Posts Tagged ‘insert’

I am really not a fan of disposables .. after all I do have a cloth diaper store .. but there were times when I wished there was a guilt free option.  I did traditional disposables on my now 8 year old, and every time we threw one out, I hated it.  It plagued my greenie conscience and hurt my wallet (we worked out he cost around $4000 to diaper in the end).  With Braden the bulk of the time, I am perfectly happy to have him in cloth, but there has been the odd time that I wanted a guilt free disposable option.

I found that with three products, disposable inserts that biodegrade and in one case flush (if your plumbing can handle it).  gDiapers flushable inserts, GroVia biopads, and Flip disposable inserts (version 2 — version 1 was just like a maxi pad).  The gDiaper and Flip versions work best for me when you use a cover that you can tuck them in to, and the GroVia version works great in a cover that has no tucking as there is an adhesive.  We used these inserts on trips out of town.  That way I only had to wash covers if I needed to, although in both trips I took sufficient covers that I didn’t have to wash.  I didn’t want to ruin my regular cloth diapers by washing them in another washer, not knowing what detergents had been there before hand.

Recently GroVia came out with another option.  They now have a BioDiaper.  All bar the elastic in the legs and the closing tabs have been tested for being bio-degradable.  Pricewise, they are up around the cost of the more expensive disposable options, so they are not about economics, they are about convenience without harming the environment.  The smallest size was however too big for a newborn.  We had an 8 pound baby in the store recently and I asked the parents to try it out on him when he needed changing but the Size 1 was simply too big.  I was rather disappointed as I had hoped that the size 1 would be a great option for newborns before they had finished passing meconium.

So how does this new biodiaper perform?  Well I blush to tell you the test that I inadvertently had Braden do … my darling husband is not always as prompt as he should be when it comes to changing Braden’s diapers.  He came to pick Braden up at the store one day when I had to stay late to wait for a customer.  The biodiapers had just arrived and we opened a packet to test on him.  When I got home 3-4 hours later, I asked Greg if he had changed Braden … the answer was no … and I was saying “Umm he is in a new diaper that I don’t know how it will perform, he is likely a wet puddle!”.  But he was not.  That diaper was full but there were no leaks.  So it performs well.

I must confess that I wont be reaching for these for Braden.  They are pricey.  And it is still creating some trash, even though it will break down.  But if you need something for a trip, or a bad rash, then these do work.  They come in 4 sizes, but as I said the smallest is too big for an 8 pound newborn.  The size 3 just fit Braden at 33 pounds.  I will likely continue to use a the biodegradable inserts in his existing covers for when I need to deal with a rash or go on a trip, but it is really nice to know that if I had an extended trip planned, or did not know if I could wash covers, that this is an environmentally friendly solution.

So what about the all important costs?  Lets compare.

It has been a long time since I bought a packet of regular disposables, and I know that back with Connor I used to buy them in bulk from Sams club to keep costs down. I did a quick search on Amazon, who very nicely prices things out per piece, and prices of disposables varied a lot by brand, and tended to be anything from 20 cents a diaper to 45 cents a diaper. So yes the GroVia biodiaper is more expensive, but the costs to the environment are far less.