Hybrid disposable diapers?

I know it’s a bit early since my LO won’t be here until late [name_f]October[/name_f], but a friend recently added me to a local moms’ group and it got me thinking about diaper options. 8 to 10 diapers a day is a pretty big deal and while I do like the idea of being environmentally friendly, the idea of cloth diapering is really daunting. I’m afraid that when I go back to work and the baby goes to childcare that we won’t be able to find a place that’s accommodating to cloth diapers (SO’s mom will likely be able to watch the baby 3x a week, but I don’t want to assume that she’ll be able to do so forever). Plus, all the extra mess and washing sounds pretty unpleasant.

I came across the hybrid disposable diapers idea and I think it looks really interesting, but it’s expensive at first and I don’t want to spend a lot of money and then discover it doesn’t work for us. Basically I was looking at gDiapers which have a disposable/compostable insert inside a washable cloth diaper “shell” (you can also buy cloth inserts). I have one friend who tried a similar style diaper and didn’t like them at all, but I’ve heard rave reviews from others so I don’t know what to think.

Anyone tried hybrid style diapers and have any thoughts or advice? Or want to try and persuade me one way or the other (cloth, hybrid, just use disposables)? Any thoughts appreciated!

Someone gave us gdiapers back when our son was a new baby. They were AWFUL. I cannot warn you against them strongly enough. The diaper insert is held in by a sort of plastic hammock. The edges of the plastic chafe the baby’s legs. And they leak terribly.

We ended up using prefolds trifolded (no snaps or pins) with thirsties covers. This was the best system for us- we tried the fancier pockets and all-in-ones, but liked the covers and prefolds much better. I didn’t find cloth that difficult, just an extra load of laundry every other day. But then, I was home during the day and we have laundry machines in our house. I know that a lot of daycares won’t let you use cloth, so that is a consideration as well. You could look into compostable diapers if you want something not cloth and you have a means of composting them.

We also did overnight disposable diapers at night bc it allowed our son to sleep twelve hour stretches if he wasn’t waking up in a puddle. We did disposable when traveling as well.

I’ve never used gDiapers because they are crazy expensive (overpriced [name_f]IMO[/name_f]).

I used both cloth and disposables for my daughter. Cloth at home the first year, disposables at night and for travel/babysitters, and after I went back to school/work, exclusively disposables.

The hybrid diapers seem like as much or even more work than disposables, TBH.

Everyone [name_m]IRL[/name_m] told me I was crazy for wanting to cloth. That I’d give it up in a week. I actually loved it, and I hate using disposables, and I would like to exclusively cloth my second.

Most day cares won’t take cloth diapers. And if you’re working, yeah, it is a pain to do extra laundry. But when you’re home (even PT or work-from-home), it’s not that hard, it’s no more messy or gross than disposables, you’re individually having a pretty huge impact on the environment, and you’ll save a TON of money (probably literally. Like $2000 dollars).

You can cloth for pretty cheap. Prefolds is the cheapest option and people say it’s the most work but I found it to be no more work at all than pocket diapers. It’s also easier to stay drier, avoid bulk, and avoid leaks because you can custom fold it to fit the way your child pees.

My advice would be to order a package with a guarantee (I know bum genius has one) or just go with prefolds and snappis which is cheap enough, and see if you like it.

I’m not a parent yet, but I worked in an infant care in Oregon, where almost 50% of parents used alternative diapering systems. The hybrids were my least favourite, IMHO. You get the worst of both worlds. You are spending a lot of money and contributing a lot of waste, while still having to spend the time/money/resources doing laundry too. G diapers were a nightmare. The disposable inserts basically held nothing, so everything leaked into the covers, so those had to be changed almost every time, defeating the purpose of using an insert system. Cloth diapering can be intimidating, but less so once you get into it. My favourites are prefolds with waterproof covers. They go on super easily with a Snappi and are easy to get waste off of (especially when they start solids), because they’re basically a flat piece of fabric. For me, that beats trying to remove poo from an [name_m]AIO[/name_m] or pocket diaper. And, you still get a wide range of choices in pretty little diaper covers!

We exclusively use disposable diapers. The Pampers swaddlers worked the best when she was younger and now the Huggies work best.

