alot of diapers claim to be flushable but after watching several friends and family members go thru Adventures in Plumbing due to various brands of "flushable" liners, I wouldnt trust that claim for a sec.

I think these diapers are interesting and I've suggested them to several people after seeing them mentioned on this site. Personally we can't afford to use them, and since my son goes to daycare full time cloth diapers are not an option for us.

Here's hoping that plumbing problems don't figure into the GR family's Adventures....

Now that we've had a clearly baby-related post, I'm sure I'm not the only one dying to know how it's going with the babe in the tiny tiny apt, and whether all the renovations finally magically came together....

(I can't help but slip in a little totally unsolicited advice, which as you know by now is practically a requirement whenever someone talks to new parents. What I wish I'd known when my first kid was born is that the whole ball game changes when they hit 3 months; they stop acting like air-breathing fetuses, and start interacting with you like bona fide people. So if as sometimes happen you find yourself at the end of your rope, remember that "this cannot possibly go on forever" and keeping the 3 month mark in mind can be a big help.)

sjv,

I change about 10 of these a day and I can tell you that, despite a pretty weak toilet, they're flushing just fine!

What are the other brands of flushables?

cheers,
skgr

I had every confidence you two would figure out the "diaper problem." I've never even heard of these--but they make so much sense.
Congrats.

I think sjv is talking about the flushable liners for cloth diapers, rather than diapers that are entirely flushable - there are a few different brands, but they are mostly made for when breastfed babies start eating solids and the poop really has to be removed from the diaper before washing.

Personally, I always forget to put those in, so I can't vouch for the flushability of them.

I've heard the gDiapers are leaky - this is something you won't be able to test until you're changing fewer than 4-5 a day, but I'd be interested to know how it goes.

I've got a 9-day old, and we've been using gDiapers, with disposable Swaddlers on hand as back up. We've had plumbing problems in the past in my building, but so far, as long as we remember to use the 'swirl stick' to break up the flushable, then it doesn't seem like it'll be a problem. I've had to leaks so far, but only with wet diapers (not leaking in the worst sense). I'd recommend having more than 4 of the little g pants on hand reloaded and ready to go -- I've found myself with no prepared diapers at 4am, and was glad I had bought the Swaddlers as well.

I found the g site pretty frustrating -- I would like to know exactly what materials they use. A big beef that I have with disposables is they contain known carcinogens and other chemicals; I just can't tell from their website what these are made of and might contain. These diapers may solve the landfill issue, but more importantly, do they address the health issues posed by disposable diapers?

I really dont know what kind of diaper liners were used by my friends...though none of them used cloth diapers that I ever witnessed. And admittedly, I tried to witness this as little as possible!

I just know they had plumbing issues because I was there as they swapped stories of their plumber's snake pulling out "wads of diaper liners" that were supposed to be flushable. The plumbers were called in after things started backing up...in a nasty smelly way.

Two of the three people's children are around 5 years old now. So hopefully the technology has improved in the last couple years and things that are flushed will stay flushed!

Doesn't anyone use a cloth diaper service anymore? We used a service for the infant stage, then our own cloth diapers (that we washed at home). But we are old fashioned--our daughters' preschool said we were also the only ones to use training pants vs. Pull-ups.

Other than a composting toilet, how is flushing better for the enviro? I was just thinking of those boiling diaper images today. I should probably use a composting toilet myself so I don't waste water. We are running out of it!

At last, a baby post. And it's about time! Inquiring minds want to know: how is life with the baby?

This is an interesting article on the comparison between cloth and disposable diapers:

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Diaper-Not-Clear.htm

Wow, I can't believe these really work. That is great news.

I wonder if there is change in their usefulness once baby goes from just breast milk to also eating solid food. Things are considerably less predictable after that.

Curious, Monika, I had never heard that pampers etc. contain cancer causing materials. What are they and where can we find out more? I used 7th Generation diapers too, are these included?Thanks.

i'm so happy for you + happy to see gdiapers posted.
i first found out about them on
your 9 month cure comments +
posted about them + want to post about them again
so i'll link your post.

beginning diaper changing is so hard for months.
they poop while your diapering them + sometimes
it takes 6 diapers for 1 diaper change.
atleast it's not so smelly at first.

they have a very funny blog.
happy diapering!

Amaryllis, I seem to recall that flushing is better for the environment because waste ends up at a treatment plant where the resulting sludge can be processed into composting material. Whereas in a landfill, the pressure from all the piles of waste prevents air circulation and decomposition from occurring. Or something like that.

