Alternatives to Diaper Genie - Charlotte,NC

My solution - get rid of the Diaper Genie! I use a small bathroom-size trash can in my daughters room. When the first poopy diaper goes in, the trash can gets emptied! That's my solution! I received and hardly ever used the Diaper Genie. Also, I keep a few empty plastic grocery bags in the bottom of the trash can and use one every time it is emptied. That way you don't have to leave the room to get a trash bag and the diapers are always "contained" on their way to the outside trash can!

When I had a diaper genie, I took two coffee filters and put some baking soda in the middle of one and then glued them together and placed it in the bottom. This really helped and now they make the baking soda boxes that have the filtred sides (for the fridge) that would probally work good as well.

S.,

We have six children and have had three in diapers at a time. We just use the large trash in the kitchen for diapers. If the diapers are really bad we just tie them up in a smaller sack (like Walmart bag) and then throw it in with everything else. When the whole trash is full out it goes every few days. We now have just two in diapers a 2 year old and an almost 6mo old. Things still work just fine.

Good Luck.
A.

A little heads up to everyone disappointed with the Diaper Genie: I recently contacted playtex with my concerns (extreme odor plus twisting mechanism requiring 3-5 turns to "seal" diaper) and had good response. They promptly offered me a replacement or a refund (I took the refund of course! Numerous people have similar dissapointment stories with the Genie!)

You can find a contact phone number at playtexbaby.com

Please, take time to contact them - if nothing else to get them to take the horrible thing off the market! Apparently, they have come out with a completely different model now . . . we'll see if that's any better!

Hi S.!

I see that you've gotten more than enough advice already, and I agree with ditching the genie and using individual bags of some sort. The only thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is that the dollar store carries the scented bags that everyone has been mentioning. They come in packs of 100 for $1.00. Not a bad deal, and they're a lot cheaper than the zip-loc bags.

We used to have a regular trash can--33 gallon inside that we put our trash, diapers, etc. in, but with two in diapers at the time--it got pretty sticky, so we started putting our trash in the Wal-mart grocery bags because we always had plenty of those laying around. They came in handy because you always seem to have alot of trash going out with kids. When the bag was full, we would just tie it up and take out to big can outside. That way the trash and stinky diapers were going out several times a day. Hope this helps--it sure has worked for us especially since we have a new stinky diaper person in the house.

diapers go out in the garbage!
Good luck...

The diaper Champ is the one to use. It also uses regular walmart type bags so you don't have to keep buying special ones, but it works great and you don't have that smell as you do from the diaper genie.

I like the "Neat!" diaper disposal system. It is a little bit of a pain to use, but it does not smell. Now that my son is older, we just buy the little light blue, scented plastic bags from Babies R us, and throw out each smelly diaper outside as soon as he is changed. Those little bags are cheap and they do block the smell pretty well. They are in the aisle with the diaper genie refills, near the pacifiers, cups, spoons, etc. I looked for them other places but only ever found them at Babies R us.

We have ditched the Diaper Genie because of the overwhelming smell coming from within! We would walk into our son's room and be overpowered by the fumes! We have resorted to little blue sacks that are made by Sassy and called the Diaper Sacks. The are small blue baby powder scented sacks that are like a miniature bag from Kroger or Wal-Mart, but made specifically for diapers. The are easily tied up and toss them right into your trash. We have never had a problem with them smelling up the house. You can buy them on-line, from Wal-Mart, Meijer, Walgreens, and many more places. Good luck and I hope this helps!

Do it the old fashioned way, put it in a Walmart bag and out to the trash. I don't suggest leaving anything that awful in the house!!

The only thing to do is to take it outside. When they are that age and especially when they start on table food, the smell is terrible. There is now way that you will be able to keep that in there. We keep a bunch of grocery store bags upstairs to put them in and take outside. The urine smell is just as bad.

D.

Hi S.!

Sounds like you've gotten plenty of advice on this subject, but my two shekels-

we always emptied solid waste into the toilet before disposing of the diaper, and that helped alot IF you want to continue to use the genie. Personally, I think they suk in general and by the time pullups rolled around we had resorted to ziploc bags too....generic brand of course.

Good luck!

i had one of those terrible things too. they seem to get to every new mother! with my newborn, we decided to throw the genie away--we got a diaper champ. oh my gosh! how it works so much better. you can use regular trashbags and the room doesn't smell anymore. of course, when you open it there is a bit of stinkiness but i put a stick-up in there and it's not as bad anymore.

I use the Diaper Champ. It is great!

