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kaos127
04-15-2003, 03:30 PM
Has anyone used any of the eco-friendly disposables out there--Tushies, TenderCare, Nature Boy & Girl, Seventh Generation? Any opinions? Favorites? Tushies and TenderCare seem to be the most affordable, but that may not be the best barometer. As much as I would like to do cloth, that may not be practical for us, and I would like to avoid the more commercial brands of disposables.

Any help appreciated.

Kelly

natividad
04-16-2003, 08:58 AM
We have. We are currently using Tushies on our DS for nighttime and for when going out. We use cloth during the day. To be honest, I don't like the Tushies that much since they feel less soft to the touch than the Huggies and Pampers. They feel very "papery" and the adhesive tabs are horrible. I still use them though for chemical-free and eco friendly reasons, but I wish I could find a softer eco friendly brand. We have also had leaks with them, but not as much as with Pampers Swaddlers, which were given to us as a gift. We also had a huge box of Specially for Baby brand of diapers (BRU brand) given to us and they are rather nice (I was surprised). They are not eco friendly or chemical-free, but we have actually had NO leaks with them. HTH.

Naty
Mommy to Alexander
2/26/03

Karenn
04-16-2003, 10:53 AM
I tried Tushies and hated them. They became saturated really quickly and smelled of urine pretty quickly too. They didn't come close to comparing to the other disposables I'd tried. Also, I had to change them so often, I'm not sure how much more eco-friendly they would have been since I was using several more of them in a day than I would have other brands of disposables. However, I was comparing them to Huggies and Pampers type diapers, not other eco-friendly types so it could be an apples/oranges thing. And, just another factor, now that I use cloth, I suspect that if I tried Tushies again, they might not seem as saturated to me. So, it might all be a matter of perspective.

That might just confuse matters for you, but I hope it helps some... :)

nohomama
04-16-2003, 12:28 PM
I used Tushies until Lola was through the meconium stage and I began using cloth. I absolutely hated them. The newborn size was HUGE on her (she was 7lbs 12 oz at birth...not small) and as I recall, they had no cut out for the umbilical cord.

We do use disposables at night and when we're traveling and I far and away prefer the major brands over Tushies. Their much softer, less papery feeling, and most tend to use a velcro-like closure rather than an adhesive one.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love there to be a reasonably priced "green" disposable (one of the reasons I use cloth 90-95% of the time is a belief that they're better for the planet) but I think Tushies are a waste of money.

The one brand I've heard largely good things about is Nature Boy & Girl. I'm fairly certain some of the things I've read about them were on this board. You might try doing a search to pull-up any old threads.

kaos127
04-16-2003, 12:49 PM
It sounds like Tushies are NOT the way to go. I wonder if TenderCare, which is by the same company, is any better? Will look for the Nature Boy & Girl post and see what the feelings were there.

So, if one is going to use "regular" disposables, which one is the least laden with chemicals and stuff? There don't seem to be too many unscented varieties out there--I think I remember one from the Pampers or Huggies website, but I don't remember which. One would think that one of these companies would offer something for people who don't want a lot of artificial stuff.

Sorry for the dumb questions--but all of this is just so confusing and I haven't been through any of this before (as if that wasn't obvious!). Since my husband does the laundry, he gets the ultimate say on cloth--and he has said no! Maybe once Baby gets older we will switch to cloth--will have to work on that.

Thanks for your help!

Kelly

Karenn
04-16-2003, 01:17 PM
My big thing with disposables was trying to find ones that weren't perfumed. Both Huggies and Pampers told me that they add scent to their diapers. However, the higher quality generic brand at my grocery store was comparable to Huggies, without the perfume. In the end though, I found the smell of Huggies didn't bother me. You do have to put up with occassional gel balls on your baby, but thanks to a suggestion here, I noticed that if I changed him a little more frequently, I didn't get the gel balls.

Good luck.

RiaHannam
04-16-2003, 02:02 PM
I am a cloth user and have Tushies on hand but know they aren't the best. I just want to try to stay away from all the chemicals in the other disposables when I need to use dd's from time to time.

If Tushies don't cut it for me then I'll try Target's brand of diapers or Walmart's White Cloud. Those don't leave those gel beads behind as bad as Huggies do and they are perfume free (well as far as I can remember!)

Maria

EDD 5/9 with #4

nohomama
04-16-2003, 02:32 PM
I use Huggies Ultratrim and they don't seem scented to me and I'm usually very sensitive to such things. The only brand that I've had a problem with (scentwise and leekwise - though this depends on the size and shape of your babe) is Pampers.

The main advantages to cloth diapers, as I imagine you already know, are that they're VERY economical over the long run and they're kinder to the enviroment in terms of their manufacture, appropriate disposal of human waste, and the fact that they're boidegradable. "Eco-disposables" are NOT economical, don't encourage proper disposal of human waste, and ultimately end up in the landfill like any other disposable (though they are more bio-degradable). If your husband has a bit of the tree-hugger in him, perhaps these are arguments will hold some sway with him.

The other point worth mentioning, is that he'll be up to his elbows in poop regardless of whether you're using disposables or cloth. The yuck factor with cloth really isn't that bad. My partner has laundered his fair share of cloth dipes without complaint and actually prefers them over disposables.

If you'd really like to try cloth, volunteer to launder the diapers and set-up a system that makes it convenient for you to do so. The other tactic to take is to offer to do the clean-up of poopy dipes (scraping, etc.). You and he can just set them aside in a pail for you to deal with at the end of the day. That way all he has to do is load them in the washer.

In short, if your interested in using cloth somewhere down the line, my advise is to start "working on that" now rather than later.

Rachels
04-16-2003, 04:50 PM
I've used Nature Boy and Girl diapers and like them pretty well. They fit Abigail well when she was smaller. Now we're pretty much in Pampers, for their stretchiness, but NBG was great earlier on. One thought: if you use eco-disposables, don't forget to also use eco-friendly trash bags. That rules out Diaper Genie, Diaper Dekor, etc. Diaper Champ will still work, though.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

kaos127
04-17-2003, 09:07 AM
You know, I hadn't even thought of the bags. We do by recycled trash bags for the kitchen (the only place we really use bags), but it hadn't even dawned on me to think about the liners for the diaper pail--and we were planning on getting the Dekor. Will have to look at the Champ.

Thanks for that!

Kelly

zen_bliss
04-17-2003, 12:21 PM
even though the Dekor has its own bags, if you look at it, you can easily just re-use your supermarket bags. i was planning to go the Dekor route but i am going to see how a plain ol' step can works first (and maybe move on to the Dekor when we get to solids and stinky tinkys). the Dekor is much easier on the eyes than the Champ.