Do Diaper Genies Work?

It is my experiance that if you get a diaper genie that individually wraps each diaper (when you put the diaper, you twist it and it creates an all over wrap for each diaper) you cant smell them if you empty the genie once a week, but if you get one that you can use regular bags for the smell is horrible.

I never had a diaper genie, but I have tried to use friends diaper genies and they are complicated, not to mention the only bags that work are specific diaper genie bags, I had my first child in July of 2006 and we got a diaper champ. It works great, I can use it one handed and I can use regular garbage bags, i don't have to spend the extra money on "special" bags...

I didn't buy the Diaper Geni because you have to buy special bags to use it. I bought the Diaper Champ and you can use any type of garbage bag. I just use the same ones I use in my kitchen waste basket. My son is 20 months and I still use mine and probably will until he is potty trained.

Hi J. I am also J. mom to Evan almost 1. i was the same way. my mom ended up buying me one anyway. heres how i look at it. if your going to be changing your baby in his room or your room wherever your going to have the changing table at your going to want something. i had one but hardly ever used it. my son slept in his bass. until he was almost 4 months and his dad stays up at night so he would sleep in the bass. out in the living room. therefore we always changed him in the living room. even now he's too big for the changing table that's attached to the crib so we still change him in the living room. we had been keeping the diaper genie at the end of the couch but most of the times would forget and get up and throw it in the trash. we take our trash out once a day or every other day so it wasn't bad. if we got a really nasty one i would put it in a bag. they have these blue bags mostly at target i think from munckin maybe they come with a ducky dispenser you can't smell anything when you put them in there. anyway the few diapers we did put in the genie stayed there quite awhile as we forgot they were there. about 4months and you couldn't smell them. the problem for us why it was easier to throw away is with the genie you have to shove the diaper half way down the opening and then shut the top and twist like 2 1/2 or 3 times. pain in the butt. i think now though they make ones you don't have to do that. if you can find one that you can just put in and close i say go for it if not just buy some of those bags. you'll want the bags anyway they come in handy when your on the road or anywhere away from the house. where r you from. i'm in mt pleasant . sorry this is long but hope it helps

It's all a personal preference in my opinion. Any diaper pail holds the smell in longer than just tossing soiled diapers in a regular trash can, however, as some have already stated, they still need to be emptied every few days. If you don't change it for an entire week you'll notice the smell. Also, as was stated earlier, if you do buy a diaper pail, just use it for soiled diapers, not wet diapers. This will keep it from filling up so quickly and wet diapers don't create much of a smell unless, again, you leave them for a week. As far as brand, I did not like the Diaper Genie brand because with the way it is designed, when you go to empty it you get this long string of twisted up diapers. Kind of reminds you of a bunch of sausage links tied together. But again, personal preference. We use the Diaper Dekor Plus and have been happy with it. It works much like a sealed trash can. I have even started just opening it up on trash day and removing the soiled diapers to take out to the trash. This also helps reduce how quickly you use a roll of liners.

Congratulations on your new baby (our second is due in April!) and good luck with your baby shopping!

~ V.

IMO yes....if you CLEAN THEM regularaly....I have a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old and at one time BOTH were in diapers at hte same time.....personally I LOVED mine and you can not expect diapers in ANY container to not smell after a few days....I always changed mine every other day.....and washed it our once a week.

I have 4 children and it wasn not until my last pregnancy that I bought a diaper genie. To me it was a waste, it didnt control the smell anymore than using a garbage can and it was a hassle to use. I would reccomend getting a sanll garbage can with a lid and a flip top or one where you step on the pedal to open it and buying the small scented garbage bags, that will help with the smell and reduce contact with your hands, therefore reducing the spread of germs.
Good luck!
K.

The diaper genie didn't work well with my first child, born in Feb 2005. However, I threw out the diaper genie and got a diaper depot. The diaper depot uses regular trash bags, and I use the scented ones for it. The depot works 10 times better than the diaper genie. The genie was inconvient and you had to buy refills that added up in money. The smell was horrid.

In other news, what area do you live in?

I didn't care for the Diaper Genie when my son was little. Even with regular cleaning, I thought it still stunk. With my daughter I bought stink sacks from Wal-Greens (only place I could find them) to throw diapers in. They were scented disposal bags that worked wonderful and they weren't that expensive!

