“We are going to do cloth diapers.”
I cannot tell you the number of people who rolled their eyes at the glowing 30 weeks pregnant woman making such a lofty claim.
“No, but look! These aren’t your grandma (or mom’s?) cloth diapers. There are these gPants and they have little snappies where you attach a liner that is plastic-free and holds a cloth insert so that you just have to wash the insert and not the whole pant, OR they make these disposable inserts that you can even FLUSH…”
…and I lost them. I was simply an over-zealous, ideological preggo who probably thought she could have a natural childbirth too, but she clearly didn’t know what she was getting herself into.
But here we are, 6.5 months into the cleaning up someone else’s body fluids gig and I am absolutely in LOVE with our diapering system: gDiapers with gCloth inserts.
I wrote a preliminary explanation of how they work last year, you know, when I was inexperienced and didn’t have a realistic perspective on parenting.
[A brief pause while I go deflate my crunchier-than-thou attitude… Thank you.]
~~~~~~
I want to make something clear, though: we don’t do cloth diaper because I am just O So Awesome, we do them because it really isn’t that difficult. Believe me, I would not have continued doing it if it weren’t worth it. Sure, they’re a little more work than disposable, but that increased amount of work has not at all outweighed the benefit.
{OBaby’s 1 month old cloth diapered bum}
Now please allow to me to explain said benefit. It won’t be very hard.
We will spend half as much on diapering with gDiapers cloth inserts as we would using disposable diapers, just in the first 18 months.
Another way to state that: supplies for the first 18 months of using these diapers will have paid themselves off by the time OBaby is 9 months old (by the way, that’s this April).
Yes, you heard read correctly. I actually did the math, including everything down to the extra loads of laundry and water usage that these diapers will require, and they STILL will more than pay for themselves in the first year.
{This picture is supposed to be an artsy one of his cloth diaper, but I know that all you are thinking is “O MY KNEE ROLLS.”}
It is not hard to convince me that walking up and down the stairs to my basement about 5 extra times a week is worth that. Plus, didn’t you hear? Doing cloth diapers got me a remodeled laundry room out of the deal.
By the by, have you seen my laundry room lately? I added a little something above the washer and dryer:
And with that, congratulations! You have now survived a riveting post about baby-poo-catching contraptions complete with pictures of a laundry room.
You are so, so welcome.
You know, I always wondered about the cost benefit. Thanks for this! A post like this is just what I needed to convince myself what to use if ever I should need a waste management system such as this.
I am just about sold on gdiapers! remember when i asked you a few questions about your diapering experience? well, i have been scouring the web looking at all the different systems. i think gdiapers might just be it for us! i do have another question though. do they run true to size because my little guy is big! he is 16 lbs at 3 months. thanks again! i can’t wait to get started!
I’m trying to think – I’m pretty sure we switched OBaby to the medium size right before Thanksgiving, which would have been around 4mo and I know he was 14lbs even at 4mo. The small size claims to go from 8-14 lbs, so I’d stay that’s pretty right on with what we experienced!
Cute little cloth diapered bottom!! We use gDiapers too and love them! I especially love that I can buy the disposable liners for when we visit relatives, or are heading out for the afternoon! Also the Velcro in the back of the diaper will come in handy when he gets older, no worrying about him taking his diaper off and…. well ya know!
So do you mostly use the cloth inserts or the disposable inserts? I loveeee gDiapers! Well, I have zero experience with them, but they LOOK so cute!
We use cloth 90% of the time but find ourselves using the disposables as what we change him into when we’re out (so we only have to pack one dirty diaper home and we can throw out any others). They are GREAT.
I had people question my cloth diapering choice too. But, we love it. We use BumGenius and are ridiculously happy with our choice.
We LOVE cloth diapering. We use Fuzzibunz…I have not heard of G Diapers, but I will definitely have to check them out! We might need some more cloth diapers if we add another little one to family.
Go OFamily! I would love to do cloth but just can’t bring myself do them in an apartment where laundry is $3 a load. Someday!
i was thinking about that too, but then i discovered the flushies and OMG! you can even bury the pee ones in the compost and *poof* completely gone after 50 days! still cheaper then ‘sposies and no leaking!!!
I love cloth diapering. I thought it would be too hard to keep up with the laundry, but it has honestly helped me stay on top of it more… Funny, huh?
I, however, do not like our gDiapers. I just feel like the quality was poor. I had to resew the tabs onto the diapers after about 2 uses… They’re the diapers we use when I need to wash our other diapers, so I am thankful we have them!
I *love* your laundry room! All that space… Amazing!
