gNappies Review - Reusable AND Disposable Nappies

As regular readers will know I am a cloth nappy lover but I also use disposable nappies when it is more convenient for me. I'm a wimp when it comes to using cloth nappies out of the house as I don't like having to bring home the fall-out! gNappies are an innovative eco-nappy which claimed to have a solution to my problem - a reusable / disposable hybrid nappy that I could use whichever way I wanted. So, did gNappies save the day for me?

Holly wears gNappies

gNappies are a three-part nappy. The little gPants are soft fabric outer pants that are very lightweight and thin; they aren't clamy or bluky at all. On the inside there is a breathable but waterproof pouch that you snap into place. Inside the pouch you place the rectangular absorbent nappy. You have a choice of two different types of nappy - a 100% biodegradable disposable nappy or a reusable cloth nappy that you can wash and use again.

I tried out the gNappy little gPants with Holly - we were sent a set of disposable inserts to see if I could be converted to using eco nappies when out of the house. My first impressions were good: I love the little pants because they aren't bulky. Bulky reusable nappies tend to mean that my girls are/were in clothes a couple of sizes bigger than their age to accommodate the big bottoms!

To some people gNappies may seem like more work than some of the all-in-one nappies available but I know from my Bambino Mio experiences that the effort is usually worth it in terms of effectiveness. You do need to buy different sizes of covers as your baby grows but once again, I've found from experience that this leads to an easier-to-fit and bitter-fitting nappy.

Image courtesy of gNappies

I found the waterproof pouch to be really effective at preventing leakage onto the soft fabric cover, even of poo. The idea is that if the cover doesn't need washing, save the energy but if I'm going to the effort of washing the pouches, a few small covers isn't likely to make much of a difference. I also found the pouches quite fiddly to snap in and out so decided just to leave them snapped into place all the time. The biodegradable inserts were really impressive; very absorbent!

I'll admit that I wasn't entirely sure which way round the little gPants were supposed to be worn. Most of the pictures on the site look like they are the other way around to the way I put them on Holly! Holly seemed very comfortable in the gPants.

The biodegradable inserts for the gNappies works out at about twice as expensive as traditional disposable nappies but if you use the cloth inserts at home them the costs would drop significantly.

I will admit that I have not been converted to using gNappies when out of the house. I thought they were brilliant for wet nappies but for dirty nappies the waterproof pouch got dirty and so I still needed to carry the mess home with me!

Image courtesy of gNappies

gNappies little pants come in some very cute designs (gBloom is definitely my favourite) and earlier this year they even did a limited edition pair of gBpants to celebrate all things British !

The Sunday Review – Aldi Mamia Disposable Nappies and Wipes

You'll know by now that we had some issues with the reusable nappies. They're not gone, just used a lot less, which means that we've really entered into the world of disposable nappies. Unlike most mums who use disposable nappies, I'm not brand loyal (seeing as I didn't use them from birth) and I'm more than willing to try out different brands.

Aldi asked me to try out their own brand of disposable nappies and wipes – Mamia Ultra Dry – on little Lara. When they arrived, I was sceptical because the nappies didn't have the same sort of feeling as the Pampers or Huggies I was used too – they felt a bit more papery on the inside, and a little waxy on the outside.



When using the nappies, I was really pleasantly surprised. I found them just as absorbent, and just as well-fitting as the Pampers Simply Dry nappy we often use – perhaps a little less flexible and less able to cope with the manic movement of a toddler than a more expensive styles in the Pampers/Huggies range. I found the designs on the nappy to be good fun – tiny little elephants and giraffes all over (and guess what, when I went to the Pampers factory last summer, I guffawed when they suggested that little things like this matter to mums... how wrong I was!)

I was so happy with the value for money of the Aldi Mamia Ultra Dry nappy (£4.99 for 42 size 5 nappies) that I decided to start investigating some of the other own-brand nappies available. I've tried a couple now and hated them both because they give Lara awful nappy rash – Aldi seem to have managed something with their own-brand nappy that the other supermarkets haven't.

