apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

the AT: Nursery site has comments on the gDiaper as well. sounds great, everybody seems to like them, but many people have issued with the diapers clogging their plumbing systems...but i'm definitely interested in the idea.

Does sound like a great idea, for those whose plumbing and budget can handle it. Otherwise, I still say diaper service is the way to go.

This belongs on "the nursery".

Whether the product itself is green or not is debatable, but at least it's an attempt. This is definitely out of the question for anyone with a septic tank or who lives in an old apartment building. And to think that once you flush something it just disappears from the waste stream is short-sighted.

I've heard that they can clog your plumbing, which depressed me, because I'd like to try this. There seems to be no good diaper alternatives!

We live in an old walkup building and have had great luck with these for our 7 week old daughter. Perhaps gravity helps - we're on the top floor! Mr Green; their inserts are totally biodegradable and decompose within 6 days if disposed of in soil (for wet ones only). We love the design of it all.

Thanks for the great comments on the g post!

Oh, Mr Green don't let those scowl lines sink in too deep. Maybe I'll do another post (or many) sometime on cloth versus disposable. In the meantime, I definitely agree that the g isn't the complete answer, but it sure is a handy option.

Like jess! suggests even if you live in an older building (my condo is about 100 years old), you might find flushing works or you might just decide to compost the wet ones. They break down in 2 to 3 months in a regular composter. Or, you can throw them in the garbage and still know they are taking up only a fraction of space and time as regular disposable diapers.

Thanks for the feedback all.

--manda a.k.a. "the green mama"

Jess!

I hear the clogging effect is cumulative over time, so be careful!

I am a cloth diapering mom and I use the g for traveling away from home. I have been using it for 5 1/2 months now with no clogging issues. Like it's been said before - even if it goes in the trash, it won't stay in the landfill for long. If I'm ever less than confident about plumbing, I either pack the used g insert in my wet bag to take home and flush later, or if that is just not convenient, I throw it away.

What is inside the g insert? Sure, it has no plstic or chlorine, but what DOES it have?

Apparently, landfills are sealed so airtight that they will not degrade if you throw them in the the trash. I just learned this recently (not specifically about gdiapers, but about all trash in general). Also rather depressing.

Monika1, the site says "fluffed wood pulp" and "superabsorber" (sodium polyacrylate)

http://www.gdiapers.com/tearing

Sodium polyacrylate was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to Toxic Shock Syndrome. It is a substance that absorbs 100 times its weight in water; in ultra-absorbent diapers, sodium polyacrylate is so absorbent that it has been associated with bleeding and skin lacerations. That is, it can absorb more than just urine, drying baby’s skin so severely that it cracks and bleeds. It has also been reported to cause severe skin irritations, fever, vomiting, fatigue and weight loss to employees in factories where it's manufactured. No studies have been conducted on the long term effects of sodium polyacrylate on the health of small children. With respect to short-term health issues, there have been some reports that it may be linked to vaginal irritation in girls. Whether it contributes to raising the scrotal temperature is another issue that remains to be studied ( A German study in 2000 found that disposable diapers raised the scrotal temperature of little boys by one degree, while cloth diapers had no effect on temperature. For boys, whose testicals are still developing, this may be a very serious concern. Increased scrotal temperature – even by one degree - is associated with infertility in men.).

gdiapers may indeed reduce the amount of garbage sent to landfill, but are they a healthy choice for our children?

Great research monika1. (I once did an article on tampons also. It is an interesting subject to pursue -- my research suggested that a lot of the harm came from the use of rayon and chlorine. Yet another thing that might make a good post.) I've been in touch with the manufacturer of the gDiapers to learn more--I will let you know what I learn.

I would like to say that if I were to advocate for a diaper SYSTEM, I would suggest this: cloth diapers (I like fuzzy bunz or the organic alternative swaddlebees) that you wash yourself, with gDiapers serving for traveling or nights or other times when cloth becomes less practical.

Maybe I will do a future blog on elimination communication--the most eco-conscious choice of all. Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer is a good book on the subject.

I think it is important that we try to find better alternatives and share with each other what we learn about the consequences of our choices. Thanks to all that have posted and helped to enlighten this subject--it is great to see all of the interest in green parenting.

I hadn't seen the new g cover yet and it sure is cute. I still haven't taken the leap to give the g system a try, but you make some good points about less water usage than cloth. I spend a lot of time scrubbing poop out of our diaper covers. It's fun. I'm using a diaper service right now with disposables at night, but I'd love to find a way to use fewer disposables. My husband hasn't been too keen on the idea of flushing these bad boys down our toilet, but if your 100-year old condo can handle it our apartment probably can, too. Keep the info coming, green mama. I'm always looking for new ways to make sustainable (and pratical and not too cumbersome) choices as I raise my one year old.

Many thanks for posting about gDiapers. My name is Jason Graham-Nye and I am the CEO of the company. My wife and I were struggling to find a diaper that worked for us. We found cloth a little time consuming and knew disposables were not great for the planet. So we discovered this Australian designed diaper and loved it so much as parents decided to move to the US and launch them here.

In terms of flushing, we have passed all our US flushability testing, using P&G’s flushability guidelines using the 5 worst performing toilets. The product has been in Australia since 1991 and been successfully flushed there. If you do have concerns about flushing, you can just as happily toss the insert. By doing so you are still doing a great thing for the planet as there is no plastic in the product it biodegrades much faster than plastic.

The concern about Sodium Polyacrylate (SAP) is one we respond to on occasion. A Google search will turn up a variety of interesting feedback, but the truth is, SAP has been rigorously tested both in the US and abroad and the general conclusions are that it is completely safe and non-toxic. MBDC (www.mbdc.com) is the leading US based design chemistry firm. MBDC has assessed SAP as GREEN which is the safest assessment a chemical or material can receive. Here are some scientific highlights about this fascinating little ingredient:

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

* SAP has an oral LD50 of40g/kg. Essentially this means that 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.

* The 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.

In reference to the issue around Toxic Shock Syndrome in the early 80's, the FDA immediately pulled it from Tampons but we have never been able to find the study that linked it to TSS. And in fact just last year, Newsweek reported an uptick in TSS (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6959935/site/newsweek/)- 20 years after SAP was removed from Tampons. It appears that the cause of TSS is not the super-absorbency that the FDA identified in the 80's but the over extended use of a single Tampon that allows bacteria to build up. It is also very important to note that Tampons and diapers are two very different applications. One being internal, the other being external.

A few months back Mothering magazine included an article citing many of the concerns about SAP that are noted in this blog comment. The following issue they printed a letter to the editor (Jan/Feb 2007) that debated these concerns on scientific grounds. The letter to the editor author (Susan Manning, PhD) followed up on a study that Mothering cited — she went directly to the co-author of a study that “mice exposed to disposable diapers suffered from respiratory problemsâ€�. She asked the co-author (Mr. Anderson of Anderson Laboratories) about this and he said he was misquoted, the respiratory problems they found in mice were due to the added perfumes in most disposables. She asked if there were problems with SAP and “he replied that he knew of noneâ€�.

The German study in question to scrotal temperature refers to the heat-raising properties of plastic disposables (http://adc.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/83/4/364), not to SAP. gDiapers flushables are plastic free.

Who would think there could be so much research done on the humble diaper!

Cheers

Jason
dad/ CEO
gDiapers