Hi there,

My name is Jason Graham-Nye and I am one of the founders of gDiapers. Thanks for giving gDiapers a try.

Brunswickian - you could have a job here! That's just what I was going to say. 80% of what we flush is turned into biosolids - soil reconditioners that are applied to soil that needs rehabilitating. We are the only consumer packaged good with "Cradle to Cradle" product certification from mbdc.com because of this feature.

Flushable liners - The whole flushable business is an interesting one. We have passed our flushability tests in the US using P&G's guidelines on the 6 worst perfroming toilets (the video of this is hilarious...). They have been flushed in Australia for 15 years. However, we know that every toilet is different and if folks have concerns around flushing, it is OK to toss too as there is no plastic in the product.

Matilda - We have our own little diaper debate at:

http://www.gdiapers.com/greatdebate

One of the problems with the research is that whoever pays for it tends to win. So last year a multi year UK study showed that cloth and disposable were about the same environmentally. But if you looked at the assumptions, they said that cloth users iron their cloth inserts! So they take into account the energy used for that...

Monika - the diaper is made up of tree farmed fluff pulp, super absorber and a cellulose fiber outer. More details are on the site at:

http://www.gdiapers.com/madeof

All the materials are compostable and inert in nature. There are no perfumes, no latex and definitely no carcinogens.
If you have concerns about the super absorbing gel, so too did we initially. My wife and I were cloth users because of what we had read about the issues around SAP. However, the more we looked, the more we found that SAP does not pose a health risk to children

It's been rigorously tested both in the US and abroad and the general conclusions are that it is completely safe and non-toxic. MBDC has assessed it as GREEN which is the highest assessment a chemical or material can receive. Here are some other things to consider:

It's on the PAFA list - these are things the FDA has approved for adding to food

Oral LD50 = 40g/kg. Essentially this means that if rats eat 40 grams of SAP for every kilo of weight half of them will die. So basically a 10 lb baby would have to eat about 200 grams to be at risk (about 50 gDiapers). Also to put this number in perspective, an Oral LD50 of 10g/kg is considered "harmless" by EPA standards. Typical table sugar is somewhere between 10-20g/kg so SAP is less toxic via ingestion than table sugar.

Danish EPA determined that "No serious adverse effects were observed by oral, dermal or pulmonal administration". Additionally they determined that this substance was not toxic to aquatic organisms.

CCRIS (Chemical Carcinogenesis Research Information System) determined that this substance is not mutagenic in bacterial tests (Ames) and in Eukaryotic tests (tests with mammalian cells).

BIBRA Information Services Ltd (a UK organization) employs a team of toxicologists to review substances and they have determined that oral administration of sodium polyacrylate to pregnant rats did not produce foetotoxicity or teratogenicity (birth defects) at doses up to maternal toxicity levels.

We absolutely appreciate that this particular issue is very sensistive to some parents. Where we land is, if you are a devoted cloth user, stick with it. The shame is that only 5% of Americans use cloth. gDiapers is somewhat of a half way house for parents who may have tried cloth and not been willing to persist.

The product has been in Australia since 1991 and we have found that many cloth users just buy the outer covers and use their own inserts. The covers contain no PVC or plastics they are breathable. Some use the flushable inserts when they are out or overnight for extra absorbency.

Please give me a call if you would like to discuss further.

And for anyone using them or thinking about it, please call my wife and I - we are in Portland, Oregon and could talk diapers 24/7...

Cheers

Jason

not to be a downer on the g-diaps, but i tried them for 2 months and couldn't make the system work. LOVE the diapers themselves, LOVE the concept but they leaked each and every time! there are the three parts to each diaper -- the flushable insert, a liner, and the pants. i had to assemble a full diaper each time, because my baby would leak onto the liner AND the pants every time. it was a killer! i got 6 pairs of pants because each pair spent so much time in the laundry. we've moved to seventh generation disposables, tragically. i'm sure it works for some people, so i'm glad it's working for the gr's.

gDiapers are such a cool idea and the little Gs are so cute. We followed the directions to a T, but they made our toilet overflow one too many times. I'm glad to hear they're working for some people though.

To Tree & Meg,

Come back! Please call us. The fit we can fix - even working on g 2.0 as we speak. And the flush...for folks who have flushing troubles, even by tossing them you are doing a fabulous job for the planet, as there is no plastic in them. We have a Yahoo user group of 330 folks and boy do they have tips and tricks on fit and flushing.

What can we do to get you back to gLand? Seriously - call!

Cheers

Jason