I have heard they have come a long way in the past few years. You don't have to go just diaper genie brand, there are other companies as well with other options on them.
Check around and read reviews on them if there are any.
C.

I got a diaper genie when I was pregnant with my first child back in 99..I used it the first month and hated it.Unless you empty it way before it gets full the diapers on the bottom will mold and will smell very badly.Mind you I would empty mine at least once a week.The diapers would already be moldy.It takes alot for it to get full.But it is a pain..I never used one again.I just thow my diapers in the regular garbage..Much easier and cheaper..Especially since they have those little blue powder scented bags to put the smelly diapers into..

They do stink!! I tried EVERYTHING to get them to work...even putting an air freshener in the darn pail! Zip Lok bags are the way to go. They are cheap, portable and seal the smell in!

Good luck!
J.

J., I don't know how the price compares because I was lucky to pay a clearance price, but I love my "Diaper Champ" (I bought mine at Baby's R Us). I started out with the Diaper Genie because you always hear the name commonly used. I didn't really like it because it didn't keep the place less stinky for the effort it took to use it and refill it with special bags. Now, we just fill the Diaper Champ with Big Lot garbage bags and the closing and dumping mechanism seems to keep the room a lot less stinky. Now granted, babies are less stinky when they are very small and that's why we used the Diaper Genie at first, but boy oh boy, you can tell the difference when they get a bit older! Good Luck!

They definately do work, I suppose if you stuck your head in one it would smell in there, but it's better than stinking up the whole house. The diaper genie definately holds the smell in, I'm on my 2nd child and I wouldn't do without one.

They do work, but it's not worth the cost to replace the bags. The refill bags are about 5 dollars or more and they don't last very long. I find just putting the diapers in a grocey bag,and taking the outside to a trash bin. If you are going to breast fed the poop diapers really don't even have a smell either. I say it's not worth the money.

OK...here it is!! With my daughter we bought the Diaper Genie. Although it was easy to use and inexpensive, it did not keep the smell out of her nusery. I ended up using a plug in to freshen up her room.
NOW, with my some I decided to purchase the Neat Diaper system by Safety 1st. I LOVE IT!! Not only is it easy to use and also inexpensive, there is NO odor in his room!!

Good Luck!!

I had a Diaper Genie and found that the refills were expensive, but I LOVED it!!! I was at Target buying refills and ran into the Diaper Champ (it comes in Pink and Blue) I thing it was $20-$30 and you use garbage bags no expensive refills to buy. You can also use sented garbage bags in it. VERY rarely do I get an smell just when you flip the top to put diaper in. I LOVE IT!!! It is the best thing we bought. It saved alot of money using Garbage bags. My Daughter is 5 Months old and we have been using it since she was weeks old. The diaper Genie also puts off a little oder, I brought mine to my Moms house she babysits and uses it. Defintly get the Diaper Champ I have seen it at babies R Us and Target!!!

They work great if you don't turn the top. It saves on the plastic bags but it also helps if you put a piece of charcoal inside the diaper genie.

You are getting a ton of feedback on this one. My son is 17 months old. I bought the Diaper Champ also and I only used it for 1 week. The bag was changed several times during that week and each time my husband or I had a gagging experience. It kept the smell from the room but once you opened it....look out! I stuck it in the garage sale and sold it. I now buy those little plastic powder scented sacks at the dollar store and if it's a stinky diaper I use them. All of the diapers go right in my kitchen trash which is changed at least once a day. It's much more ecconomical and works out better than tossing a coin to see who is willing to change the diaper pail...LOL.

I had one and if you can get the diapers twisted right, they work great. They do hide the smell. But I had a hard time getting them to stay twisted and sometimes ended up with one big bag of diapers at the end instead of this weird little chain thing.

With my first daughter I had the diaper genie. I hated it, to get it not to smell you have to push in the diaper as far as you can ( sometimes not a great experience) and then twist the lid probably 5 times or so. It was really a pain and required a lot of work, besides the fact that you have to buy special inserts you can't just get at the local grocer, and babies go through alot of diapers. This time around I'm trying the diaper champ, I heard good things about it and it only smells when your changing the bag (a regular garbage bag).

I would definitely get the diaper champ instead of the diaper genie - I still haven't figured out how the diaper genie works!!! The diaper champ takes ordinary garbage bags. The only complaint I have with it is that it doesn't hold enough diapers!! But I haven't had a problem with it smelling... I do clean it out with clorox wipes after each bag, though. But definitely worth the money!

