Hybrid Diapers

In the beginning, we were doing just disposable diapers since LE was going through about 10 or so a day, and we wanted to ease into the hybrids. Hybrid diapers are a cloth diaper with a disposable insert. There's less waste that way.

For disposable diapers, Pampers were best for newborn; Huggies leaked every time. Huggies Newborn size were good once LE outgrew Pampers Newborn but was too small for Pampers size 1.

We still have a lot of disposable diapers to go through since we bought a case of size 1 Pampers right after she was born. Right now she's using those about half the time and gdiapers about half of the time.

We are fortunate to have a store here that has a try 'em, love 'em, or return 'em policy that lets you buy their cloth diaper shells (or even the cloth inserts) and try them for 15 days. If you don't love them, you can return them for a full store credit. Then, they have a sale a few times a year to sell the returned washed and stain-free diapers.

So, I tried flip diapers, gdiapers, and Gro Baby diapers with flip diaper inserts and the gdiaper inserts, and the winner for me are gdiapers for both the insert and the shell. Gdiaper diposable inserts are also flushable (see a video on their website) and compostable (biodegrade in 50-150 days in the compost).

Gdiapers fit well and don't seem too bulky. They have a removable/reusable snap-in liner inside the cloth shell so that the mess gets on the liner instead of the cloth part. That way I don't have to wash the shell every time LE pees.

The downfall of gdiapers is that you buy sizes for them (small, medium, large) whereas Gro Baby and flip diapers are both a one-size diaper. You use snaps on those diapers to resize them so that you don't have to buy the expensive ($13-16ea) shell when they grow.

The flip diaper was bulky. The liner was built-in (instead of snapped in like the gdiaper), and the insert didn't attach to anything, which caused it to bunch up and get pee on the shell (and sometimes on me). The shell has to get washed every time she goes. I ended up returning the flip diaper to the store.

The Gro Baby diaper fits well, and I really like it except it doesn't have the snap-in liner like the gdiaper, which means that the shell has to be washed more frequently.

How do they compare price-wise? The inserts for the hybrids are about the same as disposable diapers. You're just helping out the environment/landfills. Cloth diapering is where you'll find the real savings, and once you get comfortable with the hybrid option, you could switch to the cloth diapering option and use the same shells.