Sad! I have only had one tab fall off in the last 6 months! I keep meaning to contact the company about it because I have had ridiculously awesome experiences with their customer service. I think they’re a great company. I’m interested to see what they say about my snappy that fell off. I will try to remember to let you know how it turns out!
I have never had a problem with the snaps falling off but I have had one diaper replaced when the snap closure seemed to crack (or something) and would no longer stay snapped. Just email them, they are wonderful with that sort of thing.
I found that the little gpants that I bought at babies r us were of very poor quality compared to the ones I ordered directly from their website. We use the disposable inserts, and love the autoship!! We don’t use that many now though, cause my 2 year old son is in the midst of potty training, but their great when we go out!
I was *SO* happy when I found gDiapers before I was even pregnant. Now I cannot wait to start stocking up (hey, I should probably start doing that soon…) and gDiaper-ing our wee one’s bum!
I couldn’t agree more! We use primarily prefolds with our son, and we use BumGenius diapers at night because they hold more. I got the same eye-rolls about using cloth when I was pregnant, and we have since discovered that cloth diapers are so not a big deal! We are definitely advocates of cloth. I haven’t used gDiapers before, but they look great!
YAY! I love love love cloth diapers and have done them since day one. We use prefolds with just the plain white covers, but I get the added bonus of having a service & someone else washing those stinky poopies right out! Totally cost effective- I think right now we pay around $55 a month. It was more when he was first born but goes down based on how many diapers you end up using. I’ve heard the gdiapers are great but work better as a baby gets a bit bigger?
I looked into the services – there actually are NONE in the Twin Cities. Sooooo I wash my own poopies. I never had a problem with the fit of the g’s and we started using them around 2 weeks. Then again, OBaby has legs that just don’t quit (see above photo) so that might not be everyone’s experience :).
Yeah my little guy is pretty midget-like. I may try this for the twins- as my service will wash the gdiaper inserts too!
Um… WHAT??? I also use gDiapers for outings but use BumGenius for at home, I had no idea that gDiapers made cloth inserts! I could have sworn I spent few too many hours on that website from work while I was pregnant :)
I honestly thought it was just the disposable inserts, time to investigate further, although I’m in Canada and its harder to get them here, so…. I could possibly use my smaller BumGenius inserts with the covers?
YEEEEES They make cloth! Well, they’ve only sold cloth inserts for a while, but cottonwoodbaby.com has sold them longer than that. I bought all of ours from the gDiapers company and I heart them.
I would google the bum genius/gDiapers compatibility and see what you find. There are a LOT of people out there who do various cloth things in the gDiaper pants (I even came across a woman once who made her own inserts from ShamWOWs. No joke.). Good luck!
HA! Shamwows!!!!
Yeah, you’re not supposed to use microfiber against skin as the below commenter mentioned…it’s extremely absorbent and will suck the moisture out of your baby’s skin :(
I’ve used the BumGenius larger inserts snapped down one snap. You probably don’t want to put the microfiber inserts against skin. It snags on my hands so I wrap it in a flat fold. They made older ones out of cotton or something gentler-I have one like that and it’s not a problem. During the day, my daughter is a light wetter and I just use one flat fold- much less excess and much cheaper. They bunch side to side, but no leaks so . . . no worries. She’s 17 months and small 19 lbs. We came late to cloth @ 7 months. I bought mediums and she probably won’t be needing any others.
You can definitely use the infant inserts from bum genius for the gdiapers!!! This is exactly what the family I nanny for does, and it works perfectly!!!
OMGoodness I love that room! I could actually see myself DOING laundry in there! And the wall saying?? PERFECTION!! You, my dear, are AWESOME. :)
Thanks for the info! I’m still debating on cloth vs disposables, but quickly running out of time! I will definitely look into the gDiapers. You make it look so simple!
You could get a few cloth to try it out. I started with 5 cloth and now have 10 so we still use a few disposables while those are all drying. I’m going to buy more cloth next month.
I want your laundry room.
I hadn’t thought of putting cloth liners in gDiapers. I know people who use them and they all use the flushable liners.
We have been doing cloth diapers (one-size all-in-ones that I got ebay) for a few weeks and I love it. Nice to not have that “O no, we are out of diapers, we must get to the store” moment any more.
I was going to say something about cloth diapers, but then I got to the end and all I can think is that I want your laundry room.
I know right? I might not mind doing laundry so much if I could hang out in there!
