Diapering Part II

Remember my previous post on diapering? Today I'm following up on that, and I'm really excited about it. I'm sorry for another baby post, but it's really all I can manage to think about these days. We are a mere 6 weeks away from D-Day!

This week I discovered that Buy Buy Baby now carries some gDiaper products. They have some of the pants and refills, though they do not carry the cloth inserts or liners. But that's alright! The refills are ultimately the most expensive part of the deal. Buy Buy Baby is owned by Bed Bath & Beyond. They are constantly sending out 20% off coupons and such and you can use BB&B coupons there as well. I was so excited for not only that reason, but that I had some credit there. I decided to go ahead and start my investment to make the commitment to eco-friendly/cloth diapering. 

After some careful thinking, I've decided it isn't worth the investment in cloth diapering as a newborn (with this style). He'll just grow so fast and it's hard to estimate how big he'll be. I went ahead and bought some gpants for 8-14 pounds and then the size medium for 13-28 pounds (....he's going to be potty trained after 28 pounds, right? Hehe.). I got some of the compostable/biodegradable inserts for both sizes as well. I still have quite a few more pants to get to add to the collection, but I feel we're off to a good start! 

Aren't they so adorable! And soft too!

These are the size small, not even the newborns and they're so tiny and stinking cute! The best part is the snap-in breathable liner that allows you so rinse it out for multiple uses before the cover needs to be washed. The green pants below shows the diaper insert already in it. 

For cloth diapers...get ready, I love this concept....there's a cloth diaper liner that allows the liquid to seep through to the cloth but catches the poo. You can then just toss the liner (& poo!) into the toilet (perfectly safe) and flush it away. That way I most often won't need to ever wash the poop, just wet cloth inserts.... I know that's ideal, and poop has ways of getting everywhere and seeping into places you'd never dreamed up....this isn't a perfect plan, but for the most part it's supposed to work. We plan on trying to stick to cloth when home and using the disposable refills when out and about. That way we'll be saving quite a bit of money. The disposable refills can add up quickly. Plus, who wants to carry a wet diaper around in their nice diaper bag? Not me!

Below are two small gpants and two refills. See the snap-in plastic liner? It's actually really soft.

 The website is super helpful and a great resource. They have several videos to help with fitting and correctly putting on the diaper, as well as problem solving tips for issues such as leaking and washing. I've already been emailing their "therapy group" for answers to questions I had such as cream and diaper rash (which apparently is super rare with these diapers because they are so breathable and wick away moisture naturally). I got answers back right away. 

Our colorful rainbow.

And just to try it on for sizing....I don't have a model baby right now, so I thought I'd just use my future baby's Sleep Sheep.

Oh yes. A baby needs to go "back to sleep", but just for the full idea and picture...

I still need to invest in the cloth inserts, cloth liners, and some more small and medium gpants for now, but I'm feeling good. They sell them on Amazon; I'm waiting for our registry discount to kick in! I'm thinking of getting these little pants too. They're so adorable and we get a discount with our first order.

Stay tuned for Diapering Part III to come after some real hands on experience.

lauren

Diapering.

Today I'm sharing some of my thoughts on raising our child. Bare with me.

Lyle & I always try our best to be as green as we can within reason. We're not perfect and have a lot of room for improvement, but we do are best. We recycle, try to get our friends to recycle, compost, drive two hybrid cars, and reuse as much as we can. With this new little addition coming our way, we have been seriously considering doing cloth diapers. I have a good friend here in Greenville that switched to cloth with her youngest and has learned all the tricks that she's been sharing with me. I'm really inspired and feel it's something I can do. 

However, recently I was introduced by another friend to GDiapers. Have you heard of them?

They are a completely biodegradable, compostable, flushable diaper. GDiapers are actually the only green brand of diaper that is truly compostable and biodegradable. They take a mere 45 days to completely compost. Something to think about!

And an added bonus is that they aren't quite as bulky as most of the cloth diaper covers on the market these days. Plus the covers come in adorable colors and patterns. Fun, yah? One other bonus I found is that you can switch between the cloth diaper and the compostable diaper with these covers, so you're not committed to one method. They are a little more spendy than a traditional method, and even the cloth method. However, they seem to be less work than a cloth diaper and you're not using the water to wash like you are with cloth....and you don't have to keep that stinky diaper around until the service comes or you get a chance to do the wash! Simply take it out to the compost or flush it!

Pretty adorable, right?

And they have this great starter kit to get you all the essentials you need, then you just have to get the refills as needed. 

GDiapers are available through several sites: Amazon, Babies R Us, Target, Walmart, Walgreens, etc. So you're not limited to the one site. 

Now don't get me wrong, Lyle & I are no saints. I don't imagine that we will never touch a disposable diaper. As a matter of fact, I know that I'll be keeping a case on hand at all times: for Lyle to use when he's tired (me too!), for any nanny or sitter, and daycare if we take that route. And sometimes you just run out or need them for the ease. Of course there are the downfalls of green diapering...nothing is as easy and mess free as the disposable/traditional method, but these seem to be the closest thing from what I've read. We're not set in stone as of now, but this is what we're thinking. Any thoughts?

My hope is that we can for the most part be as green as we can in our diapering method. Wish us luck and I'll keep you posted!

lauren