Product Review: Baby Trend Diaper Champ

Like many first time moms I enjoyed going to the baby store and registering for things for our son when we were a few months along in the pregnancy back in 2003.  One of the things I knew everyone needed was a diaper pail.  The new ones that trap in the stink and individually wrap each diaper seemed like a good idea.  I'd used one occasionally at other people's houses and they really did trap a lot of odor in (you knew this when you changed the bag and opened the container WHEW!).  I used that diaper pail for three years (through Kristopher's 2 years of diapers, the first year of Brianna's diapers, and during those few months where I had a 'foster' son that brought the count up to THREE in diapers at my house... wow, and I thought it was a lot those 5 weeks! LOL).  We used that until one day someone opened the flip-top lid to stick a diaper in and the plastic hinge broke.  From then on it required 2 hands to remove the lid, shove the diaper down past the little clips, spin the top of the pail, then replace the top back on it.  This device was called a diaper genie.  Little did I know at the time, it was much more difficult than it needed to be.  It also required that we buy special cartridges with tubes of bags inside of them.  Several dollars per cartridge and I had to cut the bag to remove it, tie it off, then tie an end in the new one each time I changed the pail.  It was a hassle.

For a year I went without any diaper pail as I just had Brianna in diapers and soon after her 1st birthday she began having BM's on the toilet a majority of the time.  I took the bathroom trash out regularly and although it was far from ideal, we made it work.   When I came home from Ukraine with two more children in diapers and the knowledge that I'd not only be changing MANY diapers per day, but I would have children in diapers for a LONG TIME, I decided it was time for another diaper pail.  This time I bought a Diaper Champ.  I have to admit it was a bit of a 'risk buy' because I really hadn't seen any reviews or anything but I decided I'd give it a try for a bit and if I didn't love it, I'd go back and buy the new model (but still the same design and need for cartridges) of the pail I used to have.

I was PLEASANTLY surprised!  A box of tall kitchen bags was all I needed to make this pail work and it seals out a majority of the smell!  The way it works is that in the center there is a hinge.  It opens there and you fit in a bag then press down a 'ring' which holds the bag in place (simple to do).  Then you place a diaper in the top opening and flip the handle over to the other side.  This dumps the diaper into the bag below.  A neat extra thing is that the bottom of the 'basket' in the top there slides up and down.  So if the diaper doesn't go out on its own, you give the 'new bottom' a nudge and slide it down which dumps the diaper.  Then you put the next diaper in the top again and flip it the other direction.  I'm not sure I explained that so great, but that's the best I can do!

The good things?

• Seals out most diaper smells
• Uses regular bags- ANY bag (even wal-mart grocery bags!) which saves lots of $$$ in the long run
• Easy to use with one hand
• Easy to empty
• Easy to put a new bag in
• Easy to clean (no hidden crevices)
• No parts to break
• If you're a CLOTH DIAPER MOMMA you can use this pail!  All the diapers will be together in one bag, not separated in annoying individually wrapped hot-dog containers and it would be simple to toss a load in the washer straight from here! (maybe even to use a cloth sack but that might be taking it a step far LOL)

The down side?

• A little bit of a smell can be detected when the 'sliding bottom' goes with each diaper.  I've only noticed it when there is a VERY strong scent inside the can and it's really time to be emptied anyway, but still it is there occasionally
• When you pull the bag out if you're not standing on the sides of it (there are spots to step on) then the full diaper bag suctions inside and can be hard to get out.  (if you use the foot holds on the can it's not too bad).

I'm glad we bought this, saved some $ and time, and I'd highly recommend it to others.  Would I buy it again? Looks like I won't have to because this one's going to last!