I have several friends who use cloth diapers and are happy with them. Not sure which ones they use, but I think they are one of the cheaper upfront cost ones.

For me personally I live in an area that is constantly in a drought so it wouldn’t really help to have more laundry to do if that makes sense. Plus, honestly between the amount of laundry I do already I just didn’t want to add anymore, but that’s just me.

I think someone’s idea of getting a few with a guarantee and trying them out is a smart idea.

Thanks ladies, that was definitely my fear with the hybrids (that they would get messy anyway and be basically the same as cloth). Unfortunately it’s pretty much guaranteed that I will have to go back to work full time right away, so with daycare being an immediate concern it’s probably best in our situation to just go with disposables. I doubt I’ll have the time/energy to devote to cloth even though I’d love to save the money and of course the environmental impact.

Plus selfishly, I love the fact that the new disposable diapers have that little line that turns a different color when the diaper is wet… saved me so much time when babysitting other people’s infants lol.

Also, is diaper rash more common with cloth or is that just an old wives’ tale?

Hard to say- my son never had a diaper rash. Maybe it was bc of the cloth, but maybe he just has a cast iron butt. Some people are really evangelical about cloth diapers, and they swear it causes fewer rashes.

I think you do tend to change cloth a little more often, so that could contribute to fewer rashes. But then if your baby was sitting around in wet cloth diaper, they don’t wick away moisture so I would think that would lead to more rashes. It probably depends on how often they get changed.

I THINK that those Honest diapers are compostable, so that might be an eco-friendly option to look into, if you are interested in it from that angle.

If you want the cheapest, Target brand (Up&Up) were the best cheapest disposables I ever found. I couldn’t see a difference between those and Pampers, honestly. But again, I am going off my experience with one baby here.

Diaper rash is far less common with cloth (provided you’re changing the baby regularly). I guess maybe since its not as dry they might get a rash faster if not changed on time, but paper is way more irritating and the chemicals in disposables can irritate an already rashy/raw area or cause sensitivities.

Luvs have been my favorite diaper brand. They’re as good quality as huggies/pampers for way cheaper. Up&up are great too, but if you don’t go to target making a special trip is not worth it. The other store brands - supermarket, wal mart, CVS, have been poor quality.

We wanted gdiapers, but couldn’t get them in Australia, which turned out to be lucky because I’ve heard nothing but terrible things about them. I was looking at hybrids to convince my husband to go cloth, because at first he was dead-set against it. (Mess. Eww)
Anyway, in the end we bought cushie tushies chameleon nappies (now only selling on ebay, company didn’t do so well) and Itti bitti tuttos - which are just cloth. Nothing hybrid about the tuttos.

The chameleons are terrible. Bulky as all get-out, and although they claim to be OSFM they aren’t. We couldn’t get the smaller setting to work at all, they just gradually loosened themselves as the baby wore them. I only got covered in poo twice before I vaccume bagged the suckers and moved on. My eldest wears them now that she’s two, but I had to buy off-brand extra liners for them. The disposable insert thing was ok with these nappies, but not worth the inconvenience of having to order them online, and not worth the cost. For that money we could just by disposables and be done with it.

The itti bitti nappies, even though it’s a full cloth system, ended up being a fantastic purchase. You can buy flushable bamboo liners for them which cuts the mess down 100 fold, or cheapo liners at the supermarket that also do the trick (can’t flush those but they are less expensive and do a fine job). You don’t soak them or anything. And if you make sure to line dry them, they don’t get stinky at all.

Cloth diapering seems like a lot of work, and sounds messy, but honestly once you’re a parent and getting frequently covered in another small person’s bodily excretions all the time you don’t really notice it. The money you save makes it worth it too.

Haha mirimouse, never a truer work spoken!

I use cloth nappies too (pockets), and find them not that much extra work at all. If you are doing washing anyway then it’s probably an extra 15 mins per day to do the bits and pieces you need to do to get a good system going. I am at home though so think that helps a lot. Can’t believe daycares are really not cool on the cloth, makes it a bit more difficult for you!

We used the G-Diapers and never had issues with them, but it seems like we are in the minority. I am a sahm so I could change them frequently. We never had issues with diaper rash till we switched out of cloth but that was only with my oldest and she has super sensitive skin.

