Cloth Diaper Review: Gdiapers

This will be the first in a series of posts about cloth diapers. I told my story of how I came to use gdiapers in the previous post.

Left: starter kit comes with 2 "little g" covers, 3 liners, and 10 flushables















Price: $24-27 for a starter kit (see pic), about $17 for extra covers, $15 for a pack of flushable inserts (between $.36 and $.45 per flushie, depending on the size)

Availability: amazon.com, Whole Foods, and target.com for the starter kits; covers in colors other than orange or vanilla bean currently have to be purchased at gdiaper.com

How it works: Gdiapers are what they call a "hybrid diaper." It's not totally cloth, but it's not disposable either. It's kind of like Cloth Diapering 101. There's an outer cotton cover, an inner waterproof liner that snaps into the cover, and a flushable insert that goes in the liner. Yup--flushable. When your kid poops or pees in it, you just pull it out and flush it down.

Well, theoretically. You have to rip the sides off of the insert first, and say a prayer to Jesus that your toilet doesn't get clogged in the process. (Hey, He's God over the little things, too!) But it's fairly simple, and we've been using them with a good amount of success since June.


Left: an opened cover with a liner snapped into it (the flushie fits into this)






Pros:

• They are adorable!
  
• The velcro fastens in the back, so it isn't easy for little fingers to pull off.
• The inserts can be flushed down the toilet, thrown away (they will biodegrade quickly!), or composted (just the pee ones).
• They have held up well after Isaac's 6+ months of use. A little fading and wearing down on the velcro, but definitely still usable for many months to come.
• There are no fancy laundry routines required--you just wash the covers and liners in warm with the rest of your laundry.
• You can reuse the cover several times before washing it.(The liner usually needs to be hand-washed in the sink after one use--just use a little soap and warm water. It dries very quickly, so you can just leave it out to dry.)
  
• The g's are super-trim, so they fit nicely under regular kid clothing. Some cloth diaper systems are too bulky for normal clothes.
• Their customer support rocks! You can talk to a real live person on the phone, or send an email and have it answered pretty quickly. Their headquarters are in the Northwest (Seattle area, I think), and they actually have planned events for g parents.
• There's a great support group for g-parents on yahoo! groups.
  

Cons:

• The flushies are expensive--more than a disposable diaper.
• You can use cloth inserts in the liner instead of the flushies, but I always get leaks when I do this. (I still do it, but I just know I'll have to do more laundry that way.)
  
• The snaps often leave red marks on Isaac's skin, no matter how tight or loose I fasten the g.
• I don't trust these overnight or on long shopping trips. They just aren't as absorbant as a regular diaper, so we still use disposables for those times. Tried and true g mums will put two flushies in there at night, but that just gets too pricey for me.
• Whenever a kid poops in a gdiaper, you're going to get poop on the waterproof liner. That means that you're going to have to unsnap the liner and wash it in the sink. Yup, that means you often get poop on your hands. If that totally grosses you out, then gdiapers are not for you.
• The waterproof liner does lose its "waterproofness" over time. Ours are still okay, but not as good as they were when we first bought them. I still don't have a problem with leaks when using the flushies. But eventually we'd need to wash them in a product like Nic Wax to get that waterproofness (is that a word?) back.
  

Overall Impression:
Gdiapers are a great introduction to cloth diapers. If you have the money to pay for the flushables, and you don't want to worry about dealing with the particulars of washing cloth diapers (since g's go in your regular laundry), go for it! It's definitely much better for the environment than disposables.

For me, I can't afford the flushies, and I'm not opposed to doing extra laundry. I'm researching other options, but these cute little g's will have a special place in my diaper stash.

Note:
If anyone needs a coupon for these, I have several. Just let me know and I'll mail one out to you for free.