An ode to gDiapers

When I was pregnant with S, I was fortunate to get a baby crash-course experience through babysitting. Until I started sitting, my only diaper change experience had been my friend Johanna's son Cameron when he was a month old. I was 22 years old, it was 2 in the morning and completely unaware of the need to cover up little boys so as to avoid being sprayed. (needless to say, her husband Bryan jumped in to save the day).

Fast forward to this summer and I quickly learned the pros and cons of disposables vs cloth and everything in between.

Dave and I were hoping to minimize the trash/landfill ramifications of disposable diapers. My neighbor uses cloth with the "laundry sheets", so I got good practice using them, but I was never 100% comfortable I was doing it right.

After reading lots of different sites, blogs and posts on my local mom's list (Somerville Moms Yahoo Group ) I stumbled onto gDiapers. They're kind of a hybrid between disposable and cloth. They have a cute outer cover, a plastic liner that snaps in and then the diaper insert. If the insert gets dirty, you can dispose of it one of three ways: flush it down the toilet (which requires tearing the sides off - was slightly icky at first but I've totally gotten used to it - especially now that we're way past infant poop into solid poop), throw it in the garbage or compost it (wet ones only).

We started using them right when S got home from the hospital and they've worked great. The inserts are slightly more expensive than a traditional disposable, but in terms of absorption and control, they work great! We have had very few leakage incidents (even during the long overnights) and, S looks really cute to boot.

We recently rotated in the gCloth to our repertoire and I'm happy to report, after a few speed bumps (definitely can't make the 3+ hour mark with our heavy wetter in cloth) we've found success using them. We still stick with the flushies for overnight and long outings, but cloth cuts down on cost, waste and makes a nice happy baby.