I will just give you my experience with cloth diapers. First off, I am a SAHM, so I’ve never had to worry about daycare, etc. not taking cloth diapers. For both babies I used disposables in the first couple months until they fit well into their cloth diapers. I used the Fuzzibunz pocket diapers with my oldest and they did work well but I hated the washing/smell issues that seemed to come along with using microfiber inserts. The elastics went bad in my Fuzzibunz diapers so for our second baby I got a new stash and decided to go with the economical prefold & cover route. I love it so much better than pocket/microfiber diapers. I got a few different sizes of organic cotton prefolds from [name_u]Green[/name_u] Mountain Diapers and a few different brands of “covers” - Grovia & [name_u]Flip[/name_u] (which are actually “hybrid” diapers, I’ve just always used a trifolded prefold inside of them rather than the insert you can buy for them) and also some Rumparooz and Thirsties covers. I like all the brands for various reasons. The Grovia (I preferred the snaps over velcro) get a great fit and are trimmer, but they have a mesh lining which is not wipe-able so it’s harder to reuse with a new prefold or insert. The Flips (I only have snaps) are generous and bulky but fit well too. The Rumparooz diaper covers (snaps over velcro again) are probably my favorite as far as quality. The Thirsties (I only have velcro, and like them, I haven’t tried the snaps) are really generous and bulky but I reach for these first simply because they are fit a larger prefold and are easy to get a good fit with the velcro. Since the prefolds are relatively cheap as inserts and the covers run between $10-15 a piece it’s not as much of an investment as a pocket or all-in-one cloth diaper system. We are having our third baby (a boy this time) and I will probably buy mostly new covers because after about two years most diapers lose their elasticity (you can probably prevent that somewhat by not drying them in a dryer and hanging them to dry but I’m just too lazy). Also, I wanted to add in, I think doing cloth diapers and disposables diapers is totally fine. I don’t think it’s a ALL or NOTHING type of issue. We use disposables at night and to travel or when we have a babysitter. I really love the Honest Co. brand of disposable diapers, but I know they are pricey compared to other brands. So, that’s my experience with cloth diapering our children. I think you could cloth diaper when you’re home and if you can’t find a daycare to take them, then just send disposables to daycare. I just really love the prefold/cover system (I always just trifold them into the cover, never used a snappi but that’s an option if you prefer) as it simplifies your laundry routine, you don’t necessarily have to use special “cloth diaper safe” detergent (although I do just because I prefer it) and you don’t get the stinky issues you do with microfiber or all-in-one diapers because the inserts are cotton. You can even bleach them if you feel the need, although I’ve never needed to. I know getting into the world of cloth diapering is super overwhelming and confusing, but if you decide to take the leap I hope you find a system you like and that works well for your baby and your family! :slight_smile: P.S. On the topic of diaper rashes my favorite ointments are Nyme Organics Bun Glaze and Honest Co. Healing Balm, both which are cloth diaper safe. Good luck!

My favorite thing about the Thirsties covers was that they come in two sizes- size one goes from newborn to about 9 months and size two goes from 9 months to potty training. I find this more realistic and thus better fitting than diapers than are supposed to fit from 8 to 30lbs.

My favorite thing about prefolds is that they get softer and more absorbent the longer you use them. We bought ours from a neighbor, who had used them on her two girls. When we were done with them, we gave them to my sister who is using them on her two daughters. So the diapers will be used by at least five babies which makes me feel really good from an environmental impact standpoint.

