Did you Pee? Updated

Recently, while shopping for diapers, my wife and I noticed that the regular brand we buy changed the style of their diapers. Now when you walk down the diaper aisle there really isn't that many brands to choose from. You either buy Pampers, Huggies, Luvs or the store brand. Well, since our little girl was born we have been using Pampers, Swaddlers Sensitive, to be exact.


Why do we use these diapers? Well, it started at the hospital. These were the diapers that we were introduced to and they were great because they had the "wetness indicator" on them. Let me explain. On the diaper was a thin yellow line that went from the baby's waist down the front of the diaper to the rear. This yellow line would turn blue whenever the baby used the bathroom. This was great because it took the guessing game out of the equation. Instead of wondering if the baby's farts were all sound and no fury you would just have to look at the color of the line. Ingenious! Although dads, you do need to train your nose to tell the difference between gas and poo.

Back to the diaper aisle. So we decide to buy the new "style" of diapers, because we can't have our little girl going around with no diapers and just hope for the best. It kind of sucks that they don't sell the older style because I told friends and family that these were good diapers to get because of the wetness indicator.

Now these new diapers have what is called "Dry Max" and it's supposed to keep the baby dryer and keep the skin healthy, but what I noticed was the smell. There is a strange chemical-like smell that comes from the diaper when the baby uses the bathroom. Looking on Pampers product page I see only one other person feels the same way. I decided to write to Pampers to see what they have to say about this change, about the smell and this is what I got in my e-mail today.

"Thanks for contacting Pampers!

I’m sorry about your recent experience with Pampers diapers. Please be assured I’m sharing your comments with the rest of our team.

We’ve moved to a new technology called Dry Max. Pampers with Dry Max is our first high performance diaper and the biggest innovation for Pampers in the last 25 years. Pampers invented the Dry Max technology and applied it to the current Cruisers and Swaddlers core. By doing so we were able to remove the paper pulp from the core of the diaper making Cruisers 20% thinner without sacrificing any performance.

At times, we add or remove new features on our diapers with the possibility of making them permanent in the future. The wetness indicator feature was one of them. You can still find the wetness indicator on the Swaddlers Sensitive product. We are also in the process of adding the feature back to the Swaddlers, thanks to consumer feedback like yours! You will begin to see these on store shelves within the next couple months.

We would certainly not expect the diapers to have a strong chemical smell. Please be assured, I am sharing this report with our quality team. I'd also like to send a prepaid mailing envelope so you can return two of the unused diapers to our quality team.

Again, we’re sorry about your experience and hope with regular use you’ll come to love the new features of Cruisers. Please know the majority of the people at Pampers are parents, and making a comfortable and dry diaper is most important to us - for your children and our own. I’m following up by postal mail (with coupons so you can try Pampers again). Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.

Thanks again for writing.

Kayla
Pampers Team"

Two things: 1. The Swaddlers Sensitive diapers don't have the wetness indicator anymore, trust me we've been looking, and 2. I'm glad that they responded quickly and want to know more about the smell that comes from their product. This shows me that this company cares about their customers and stands behind their product. It doesn't hurt that they are giving me some coupons, diapers are not cheap, but I think that as parents we should speak out about something that affects our child's lives. I mean, hell, we complained about how Lucas ruined Star Wars and how Bay destroyed out childhood dreams with ghetto-talking robots, so let's use that energy into something more positive.

-Victor

Updated:  Recently saw this in the news and just had to share, but it seems that I am not the only one that has problems with the new diapers.  There have been cases of diaper rash and blisters due to the new "Dry Max" pampers.  Also, I received two coupons from Pampers and a self-addressed envelope to send back two unused pampers.  Hopefully something is done about this and they return the old pampers back.