- Dr. Brown vs Avent Bottles: Which is Better? - January 23, 2023
- Baby Formula Recalls [2023]: Latest Baby Formula Recall - January 16, 2023
- Tommee Tippee vs Avent: Which is Better? - January 5, 2023
Believe me, I know the cost of selecting the wrong diapers. It’s not just about the money, it’s about the potential mess. Organic and natural diapers are great, but all these new companies launching diaper lines means that there is some trial and error.
A few months before we gave birth to our first, we started thinking about diapers and diaper brands. We wanted something that balanced price with quality. There are some diapers that break the bank. We were okay paying a bit more, but not beyond a certain point. This is what led us to Babyganics I purchased our first pack here.
As the Dad, I’m the designated “Diaper Daddy”. Clearly, I needed to invest some time in testing the best diapers… The following Babyganics diaper review is our after-action report. I’ll examine all the key “selling points” and then match those up with our experience.
Contents
What Babyganics Says They Do
Formulated without: chlorine, latex, petroleum based lotions or fragrances. Premium fit, premium absorbency, soft-stretch sides, leak control.
Here are the things Babyganics “positions” themselves in the market as:
Ultra Absorbent Diapers
This is what every modern diaper strives for. Beyond the statement on the label, however, it’s unclear just what makes them so absorbent. This feature was clearly something I wanted to test (see “Leak Test” below).
NeoNourish Seed Oil Blend)
Many conventional diapers do not disclose the additives used upfront. In particular, dioxin is a typical ingredient and chlorine. In many cases, “superabsorbent polymers” gel to a baby’s skin if a diaper isn’t changed for a while (often appear in small clumps). NeoNourish is Babyganic’s answer to this, opting for a natural solution vs phthalates or sodium polyacrylate.
Chlorine Free
As mentioned above, Babyganics is chlorine-free.
Latex Free
Latex allergies are fairly common these days. In our family, we do have a few cousins and a grandparent with latex allergies. This was definitely a nice feature to know about. Why take the chance?
Plant-Based Ingredient
Babyganics says they only use plant-based ingredients. This is reassuring and definitely made me question what goes into “conventional” diapers… An all vegetable-based diaper is a safe solution to mitigate a whole host of skin irritations.
Wetness Indicator
Wetness indicators are “must-haves” for most parents to check “at a glance” if a diaper needs changing. Babyganics uses colored flowers and little symbols. When the colors start to fade and become washed out, it means the diaper is wet. At the extreme, all of the symbols will fade completely.
Comfortable Fit
Initially this was the main feature I found when reading reviews online. The company advertises a comfortable fit. Some diapers – particularly organic and environmentally friendly ones – can be a bit on the coarse side. I went with Babyganics because I didn’t want to sacrifice baby comfort while still getting the organic benefits.
Cost-Effective
If you are going to buy organic diapers, the cost is usually the first concern. Diapers go quickly! I was very attracted to the relatively low cost I found vs some of the insanely priced “green” options out there.
The Leak Test
There were a few things I did to test out leakage. First, we tested the size 2 diapers out on our 4 month old for a few months to see how they worked “in use”. Below is an “action shot” of the post change for pee:
And here is a little “before” and “after”:
I also took the liberty of doing a few water tests with water, applying pressure to see if/where leaks developed.
Overall Observations: One of the main criticisms of Babyganics is that – while they are comfortable – they are more prone to leaking. After using for 3+ months, I’ve noticed two separate issues.
Poop Leakage
These diapers – like many diapers – suffer from “up the back” explosive leakage with bowel movements. On the few occasions where this happened, it was always up the back, never down the leg or out the sides. Of course, this could be a bit of “operator error” i.e. I could be strapping tighter. However, it wasn’t any different than other diapers I’ve tested.
Pee Leakage
For urine, the two times we had leakage was at night with an extremely full diaper. The key issues was when our baby rolled around excessively. From my analysis, moving the legs and bending the body up and around caused leakage up the back on one side (opposite of where baby rolled). Again, it appeared that the back snugness was less than optimal with movement.
In total, we’ve only had a “leak mess” about 5 times (in aprox. 90 days of use). There were 3 “poop explosions” and 2 “pee leaks” which required “total outfit change”.
The Eco-Friendly Diapers Fine Print
Whenever I buy organic these days, I always read the fine print. Just because it says “organic” on the label, does not mean it’s “good” by default. Organic labeling has become pretty lax (IMHO), although it still is usually preferable over conventional options (whether its food or diapers, etc…). Furthermore, “organic corn syrup” is still corn syrup and not ideal (food example, I know…).
