gDiapers
I was introduced to gDiapers by another mom at my last La Leche League meeting and I knew immediately we had to try them out.
We had looked for an environmentally friendly disposable diaper when I was pregnant but the only ones we found were more than twice the price of disposables. We felt that cloth would be a hassle in small living space without a washer and dryer so we gave in to disposables. And being new parents, we weren’t sure how time consuming cloth diapering would be - not to mention we wanted to spend every waking second with our little one rather than washing diapers. Now that my son has entered toddlerhood, a flushable diaper sounded like a dream.
As soon as I heard about the gDiaper, I spent a bit of time researching them and decided to order the starter kit. The started kit is actually a good deal because you get 2 sets of covers aka “little g pants” with 2 liners each, 10 diapers, and a swishstick for $24.99 plus shipping (which was DHL if it matters to anyone). The starter kit is worth it for the covers alone because they are $14.99 each.
I had asked around online to get opinions and most people said the diapers didn’t break up as easily as the website implies. I found it to be a little true. You can’t just throw the diaper in the toilet, swish it around a few times, and flush. The diaper must be torn vertically before you throw it in the toilet - otherwise what’s to keep it from breaking up during use? And I wouldn’t recommend throwing more than one in the toilet at a time - I tried this first thing in the morning because they recommend using two diapers at night and it clogged the toilet a bit. But it’s not the horror story everyone said either. If you have a compost area in your yard, you can compost the wet ones.
The liners and covers are easily cleaned. They cleaned just fine in the bathroom sink with baby soap and warm water but are also machine washable (dryable too!). The covers are made of a thick jersey knit and feel sturdy, like they last a while. They are easy to fasten when you put them on the baby - as easy as it gets when trying to struggle with a squirming toddler. It is a little more time consuming to put the diaper in the liner and snap it in the covers, so I would recommend preparing the next diaper after you change one. They take up a little more room in the clothes than a disposable, but they don’t droop when they get wet. Most importantly, my son seemed comfortable in them.
The diapers themselves aren’t quite as absorbant as a disposable, but neither are cloth diapers. They leaked once when my son took a nap that was longer than usual, but to their credit the diaper did last longer than the recommended time. We used two diapers at night and everything was fine. I do wish the diapers fit the liners a little better. The diapers fit the liners when the liner is stretched out, which it isn’t when it’s on the child, so the diapers wrinkle up in the front a little. They also bunch up in the liner between the legs. Despite that, my son didn’t seem to care much and still seemed comfortable.
As far as cost, they come out to be comparable to disposable diapers - within cents of each other (based on the actual diaper cost, not factoring in the cost of covers or shipping).
All in all, the gDiapers are the perfect compromise between cloth and disposable diapers with the added benefit of not having to have a diaper pail. The environmental benefit is huge because these won’t be sitting in a landfill for 500 years. They’re not as difficult to deal with as cloth diapers either. I really believe flushable and biodegradable diapers are going to be the next trend in diapering. I would highly recommend these to anyone debating cloth and disposable and would encourage everyone on disposables to switch over to gDiapers.