On Wednesday my family will say goodbye to our Texas home. We are moving to southern California so that my husband can attend seminary.
The tricky part about this move is that it isn’t permanent and we aren’t taking all of our furniture from our Texas home. I’m here trying to decide what do we need to take and the rest we’ll get when we arrive in California.
One of the big items we aren’t taking is the washer and dryer. The house we are renting in CA doesn’t have a set so we will have to get some as quickly as we can.
Because of this uncertainty I will be using disposable inserts on Camden. I, out of habit, purchased Flip Disposable Inserts.
But, here I am, before we’ve even left, kicking myself for not gettting GroVia Biosoakers. Why?
I started using the inserts yesterday after church so that I could get all the cloth diapers packed. Within an hour Camden had pooped.
No problem…aside from the normal grossness of poop. I open the cover and guess where all the poop was?
At the top of the squished down insert all over the cover.
That’s the problem with Flip disposable inserts, if you don’t have a tight fitting cover the insert will bunch up in the middle.
I don’t love the fact that GroVia are so similar feeling to a disposable diaper. But, honestly, I only feel that way because using Flips are easier to justify in my mind as “more natural”.
I’m sure Flip disposable inserts will work great when Camden is sitting in the car for a total of 24 hours. Not a lot of running, climbing and wrestling going on to cause shifting.
Now, just to be clear on GroVia Biosoakers, they aren’t perfect. The sticky tabs are great at keeping the insert in place but they don’t always come off cleanly. This is especially true when your child has been sitting in a carseat for a long time and the heat has caused the stickiness to become icky.
I’ve found that using them around the house and changing often prevents this problem from occurring. I’ve also been told that if I let the shell and used insert sit for a bit after changing that the tab will begin to release, making it easy to dispose of the insert with no sticky residue.
As with any disposable item there are negatives, it’s simply a matter of weighing the options and choosing what is best for your family at that time.
Most of the time I’m happy with Flip disposable inserts but for every cover that becomes soiled I wonder how much trouble I’m really saving myself.
I haven’t tried gDiapers inserts. Do they fit in any cover? I tried to like gDiapers but the leaking was annoying! It’s almost like the snap in liner wasn’t fully waterproof.
What do you use when you need a disposable option? Do you go with a disposable diaper?
I’m praying we get a washer and dryer fast so I can put a Ragababe back on Camden’s cute tush. Oh, and that reminds me, remember that post I just wrote called What is a Hybrid Fitted Cloth Diaper? I was I am completely happy and content with my Ragababe AIOs but now I have this obsession with trying out as many hybrid fitted brands as I can!
NOOOOOOO!!!! I’m not supposed to fall victim to my own posts! At least now you’ll get a sampling of reviews of some of the finest hybrid fitteds on the market today ;)
Think of me on Wednesday and Thursday while we drive 12 hours a day with 5 kids and a cat. Anytime you get stressed…just think of Autumn.
I dont think I will ever use diapers. My baby is really allergic to diapers. Whenever I use one he always gets rashes. My feel very sad when I see that. The baby struggles so much. It takes around one week for the rashes to cure completely. So I have decided never to use diapers. I only use cloth diapers for my little one.
I am pretty hooked on Grovia inserts. Although they deny they’ve switched manufacturers, it is pretty obvious they have between packaging and diaper shape, feeel, stickers, etc. I always used the skicky tabs and never had an issue. Then I opened a new package and all of a sudden, the adhesive wouldn’t come off. I spoke with the company and they gave me some BS story about it being summer time. Such BS. I live in San Diego where it is basically the same temperature all year long (they are clearly lying). I’ve survived (barely). But now I have to scour the internet to find vendors that still have them in stock. I bough gDiapers out of desperation. WHAT A NIGHTMARE!! What is the point if they just soak right through to the cover? I used two and gave up. I now have a full package of gdiaper inserts. I’m now pissed at Grovia because I’ve invested in their system, but now they can’t even supply the product. I’m such a slave!