I don’t have any kids and I’m not pregnant.. at least I think I’m not. anywho when I told my MIL I was set on doing cloth diapers she acted the same way.. I guess it is because they HAD to use them and didn’t have all the new fangled stuff we have now:] Anyways Love your baby boy. He is the cutest thing!
Um, wow. Do you have my house bugged or something? I was JUST saying to my Mom tonight that I was thinking of possibly maybe doing cloth diapering. It’s a thought in my head right now and with a 6 month old and a 2 year old I was wondering if it’s worth it. I know it’s a large start up cost…but…I dunno…I need to price it out for myself I think.
But dang that is a sweet laundry room.
*Said in a Napoleon Dynamite voice* LUCKY!
Hey Allison, You were just feature on gdiapers facebook fan page. Just wanted you to know. :) I love this post by the way. I totally rock the g diapers with you.
Wow! You rock our world! Could we have your permission to link to your blog from gDiapers.com?
O goodness! Of course!
Hi Allison
Thanks so much for such a terrific review! Kim and I really appreciate it.
Cheers
Jason
Great post Allison! I’m a gDiaper mom (with a daughter who shares your name) who discovered the product while I was pregnant and knew…just knew…they would make any excuses not to do cloth diapers ridiculous. We did the diaper math too and are pleased at the cost savings. btw – great photos with your post and I love your laundry room message!
Thanks, Melany!
gDiapers are pretty much the only way I talked DanO (the hubs) into cloth diapering. You’re right, they pretty much remove any excuse (except laundry – which I do anyway!).
I didn’t mention it in here, because my son is not even 7 months old yet, but JUST THINK of the savings with subsequent kiddos. I cannot imagine doing disposables after knowing what I know (about cost and chemicals).
We are due in May and have a couple gDiapers to try out. I was pretty set in using the the gdiaper system until a couple weeks ago. Now I am torn between using the “g’s” or doing prefolds with Bummis covers! OMG cloth diapers are sooooo cute, I see this becoming an addiction very easily! Nonetheless I have some that I will use as I love the “system” of not having to wash the whole diaper everytime so I guess time will tell which becomes my favorite. I know I can’t wait to try them out!
Hi Jackie!
The first photo in the post was actually from March – I wasn’t due until July, but boy was I excited to buy my diapers! I *may* have even put them on a teddy bear to try them out. I’ll never tell.
I have a great mommy friend who uses prefolds with a snappy thing to hold it in place. They work great for her. Personally, I love that once a gDiaper is assembled, it is JUST AS EASY to put on as a disposable. No pins or snappies and then a cover. Just put it under the bum and velcro.
Good luck!
Have to say, I love the phrase “crunchier-than-thou”. :)
We are going to use gdiapers on our new baby due in June. While we will probably be using the disposables, the cost seem the same as if we were purchasing the more expensive brands, and it’s not necessarily about saving money to us, it’s using a product that goes along with our belief of “green” living
I’m sure you’ve said this somewhere – but how many cloth inserts/liners did you get? I’m guessing you got 10 little gpants? (because I’m smart like that) I’m doing prefolds/thirsties duos at first, but I did buy 12 gcloth in the small/medium to use after the itty bitty stage along with the prefolds but am not sure how many covers/liners to get. Any advice? I’d always read the magic number was 6 covers but no experience to back it up. I did fuzzi bunz with Luke (and sold them all thinking he would be our last. oops.) and wasn’t about to drop that much money again hence the covers and prefolds.
Hmmm, I feel like I’m rambling. will go now.
For the small size we had 6 pants and I think 8 liners, and I know we had 24 inserts (4 of the 6 packs)
We got more than that for medium b/c the med. size inserts and liners are also compatible with large – we have 8 pants and 10 liners. I also have 30 inserts. I LOVE that they are the same for med and large so that will be all we’ll need. We didn’t really NEED to ramp up the # of pants and inserts, but it’s nice that I have the breathing room to do the diaper laundry every 3rd day if I want.
I looked at the more expensive AOIs too, but couldn’t justify $25-$30 per pant. The g’s are mostly $15-$19 and they are often doing sales on certain colors (right now orange and vanilla are $14). The 6 packs of gPants (which they didn’t have when I was starting my stash, sadly) are EVEN cheaper.
I swear I’m done gushing about how awesome they are now. Just wanted to wear my heart on my sleeve.
Thanks! When we are in Med/Larges I may take the plunge and go 100% gdiapers. I don’t have the bigger prefolds yet anyway.
I do love cloth diapering!!!! Love your laundry room.
Steph
Hi there, I am new to gDiapers… I stumbled upon them at our favorite local baby store. Now that I am 38 weeks pregnant, I was curious of your system for the dirties? Do you keep a diaper pail for the gcloths in baby’s room? How do you handle the really dirties(#2)?