Here’s what I found:
Compelling Story
First and foremost, the story behind Babyganics is pretty compelling. Founded by two dads on a mission to provide safe and healthy baby products. You can read more about it here. Why do I mention this? Because they aren’t a giant corporate brand offering “organic” to spruce up their product lineup. In short, they don’t play both sides of the fence.
Transparency
In terms of testing and process, Babyganics has a pretty in depth process. They do test for a lot of things, including skin irritants, eye irritants, FDA compliance, OTC compliance, broad spectrum testing, toxicology, photo toxicology, etc… While other companies may have similar tests, it’s not listing up front like Babyganics.
Overall, I didn’t find any reports of inconsistency in terms of the quality of ingredients or any adverse reactions. Personally, we have not experienced any rashes or other issues while using Babyganics diapers for our babies.
Summary: What They Actually Do – Pros and Cons
So here’s a list of the “Pros” and “Cons”:
Pros of Babyganics
Soft and Comfortable
Some diapers really are too rough in my opinion. Especially with organic diapers, I often find the coarser quality can leave deeper rashes. It’s great that there aren’t any chemicals, but babies still have very sensitive skin. Diaper rash can be super uncomfortable, so I continue to be very impressed by the comfort of the Babyganics diaper. This is likely due to the seed oil blend. In the end, this oil blend is probably the best selling point of Babyganics.
Quality Ingredients
An organic, plant-based, hypoallergenic diaper that doesn’t feel like sandpaper is surprisingly hard to find. This is a big step up over some of the competition.
Holds up Well When Wet
As you can see from my test, the diapers actually retain liquid fairly well. There were a few times where they leaked, but these were rare and mainly due to excessive movements by the baby girl.
Amazing for Sensitive Skin
From reading the research and my own little guinea pigs, I’ve found these diapers to be THE best for eczema and other common skin irritations. If you have a little one struggling with skin issues due to diapers, you should definitely try this out.
Won’t Break the Bank
Depending on where you get them, they range from $0.26-0.30 per diaper better if you order in bulk. This is comparable or better then many alternatives like Seventh Generation.
Cons of Babyganics
Not Completely Bio-Degradable
This is an environmental selling point for some new “green” diapers. While Babyganics has plant-based ingredients, it wasn’t being advertised as bio-degradable. To be honest, I’m not too eager to test this out…
Not the Cheapest
When I was evaluating other brands, I did find that Earth’s Best tended to be a few cents cheaper per diaper when ordered in the same quantities. For me, Earth’s Best was a close runner-up (in general).
Some Leakage
Babyganics come very close to conventional diapers in terms of leakage prevention, but they are still not quite there. We experience the infamous “up the back” explosions and leaks a few times. I was able to isolate it to the suction around the small of the baby’s back. We never experienced a flat-out leak any other way.
Babyganics Diaper Alternatives to Consider?
Like any parent, I don’t evaluate baby products in a vacuum. I definitely tried and researched other alternatives to Babyganics. For the purposes of this review, I think it’s helpful to discuss a few other disposable diaper options:
Earth’s Best Chlorine Free
As mentioned previously, these are generally available for a slightly better price than Babyganics. They also offer many similar benefits to Babyganics. One area where I found they weren’t as good as comfort and fit. They have a more stiff midsection, leading to less flexibility.
They are also rather ugly and drab looking (if that matters to you) with no easy color indicator for wetness. That aside, these are the most affordable organic diapers out there. I also found they do a good job repressing odors.
Bambo Nature
If you want to go high-end and environmentally friendly and durable, Bambo Nature is the top of the heap. If you are looking for something with a small waste footprint, these definitely make you feel good. They are also based out of Denmark and have to live up to more stringent European standards.
I was genuinely surprised by just how absorbent these diapers were! I found them to be comparable to the best conventional options (or better).
If you want the perfect green organic diaper, this one has the edge over Babyganics. It’s definitely an issue of affordability. If you can stomach a slightly higher $0.31-35 per diaper, they are definitely worth trying. You can check the latest pricing here.
Nature Babycare
These flew a bit under the radar until my research online unearthed them as an option. They are fragrant and chlorine-free (like the others), while also offering comparable absorption to Babyganics. While fragrance might not sound like an amazing feature, it’s actually a refreshing touch (especially in some “situations”).