R.:)

it all depends on your situation. My husban and I love ours we have two diaper genie's in our house right now. We have one in our room where we don't have a trach can that has a lid then we have one in our livingroom where most of our family spends their time. We empty them every monday night so they go out in the trash it is easier to let the family know where to throw the diapers. Down fall is if your twist in between every diaper it is good because it eliminates smells but if you do twist it you go thru the refills quickly. If you keep up with the stages stage one for brestfed of formula , stage 2 for beginner food odors are reduced. Hope this helps

I personally hated the diaper genie. I got it for my first son (now 12) and used it for about a week. It was a pain to clean out, the bags always seemed to get stuck and you have change it a lot if you don't want it to smell. I found it easier just to use my free grocery bags and throw them in the trash outside. And it keeps the smell out of the house. Once those babies start eating real food you don't want those diapers in the house! I thought the diaper genie smelled really bad. 2 thumbs down for me

First, congrats on the new addition. I was never fond of the diaper Genies. I used the diaper champ, and loved it. It contained the smell, it was easier to use, and you can use any bag that fits in it. I always bought the scented trash bags, that way there was a good smell too.

Hi J.,
I had a diaper genie, and not only are they inconvienent to use, but the refills are expensive. A friend told me this when I was having my first child. I got one anyway, and a few months later, I was disappointed that I wasted the money. Now I just keep a stash of plastic grocery bags nearby and wrap the daiper up in one of those and throw it in a trash can in the garage. No cost to me, and I am at least reusing the grocery bags that we get from the store each week.
Congratulations to you and good luck,
M.

I am a new mother myself and I have the diaper genie 2 and it works great. The original diaper genie is a pain so make sure and get the diaper genie 2. I only put the dirty diapers in it not the pee ones and I only have to empty it once a week.

Hi J.!
I had heard mixed reviews as well. I found our pretty useful, and it was never smelly as long as we changed it every few days. Also, after a while, we just put the "stinky" ones in there because there was never a problem with the wet ones just going in the trash. Hope this helps and good luck now and in March!

they are awesome can be expensive to change bags.

yes they do wrk. if your having Baby shower put it on your list, but if your not then go to an once opon a child or a second hand store. compair prices! i got mine from the flee market and it wrk's great

I never tried the diaper genie. My philosophy was to get the dirty diapers(poop) out of the house immediately. I kept a trash can right outside the garage door and would lean out and drop them in. I didn't need even need to put on shoes.
FYI- They don't really start to stink until they start eating food.- Good luck!

I never got a Diaper Genie because that was never something that I wanted as a decorative item in my nursery.

Many people have told me that they work really well, however, for me, throwing the diapers in the garbage works fine. And for the especially pungent ones, I usually just put them in a plastic bag or take the trash out immediately. It's more work than just throwing them in the DG, but it works for me.

I used one for my daughter (now 3 1/2) when she was a baby. I didn't have any trouble with smell. It worked much better than others I've seen friends use. The only reason I don't use it for my 1 year old now is that I didn't want to spend money on the refills. I just throw diapers away in plastic bags now. But as far as working, I thought the diaper genie did great!

It's just my experience, but I did not like the Diaper Genie at all... I have an almost two year old now, and returned the genie after about 2 weeks.
I do however use a similar product -- the Neat diaper pail thing..It works wonderfully.
I highly recommend it!!

Good Luck with the new baby --- it's exhausting and frustrating and harder than you planned -- but so worth all of it!

My son is 10 (today) and we used one of our neighbor's diaper genies. It worked great when he was a little baby, but they do hold smell real good in the plastic. So every time I would change it I would wash it real quick with a sprayer of bleach and water. As well as we bought those stick up air freshners and stuck one to the bottom of it. That helped quite a bit.

Although from what I've heard now the newer versions are a lot better than the one I had.

Good luck and congratulations!

I found the Diaper Genie to be darn near useless. You have your hands so full, when taking care of a baby, that something as high maintenance as the Diaper Genie makes life harder in the long run. To take care of hte stinky diapers, we bought a smaller than average diaper pail. We put those littl wastebasket trash bags in it, instead of kitchen bags, too. This menat that we had to take them out more frequently. That helped keep the odor down alot. We also installed deodorizers inside the pail, and a plug in type on the wall near the pail(we happened to have a high outlet that the baby couldn't reach.). Also, it helps if you scrub the pail out every couple weeks or so. We never really had any diaper odor to speak of.