Any tips or suggestions… much appreciated!
Hi Missy!
I use a wet bag, for our dirties. Like this one in the large size, and then I have a grab’n’go size that I keep in my diaper bag for the out and about dirties.
OBaby is still mostly breast fed, so the #2s aren’t all that stinky. I just toss them in the bag with everything else (and often #2 will mean that the liner gets washed too, not just the cloth insert). I do have 2 wet bags and rotate them out about every 2 days, so the smell doesn’t have long to sit there. I just take the bag down to the laundry, open it up, dump the contents into the wash and toss the bad in on top. I wash all of it with natural laundry soap on the dbl cycle, and sometimes I’ll toss in some vinegar on top for whitening. Then when it comes time to switch to the dryer, I leave the liners to dry on top of the dryer (they are ‘aly flat to dry’) and toss everything else in for about 70 minutes (bag and cloth inserts). SO. EASY.
Hope that helps, and thanks for stopping by!
-AllisonO
Wow Allison! You should be offering internships for those of us yet to be married and pregnant folk! So much to learn! Thanks for your blog and comments.
You have a beautiful laundry room! I am so jealous!
I am soooo jealous of your laundry room… ugh, mine is like 5×5 foot room… No space!! I think i will keep that in mind when we buy our next home.
Love the blog!! =)
Love the post! I am a long time gdiaper lover!! I am adding you to my reading list and saving this link for friends with babies on the way!
And, those are the best wetbags! I should not have gone to link because now I see a new cute pattern I want but don’t need. *Sigh
I also wanted to add that my daycare uses my g’s with cloth, so for this baby I have bought zero disposables. She went into the small (Old style) g’s at 5 days!
And, I am a crazy lady who will always buy a new design or pattern so my stash is huge! Luckily, we plan on 1-2 to more kids.
I’ve only just entered my second trimester, but I know I’m going to be a huge fan of Gdiapers. This past weekend I started a large collection of gdiapers, since my local grocery store (HEB) had them all on clearance! All twin packs of gdiapers for $2, and a pack of 40 flushables for only $4! I couldn’t believe my eyes and I went a little crazy. The sad part is that HEB will no longer be carrying Gdiapers, so if you live in Texas, run to HEB while they still have some!
Diane! That’s amazing! Do you know if any of the stores still have them? I am in California but would love a deal like that. Twin packs of gDiapers here are $20 something and 40 flushables are $15 normally.
Maybe you could pick up extras and we can pay you a premium?!
Hi Allison,
I linked to your site from the gdiaper website. I am totally considering gdiapers but wondering
if i’ll like it and if it will truly be cost effective considering this is my last little one. Do you
recommend anything as far as trying out the system for those of us on the fence? I read where
someone believed that buying the disposable inserts worked out to be cheaper than buying
regular disposable diapers. Did you find that to be true??? It seemed like it would be more.
Hi Tay,
For us, the disposable inserts are equal to the price for disposable diapers because we would do chlorine-free diapers, and will the occasional coupon on either g’s or sposies, they both work out to about $.38 a diaper. (I think that’s correct, we did the math about a year ago now, I know it was in the upper 30s.) We use cloth inserts 90% of the time. The disposables are what we change OBaby into when we are out so that we only have to pack home cloth insert. He is in cloth at home.
So, because we use cloth, I priced out the amount we spent on supplies for first 2 sizes (approx enough for him to wear until 1yr6mo) plus the cost of 2 loads of laundry and it was equal to the first 9 months in chlorine-free disposables. Let me know if you have any more questions!
-AllisonO
Hey Allison – I love the whole site!
We also are using gdiapers and have been for about a month now but I recently purchased the cloth inserts, based on your recommendation! Now – I need help! Am I supposed to wash the inserts six times, then finally dry? orrr do I wash and dry six times?? Thanks!
Hi Leah,
I washed them like 3 times I think, and I’m pretty sure I didn’t dry them in between. I am apparently not an A student. They worked just fine for us. The reason they suggest multiple washes before using is that the materials get more absorbent and soft as they are washed. Since we wash them after they get dirty (surprise!) they were washed “6 times” soon enough.
I am so glad you are trying the cloth inserts! Let me know if you have any more questions!
HI THERE! LOVE ALL THE INFO! I AM VERY ON THE FENCE BUT LOVE THE IDEA AND THE
GDIAPERS ARE SO CUTE! MY QUESTION IS WOULD IT BE COST EFFECTIVE IF I KNEW
AHEAD OF TIME I WOULD BE MOSTLY IF NOT ALL THE TIME- BE USING THE DISPOSABLE
INSERTS? YOUR INFORMATION HAS BEEN WONDERFUL!
