photo by Emily Shaw Lapish
Baby got back. And thighs. And those thighs are often wonderfully chubby. We can’t get enough of them. Those beautifully chubby baby thighs do a funny thing to diapers. They squeeze them together, and the end result is a bunched up diaper. We call this bunching. And so do you.
Now, since gDiapers aren’t a one-piece diaper like disposables, that bunching phenomenon is a bit more obvious. The gRefill or gCloth gets squished together and, if its wet, it stays that way. We’re here to tell you that that’s okay. (The rhyme there was unintentional, turns out we’re multi-dimensional.)
Bunching does not affect the function of the gDiaper, nor the fit, nor the cute factor (which is important). The purpose of the snap-in pouch is to not only hold the gRefill or gCloth in place, but also to catch whatever mess the refill doesn’t. This is one reason we’ve made the pouches so easy to clean and re-use…because they’re gonna get dirty when baby poops.
Now, if you’re finding that the mess is getting onto the little gPant (which totally does affect the cute factor), then there may be a fit issue. And thank goodness we know how to fix those, too. In the interest of not drifting too far off topic, we’ll point you to our post on troubleshooting leaks for that.
So, if we know bunching happens (it does) and we know that people are asking about it (they/you are), then why haven’t we done anything to stop it from happening? Well. Since it doesn’t affect the function and fit (and cute factor!), in truth we’re not too fussed over it. But, we have indeed tried. Nothing yet has worked to the point of celebratory bells and high fives throughout all of gHQ without compromising our biodegradability and cradle to cradle certification, or compromising the function of the diaper, all things we think are pretty important.
Bottom line? Bunching is fine. (Rhyming again without intent! But we’re pretty sure it’s time well-spent.)
Hi there. I’m pretty new to gdiapers, and am having a bit of a poke around the website trying to learn how to use them properly & get the best results. Apologies if there’s answers to this question elsewhere – I just couldn’t find it. I’m using cloth inserts for my 2 yo & 7mth old & worked out that I haven’t been fitting the legs properly, so now I know that, hopefully they’ll work even better (I’ve been finding them great even incorrectly fitted round the legs!) But here’s my question: I’ve been using the flushable liners to flush away poop (in theory). In reality, I’ve been finding that it catches 50-75% of the poop & the rest is getting mashed into the cloth liner. The flushable liner & cloth insert seems to be bunching up in the middle on both kids, so the poop is getting spread around everywhere. So I remove the liner, flush it & then try to get rid of the rest of the poop somehow. I try wiping it off with toilet paper or wipes, & it’s getting mashed in even worse. Then I feel like it’s pretty nasty, so – try washing it off in the laundry tub (which I then have to try & clean out afterwards), run the washing machine…. for one diaper? Seems crazy! Wondering what people do & if i can get these liners to work better. I’m sure there must be posts about it somewhere, if only I could find it….!! thanks, Carleen
Hey Carleen! The bunching is totally normal, which is why we included this post. :0) But send us an email, info@gdiapers.com, and Heather or Kelda can go through some tips to keeping your cloth a bit tidier.
We are having the ‘bunching’ too. No issues on leaks but I do have a question with the bunching. The gcloths liner caused red marks/rash-like just in the folds between baby’s parts and upper thigh area. I believe it may be due to the bunching cause it’s in that same area. I change baby pretty often trying make sure she’s not in diaper more than 2 hours during day. I stopped using the gCloth and used disposal insert and the red areas got better. I followed the washing instructions and Im using detergent made for cloth diapers. Any suggestions or comments on what this from and what can we do? I’d like to use the cloth liners.