Green Options » gdiapers

Fresh New Designs for gDiapers Flushable Diapers

Tiffany Washko — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 01:48:48 +0000

gDiapers fans are no doubt excited to see that they have some new and adorable options for flushable diapers. Their web site is now boasting several new prints for their “little g” pants including Ga, Ga Pink, Goo Goo Blue, Good Vibe Girl and Good Vibe Stripe, which are pretty snazzy if I do say so myself. It has no doubt been hard to compete with the cuteness of cloth diapers but they are certainly making strides.

The little g pants are the outer shell of the gDiaper system or the diaper cover that holds the flushable inserts. The inserts are the disposable and absorbent inner liners that you toss (flush, throw away or compost). You reuse the gDiaper pants again and again. For about 40 years there have been only two basic choices in diapering. Cloth or disposable. gDiapers offers consumers a third option….a hybrid cloth diaper with a disposable element.

Diaper Your Natural Baby

Jamie Ervin — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:54:47 +0000

There is a lot of discussion revolving around diapers. Cloth, disposable, hybrid or diaper free? What is the best choice?

For the Earth, a diaper free baby (Elimination Communication or EC) is the absolute best choice. This method requires complete dedication for the parents (as the parents must watch for cues and put baby on the elimination pot when needed). It works wonderfully for many families and there is no “potty learning”, the children make a natural transition to being able to recognize cues and go to the potty.

If going diaper free isn’t for you, then cloth diapers are the way to go. In order to keep this as environmentally sound as possible, some precautions need to be taken.

When is it OK to use a Disposable (Landfill) Diaper?

Jennifer Lance — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:58:00 +0000

Two years later than my daughter, my son has almost completed his toilet learning! It has been different with my boy, as we have resorted to the bare bum method. Feeling the cool breeze on his bottom seems to be the only way he can remember to hold it in until he reaches the toilet. This works while we are home, but he still had accidents in underwear and clothes. Since we are down to one diaper a day just at night, I’ve abandoned the cloth diapers for Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers.

I’ve always professed that every baby should wear cloth diapers; however, with my son wearing one diaper in 24 hours, it takes a long time to make a diaper load of laundry. After a week, these cloth diapers get very rank, and I don’t really want to put them in my washing machine or waste energy and water to wash them more often. Thus, I’ve resorted to Seventh Generation’s Chlorine-Free Diapers, as it is too late in the game (I don’t plan to have any more children) to invest in gDiapers. I do feel a slight pang of guilt using a landfill, aka disposable, diaper, but I rationalize six years of cloth diapering two kids has earned me the right to one disposable diaper a day.

GNMParents: Greener Diapering Options

Tiffany Washko — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:01:12 +0000

Editor’s note: This month, GNMParents writer Tiffany Washko explores diapering options for green parents. We swap original content with GNMParents on the first Monday of every month, so make sure to head over there to check out Jennifer’s contribution to them.

For many green moms and dads the decision about how to diaper their baby does not come so easy. We all know disposable diapers are bad with a capital “B,” but the other options just seem so archaic and inconvenient.

But it’s not as bad as you may think. There are some pretty appealing diapering alternatives nowadays. If you want to lighten your environmental footprint by avoiding those landfill-filling, disposable diapers, then two options you might consider are cloth diapers or gDiapers.

Cloth Diapers

When many parents think of cloth diapers they still think of those thick, towel like diapers (the ones we now use as burp rags), diaper pins, and the plastic vinyl pants that go on top. Well, the cloth diapers you find today are far cry from that these days.

Bum Genius cloth diapers by Cotton Babies are designed to make cloth diapering easy for every-day people — like your babysitter, grandparents and even dad. Using a Bum Genius cloth diaper is just like using a disposable, but you don’t throw it away! Just wash it and they’re ready to go again. They come in a variety of beautiful colors like Blossom Pink and Grasshopper Green.

They are pocket diapers, which allows you to use the type of insert that meets your absorbency needs (although the included microfiber insert should be sufficient). Bum Genius also offers an all-in-one diaper, which is a one-piece diaper that most closely resembles a disposable. Plus, Bum Genius diapers have neat stretchy tabs that make diapering even the most wiggly babies a breeze.

The best thing about these diapers by far is that they are one-size-fits-most. They will fit babies between 6 and 35 pounds, so there’s no need to buy a bunch of diapers in different sizes. Ingenious! If you want to go a step further you can try a cloth diaper made from sustainable materials, such as organic cotton or even bamboo…

Bamboo Diapers

Bamboo is the fastest growing plant on this planet. While some think of it as a tree, it is actually grass and it grows one third faster than the fastest growing tree; it reaches a harvestable size in three to five years. Some species of bamoboo grow as much as four feet a day. It requires no pesticides, is harvested with no impact to the environment, and is capable of complete regeneration without the need to replant.

All of which, of course, is great news for those of us who are conscious of the environment. Bamboo diapers are velvety soft too, and BumGenius offers a bamboo fitted diaper that is getting rave reviews from parents.

Diaper Duty

Buying cloth diapers is the easy part though. Caring for cloth diapers is the part that makes many moms and dads squeamish. But even that part is easier now. New fabric options allow you to skip the soaking and rinsing that were common in the past and use a dry pail method. You just store the soiled diapers in a diaper pail or bucket and then throw them in the wash a couple times a week. If you absolutely must rinse the diapers before washing then you may want to try a diaper sprayer called a mini shower that connects to your commode. To control odors, just sprinkle a bit of baking soda over the diapers or use Pail Pals. You can find all of these items at clothdiaper.com.

If you need general cloth diaper care information, like laundering tips and troubleshooting, you can turn to The Diaper Jungle: A Cloth Diaper Mega Information Source. This site has a nifty detergent chart that is “loads of fun.”

Alternatives to Cloth

So what if cloth diapers just aren’t for you? Well, another option is the flushable diaper by gDiapers. As their web site says, “Imagine taking your baby’s soiled diaper and simply flushing it down the toilet. No more smell. No more diaper. No more diaper pail. You’re putting waste right where it belongs, in the toilet. Not in a landfill.”

The ‘little g’ pants are made of water resistant, machine-washable, breathable material to keep wetness away and prevent diaper rash. Each pair of ‘little g’ pants comes with a spare snap-in liner. You also get a handy swishstick for breaking apart the flushable stuffing, and a H.U.G. - Handy User Guide. After you have a sufficient amount of the reusable pants then all you have to do is purchase the refills.

It can take as long as 500 years for disposable diapers to biodegrade in a landfill. It is comforting to know that we have options that will ensure our baby’s diapers will not be around to pollute the Earth for generations to come.