(Not sure where your hubby is going to school but mine went to Fuller and has contacts at Biola as well. Just an FYI if you need any resources!)
Welcome to So Cal! I hope the trip went well! If you are in the Orange County area and need a friend or a church or help email me! My kids always like to meet new friends!
Tina
Gdiaper inserts fit inside of my Flip covers when we traveled out of the country.
I use gRefills in my Flip covers, too, and they stay put pretty well. Only occasionally due to sweat + urine do they separate and get gooey absorbent gel all over the inside of the cover, but that’s easily rinsed and flushed.
We always use the gDiapers inserts in the Bummis covers we use. We never have any bunching issues, no guarantee that a little poop still won’t get on the edges but overall no issues. I’ve never used the flip or grovia ones.
Autumn, I am praying for your family as you transition. My husband is in seminary right now, and he loves it!! I try to use cloth every chance I get, but I find that chlorine-free disposables work well during traveling due to the very issue you brought up about poo getting on the cover of a hybrid…No one wants to travel in a car or airplane with poo residue on a cover. Just my two cents. Enjoy your new adventure!
We used the gDiaper inserts with our Flip covers for 3 weeks while in Ireland. they worked fantastic! I found I had to fold in the outer edges to make the insert fit into the covers. We never had any leaking issues and when I later tried the Flip disposable inserts, I decided I actually liked the gDiaper better.
Also if you or your S/O forgets and you wash a Gdiaper insert no harm done. IT took two DAYS to wash out the LINT from a grovia “accidental washing” And the Grovia’s smell weird. Like Desitin or something………. I SOOOO wanted to love my flips inserts but the Gdiapers have won……weird. but i my BABYSITTER likes them…..works all around or me! Doubling up on a flips does help with the problem somewhat but then they COST so much more………..ouch!
We usually use our gdiapers (they only leak when they’re too small or too tight) and gdiaper inserts on long trips and things. We tried the grovia ones, but they’re SO much like a disposable diaper we might as well not bother with the cloth shell and just get disposables! We’ve also used the gdiaper inserts with our fuzzibunz and homemade covers with success. The cover sometimes gets a little damp, as gdiaper inserts don’t have a waterproof layer, but this hasn’t been a problem yet. Another thing, gdiaper inserts are MUCH more absorbant than grovia inserts. One grovia insert isn’t enough to last the night (or even a long car ride), but the gdiaper definitely is. I’ve never used the flip inserts. Are they cheaper than gdiapers?
P.S.- We can get gdiaper stuff at Fred Meyer (at least in the Portland area)!
Welcome to California! I hope you have a safe and smooth drive. We will be leaving Southern California In December, going to Colorado. Woo Hoo! After living amongst all the concrete my whole life I’m looking forward to some real seasons. Will miss the beach though. Hope you have lots of fun here and enjoy it. There is lots to do and you’ll be very welcomed here. Lots of Luck!
I have used both the GroVia BioSoakers as well as the gDiaper disposable inserts. They both have their up’s and down’s. Our last big trip we took was out to Cal to visit my family and both of my kiddos were still in diapers at the time. For daytime I used the GroVia inserts. I loved that it has the waterproof backing so the insides of the covers did not get all wet and nasty. If I used them in my regular PUL covers and not the GroVia covers then I did NOT use the sticky tabs – they left permanent marks on the inside of a couple of my diapers. For nighttime I used one GroVia topped with a gDiaper disposable insert. There is no waterproof backing on those, so the fluids could soak right through and into the GroVia insert, and since that had the waterproofing it kept the cover from getting too gross. I don’t believe we had any leaks at all, and my son is tube fed continuously while he sleeps at night so he has a TON of pee! lol.
The gDiaper inserts fit in any other diaper or shell. It is basically just a rectangle of absorbent material about 4×15 I would say..? Somewhere around there anyway. So yes, they will work in any standard diaper.