I think the disposable inserts are comparable in price to a high end disposable diaper. I know when we have to get disposable diapers – for church nursery, mostly – we get the chlorine free kind which are about $0.40 a piece. I think that’s what G disposable inserts end up being if you buy them by the case. All of the ‘much cheaper’ statements in this post though, are certainly for the reusable gCloth inserts. Good luck!
I linked to your page from gdiapers, too, and I just have to hop on the LOVING gdiapers bandwagon! I only discovered Gdiapers while potty training my son and used the small disposable inserts in his big boy underwear for a couple of days to help the process along and now I’m a full convert with baby #3.
As for cost, I calculate .26 per disposable liner (which we only use on long outings) because I insist on scrounging up a $2 off coupon before I buy a pack. They come with the gpants, too. I’m now saving my barcodes to use the gthanks program for discounts… Where there’s a will there’s a way, huh?
I really love my gcloth inserts. So slim from what I was used to with my first two babies… But I even use my old prefolds in medium gdiapers. I have em, why not?
One last thing (I know, get your own blog)… The best answer I’ve found for solid waste is the bumgenius diaper sprayer. Attaches to your toilet and allows you to spray any solids into the toilet (with a surprising amount of water pressure!) and flush it. Then I use a lidded wet pail next to the toilet with a little Borax to drop diapers in til laundry day. Easy and cheap!
Sorry so long!
Great post!
I used gdiapers for about a year with my first child (until she was potty trained), and now I’m expecting baby #2 and trying to stock up on small gdiapers!
love it……
Here I am, over a year later after this post was published, leaving a comment! You’ll probably never see it! Anyway, just have to say we love gdiapers! Have been using them for 4 months now and don’t even think twice about changing her diaper. SO EASY! Are you planning to use the same pairs for O Baby #2? Love that we already have our supply ready for our next kiddo!
Hi i heard that HEB put GDiapers on clearance but i dont live near one, where is your HEB and do they still have them on sale? how long ago was it that you got them?
Thanks!!!
If anyone here is interested in cloth diapering, I can do a personal consult to find the right diapering system for you and make sure you get the best deals. I’m a rep for Diaper Parties by Everything Birth and I carry almost all brands of diapers, wetbags, detergent, midwife supplies, etc. :) Let me help you! megan at diaperparties dot com. :)
Hey there! Thanks for your positive raves! I just got the new bundle and was wondering… How often did you change? This is going to be my fourth and well not that I won’t change frequently but… Did you find one cloth insert worked well in the NB/SM diapers? I am getting so excited!! We have tried other cloth diapers and well there are pro’s and con’s to all of them these seem to fit the bill… Are you still in love with them? I realize this post was a long time ago but any response you could give would help me really help me out!! THANKS
My husband and I are gDiaper junkies too! We are using them with our daughter now and plan on using them with the second baby when he/she arrives one day. We decided to crank our cost savings up a knotch and started using “warmies,” by Prince Lionheart. Warmies are cloth wipes. Best thing about cloth wipes is our daughter has not had a single “diaper rash” since we started using them. SOOOOO we are a cloth family. The only throw-away wipes I have are in my diaper bag next to the gDiaper disposables. So if you’re going green or like me, married to a penny pincing Taurus, get the “warmies” too and really watch your budget smile.
Cheers!
I know this entry is old, but it is just way too cute! I could hear your gushing, and I don’t even know you! Love it!
Hello Alison,
I am interested in cloth diapering and trying to do some research. My question is: What do we need for the first 18 months? How many small gdiapers? How many cloth inserts should we have? I love gdiapers, want to use them, but need to know how much we need!
Please let me know if you can help!
Hi Molly
here’s a post that was linked on the gdiapers website about getting started
http://www.katelynperkins.com/2013/04/getting-started-with-gdiapers/
When she writes “6-8 gpants” she means eventually in each size. Size small will only fit until 14lbs so they won’t last the full 18 months.
Gdiapers also offers bundle packs for each size and now has a “newborn” pack which includes 12 newborn size gpants and 6 small size gpants which sets you up for awhile and gives you time to try out the gdiapers. If you order then straight from the Gdiapers website you can get $10 off your first order, that is over $100, (which the newborn bundle is)by putting in the code TRYIT into the coupon box.
I found this while Googling and it was *so* helpful, thank you! The comments and your responses were also great.