The Mamia wipes were also pretty good. I didn't like the fragrance of the standard wipes (it reminded me of the disinfectant smell of public lavatories) but the sensitive wipes are unfragranced and therefore much more pleasant. The wipes have a good moisture level but I always find that baby wipes with a clip-top seal stay moist for longer than wipes like these that have a simple peel-back seal (plus they don't get covered in the goo at the bottom of the changing bag). Obviously I'd prefer it if they were paraben-free and biodegradable, but we can't have everything we want for 85p!

Is Pampers 'Dry Max' A Green Step Forward?

As someone who only uses disposable nappies as a convenience when travelling, or when I'm out and about, I was particularly fascinated to be invited to tour the Pampers research and development facility in Schwalbach near Frankfurt. Because I only use disposable nappies about 30% of the time, I don't take them for granted. I'm very aware of their effectiveness, of their fit, of their price and of their construction. I'm fussy when it comes to disposable nappies.

If you are a user of Pampers nappies then it can't have escaped your notice that a short while ago, the Pampers Active Fit nappies changed. I was invited to Germany to find out more about the research and technology behind the new Dry Max technology. And so, with a handful of journalists from Prima Baby, Mother & Baby and Think Baby / Made for Mums, I spent a day finding out about the new Dry Max technology and the 10 years of research and development behind it.

The journos squidge a nappy full with 500ml of liquid!

I promise to share with you some of the exciting tales and photos later in the week but for the time being I wanted to talk about the issue that was most important to me on the day.

I use reusable nappies. I use disposable nappies. The two can work together.

I cook healthy, scrumptious home-made food. I buy convenience food. The two can work together.

I have been using disposables a lot recently due to our trip to the USA last month. As I passed through Heathrow airport on the way to Frankfurt for the Pampers trip, I couldn't help but wonder what people had done before the days of disposable nappies when travelling with babies. I can't think of anything I'd like to do less than lug a bag full of stinky nappies around in my hand luggage. In the days when my parents travelled the globe with me, disposable nappies were REALLY bulky, plastic-wrapped, rectangular lumps that offered little protection from leakage. But, even so, my parents still chose them over cotton nappies when they travelled. The new Pampers Dry Max technology is the biggest technological breakthrough in disposable nappies for around 10 years and it means that disposable nappies of the future will be compact and ultra-absorbent – ideal for travel.

Me examining the difference in bulk between the old and new Active Fit nappies

At the end of the day in Schwalbach, Proctor and Gamble brought out the big guns - The Environmental Expert – to tell us why the new Active Fit nappy is going to save the world. Now, as a green mummy, I'm more than aware that the environmental impact of my reusable nappies is similar to that of disposables (as they kindly pointed out to me here). That's assuming that I use evil washing detergents and evil tumble driers (sometimes I do, sometimes I don't) and that I'll never have any more kids (which, I hope, is unlikely). I'm also aware that for every reusable nappy that Lara wears, it is one less disposable, non-biodegradable nappy piling up in UK landfill. And anyway, I don't only use reusable nappies for their environmental impact; I use them because Lara's skin is always 100% free from nappy rash when she wears a cotton nappy (but she gets a rash with just one day of disposables); I use them because I find it easier (and she finds it easier) to identify a wet or dirty nappy when it happens and I use them because they smell and look nicer.

The new Dry Max technology involves more of this crazy absorbent gel

P&G were quizzed by us all about the environmental impact of the weird gel that is now the primary active element of their new nappies (The gel is also known as Super-Absorber – read more about it later this week on Mellow Mummy). To be very honest, they coped well under pressure – Pampers are not designed to be biodegradable in any way and their primary focus is performance. P&G were keen to point out that the new Active Fit nappies with Dry Max have a significantly lower environmental footprint than their predecessors; from raw materials right through to disposal. Each nappy now has about 20% less bulk which means less space being taken up in landfill. To me, it doesn't make an enormous amount of difference to which brand or style of nappy I buy, but if I am going to use a disposable nappy, then yes, I would like to know that the manufacturer was making attempts to reduce their impact on the planet.

So no, Pampers with Dry Max will NOT save the planet but at least it is a small step forward and now, having spoken to the real scientists behind Pampers disposable nappies, I know that the thought is there and that somewhere in the depths of their research centre there are small steps being made to research a greener alternative, perhaps another 15-20 years in the future.