Sunday, May 3, 2009

G-Diaper Follow up and diapering in general


There is literally endless information out there on diapering. Alex and I looked over some of it before Forrest was born and decided it was not a decision we could make until our guy was with us, and we could then evaluate what kind of energy/$ we felt like expending. Before Forrest was here, the idealist in me thought "cloth diapers, of course!" But now, especially as I am back to work and Alex is the superdad at home 3 days a week, it must be conducive to something we all can deal with...

So if you are expecting, I highly reccomend waiting and not buying expensive diapering systems too soon, but do do the research now. Who knew people cared so much about this subject? (I sure didn't until I saw the mass commentary/at times hate mail out their on the web!)


So...the cost of G-Diapers....they are not really any cheaper than disposables, and depending what kind of disposables you get, often are more expensive.
www.gdiapers.com sells cases of the flushable/biodegradable inserts directly, and then you can also find them at any Whole Foods/Co-op type stores. Being as we live in Humboldt Co, these types are plentiful! Another plus on G-diapers are that you can use the cloth diaper with prefold cloth inserts if one wanted to do a combo cloth/compostable insert deal. Their starter pack, two cloth outer diapers and 10 inserts is a pretty good deal at $26 if one just wanted to try it, (Ashley maybe this would be the best bet....) This is what I bought along with 40 additional inserts to give it a shot. Consignment stores also have plenty of used outers for sale for pennies compared to the new ones, (and these are a ok to buy used, or at least better than reg. cloth diapers as gdiapers have a plastic liner that rarely lets the babies pee/poop on to the actual cloth part.)

So you are purely doing it to decrease your carbon footprint and do your part. Cloth diapers would be cheaper I believe for the average family, but if you add in the cost of a diapering service, I really don't know what is more cost effective. For us in particular, seeing as we have a lot of land and plenty of room for an additonal composter/hole in the ground, it is perfect for us. No water waste either other than the normal weekly washing of the cloth outer with the rest of his clothes.


And, ECing, or elimination communication
. Jonna I was amazed when you did your post on this. I did research it...how though does it actually work? Bodi gives her signals or cues and you go and hold her over the toilet? Is she in a regular diaper the rest of the time? And in the outdoors what do you do? I can tell when Forrest is grunting he might, (or might not, and more often not,) be getting ready to sent poop my way, and I have no idea about the pee cues at the moment. But ECing, would be the most economical way to go if you have this down. Way to go Jonna!!!

We'll see how they work...as we are only in our first weekend of trying them at the moment. No blow outs so far! But as our little boy grows it might be a different story...then again what diaper doesn't blow out from time to time... ;-)


1 comment:

Jonna said...

Katie, yeah for ECing! Honestly, all I did was one day decide I was going to hold her over the sink a few minutes after she woke up (when she usually had a big peepee). And she went!! And then you just semirandomly do that throughout the day. She doesn't verbally signal me yet, but she will physically signal me if I'm paying attention. Seriously, right now, just go pick him up and hold him over the sink. I always offer a potty-tunity when she wakes up, when I take her out of the sling, when she is done nursing (and before), after she has wet her diaper (they ALWAYS have to go more), etc. Awesome website for personal experience/advice is tribalbaby.org. Have fun! It's so fun to do with your baby.