Diaper Duty
The former statistics guru in me would, for pure amusement, like to see how much real estate “time spent diapering” gets on a parents pie chart. And apparently, no matter how seasoned a mom you are, it’s possible to discover new information about diapers anywhere along the journey. Today, a team of my beloved mamas tested and reviewed diapers and wipes from the Pampers line. Read on for their reviews, ordered by age of youngest to oldest kids:
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Mom of an 11-month-old daughter & 3-year-old son
Diapers: “I love Pampers' diapers! They're softer and offer more "cushion" than other brands I've tried (Huggies, Kirkland) and the stretchy tabs allow for great fit (especially around my petite daughter's tiny waist). I also appreciate that the diapers don't bunch or clump, but rather seem to absorb "evenly" - presumably more comfortable for a child when s/he is wet. Finally, an unexpected bonus when we switched my (now) 3-year-old son to Pampers: dry, itchy patches around his upper thighs (he's prone to eczema) disappeared! So we are total converts where diapers are concerned.”
Wipes: “As for Pampers' wipes, we noticed that they are smaller in size than the current brand we use and, though they are slightly thicker, the difference isn't great enough to warrant a switch.”
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Mom of 12-month-old triplets & a 4-year-old daughter
General Comments: “I feel overall that Pampers produces quality products and will buy this diaper brand when price is comparable with other name brands.”
Diapers: “The diapers fit great, stay on, and are perfect for my 3 very active crawlers and cruisers. They are terrific for daytime use. My only 'negative' feedback is that 2 of my 3 soaked and leaked through them at night. But I have this same complaint with most diapers. My boys are 21 lbs and typically wear size 3 (16-28lbs). At night I put them in size 4's (22-37lbs), which greatly reduces nighttime leaking.”
Wipes: “Smell great and work well. They do not irritate my trio's sensitive little bottoms. My nanny prefers these wipes over all others but I still prefer the Huggies wipes as they are thicker and I find that I use less during the course of a change.”
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Mom of 16-month-old and 3.5-year-old daughters
General comments: “Thank you, Pampers! As a mother of two, we've gone through our share of diapers. I generally buy name brand but have to admit that I always go with one of 3 brands, depending on which one I have a coupon for, which one is on sale, or which one is the cheapest at the store I happen to be at. Not anymore!”
16-month-old testing: “I 'tested' 2 different types of Pampers diapers. The first was the Pampers Cruisers for my 15-month-old. LOVED them! Often my little one, who has sensitive skin, has slight red marks from where her diaper rubs her thighs. I haven't been able to correlate it to any particular brand. However, I noticed that no such marks were visible when she wore the Cruisers. This is important to me as she isn't able to verbalize any irritation or discomfort and so when I don't see red marks, it’s a sign that irritation or discomfort is likely not an issue. The only downside to this diaper that I found was that the 'netting' (or shall we call is dry weave?) sometimes stuck to her skin. I don't generally use diaper cream with every diaper change so that may have had something to do with it. I didn't feel like she needed diaper cream since she had no sign of a rash while wearing these. I also tested the Pampers wipes that were sent along with the diapers. These too get high marks in my book. They are great for sensitive skin, aren't too wet and aren't too thin or too thick.”
3.5-year-old testing: “For my 3.5 year old we sampled the Feel and Learn. My older daughter has been potty trained for quite some time now but continues to wear a pull up style diaper at night. Thinking that it is probably overdue that she no longer do so, we thought we'd give these a whirl. In fact, unlike with other brands, she awoke when she started to go in the middle of the night, making her aware of her need to go to the potty. While we're still working on next steps, these diapers allowed her to experience the sensation while still absorbing the urine. I give these diapers high marks too and hope that they'll help us become 100% trained in the weeks to come.”
Conclusion: “Thanks again, Pampers - you have my commitment from here on forward!”
