost of a Princeton education. I don’t love G-diapers as much as Maggie does, but they beat 7th Gen hands down.

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  4. Thanks for the Land’s End link. Being able to piss my pants is cool and all when tequila is involved, but I don’t know if I need a review about availble products. 😉

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  5. G-diapers are fabulous and we use them in addition to our cloth stash–sadly we have to use regular, nasty disposibles for daycare. If you want to reduce costs a bit and make them even more environment friendly you can lay prefolds or flats in the plastic insert and the result is a super trim cloth diaper set up without the hassel of pins, snappies, and folding. I came across gDiapers a bit late otherwise they would have been a bigger player in my stash. Right now they are used for “going out.”

    Feel free to email me if you have any questions (I am assuming you get my email address when I post) 🙂

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  6. We also switched to G-Diapers and I LOVE them! My husband thinks they leak, but then he also thinks that he should wait until our son’s diaper is almost dragging the floor full or stinking up the entire house to change said diaper, so yeah of course he thinks they leak! But that’s a whole other blog post!

    Anyway, they are fabulous! We too have very old plumbing (100 year old house with only modestly updated plumbing) and have zero problems with flushing. However, there have been a few times that husband just tosses the dirties into the diaper pail and I have to say, I think that they don’t have near the stink that disposables do. Just my imagination? I don’t know.

    Everyone should at least try these diapers, they are WONDERFUL!

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  7. For what it’s worth, people should be flushing as much of the poop as possible out of a disposable diaper too. Waaay back when I was babysitting in highschool, I had a mom teach me to do that (and that’s what it said to do on the box, too) so I always did that with my own kids. I was much less environmentally aware when my kids were in diapers, but if I ever do it again I’ll look into these. Thanks for posting.

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  8. i am so glad you had a baby when you did, maggie! i am a bout to have my first baby, also a boy, and i really appreciate your recommendations for this kind of stuff. i trust you implicitly to pick out clothes and stuff for me, and now i am using you to make the baby stuff easier, too! thanks!

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  9. I used them until I returned to work and I liked them. I felt like I was doing something small that might make a difference. I like that you gave a honest and correct review for others who might be interested. It is so fun to have a wee one huh? he’s a QT.

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  10. I totally disagree with Bryan on the 7th Gen. We have not had any leaks with them, and our babe sleeps 10-11 hours in a row every night. I think they’re about as soft as the premium Pampers or equivalent, softer than the Target brand or equivalent. And as for the cost, you can buy them in bulk through Amazon w/ free shipping and they work out to about 21 cents a diaper.

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  11. I’m with Bryan on the 7th Generation diapers. We use Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers during the day and a disposable at night since our daughter is a prodigious pee-er – but it’s a blowout almost every morning. Now that I know about the G diapers I think I’ll try them. For those looking for super easy, cute, absorbent, soft cloth diapers, I recommend the Fuzzi Bunz.

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  13. I switched with my son last spring and love them too. There are definitely tricks to getting them on right and flushing them correctly (so they go down), but once you get the hang of it they’re easy. I have noticed as my son is getting a little bigger (he’s 14 mos. now) that I don’t need to change them nearly as frequently as when he was nursing every three hours.

    And we have had our fair share of diaper explosions, but what I love is that even if the liner and wrap get dirty (which it is rare if the wrap gets poopy, just wet sometimes), his clothes NEVER do. With disposable it was always a matter of blowing through to his clothes and that never happens now.

    Plus I love not having diaper trash to deal with or massive extra amounts of laundry to wash. I see it as a huge win win.

    Glad to see I’m not the only one who is loving them… and since they are available (but almost always out of stock) at my local grocery store, I am hoping that lots more people will start using them.

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  14. I love these too! Thank you for the info about them- never would have known otherwise. Hubby and I like them but yes, you are right- you have to watch the time! They are expensive, but I feel so much better about our impact on the environment. Plus, I found someone near me who was selling all her old covers and inserts when her hubby decided he didn’t like them! WOO HOO! Mega score- $60 for 3 covers and 6 packages of inserts!

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  15. As we all become so much more aware of how our daily habits impact the environment, I’m realizing that we have to consider what is really making a difference and what could possibly be more damaging. For example, my sis-in-law ordered flip flops made of recycled plastics from an Asian country. OK, it’s great that those plastics didn’t go into a landfill in Asia but what about the fuel burned to ship them all the way around the world? Lesson: buy recycled close to home to have a more positive effect. What does this have to do with the G-diapers? I really love the idea of using these diapers, BUT I am in Atlanta, GA, where we are in a huge water crisis. We’re having to REALLY conserve because of an awful drought. Our water source could actually dry up within months if we don’t get rain. One conservation method is refraining from flushing unless you REALLY need to do so. So, I’m sad that I feel like using G-diapers right now could actually do more harm than good to my local environment. I hope we can all be really thoughtful about what actions really make a positive impact on us locally and globally.

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  16. So here is where I get confused with the environmental impact. Because it seems to me that the water used to flush each diaper is WAY more than the water used to wash a couple of loads of cloth diapers (admittedly I just add the cloth diapers to my regular wash, so I don’t feel like they add significantly to my water use). And it seems to me that they have the environmental detriment similar to disposables of something that needs to continue to be produced and shipped, with all the attendant environmental cost. So, basically, I think its a cool idea, but I’m concerned that it isn’t actually significantly better for the environment. Am i wrong?

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  18. Thank you so much for using gDiapers. My name is Jason Graham-Nye and I am the CEO and Co founder along with my wife Kim (the real brains of the joint!).

    If you have any questions, comments or would like to learn some trivia about Australia (where I am from) please drop me a line.

    Cheers

    Jason

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  19. You don’t have to flush them, I mostly don’t unless I’m out in the world with a smelly diaper. They just biodegrade faster than disposables, which is what I’d be using otherwise, so these are better.

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  20. So I was all hopped up on the gDiapers before my son was born last July and we tried them for nearly a month before giving up. We just had lots of leaks: poopy along the plastic liner nearly every poop diaper was first. Then pee problems because the front would swell up and pull away from the legs when he peed and any further liquid would just leak out the side. We did change frequently, but couldn’t get it down. Wish we could get them to work, maybe he was too little?

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  21. Hi Meg. I think it’s much easier when the baby gets to solid food stage because he’s not peeing in such volume and the poop isn’t so wet. Also, once the baby is sleeping soundly through the night, he probably won’t pee until he wakes up. The only other thing that might make it work better once he’s a little older is being religious about running your finger all the way around the inside of the leg band if you weren’t doing that already. Also, you could always use a blend of disposables for when it really matters, and Gs when you’re just kicking around the house with ready access to everything you need.

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  22. Non-diaperchanger here– But since I will be in about 5 months or so… Can someone explain the idea behind this running your finger around the inside of the leg band?

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