I’ve never tried a hybrid system because I wanted to do cloth. My [name_f]MIL[/name_f] had to do cloth for her boys because they had sensitive skin and got horrible rashes in disposables. I figured we’d just start out with cloth incase we had similar issues. My son does not and besides a rash when he had Thrush that traveled down and caused a nasty yeast rash he never had many rashes. My daughter gets rashes if we use disposable wipes even now that she’s potty trained during the day.
I worked full time with my first returning when he was three months old. We used an in-home daycare provider who was happy to use cloth diapers and whatever kind I purchased. She just put them into a wet bag and I brought them home to wash and provided her with clean diapers the next day. I also spoke to a couple centers that would do cloth diapers so if you are interested I would talk to providers before deciding it’s not possible.
I think starting out cloth is super easy. Yes it’s extra laundry but until they’re on solid food you just toss them into the wash and let the machine do most of the work. I also never had blow outs with properly fitting cloth diapers (there were a couple when I realized that they needed a larger size) but my son had a ton when we took a vacation with him and tried using Pampers. Like every poop when right up the back. I’d much rather wash diapers then have to wash outfits, car seats and my clothes because they’re covered in poop.
Once they start solids it does become a little more work since you have get the poop out. They do make disposable liners though that you can put into the diapers to make it simpler. I found they didn’t always catch everything and it was an extra step when changing a diaper that I didn’t want to deal with all the time. Instead we use a sprayer to take care of it. It’s still not that much extra work.
If you are interested in a hybrid system I would look into the [name_u]Flip[/name_u] system. I’ve never used their disposable inserts but I love their covers and cloth inserts so I would assume their disposable inserts would be pretty great. However before they start solids the amount of extra work for a hybrid versus cloth is probably almost none since you would still need to wash the covers and assuming you’re using a washing machine washing a small load of covers versus a large load of covers and diapers isn’t that much different. I also really like using the Flips with a prefold. We also do disposables for vacations and did them at night for my son since he was such a heavy wetter so I don’t think you have to be all or nothing.

I’m a cloth nappy (diaper) user, and am unfamiliar with hybrids - but seeing as many here have suggested they don’t work so well, my suggestion for you would be to use a combination of disposables and cloth. Buy just a few cloth nappies to begin with and use them when you’re at home. If you find you really love them, or find a daycare happy to use them then you can buy more. I personally don’t find cloth a huge amount of extra work, but disposables can be quite convenient at times.

One tip - if you buy a few cloth covers you can use them over the top of disposables at daycare etc. to avoid those breastfed poo-explosions which seem to be far worse in disposables.

I have used my Gdiapers throught two children now and I absolutely love them. We use primarily cloth inserts at home but I love the disposable option. I also have tried other cloth diapers and always come back to my Gs. My sister has a two month old and also loves them. I have a document I wrote up on them, I’ll post it in another entry.

I wrote this ages ago:

ADVENTURES IN CLOTH DIAPERING

I’ve been asked almost a dozen times on FB about our cloth diapers, this was my most recent message to an expecting friend. It is not for everyone depending on your “PT” poop tolerance but below you will find our experience. [name_m]Feel[/name_m] free to ask any other questions and check out www.gdiapers.com.

I really struggled with the cloth diaper issue. My husband begged me not to “do that” to him and a number of friends who had tried them hated them and said I was crazy. I also didn’t like how much laundry is required - from a sanity perspective but mostly an enviro perspective. That much laundry seemed a really poor use of water. But I also couldn’t stand the thought of throwing that much plastic in a landfill and most importantly, exposing my baby’s little bits to such brutal chemicals. You would not seriously believe what they put in diapers to make them so absorbent.

I was totally overwhelmed with the options too, and spent MONTHS applying my best legal skills to researching the problem. I am happy to say I am convinced I found the perfect system for us. We use Gdiapers which used to be very expensive to ship and find in [name_f]Canada[/name_f] but are now super accessible. Most cloth diapers are one or two pieces whereas G’s are three which I have found cuts down significantly on the laundry and water use. There is a little cotton outer “pant” and then you snap in a plastic pouch that has a scrunchy elastic around it and inside that pouch you have the option of using Gcloth as the main asorber (called soaker or doubler in CD speak). The Gcloth is made of fleece and hemp and wash beautifully, I don’t have one stained one and I bought have of mine used. OR…and this is the genius part…you can use a chemical free disposable insert sold by Gdiapers. These aren’t super cheap and will run you the price of non-sale diapers but we only use one at night and the odd one if we know we will be out of the house or a grandparent is babysitting. The disposable inserts are biodegradable and if they only have pee on them can be tossed in the compost and if they are poopy they can be tossed in the trash OR they can also be flushed. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily flush them if your plumbing is a bit unreliable…but they have perforated side tabs and you just tear the sides away, swirl around in the toilet bowl (with a little stick that comes with them that hangs on a hook on the back of the toilet tank) and flush. It’s worked great for us.
Some of my considerations were that I know some people who have spent a fortune on CD’s and they either didn’t like them or they didn’t fit their babies, I really think fit is the deciding factor for success for most. Gdiapers has absolutely fabulous customer service and they will help you get the best fit. But, more importantly, you can get started quite cheaply in Gdiapers and if you don’t like them the resale is amazing…just have a gander at the "Gdiapers selling and trading”FB page. I have used it with great success.