Congrats to you! I received one from my baby shower (my son will be three march 10) and i used it maybe the first week he was born. I also worked at a daycare and used the diaper genie and well it did start to stink after all those baby diapers i heard the diaper champ is much better from my friends. I prefer the good old meijer or ziplock bags and out to the trash can. But it is different with everyone. Good luck!

Hello I m J. and i want to tell you that There can be several reasons why your cloth diapers are smelly..Like just check out this web - http://bit.ly/1PK28He

I wasn't very happy with mine. I can't remember exactly what brand it was. The re-fills were expensive and it still seems to smell. Honestly, what I think works best is keeping a small trash can next to the changing table and emptying it (out to the garage or where ever you keep your trash) about once a day.

Congrats-- and good luck!

The Diaper Champ is the way to go! My friend gave me hers...I used it for my last child and then donated it to our church's nursery. It is still working today! It uses the plastic bags you get from the grocery or anywhere else...
Congratulations! My youngest is turning 3 next month. Being a mom is the best job I've ever had!

I have a diaper genie and smell wise it works great. The main thing that isn't great is that it doesn't hold very many diapers (and my 3 month is still in size 1 diapers). I have to change it about every day and a half or so. If you don't feel like emptying it all the time, get a tall trash with a lid and use the scented diaper sacks. Especially Baby makes them and they are about $2.50 for 50 bags. TIP: The dollar stores ussually have them 100 bags for $1.00! The only difference I have noticed is the color of the bags. :) Keep in mind that you have to buy the diaper genie liners also and they are about $5.00 a piece or so. I use the diaper genie and the scented bags in the regular trash. Congratulations and good luck! A.

J.-
Congratulations on the upcoming addition. My daughter was born March 24th, 2005. I received a Diaper Genie as a shower present. I think that it did work great while Gracelyn was young. There was very little odor when I opened and closed it. This worked well until she got on to solid foods. We used it while she was breast-feeding, bottle-feeding, eating cereal and eating babyfood. But, when she turned almost a year old, and was eating more "real" foods, it couldn't contain the odor. I ended up just using small garbage bags to wrap them in and threw them in our garbage. But, as you will find out, some odors just can't be hidden, LOL! So, it depends on how long you want to use it. Good Luck and I hope everything goes well!!!

K.

Hi!!
We love ours, I think they work great. It is in our kids' bedroom and I don't think it smells at all. I think it is a great buy, a little bit more expensive but it is worth it not to have the smell. And once I got the hang of working it, I never had a problem.
Good luck!
Jennifer

Hi J., I had my first child almost 5 years ago, and received a Diaper Genie as a gift. I had 2 problems with it. First, it didn't work properly. I can't remember exactly what was wrong, but I just threw it out. My second problem with it was it didn't eliminate the smell like they say they do. We ended up just using plastic grocery bags. The best part is that they are FREE! Just start saving them now and you should have a good supply. Save your money and don't get the Genie. :)

I used one with my daughter who is now 9 1/2 years old. Though it was better than throwing them directly in the trash, the Diaper Genie still smelled awful.

Hi J.,
Congratulations on your first pregnancy, your due date is my birthday!
As stated by one of the other moms it really is a matter of preference. I did have a diaper genie and I didn't have a problem with the smell but I didn't like emptying it either (the long sausage thing like the other mom said). I got in the habit of saving all of my grocery bags and I would tie the diapers up in the bags and put them in the trash this way they went out every couple of days and I didn't have to deal with a big mess all at one time (however, I was a full time working mom so my daughter was in daycare all day and so I was only dealing with a very small amount of the diapers). Another point I have heard other moms make about diaper genie vs. regular diaper pail is that with the regulars you could very well use regular bags if you want to but with the diaper genie you HAVE to buy their special liners which are pretty costly. I guess in conclusion I probably would have went with a regular diaper pail since my diaper genie sat in her room untouched after I changed it a couple of times.
Good luck!
B.

I had one that worked great until it broke. I never replaced it. I'm now in the habit of keeping my plastic bags from the grocery store for this poopy purpose. It's cheaper and in my opinion just as easy. Just keep some handy (out of baby's reach of course). When you get wet ones, just let them collect and when there is poopy put that one in and tie the top and throw it in your garbage in the garage or outside or whatever. It's free and just as easy. I have two boys right now my oldest is 3, youngest just turned 1 year old today and I have another one due May 8th.

