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Hi! I started using gDiapers when my daughter was about 3 months old (she is now 15 months). I had first heard about them when I was expecting, but with all the other baby shopping we had to do, the gDiapers were put on the back burner so to speak. After my DD arrived, I came across them again and decided to give them a try. To this day, I have to say that I have a love/hate relationship with gDiapers.
First off, in my opinion the inserts are a little on the rough/scratchy side. If you are a Huggies user like I was, or any other top-quality diaper, I am sure that you will immediately notice a difference in the softness/roughness of the two. Secondly, DD was exclusively breastfed. I don't know if that is the route you go with your children, but if it is, I am sure that you are familiar with the runny poo. As you can imagine, the runny poo doesn't stay all nice and neat on the flushie....no, it gets on the insert and even the pants themselves sometimes. After my daughter started eating solid foods and her poo thickened up some (sorry if thats TMI) her diapers are not nearly as messy nor the hassle to change (on the occasion that I use gDiapers, that is). Thirdly, there have been a number of times that it seems like she's too big for one size but too small for the next. We went through this with going from small to medium and now medium to large. I even tried ordering some 'old-style' gDiapers since they seem to be inbetween sizes of the 'new-style', but that still didn't work very well for us. I'm sure that this poor fit has a lot to do with the fact that my daughter is very long/tall for her age--she has always been in the 90-95th percentile. So, I guess if your baby is 'average size' or even petite I would give you the thumbs up to give them a try, but if your little one is big for their age I wouldn't recommend them. Also, now that my husband and I just purchased our first home, we lost the advantage of flushing the flushies because we have a septic tank and I don't want to be putting anymore paper materials in it than I have to. I have also read that they don't flush well in the newer, low-flow toilets. I know the company claims that they can be thrown away, but when the average family would put them in a plastic trash bag that is going to get buried in a landfill how is that supposed to allow it to break-down properly? So, unless you know your toilet/waste system can handle it or you are interested in composting the wet flushies, I just don't see much of an environmental advantage. IF they fit my DD better, I would be tempted to try out their new gCloth, but that's not the case.
Now for the good part...one of the reasons I like gDiapers is they were my 'gateway drug' into the cloth-diapering world. I honestly got so frustrated with cleaning poo off of liners and pants that I figured what would be the difference in just using cloth diapers?...so I ventured down that road and have been very happy with bumGenius and Blueberry one-size pocket diapers. I have had the same diapers since my daughter was 5 months old and I imagine that they will see us through potty training. What a money saver!
As I've stated, I will probably be ending my relationship with gDiapers and selling them since I won't be able to flush them in our new home. So, once we get moved and settled in I will go back to using my cloth diapers except on rare occasions--traveling, etc.--and then I will use 'environmentally friendly 'sposies, like Seventh Generation.
Also, another negative thing about them is the velcro can be horrible. Just for the record--I LOVE the velcro on the 'old-style' gDiapers--but the 'new-style' gDiapers don't seem to have consistent velcro from batch to batch. I know for a fact that since they have created the 'new-style' gDiaper that they have changed the type of velcro they use multiple times. It's like it wears out prematurely and before you know the velcro is coming undone in the wash and you have a 'chain' of gDiapers and whatever else was in your wash. On the occasions that I did use gDiapers, I would velcro them as if the baby was wearing them, turn them inside out, and put plastic laundry clips on the tabs to help keep them sealed while going through the wash. I also always let my covers and liners air dry to prolong their life.
Anyway, good luck with whatever you decide. If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to message me.
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