Tushies Gel-Free Diapers - Finally, The Inconvenience Of Cloth In a Disposable Diaper!
Written: Aug 14 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: If you're worried about gel and chlorine, these have none.
Cons: I could go on and on.
The Bottom Line: I would rather follow my daughter around the house with a mop and a bucket than ever put her in these diapers again.
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| joyfulgirl91's Full Review: Tushies the Gel-Free Diaper |
Tushies is on my enemies list.
This company has done something to me which is unforgivable. Their diapers and wipes are horrendous, their promises are empty, and their prices are high, but I rarely experience much angst over something I can simply choose not to buy again. No, the reason for my animus toward Tushies is the loss of two full nights of sleep. Just thinking about that stolen rest makes me want to drive straight to Tushies' Denver, Colorado headquarters and throw a temper-tantrum in the CEO's office. In this tantrum, there would be kicking and screaming, and possibly beating if the security guards got to me too late.
What is a gel-free diaper, and why would anybody want one?
The modern disposable diaper is able to quickly soak up prodigious amounts of liquid because of Super Absorbent Polymers (SAP). These are granules which turn into gel when they are wet. Sometimes little beads of the gel come out of the diaper (especially if a wet diaper is not changed for a long time) and stick to your baby's skin. Extensive tests have been conducted on SAP to make sure it is safe.
That isn't good enough for some people who feel strongly about eliminating unnecessary chemicals from their lives. Disposables are replete with chemicals, not only from the SAP, but also from chlorine bleaching, dyes, and sometimes fragrances. This is a fairly good argument for using cloth diapers, but Tushies holds out hope for parents who would rather take out the garbage than do laundry. Filled with fluffy cotton and wood-pulp instead of chemical absorbents, bleached with hydrogen peroxide instead of chlorine, and sold in health stores all over the world, these are the closest things I have ever seen to a disposable cloth diaper.
Tushies are sold in small (6-14 lb., 40 diapers per bag), medium (12-24 lb., 30 per bag), large (22-35 lb., 22 per bag), and toddler (27 lb. and up, 20 per bag). According to their packaging, a preemie size is also available, but I could not find any size or price information on their web site. Tushies asks customers interested in preemie diapers to call their toll-free number or e-mail them. The web site also claims these preemie diapers are loved and adored by hospitals. Insert my shrug here. Other than one specific situation that I will touch on later, I can’t imagine many hospitals using diapers that cost about .40 cents each when purchased in bulk.
Why use chemical absorbents when cotton, wood-pulp, and cement do the job just as well?
I tried Tushies because while I am not overly concerned about SAP, I was curious if a disposable could be just as good without the gel. The package of Mediums I found in my local health food store cost about .47 cents per diaper. At that price, I knew they would have to be excellent to get repeat business from me, but the notion that I would dislike them enough to throw away most of the package, meaning ten dollars, did not occur to me.
The first thing I noticed was that the diapers are very thick and bulky. While it is nice that they are all white and have a cloth-like cover, the filling is dense and unyielding, and I became concerned.
Right away, I had a problem with the tabs. They are made of clear, sticky tape. Because the tape is clear, it was hard to find the edge so that I could peel it away from its backing. The edge is rolled, but it’s a very skinny sliver which is difficult to get a handle on. In the meantime, Her Royal Highness was shrieking and thrashing on the changing pad, determined to hurl her body off the bathroom counter rather than allow me to fasten a diaper. When I found the edge of the tab and pulled it up, it tore away from the diaper. So I threw away my first .47 cent diaper, pinned my toddler, and tried another one. This time I pulled more carefully and fastened the diapers around her body. The sticky tape adheres securely to a plastic strip on the front of the diaper.
The Medium size was the right fit for her twenty pound body, but the diapers were so wide and stiff between her thighs, she walked with splayed legs. Because the filling is mostly cotton, I assumed it would soften up after the diaper had been worn awhile. I was incorrect. Not only did they remain stiff no matter how long she wore them, when I picked her up the diaper felt hard as concrete. My husband complained later that it felt as if she were wearing bricks in her pants. This made me feel terrible, especially when instead of plopping down on her bottom to play, like she usually does, she squatted on her heels. I wasn’t sure I could make her wear the whole package of diapers if she wouldn’t even sit down in them.
All the inconvenience of cloth, but four times as expensive and twice as wasteful as leading disposable brands!
Tushies need to be changed as soon as the baby wets, just like cloth diapers. If they are left on, not only will the baby feel wet and even more uncomfortable, but the diaper will leak if she goes again. This is spun by Tushies as a beneficial protection against diaper rash. However, unlike cloth diapers, you can’t wash them and use them again. That means throwing away more diapers per day than usual, leading to more waste and more expense than an ordinary disposable brand.
I recommend carrying the baby very carefully to the changing area, because putting any pressure on the diaper will cause whatever is inside to gush out and run down the baby’s leg and your arm. Holding HRH on my hip at one point, she wet and the urine leaked all over me, completely soaking my body from the bottom of my ribcage to the top of my hip. The cloth diapers I tried were better than this at containing leaks.
Worst of all, the diapers were so uncomfortable, HRH could not sleep in them. My daughter sleeps like a champ. Occasionally, she will call for me to resolve a pressing issue, such as fear of the coyotes howling outside, or retrieval of her lovey if it falls from the crib, but I very seldom awaken to bloodcurdling screams and an inconsolable child. When she could not fall asleep or be comforted, I thought she must be getting sick. I changed her diaper when it was wet, but that didn’t make any difference. The second night was the same, until about four AM when I was taking a break and heard her quiet down and fall asleep on her own. When she woke up around nine, I found the diaper flung over the rail of the crib and HRH standing up and smiling at me, naked and drenched in pee. After that, I was not about to put her in Tushies ever again, no matter what I paid for them. She frolicked in the nude while my husband went out for some regular diapers.
One grudging admission
I have read (on the Tushies web site, of course) that a cotton-filled diaper is helpful to parents of babies with juvenile diabetes. Normally, parents test their child’s urine for ketones by catching it in a cotton ball, but since Tushies are filled with cotton, they can test straight from the diaper. If the baby was used to wearing these all the time, I suppose they might not be bothered. After my experience, I think I would opt for the cotton ball over these expensive and unpleasant diapers, but I can’t say for sure since I’ve never had to test my daughter’s urine.
In conclusion
Tushies cost twice as much as some disposable brands, have to be changed twice as often, and leak like a soaked sponge. They are stuffed with cotton, but it feels like bricks. They are torturously uncomfortable for the child because the thickness in the middle splays out their legs, they feel soggy when wet, and are so hard and unyielding the poor thing can’t sit down or fall asleep. They also have a really stupid name. Other than that, they are fantastic. If it were possible, I would give these zero stars.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
joyfulgirl91
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Member: Jessica
Location: San Diego, CA
Reviews written: 157
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