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Mom of a 21-month-old son
Diapers: “They don't fit Sebastian right; they are too wide in the crotch area and we have had two leaks overnight when we usually have none. I have read before that Pampers are better for girls and Huggies for boys so maybe that is true? I usually use the Seventh Generation or Huggies for overnight disposables [otherwise, cloth diapers during the day] and those both fit Sebastian better.”
Wipes: “These smell too strongly for me.”
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Mom of a 2-year-old daughter
Diapers: “PROS: The Sesame Street characters are cute and popular with my toddler (playing with the diapers keeps her distracted while I change her), strong sticky tabs, good stretchy sides, a thin profile that keeps the diaper from looking too puffy or bunchy, and a nice webbing between my daughter's skin and the absorbent material. CONS: The diapers leaked on our second night of using them - something that never happens with my regular Luvs - and the fit is a little odd (they smoosh between her legs in a way that seems to make them unable to be fully absorbent).”
Wipes: “PROS: Soft and smooth, and seem very cleansing. CONS: The scent is way too strong and artificial.”
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Mom of a 2.5 year-old son
Diapers: “Jack has been wearing Pampers Cruisers for a long time now and we are extremely pleased. No reason to change, they fit him perfectly, and just work very well. We opted to try the Easy-Ups even though Jack is not very far into the potty training phase. He absolutely loves them! He feels like a big boy and he calls them underwear. He wants to wear them only and refuses to wear his old diapers (which he tells me are for babies). They seem to be much more comfortable that regular diapers and never leave pink/red marks here and there as his normal diapers sometimes do. I am amazed that the easy-ups work fine through the night. I worried they would not be as absorbent as the cruisers, but they were fine. Also, Jack had mastered taking his old diapers OFF, but with the easy-ups he is close to being able to put his own diaper ON which is great for his confidence. We’re not yet getting to the potty in time to allow him to put the same diaper back on, but I think it is helping him to understand the whole potty training thing a little better.”
Wipes: “The other item we received was a pack of Clean ‘n Go baby wipes. I seriously was never committed to one brand or type of wipe over another but I was completely sold on these! They feel very soft and don’t leave any bothersome scent or residue on skin. We can wipe off his face and he doesn’t mind (unlike other types of wipes we’ve tried). I’ve already bought more and have a pack stashed in our emergency bags in each car. This was a real winner.”
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Mom of a 3.25 year-old daughter
Diapers: “Our daughter has been day trained for almost a year now, and we haven’t felt in a particular rush about nighttime dryness, partially due to: 1) our general notion that there’s no need to rush; 2) she was in a habit of going to bed with a milk cup; 3) we haven’t been thrilled with the prospect of dealing with soaked sheets in the middle of the night. We’re subsequently not in active nighttime dryness training mode, but the Pampers Feel ‘n Learn diapers unexpectedly brought us one step closer in that direction by virtue of their thin construction and having Dora the Explorer on them. My daughter went bonkers over the Dora diapers but I honestly didn’t think they could hold her typical amount of nighttime pee. So I told my daughter that if she wanted to wear the Dora diapers at night, she’d have to lose the milk cup. And there we had it… instant weaning. The only negative on the general pull up style is that you can’t roll and secure it into a little ball for disposal; but that’s what you’ll get with any pull up brand.”
Wipes: “One of the challenges I’ve found with my daughter being potty trained is being able to clean up well after a poop with a dry tissue (compared to how you can check when the kid is on a diaper table). So I fell in love with flushable potty wipes a few months ago when I first discovered them at the CVS. I have tried CVS brand, Pampers, and Huggies and the two former I found extremely strong scented (I have yet to find unscented wipes, which is what I would prefer) and also small so I have to use two of them to make sure I get everything and don’t wind up with a mess on my hands. The Huggies flushable wipes are about 1.5 size of the CVS and Pampers, so I prefer the Huggies since I only need to use one and they are less fragrant.”
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Editor’s Note: Many thanks to Pampers for providing all of these diapers and wipes to my mama testers, and thanks to these busy moms for providing their thoughtful comments.