Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pampers vs. Huggies

*I was not paid in any way to talk about diapers.  This is just my opinion and experience.

There comes a point in all of motherhood where you just have to talk about baby poop. Today is that post. For those who have no desire to read about it, now is the time to stop reading.

Ok, for the rest of you, consider yourself warned that I will be talking about baby poop and baby poop is gross.


I hate paying for diapers. Seriously. I really have no idea why poop collectors cost so much, but it is ridiculous. With T-Man, we went majorly low-budge on the diapers. I saw no reason to spend extra amounts of money on name-brand diapers. We went with whatever was cheapest--usually some no-name Wal-Mart brand. T-Man pooped out of those diapers almost every single time. Being a first-time mom, I thought he just had an incredibly powerful pooper, until one day my friend said, "Um, do you think it's the diapers you are using?" Oh, DUH! Of course it was! I still didn't want to pay extra though, so I stuck with the Wally world cheapos until one rather unfortunate day at the St. Louis Science Center when T-Man pooped everywhere and I didn't have an extra pair of pants for him and I had to choose between rinsing his poopy pants out in the public bathroom sink and then wearing them wet, or having him go pantless (he was about 2 yrs old at the time) or spending $30 on official Science Center sweatpants that were only available in sizes XS or XL (he needed a medium). That day I swore off the cheapos and moved up to Luvs.

With Fearless I figured Luvs were a compromise. Not the cheapest, but not the most expensive either. And they were fine. No leaks, but diaper rashes were common. Fearless has horribly sensitive skin, so we just dealt with those like we dealt with all of his other skin issues.

Then Miss B came around and spent a week in the NICU where they use the really soft Pampers Swaddlers diapers. They were so nice and soft and just looked more comfy than the other diapers I'd used. I don't know if it was just because I was so worried about her or if it was because she was a girl or what, but I just wanted her to have THE BEST of everything--including diapers. Dr. C went along with it (even though he would have rather just stuck with the Luvs) mainly because I was a crazy lady and if expensive diapers were important to me for some inexplicable reason than we would buy Pampers to avoid me going off the deep end. (I love that man! What a gem to put up with all my craziness!) After life had calmed down a bit and I wasn't quite so touchy about everything, Dr. C convinced me to try some Huggies. A step down from the Pampers fabulousness, but not all the way back down to the Wally cheapos. At this point though, Miss B had become accustomed to her pillow-wrapped bottom and she started getting rashes. (Ha! An excuse to go back to the Cadillac diapers.) So the Pampering continued.

Lately though, I've turned into a couponer, and have really been trying hard to get things on sale, or with coupons or both, to cut down on our household expenses and to get the thrill of a great bargain. And so I relinquished my new love of Pampers to try Huggies Natural diapers this time. (They were a super good deal!)

Miss Banana decided to let me know her thoughts on the matter. I was holding her with her head up on my shoulder, body against my chest. All of the sudden she made that infamous grunt, and poop exploded everywhere—my neck, my shirt, her shirt, her legs, her chest, her hair, my hair, my pants, her hands, my hands—you get the idea. As I went to clean her up, I opened up her Huggies diaper and there was only a smidgen in the diaper. How did that happen?!? Apparently my little diaper diva was so unimpressed with the Huggies that they weren't even fit for her to poop in. Tomorrow, we go back to Pampers.

18 comments:

Nicole said...

And that is why I love my cloth diapers. You should consider them. Cheap and clean. Glad Mr. C is cool with the Pampers.

Stephanie said...

I've never had any luck with the Huggies, esp. considering the price. Sam's has a decent generic brand, I think it's better than Wal-Marts.

Mommy to those Special Ks said...

We do pampers too... LOVE them. We used to do Luvs for my oldest two, but when Kennedy came along, SAME story, they used Pampers in the hospital, and I never looked back. I used them for her and for Keeghan. I even know how much they weigh since we used to have to weigh them when she was sick! LOL

ds.mama said...

LOL! Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers... can't live without them :-) Worth the extra $. I buy them at Bj's wholesale club with their coupons and the manufacturer's coupons, and I do the Pamper's rewards online at Pampers.com. Glad to hear you will listen to your poop diva.

Adrienne said...

