For the first 3 weeks Luke was in disposables, for several reasons. Firstly, we had to wait until his cord stump fell off. (The newborn sized disposables the hospital sent home had a handy cord notch built right in.) Secondly, we had to wait until he was big enough. The size range for a size Small gDiaper is 8-14 pounds, but they still seemed too big until we was around 8.5 or 9 pounds.
NOTE: gDiapers does make a diaper for newborns but I didn't buy any. Mainly because they were insanely hard to get. At the time, the company only carried a limited stock and they ALWAYS ran out within a few hours of re-stocking their shop. Also, it seemed impractical to invest in cloth diapers he would outgrow at 8 pounds. Lastly, I thought the first few weeks would be crazy enough without the extra step of learning how to use fancy-schmancy diapers. I was right.
After his stump came off we switched to the gDiapers and I have been very happy with them. Here's how we use them:
AT HOME: When Luke is home, we use the gDiapers exclusively. We have a stash of 11 pants and 17 snap-in liners and that will typically last us a week. So, no, I'm not constantly doing laundry (see below). Sometimes I pre-load several diapers ahead of time or sometimes I just load them as I need them. It's such a simple process it doesn't really matter which way I do it. All wet inserts get composted. I flush the dirty inserts, but Steven thinks that's a pain so he tosses them in the trash. They biodegrade quickly, so it's not a big deal.
AT GRANDMA'S: We bought some extra gDiapers for Grandma to use at her house. Last I checked, she has 3 pants and 5 liners. She does laundry more often than I do, so that small amount does her just fine. Because she keeps multiple kids, flushing and composting is more than she has time for so all of her inserts go in the trash. Yes, in a perfect world, I would collect them at the end of the day and then flush or compost them myself, but this isn't a perfect world. I've got better things to do with my time.
ON THE ROAD: I only carry disposables in the diaper bag. I am not partial to a particular brand. I use any free diaper that comes my way - samples, gifts, "hand-me-downs" from other moms, whatever. If I have to buy them myself, I go with an eco-friendly brand. If I know we'll be away from the house for several hours, I change Luke into a disposable before we leave. It just makes changes easier if I don't have to figure out what to do with the used gDiaper should it get soiled. If the errands are going to be quick, I take him out in a gDiaper and hope we can get home before he needs a change. I also stick with disposables when we travel. There is enough baby gear to cart along without having to worry about the cloth diapering stuff.
PERFORMANCE: So far, I have no complaints. We've only had 1 or 2 blow-outs, but I am confident they would have been messy no matter what kind of diaper was in the line of fire. With a wet diaper, the liner and pants stay clean and only the insert is replaced. With a dirty diaper, sometimes the liner stays clean and sometimes it gets dirty. This is built into the system - the liner is detachable so it can be replaced if the pant is still usable. With a really messy diaper, all bets are off and everything ends up in the laundry. But, like I said, diaper explosions happen no matter what and you can't fault the gDiaper for that.
We did have an issue with absorbency as Luke was on the verge of switching from Small to Medium. Several times a day he would pee so much that he would saturate the insert and leak onto the pants and his clothes. I found that cutting an insert in half and placing it in the front of the diaper, underneath a full insert, would give us a boost in absorbency. As soon as we switched him to size Medium diapers the problem stopped. With future babies, I might size them up before they officially outgrow the small if I have the same problem.
LAUNDRY: Everything with poo on it gets pre-treated before it goes into the laundry hamper. The pants get a few squirts of Spray-N-Wash and the poopy liners get hosed down over the toilet.* Then I machine wash and air dry both the pants and the liners. gDiapers recommends air drying because it will extend the life of both products. It's really not a hassle. In warm weather I hang them on a clothes line outside and when it's cold/rainy I hang them on a drying rack in front of a window. Not only does this protect the gDiapers and save me some dough on my power bill, but there is an added bonus: natural sunlight has wonderful bleaching powers and my diapers look brand new after a few hours of sunbathing!
*My hospital sent me home with a wonderful little peri-bottle to clean my lady parts while I was still too sore/swollen/mangled to use toilet paper. I tell you this because that spray bottle is PERFECT for rinsing poop off of diapers.
PURCHASING: As far as I know, gDiapers are only available on-line. There may be some baby boutiques that carry them, but I haven't found a list of such stores. I buy all my gDiaper products (pants, liners and inserts) from Diapers.com. They carry just about anything you'd ever need for a baby with fast and cheap shipping. They also keep track of previous orders and offer a "quick re-order" option. I cannot recommend them enough.
The pants are sold as singles and in packs. It's more economical to buy the packs, but you only get orange and cream colored pants. If you want other colors you have to buy them individually. I went the cheap route, because he's a boy and nobody sees his diaper. However, I could understand wanting to buy cute patterned diapers if they're going to show under a girl's dress.
Each diaper comes with 1 snap-in liner. Since the liners generally need washing more often, they are also sold separately. (I have bought an extra pack of liners in both sizes - a life saver, really.) The inserts are sold in packs of 40, or you can buy a case of 160. Trust me, always buy in bulk. You can never have too many inserts. It's not like they don't keep. As you get started with a new size, definitely buy a bundle. You get 6 pants and a case of inserts at a discounted rate.
Whew. That was longer than I thought it would be. I feel like I have covered every angle, and then some, but if you have any questions leave me a comment and I'll try not to talk your ear off. If you need more info or want to talk to other gMoms and gDads check out their website and Facebook page.
As usual, nobody (not even Spray-N-Wash) paid me or perked me for this review. It's just little old me and my experience. I love gDiapers and diapers.com so much I had to spread the word!
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