Review of gDiapers - Week 1

Before I could try out the gDiapers I had to wait until Luke's umbilical stump fell off - newborn belly buttons are adorable, btw - and since it fell off last Monday we have been using them for a week now.

So far I am pretty pleased.

As long as I keep one or two diapers pre-loaded with an insert the act of changing and fastening the diaper is no different than using a disposable diaper. If the insert is only wet, it goes straight into the compost bin. If it's dirty it has to be flushed. It's somewhat of a pain to go through the steps to flush the insert (yes, there are steps), so sometimes I get lazy and just throw it away. However, I don't feel too terrible about it because it is plastic-free and will biodegrade quickly.

In my opinion, there are a few hiccups in the system.

1) Newborn poop is runny. Really runny. This means that when he poops, he almost always gets a little poop on the plastic liner that holds the disposable insert. The gDiaper people consider that part of the design, so it isn't considered a 'leak'. As often as he poops, I end up having to wash all the liners every few days. Luckily I don't have to watch the cloth pants nearly as often. To combat this, gDiapers sell additional packs of liners - which I just bought two of - to keep the supply up.

2) Diaper changes out in public are a wee bit difficult. So far, I only carry disposable diapers in my diaper bag. Each cloth diaper costs $17, so I don't want to "waste" one by keeping it as a back-up in the bag. Even though I have the clean diaper sitch under control, I still have to put the dirty diaper somewhere when I'm done with it. If it's wet, I flush the insert and put the cloth diaper in my diaper bag, no problem. But, if the plastic liner or the cloth diaper is soiled I have to wrap it in a plastic bag and put the smelly mess back in my bag. This isn't a deal breaker, but it's an inconvenience.

But like I said, for the most part I've been happy with them. I am concerned about how they will handle "blow-out" poops once he gets bigger, but we will stick with them as long as they are working for us. When he gets up to 15 pounds we will have to switch to the next size up - which means a whole new set of pants, liners and inserts - and we will decide whether or not to stay with the system when it's time to invest more money.

I'll keep you posted once I go back to work and we add the childcare wrinkle to the mix.