A GroVia insert is basically the same size and waste (landfill-wise) as a disposable, so when traveling I pick the best disposable diaper I can find (no need for it to be biodegradable unless I am controlling where I throw it out – throwing a biodegradable dipe or insert into a plastic lined trashcan at a gas station on a roadtrip won’t let it biodegrade anyhow) is my suggestion. You do the best you can when you can! :)
Welcome to Southern California!
I agree everyone is doing the best they can! I just wanted to point out that supporting companies trying to be better with the world is always good. Also, maybe it will be stuck in a plastic bag for a while not biodegrading, but someday – years from now, maybe it’ll get a chance when we figure out how to fix our trash issues. My thoughts. Just my thought.
are you serious Morgan? Do you really think plastic garbage bags stay intact until the trash gets to the landfill? They normally get destroyed in the garbage truck or by the bulldozers moving the trash around the landfills
Just wanted to say congrats and blessings on this new chapter. My husband graduated seminary in May ’11. We are still living on campus and I am taking classes. In our time here, we have added 2 more babies to our crew. (we have 6) I will keep you in my prayers.
When I need a disposable option, I use nature Babycare. They are biodegradable. I like gDiaper refills just fine, too, but they are a touch bulky. I was able to snag a couple sample packs (2 in each pack) of the nature Babycare at my local Bargain Hunt store for $.99 each so I also didn’t have to buy a whole package.
I love the gDiaper disposable inserts te best out of all of those for my little boy.. I absolutely hated the other two. I use the gDiaper ones inside my ragababe 2-step shells with no issue whatsoever. Those hold a ton with no leaks whatsoever. The only annoying thing is the I have to kinda fold the tiny extra material on tha sides in so that they fit. It only takes a second though, and I put the insert under the flap in the 2-step. I love them. I would definitely recommend getting some of those. You won’t go back to the icky other ones!
I love the g diaper disposable inserts! I haven’t used them since my child started walking to really put them to the test, but they were great! He was only bf when we used them and I do not remember the cover getting soiled. I used them with flip and rarz covers.
Slightly off topic… I haven’t used any of the disposable inserts but I wonder if the disposable velcro-like material on disposable diapers could somehow be incorporated into Flip/GroVia disposable inserts and covers. I envision something like the Flip trainer but disposable/breakdown-able velcro.
We do use regular disposable diapers when traveling and even with my very sensitive nose I don’t find the smell as disgusting as many people in the CD community seem to. Over the course of seven children and nearly 15 years I’ve used Luvs, Pampers, Huggies, Kirkland (Costco), and store brands. If memory serves me correctly the Luvs and Pampers had/have a scent to them fresh out of the package (baby powder or something like that). My suggestion is do what works best for your little one. If he’s going to be active that day, use a traditional disposable and if not pick one of your favorite hybrids. Of course, you could opt to just use pad folded flats and covers and wash along the way. Does that help? Feel free to email me directly if I can be of further help.
I love, love, love the gDiapers disposable inserts in my Flip covers. They don’t feel chemical-y AT ALL, they’re 100% biodegradable when they’ve only been soiled with pee and they fit great. Sometimes you get some poo on the cover, but I’ve never experienced the problem you described in your post. These are the only disposable inserts we use!
All the best to you in your new home!
We have used all 3 with our twins and I will say hands down that grovia biosoakers are my favorite of the 3! The key to the sticky tabs is to either not use them (leave the tabs on), or stick the sticky tabs onto your clothing or carseat before placing the insert into the shell. Hands down the grovias keeps the messes contained better and they have lasted us for up to 4 hours in the car and overnight camping. This summer we had 4 camping trips and I forgot to stock up on the grovia bio inserts so in a pinch we tried flips and gdiapers. The flips were super thick but bunched up into the middle causing the shells to get wet and messy if they pooped. Not sure if they would work better in their own companies shell, but in the grovias I felt like I had to rinse the shell after each change. The g diapers are very similar to the flips, when they got wet they would bunch and they felt like they were heavy and falling apart. Also with both the flips and gdiapers my girls tushies were wet to the touch when changing them, the grovia did a better job and wicking away the moisture. Good luck with the move!