Alwas been a Pampers girl and always will! Worth the exrtra money!

The Mussertons said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Wendy P said...

Jackson had a pampers butt and Kira has a huggies butt. I think it depends on the kid. I really like the Walgreens Supreme brand, too. You can coupon those down to $4.50 a pack periodically. (I'm a big couponer, too!)

Anonymous said...

My name is Pattie and I work for Pampers in Consumer Care. I saw your blog and just had to thank you for your loyalty to Pampers. As a mom of two, I really enjoyed reading your diapering experiences. It’s always something isn’t it? Glad to hear that T-Man, Fearless and Miss Banana subtly insist on Pampers!

Ashley said...

I've used the Walmart brand diapers for all 3 of my kids. Poop coming out of the diaper is extremely rare for us...only has happened a handful of times. I've never seen any need to spend money on the expensive diapers.

Angela O said...

Sometimes I think the diaper depends on the child, as well. I've had people swear by Luvs but we always had explosions. Same with Huggies. We've been using 7th Generation diapers on Liam for 2 years now and love them but I've heard other people curse them. But the Pampers Swaddlers? Absolute treasures for wee babies--plan on using them again this time around! I bought a package of the Huggies Naturals to try since I had a good coupon but now I'm worried!

Blake and Audra said...

oh my goodness!! Can I just say I am SO glad I read this...now I know exactly what to get. My husband is TOTALLY freaked out at the idea that he might have to change a dirty diaper so I'll just say if you want to get the wally cheapos, you will be cleaning things up!! NICE! Thanks Carrie

Lindsey said...

That is so funny! Sounds like quite the mess to clean up! I liked pampers for newborns, too. Then I switched to Huggies and then Target brand. Hoping soon to switch to underwear :)

Jenny said...

I thought we were being picky buying Huggies instead of a store brand so it was funny to realize I hadn't even known there were "nicer"/more expensive diapers we could have been buying! :) We like Huggies but haven't really tried Pampers (other than maybe a sample). We found getting Huggies at Costco worked best for us as soon as they were in size 1 but now that I have started coupons too, I'm realizing I wasn't getting that great of a deal at Costco...I do remember a few leaks in the Huggies when my boys were little but I guess as they get older that isn't as big a concern.

Marianne said...

I started with Pampers Swaddlers with Ammon because they were the smallest newborn size, then switched to Huggies because of the coupons. I thought I'd try the Walgreens brand for Ryan, thinking I had always spent too much on diapers for Ammon and immediately switched back. I did try Pampers once, but the little absorbent beads kept coming out of the diapers and sticking to Ryan's bottom. I must have had a bad batch, because it seems like no one else has had that problem.

Heidi said...

This is too good! I never knew that diapers could be such a huge deal! We had an entire package of Pampers that Julie was pooping out of every time, so I moved over the some Huggies Little Snugglers & those worked great. Someone gave us a package of Size 1 Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive, and I love them!

Jenny said...

Hilarious!

Yeah, Caydence being our first baby, we were exposed to the Pampers Swaddlers in the NICU as well. Any other diaper we have tried just doesn't seem to measure up. So we definitely pamper our little one with Pampers :)

Luvs seemed to be water repellant for Caydence. They just don't absorb very well. Huggies are nice, but just don't measure up to Pampers :)

Anonymous said...

got a Costco near you? Aw heck, even if you don't - you can get Costco diapers (Kirkland brand) online. We so rarely have leaks, they are unscented, nice, and way affordable.

Cloth is nice, yes. We used cloth for #1 but our PT recommended that we use the absolute trimmest possible diapers on E. Kids with Down syndrome tend to develop duck-footedness and a diaper that didn't push the legs apart was a must. I tried and tried to find a cloth nappy that was as trim as a disposable... and failed. Makes me sigh, but that's life.

Kristen said...

I ALWAYS bought Huggies or Pampers, but I'd only buy them with a coupon because there are 50 bajillion out there, and it usually makes them cheaper than the other brands. Pampers totally worked best for C when he was a baby and a BIG chunk. But when he thinned out the Huggies worked much better. So I agree with your other friend. My mother-in-law would buy us CVS or some other store brand diapers every once in awhile and I didn't want to turn down free diapers, but they always gave him a rash.

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