gDiapers

After Alex and I spent several months exploring the merits of unbleached disposable diapers versus cloth diapers versus the hybrid gDiapers, Brynna has been kitted out quite happily in gDiapers for the past couple of weeks.

What are gDiapers, you ask?

They are an Australian invention that have only been available here in the States quite recently. They consist of three layers: an outer cotton pant that comes in a variety of colors, a middle plastic waterproof liner, and an inner absorbent insert.



The insert is 1. flushable (this is the way that most people, including us, choose to dispose of it) 2. plastic-free (so much more quickly biodegradable than disposables if you choose to throw it out), and 3. compostable (only if wet...not a sanitary solution for dirty ones).

Then you just rinse or briefly hand-wash the waterproof layer, or it can go through the wash if it's gotten really gross. Those air-dry in about ten minutes.

The outer cotton pants usually do not get wet or dirty, so those can be reused. They do go right into the washing machine and dryer when they need it.

To put all the pieces together, we just snap the waterproof liner into the diaper and stuff the flushable insert inside...it doesn't take long at all.



We keep a stack of these made-up diapers on the changing table. At the moment we have five of the "little g" pants, and we've actually ordered four more from the website, which should decrease our laundry frequency.

The other cool thing about gDiapers is that they have fabulous customer service. There are little movies on the website demonstrating how to put the diaper on and how to flush the insert, and the owners are easily accessible on the phone for advice on everything from diaper fit to flushing methods for various plumbing systems.

We do have some 7th Generation disposables at home. We used them for the first week or so, and also thought that we might end up using those when we were out and about, but it turns out that it's easy to just tuck a new gDiaper in the diaper bag and then fold up the used one in a plastic bag for later disposal at home.

We also gave really serious thought to cloth diapers. This option was at a bit of a disadvantage for us since our city does not have a diaper service, and we weren't sure how efficient our not-super-new washing machine and dryer would be at taking care of this task (using a lot of water and power to process dirty cloth diapers can take away the environmental advantage over disposables).

I spent some time poking around online trying to figure out how gDiapers stacked up against cloth, environmentally, but they are a bit too new for in-depth analysis. However, I think they do have a bit of an advantage given that we flush the inserts and are done, whereas with cloth, the dirty diapers require a flush and a wash.

And, an added bonus, the gDiapers are absolutely adorable! Here is Brynna with her little g-butt:





And here's one during "tummy time" today. A minute after I took this photo, she pushed her head up and turned it over to the other side. She's very strong!



Ah, blackmail photos already.

Though this is the only time she'll ever be allowed to wear pants with writing on the butt!