more eco-friendly disposable diapers

[csrabine]

I have been researching possible disposable diapers to use with my baby that is due in July. We will use our current cloth diaper stash while he is home with me, but when I have to return to work (and he goes to daycare), we will have to switch to disposables because the daycare will not do cloth. (I suspect that the daycare will not go for gDiapers either, since that would still require them to save the outer covering for me to take home and wash.)

I suspect that none of the disposable diapers available are totally green or totally bio-degradable, but of the more "natural" variety, do any of you recommend a particular brand?

Seventh Generation -- Still has absorbent gel (SAP gel)?
Tushies -- No gel, but some people claim that they leak?
Nature Boy & Girl -- Not sure if the gel is SAP or not?
Safeties Nature Nappy -- Claim to be totally bio-degradable, but only available in Australia?

Thanks for the tips...

[Attached Mama]

Tooshies are definitely the most eco of them all. They don't use chlorine bleach to whiten them and they don't have SAP. They use cotton for absorbency. Keep in mind that it's not organic cotton so it does contribute to the "25% of all of the worlds pesticides are used on cotton" statistic. Because it's cotton, you can't expect it to hold liquid like SAP, so they need to be changed much more often. FWIW, dh worked in a diaper factory, and they considered SAP to be hazardous there! And the few times I've used diapers with it, I would find beads of the SAP had leaked and were on dd's genitals. UGh!

[Juvysen]

In my experience, all the disposables leak. Especially poo explosions...

Good luck.

[thixle]

You can always tell the daycare your baby is allergic to disposables! They may have to bring in a biohazard bin to put used cloth into, but they have to accomidate it.
When dd started, they said absolutely no cloth... now, a year and a half later, she is going to school in cloth pull-ups.

[mamamelia]

moltex nappies. we use them on our youngest and they are very good as far as sposies go. they are not bleached and are 80% biodegradable.

[mamamelia]

btw - i live in australia and have not really heard or seen much of safeties nappies online or in local eco stores. moltex is pretty popular though amongst the enviro conscience but not yet cloth diapering parents and even though they have some SAP, i have never seen a single speck of it on dd's genitals or butt ever... when i was using any other brand there were plenty of specks each and every time i would change her. we changed over to moltex pretty damn fast, i'll say that much.

[Ruthla]

I'd go with whatever you can find without the horrid gel, and let the daycare worry about leaks. And I'd continue using cloth for when the baby's at home.