Why not use a laundromat while you wait to get a washer ( don’t really need a dryer in sunny Cali). I camped for a week with two in diapers and just went into town half way through the trip to do a load of diapers at the local laundry place. We camped about 6 hours away from home and everything worked out great. My only suggestion for the drive would be to have a disposable liner for the poo. I just cut an old Cleese receiving blanket into strips and tossed the poo ones and washed the pee ones with my diapers to be reused again. Good luck with the drive!
Fleece
I like the g-diaper inserts with my Flip covers. I like that they have 2 sizes – so I don’t have to fold the insert like the Flips.
I love the gdiaper disposable inserts in weehuggers and flip covers. They work great. Very minimal bunching/shifting. Any time we NEED to use disposables that’s what we use.
We use Biosoakers when we travel. I have some flips but haven’t tried them. The Biosoakers worked great for us. I didn’t think I would like Grovia but they are my main diaper now. We normally use the organic inserts and have a couple stay dry ones.
The only disposable insert I’ve used is Flip, but I laid it in an empty pocket instead of a cover. The microfleece/suede seemed to help hold the insert in place. Give it a try.
So Cal for grad school! Hubby and I met at grad school in So Cal (LA area). Not that we’d go back, though. We were very happy to get out of there.
As for diapers… after 2 major poo-sposions in 2 days in sposies, Hubby swore off sposies. I certainly understand why you went with the sposie inserts, though. Traveling and cloth isn’t easy. We did a car trip (Texas to Wisconsin) a few weeks ago, and I found that if I bagged each used diaper in a plastic bag and tied it tight, the smell was quite contained. But we also had washer access at Hubby’s folk’s place.
Good luck figuring it all out!
We used Grovia biosoakers for daytime on our last vacation and doubled up Flip at night. Worked great for a 5 month old. We’ll see how it goes next week for a wiggly 10 month old who sleeps through the night.
When we travel I lay a gdiaper insert on top of the Flip stay dry. We get double pee protection and when one of the two (in diapers) poops, we can throw it out instead of carrying it around. We have never had a leak with this system. This is great since no one lives closer than 12 hrs from us!
I use gdiaper inserts sometimes, like at night when camping. I put them under a flat diaper and the flat helps keep them in place very well. They work great when you need to handwash but don’t want to wash a ton by hand (as with my camping example). I recently went camping for 3 nights with just 15 flat diapers, and 6 gdiaper disposable inserts. I handwashed the flats every morning. I found I had more leaks with gdiapers with my son than my daughter. Maybe it is just the way that boys pee
We have only used GroVia and generally like them, provided DD doesn’t squirm too much during application causing the gussets to get all crooked. Also, I wish they would go bavk to having 2 sticky tabs instead of just one at the back. DD tends to sleep with her bum in tthe air and her knees
Tucked under her. If the soaker has bunched up ir slid diwn in the cover she pees right out the top.
GroVia Biosoakers are the only disposable insert we’ve tried, and we never use the sticky tabs. We lay Them inside the cover and go – works great! Just have to make sure they’re pulled up far enough in the front so they don’t bunch. For people who do use the sticky tabs I know GroVia recommends using a non-acetone nail polish remover to take care of residual stickiness.
I like the disposable gdiaper inserts the best of all of them. Flip has the problems you mentioned, and I don’t like how the grovia inserts start to break up and the icky gel stuff starts coming out before I can even get the thing off of my son. but, it’s usually those that I choose because they do fit and contain messes best. Also, I don’t use the sticky tabs anymore. I just lay them in the shell and so far that’s worked great.
Bambo naturals! My super soaker can pee through a Huggies in an hour, but put a bambo natural on him and he’s golden. Love the fact that its the only disposable gentle enough that his tush doesn’t look sunburned. They’re pricey and have to be delivered but are worth purchasing for trips as they hold a ton and have a high rise so even the runniest bowel movement can’t escape.
I really like the GroVia biosoakers with their gussets. I was told not to use the sticky tabs with my covers exactly because they DO stick too well. They stay put fine even without using the tabs.