The age of your baby will depend on what you need to get started. We bought a newbaby bundle with the tiny G’s (the smallest size you can buy for newborns)…but these are really only good for very small babies. We had a 7 lb 11 oz baby but she was very long and she wore them for about three weeks, and we only ever used six of them (the pack comes with twelve…so you may want to buy used). I am glad we had them but lots of people just use disposables for the few first weeks. She then went into size small. We had six Gpant, 12 Gpouch (six extra because these get dirty), and 24 Gcloth and used one pack of disposable inserts a month (if not longer). We do laundry every four days or so and what we do is take off the dirty Gcloth, rinse in water (you can use a sink or diaper sprayer which sells for about $45 and connects to the water line on your toilet very easily, wring it out and the give it a quick spray with Bum Genius disinfectant (or not, we never did this with my son) and throw it in a dry diaper pail in her room, once the pail is full we wash on one rinse cycle with no detergent and then add an all natural detergent (you can’t use normal detergent or it will impede absorption) and run a “stain” cycle on our washing machine but any normal cycle is fine.

Once she started solid food, I added a liner over the Gcloth, which looks like a bounce sheet. It “catches” the poop and you can just throw it in the toilet and flush. Lots of companies make them but I love the Gdiaper brand, it is much sturdier, the others get all bunched up. (again, never used this with my son)

I absolutely love our diapers and I have spent under $500 for everything she has worn and they are all resellable for a good portion of that. I have sold and bought on the FB page and kijiji and now Gdiapers has very cheap shipping but if you spend more than $125 it is free and delivered usually in a couple of days. Gdiapers are also really low profile so you don’t need to size up their clothes which can be a problem with other CD’s.

CDing can be a bit cult-like (like baby wearing, guilty on that one, too) and for some reason traditional CDers don’t seem to like Gdiapers. I think the disposable option seems like sell-out to them…even though you can use 100% cloth. I have tried well reviewed pockets and some old style BG Elementals and Freestyles but I always go back to Gs. I made a deal with my husband that if he didn’t like them or using the cloth he could use the disposable inserts or just straight up disposables (if he is home, I never touch a diaper). He has never taken me up on it. He loves Gdiapers and we used them for 25 days on the road while training around Europe with an 8 month old. Our second child is now 18 months into the same set of Gs and the inserts still look pristine. The velcro does wear (but I bought a comb for it, and that helps). I do replace the pouches size large every year of wear.

Ok- I looked it up about Honest diapers being compostable. Their website says they are, but then goes on to explain that 1) most municipal composting programs will not take them and 2) they have to be professionally composted so you can’t just compost them in the backyard as they just won’t break down quickly enough. A baby will use approx. 8000 diapers in its lifetime, so that is a lot of diapers sitting around! If you just throw them in the landfill, they will never break down.

So basically, don’t waste your money on “compostable” diapers unless you live in a city that offers diaper composting. Also, dont waste money on “flushable” stuff as apparently this is causing issues down the line. It flushes ok, but the sewers aren’t built to handle it.

I use a mix of honest company and seventh generation. They feel more like paper than other disposables, but hold up just as well. There is also much much less of that weird jelly filling that will sometimes explode if your baby sits down in water. We haven’t had any diaper rash problems. I definitely think they are worth the few extra cents…especially considering that the cute designs make diapering almost fun.

We have always used cloth diapers and a few friends have started using then too. We <3 them. That said a few people we know have tried gdiapers and hated them, they have this little liner thing and the way they work is maddening when used with the disposable/compost able insert… But… The brand of ‘modern cloth’ we use has a version where there is a shell that can be used as a diaper cover with any cloth diaper or as a swim diaper or with snap in cloth incerts- there are 2 options and they have doublers if you need them… And they also have a hybrid option - its disposable and possibly compost able it don’t remember but you just stick it in there and only need a few shells. They’re really nice and we use them with the organic cotton pads. I recommend you try their hybrid diapers- they’re called grovia