Personally i had one and i found a better cheaper solution! I put the diaper in a plastic grocery bag and tied it or a zip lock bag and wah lah no stink LOL I had a time when I had three in diapers and so it works great. BTW the diaper genies are ok until its time to empty them then oh my get out the face masks. Lol Good luck.

Hmm...honestly my husband thought it was necessary to get one because of his sensitivety to poopy smells. So we put it on our registry and someone got it for us. For the first month or so, after my son was born, it stayed in the box. And the smell of dirty diapers in the trash cans from the kitchen and bathroom was a distinct odor...lol...so my husband busted it out the diaper genie and honestly it has definitely took the smell away. My son is now 8 months and the genie itself is starting to smell a tiny bit...but I am sure that is nothing a little bleach cleaner can't get rid of...honestly if you are having a baby shower, put it on your list, someone will get it for you, and seems how you usually get gift receipts you can always test it out by doing what I did. See what it smells like when you are just throwing them in your various trash cans throughout the house. Honestly it may not be a problem depending on how often you have to empty your trash. At my home it is just me my husband and my little miracle baby. So the trash didnt always fill up as quickly as I would have liked, but it may be different for you....just remember if you find in the first month that the smell isnt bothering you you can take it back and purchase something else you need and trust me once you have your little angel you will always need something....lol...good luck and I live in the Lansing area and I am very interested in meeting other moms with children close to my sons age. I am also a stay at home mom and do get a little bored sometimes with doing the same thing everyday....so let me know if you would like to get to know eachother...and if your in the area...I look forward to hearing from you....good luck :)
M.

I never tried the one you're thinking of. We use the diaper Champ and it works fine and you use your own bags. The other one you have to get their bags and they're expensive in my opinion!

Hi J.,

Congratulations on your first baby! I have a three year old son, and I have never used a Diaper Genie. First of all, you can only use THEIR bag refills, which are expensive. I have found a good solution.... I went to Meijer and found a plastic pet food container (similar to tupperware) which has an airtight lid that snaps shut (it's probably a couple feet tall). You can buy the cheap 13 gallon trash bags to put in them. If you have a real problem with smell, put a few charcoal briquets in the bottom underneath the bag (this will help absorb the smell).

There's almost always a cheaper alternative! You'll find that you usually don't need the expensive stuff. Sure, it's cute.... but if you're trying to save money, go with something simple!

Good luck!
H. S.

I have 3 kids. I just brought my first Diaper Genie II (the new one) for my youngest baby. I love it!! It is easy to use and the refills seem to last awhile. I do get my hubby to change the bag when it gets full. I think they are worth the price! I say just put it on your baby shower list. Liz K

I didn't buy the diaper genie from advice from another mom, it does work great, however you HAVE to buy the special bags for it and after time that can get really expensive, I bought the daiper champ, it works great, and you can use very day garbage bags...

I have 3 kids 7 1/2, 4 and 2 1/2- my littlest one is just in the process of getting out of diapers, I found that the plastic grocery bags work just as well, if one of my kids had a big stink I would just put the diaper in one and tie it up and throw the whole thing away. wish you luck!!!

J.,

I used a diaper genie, I liked it alot, once in a while the bags would get stuck, but thats easy to adjust.. Good Luck with the new baby.

A little about myself.. My name is C. and I have 3 kids and live in the SOutheast part of michigan north of Detroit.

I used the Diaper Genie for both of my kids but that was a while ago. They are now 7 and 9 1/2! The key is changing it frequently to avoid the "odor". However....I watch my neice now and find using Cheap (dollar store) zip loc baggies are the best. This is good even while traveling... keep some zip bags in the diaper bag and your purse to use when you are out and about or at someone elses home. If it's a stinky diaper, you can "seal" the odor into the bag until you access an outdoor trash can for permanant removal!!

Good Luck.
M. M.

Hi J.,

When your baby is just getting breast milk or formula the diapers don't smell much, so you're homefree there. Once they start solids, it's another story! But i think they work, you just have to take the diapers out regularly and i rinse mine out with Mr. Clean once a week.

I'd advise getting the Diaper Champ though because I was told the Genie requires special bags (their bags) which is an expense plus an extra trip to babies r us. The Diaper Champ just takes regular garbage bags.