I’ve tried all three, flips, GroVia, and G diapers. I’m very sorry to say the G diaper inserts work the best. And as for laundromats, go back to my “christmas card” email I sent you. (Or go find Bum Genius’s version of it) I have had nothing BUT for 2 1/2 years. You can do ANYTHING you set your mind too. I just whites before dipes to “Clean” the machine. My FAVE inserts are actually swaddlebees capri inserts. And yes I totally get grovia’s weird texture. or my flips they are ok and make great throw in the bag dipes, but my weehuggers/capri get only the gdiaper inserts now. Even the flips Stay dry inserts don’t stay in as well (microfiber on the baby, I wanna cry sometimes…….)
I ALWAYS use disposable diapers in vacations and moves as I believe that the disposable inserts PLUS the washing of the covers has a deeper (worse) impact on the environment as my first option…and I have not heard of a perfect hybrid yet. Nor do I want to: either I cloth diaper or I don’t;-))
Good argument. We’ve thought of that, too, and I agree when it comes to grovia inserts. The gdiapers aren’t so bad because you can tear them apart and flush them or compost them, and they’re 100% compostable. Still, when you factor in the resources used MAKING the inserts, you might be right. On the other hand, you have to wash the baby’s cloths anyway. When we use disposable inserts I just wash the diaper covers with the rest of the baby cloths.
How about just bringing along a whole bunch of flats or prefolds already pad folded and ready to lay inside a flip cover? Tons of absorbency, and if he’s not going to be moving around much while sitting in a carseat, so it’s a good option. Add to that lots of fleece liners so he has that “stay dry” feeling. Flats/prefolds take up about as much room as disposables, and you’ll save a lot of money by not having to buy a pack of disposables for the trip, either! Just take your biggest wet bag… they’re easy to wash, and even if they’ve sat for a couple of days, you don’t have to worry too much about putting them through a complicated wash routine wherever you end up! The last time I tried using a disposable, it leaked within an hour all over my husband’s leg, and it smelled awful!
That only works if there’s a washer where you’re going, though. Also, prefolds take up A LOT more space than dispsables. I’ve never tried flats, but I would love to. They sound like the best option to me.
Flats are SUPER trim and would be a great option! I used them almost exclusively on my little girl for most of her first year.
But you are right about the prefolds – they take up a TON more space when space is super limited like that.
I’ve used the g-diaper inserts a few times, but not the other ones so I can’t really compare. They worked well in my Jamtots BerryPlush shells. I also tried to like the g-diapers but they drove me crazy with the leaking and the cover smelling after one use. Anyways, I didn’t have a problem with the g-inserts bunching up, my dd was just crawling and cruising around furniture. They seemed quite large to me, but dd is on the slender side (18lbs at 12 mos).
I tried Gdiapers disposable inserts and hated them. It seemed like as soon as they got some pee on them, the insert turned to mush. It didn’t stay fitted in the snap-in liner. I haven’t tried Flips or GroVia disposables though. The Gdiaper experience turned me off to the whole idea of hybrids.
It seems like they are turning to mush basically be they are. They are compostable, flushable, biodegradable, so they break down really fast and easy. I wasn’t so big on using them with gDiapers, but they tend to stay put better when using a regular diaper cover with a snug fit.
because* they are
If we were forced to, I could dig out my old old biosoakers and put them in a shell and be done with it, but I don’t really like the idea. I do just about anything to avoid the smell. Ewww. Lol. Can you tell we have sensitive noses around here?
Honestly, we just DON’T. I tried this when moving with my oldest at 6 months old, after having used cloth and trying to use pampers, it was a nightmare. oh the smell. so we tried biosoakers, omg the smell. quickly we gave away the disposables and just let the diapers pile up for a couple of days. much better IMO. There’s always a laundromat. One time washing in a laundromat isn’t going to kill your diapers, and it’s better than being annoyed with the smell, hassle or mess of the disposable inserts..