They actually use the wood pulp in their construction, making them more biodegradable. The main issue I had was that they had a wood-like paper texture. While they do their best to mitigate the comfort issues, I couldn’t help but notice a bit more stiffness to them. They will also run you more than Babyganics per diaper, but you should definitely check here first.
Conclusion: Babyganics Diaper Review
I was generally impressed with Babyganics disposable diapers. I don’t think you can go wrong trying them out. I found Bambo Nature to be better for controlling leaks, Earth’s Best for a better price, and Nature Babycare to be more environmentally friendly, but Babyganics had a happy medium between all three.
NOTE: Babyganics also has a nice line of baby wipes here that we have been using since our little one was born.
Jim Robinson
Monday 10th of February 2020
Hi, I wanted to clarify a number of comments. As background, I worked for a raw material supplier to the hygiene (diaper) industry for over 30 years. As you noted, and one of the great frustrations of trying to provide real solutions to the industry, the organic labeling is lax in the industry. In fact, the sustainability labeling is very lax. We call it 'greenwashing'. Regarding Babyganics, the diaper is not organic. It contains a lot of fossil-fuel-based materials (fabrics, films, elastics, absorbents). There are some plant-based materials that make this diaper higher in natural content than most diapers, but it is a long ways from organic (which does not equal natural or plant-based). I was concerned with the chemical list you had in the NeoNourish portion of the review. No diaper sold in the United States contains dioxins. This chemical is not only not found in the finished diapers, but it is not allowed in the raw material processes used to make the components. As for chlorine, many diapers claim 'free from chlorine'. This is not new. The fluff wood pulp that makes up a portion of the absorbent part of the diaper is bleached to make it white and remove things that lessen absorbency. This bleaching used to be done with elemental chlorine (the green colored gas). More than 20 years ago, fluff companies abandoned elemental chlorine for environmental reasons and now use a closed loop chemistry that includes chlorine dioxide. All diapers in the United States that use wood fluff, which is almost all of the diapers, can make the same chlorine free claim as this claim refers to elemental chlorine only. All diapers that use wood fluff have chlorine dioxide as part of the wood pulp processing, but this does not come through to the finished product. Babyganics does use polyacrylate as a superabsorbent. This diaper just dilutes that material with a plant-based absorbent to increase the non-fossil fuel portion of their total product (and to likely save some cost). This is a tough category because the definitions are so vague. It is true that the Babyganic is not biodegradable. It contains polypropylene and polyacrylic acid at the very least and these polymers do not biodegrade. Lastly, if testing these products for demonstration purposes, water is not the best choice as the polyacrylate performs much better at absorbing water than it does urine. A better proxy material would be to use 0.9% salt water. It has a similar electrical profile to urine and the polyacrylate is very sensitive to the presence of salt - which is common in urine.
Teresa
Sunday 18th of August 2019
My new granddaughter is 9 days old. I bought the Babyganics wipes and the diapers. The wipes caused redness so discontinued. Now she has a yeast type rash in the creases of both legs where the leg meets the torso. This is my daughter’s third child and Shenzhen is an RN so she knows how to keep a baby clean and changed. I don’t think I would recommend. I bought a subscription of the products and will be returning.
Ashley
Wednesday 3rd of October 2018
Hello, I loved your review! I recently bought a box for my toddler whom isn't ready to potty train just yet. I wish that we had discovered Babyganics sooner.. haven't had any issues with leaks yet, and have found to be comfortable for my rambunctious 2yr. old. Best of all No skin irritations!
Katie
Tuesday 31st of July 2018
My child had a severe allergic reaction to these diapers within minutes. So even though it claims to be organic & everyone thinks organic is better, sometimes it can still cause an allergic reaction.
Chantel Allen
Saturday 7th of April 2018
I was researching this brand and found a lot of negative reviews. Most of them saying that the diapers caused a serious rash. Your review is one of the few positive I've found. After reading your research, I want to try the diapers but, I'm also hesitant. I would be highly disappointed in myself if my son got a rash because he does have sensitive skin.
Rowan
Sunday 15th of April 2018
Hi Chantel!
Thanks for responding!
It's always good to do your research, whether you come here or find other sources online. I'm not a doctor, I'm just a parent like you who is looking for the best alternatives and products. With that being said, like I discussed in the article, for a diaper to be called "organic" it does not necessarily mean that it is best or even safe for super sensitive skin.
There are some great alternatives to try as well. You might have to try a couple of brands on your own to find one that you feel works. It might be a prudent idea as well to discuss diaper choices with your doctor too.
Hope this helps! Rowan