I used to sprinkle Arm & Hammer baking powder in the bottom of mine. It helped for a while but you are right the older they get the stinker the gene gets! I got to the point that I would just tie the messy diaper up in a plastic bag and throw them in the trash. Good luck!

Sprinkle Borax in the bottom, it's as good as baking soda and lasts a long time.

I never used a Diaper Genie, just the old fasioned put it in a plastic bag and tie it up and in the trash.

Ok the people who say they throw their diapers away in the kitchen trash....gag! That is so disgusting. Do you throw your tampons in the kitchen trash too? Ewww. That is really unhealthy and unsanitary.

I'm having the same frustrating problem with the smell. I empty mine every day. Everyday. It still smells awful. I change the carbon filter once a week. Those are suppose to last a few months! I also have yet to get one of those diaper genie bags to hold more than about ten or twelve diapers. I have no idea how they are claiming 160 diapers will fit. The lid won't close after about six diapers and if I squeeze four more in the canister the bottom pops open. I have two kids in diapers, this is a hurdle.

I'm looking for another alternative entirely. I've tried the normal trash can with lid route and it just stinks. The room becomes unbearable to be in and eventually the house smells too. I'm really fed up. I was going through a three pack of diaper ginie bags each week and those are $12! That is way too much money to spend on trash. I might try the ziplock bag approach with a brand new air tight high end trash container.

Wrap them in the little diaper bags (Dollar Tree for $1)and toss outside into a lined trash can with lid.

I LOVE the Diaper DEKOR! Works great and NO odors.

We had exactly the same issue. I found scented diaper bags (they look like small grocery store bags - plastic) at CVS in the dollar bins. I put the diaper in one of those first then the diaper genie. It helps!

After my first baby, I said "Away with Diaper Genie!" It's just not worth it. So now, every time I change a diaper, I grab a plastic bag I've gotten from grocery shopping, but the diaper in it, tie it up and throw it in our trash can outside (the one that is used for trash pick-up). And, if I'm in a hurry or don't feel like it, I just set the bag outside the back door for a moment until I get to it later. It really beats the odor the Diaper Genie's end up putting off (no matter what you do). Also, doing this gets a little more exercise into your daily to-do's.

Hi S.

It may sound simple, but we always use the newspaper bag, or those plastic bags from the store. Then you twist the bag tightly, pull the remaining part down on top of itself, twist again, and repeat til there's no bag left. Really helps with the smell, although we usually put them outside right away, too. Sometimes, though, they only make it downstairs to the kitchen trash, but wrapped up like that, they don't smell for some time. Good luck.

My son is 16 months old and we were using the Diaper Dekor but it was really starting to stink up his room and the top of it opened to easily so when we moved we threw it out.

I bought the Diaper Genie II (or something like that) from Walmart about a week ago and so far, so good. My little boy is a stinky one and so far the only time I've ever smelled anything is when I'm putting a diaper into it...I think I do like the ideas I've seen about the scented diaper bags too...I may do that as well just to hopefully keep the stink away. I just can't fathom putting diapers in the kitchen and we tried having them in the garage with the other garbage but it just stunk it all up. Seems the smell stays more contained in the full bag once it's closed...

Anyhow, hope this helps!

We had that problem too! We put one of those odor absorbers that you can get at Home Depot (that's the only place I've been able to find it) in the bottom of the diaper genie and it really helps. It doesn't smell at all!!

I used these little blue bags when my son was born. I think they were actually for travel, but they were nice. They are individual bags that have a nice clean scent, so once you tie it, you don't smell anything. We got them at Walmart and really liked them.
Also on another note, where does your husband work? I am also a chemist in Elkhart so I was just curious. Thanks!

They are all junk. Trash can is your best bet always! Good idea in the theory, but are about as bad as the wipey warmer! The things they get us to spen $$ on!

Hi, S.. I've been through three kids and we never used the diaper genie. It was too much trouble for a lot of reasons. We just used ziploc bags and tossed them in the garbage. That worked wonderfully. Best of luck.

Sorry, but give it up... we tried a couple of different pails and they all have the smell. Best thing to do is throw them in a walmart bag and throw them outside in the garbage. Not as convenient, but it sure smells a whole lot nicer!

K.

