gDiapers

With all of the talk about gDiapers, I recently decided I would check them out for myself.  After all, if there's a way to make cloth diapering easier without all of the mess of the actual cloth diaper, I'll try it.

Well, while I can see the benefit of using gDiapers (ease of use, limited laundering needed, stylish colors, and overall quality construction of the cover), I must admit that this is far from actually doing cloth diapers.  To begin with, the actual diaper portion of the gDiaper is a disposable insert.  The packaging states that the inserts are flushable; however, I can hardly imagine anyone actually being able to flush something this large down anything less than a commercial-grade toilet.  I, for one, was not willing to test this statement with my low-flow toilets.  Thus, I was stuck with the option of disposing of these diapers in the traditional method...straight into the trash, thus eliminating the actual purpose for using gDiapers (keep reading for one other option of composting the liners).  The only portion of the gDiaper which is cloth is the exterior liner (with an interior plastic liner).

gDiapers also says that you can use regular cloth diapers as inserts in their diapering system.  You would simply tri-fold the diaper and insert into the plastic liner.  Well, the plastic insert is not a very large area, thus making it virtually impossible to insert any form of folded cloth diaper into this area while still allowing ample room for Baby to do what he/she needs to do without an overflow situation.  Also, with the way that this liner stretches as you put it onto Baby, it does not cover the entire area needed in order to prevent leakage in babies that are scooting, crawling, walking, or moving in any way.  During my trial, the #2 diaper did not withstand the movement of my baby.

Now, the gDiaper isn't a horrible diaper.  It does makes some effort to reduce diapering waste.  The inserts that you can buy for these do not contain plastic, thus making them more biodegradable.  The packaging even describes how you can put these into your compost.  This may be OK while your child is still being breastfed; however, once started on solid foods (specifically meats), this is not something I would want included into my compost pile due to the difficulty of animal products composting - not to mention the smell and added pest attraction that animal products bring to a compost pile.  But, even in disposing through traditional methods, I would imagine that - due to the lack of plastic - the diaper would compost more quickly than your traditional disposable.

Overall, if you are serious about getting into cloth diapering, I wouldn't give gDiapers a second glance.  Their inability to contain leaks when using a cloth insert, as well as the additional cost to purchasing their biodegradable inserts, does not make this diaper a cost-effective and environmentally-sound diapering option.  However, they would be something to consider if you want to dabble in cloth diapering or are afraid to try traditional cloth diapers while traveling.  With the disposable inserts, you would have significantly less bulk to carry around in your car or on a public transport system.  Overall, they do offer an easy to use - and launder - option to cloth diapering, but just realize that they're not actually cloth diapers.