I THOUGHT I WAS CRAZY- I HAD THE SAME TROUBLES WITH THE DIAPER GENIE... FINALLY I GAVE UP AND THREW IT OUT. THE ONLY WAY TO KEEP THE SMELL AWAY IS CHANGE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY AND EVEN THAT DOESN'T HELP ONCE THE SMELL IS INTO THE PLASTIC. PUT A STICK-UP IN THE BOTTOM, MAYBE??? HA HA

THERESAT

I know you've already sent an update on this and I didn't read all the responses you received so it may be a repeat, but I always keep all those plastic bags from the grocery store and wal mart for yard sales, etc. They are great to put stinky diapers in, or even just wet ones if you have enough bags. I put the diaper in a bag, tie it close to the diaper, then turn it inside out and tie it again. You can double or even triple the bag layers that way and it does a great job of keeping the stink at bay...and saves the environment since you aren't buying extra plastic when we all get a ton of plastic bags every time we go shopping anyway. It's one way to recycle those bags.

I haven't read all the rest of the responses, but we abandoned our Diaper Genie when my first child was about the same age as yours. We now have 3--with the youngest being 6 months. We've found that using plastic grocery bags to tie up stinky diapers is really the best solution. We take out our trash regularly (necessity in a family of 5) and the kitchen trash never smells like stinky diapers. We determined that for us, the Diaper Genie was nothing but a Stink Factory!!

I use Sassy Diaper Sacks. The are little blue bags, baby powder scent. You get 50 scented single diaper disposal bags. They sell them at walmart for a couple bucks. I think that the scented bags help to disguise the odors better than just the regular bags. Good luck!

I take dirty diapers straight to the outside can. It worked like a charm.

Hi S.! I also have a 10 month old son. We have a Diaper Genie and I stopped using it before solids because it started to smell a little. Whatever you do, don't buy a Diaper Champ (I had this with my first son). This one is even worse!!! We have resorted to a trash can in the garage for dirty diapers and it smells too, but at least it is not in his room. It is worth the walk to the garage to keep his room smelling as sweet as he is.

Once the baby starts eating more solid foods the worse the smell is. Unfortunately the best thing is to get rid of your Diaper Genie. We have five children and learned after our first son was born. For a while our twins and daughter were all in diapers, three poopies going on all day. We used store brand (cheaper than name brand) Freezer bags and put them in the trash, this way they were going out to the "big" trash once a day! Good Luck!

Dear S.,
We used the diaper champ for quite sometime because you could use a regular garbage bag rather than paying extra for the genie bags. We even put the diaper in a grocery bag before putting it in the diaper champ. BUT, I think everything takes on that funk smell after awhile no matter what you do. Now we immediatly put it in a shopping bag and bring it out to the garbage. Good Luck!

Loose the diaper Genie! I use plastic grocery bags and just tie them and throw them in the trash. It seems to work fine and it's a lot cheaper than the Genie bags or Ziplocs!

I didn't care much for the diaper genie. I ended up getting that Diaper pail thing. Looks like a cream colored trash can with a snap down lid. It has a blue pop up thing that you throw the diaper down in & just shut it. You use regular trash bags. I change it every week, I don't usually have a problem with smelling it until close to the end of the week. Just depends, but most of the time I can go a week or almost a week before changing it. Thenk I spray Clorox anywhere spray in it....Just a suggestion..
S.

DIAPER CHAMP FROM BABIES R US - WE USE THIS (FOR 7 MONTHS NOW) AND THERE'S NEVER EVER A SMELL, WHATS EVEN BETTER IS IT USES ANY TRASH BAG! SO WE BUY THE CHEAP SCENTED ONES IN THE ROLL AT THE GROCERY STORE. WE CHANGE IT EVERY 3-4 DAYS AND IT'S AWESOME!

We have the diaper champ and it too can be smelly. A friend of mine told me to take a piece of charcoal (it absorbs the odors) and add it to the bottom of the pail. Since we have a gas grill, I haven't tried it as of yet! Don't know if it works or will fit into your pail.....just throwing it out there for you.

we, too, have the diaper champ and love it! i like that i don't have to have special bags, it's easy to use, and the smell is virtually non-existant. she's only 6 months old, so i can't say for sure how it holds up to table foods, but so far with cereal and a bit of veggies, it's great!

We tried several different diaper pails, and the only thing that works is to take them outside. It is a pain to go out after every BIG diaper change so you can put them in the plastic sleeve that the newspaper comes in. It usually can hold 3 maybe 4. Also Sassy makes scented diaper bags, so if you aren't willing to give up the diaper genie yet, try using those bags before you put it in the diaper pail. Good Luck!

We use the diaper champ with cheap garbage bag liners. Each time we change bags we spray with lysol and we clean with bleach about once a month. It has been great since doing that.

I don't have a suggestion to make it smell better, but we did move ours to the garage. I just couldn't stand it in the house. Eventually we just stopped using it and used the plastic bags the newspaper comes in. You can tie it after each diaper and usually fit about three or four diapers.