How Do Diapers Stack Up?
by Houston Family Magazine
Ask Amy — December 2010
From the moment I spilled the beans that my husband and I are expecting our first child, the well wishes poured in. Thoughtful viewers sent emails. Loyal Local 2 watchers stopped me at the grocery store to congratulate me on the big news. In addition to their encouragement, most also offer advice. They pass along recommendations about what gear I should buy or which gadgets to avoid. “Skip the Diaper Genie,” I’ve been told; and “You have to get a wipes warmer.” It’s all very useful information. But through all of the consumer counseling, no one ever talks about diapers. I read that the average baby will go through 2300 diaper changes in the first year alone; and apparently my husband and I will be buying diapers for about the next 3 years. It’s why I set out to find out which diapers are the best and most economical.
Since my own baby won’t be here until next March, I found a couple of parents who agreed to volunteer in an unscientific blind test of six different diaper brands from the very cheapest to the most luxurious lines. We included WalMart’s in-house diaper the discount chain calls “Parent’s Choice,” Target’s store brand “Up & Up,” Babies r Us “Supreme Diapers,” and the biggies: Luvs, Huggies and Pampers.
We took the diapers out of the packaging, removed any markings that revealed their brand names and bundled them in piles of 20. Our volunteer moms and dads would only refer to the diaper bundles as “Day 1” through “Day 6.” We asked them to rate each bundle according to absorbency and leaks, comfort and feel, fit, the enclosure tabs and scent.
Mom, Rachelle Mason, has two children under two. “I went through a lot of diapers the first round,” Mason said. She says she did a lot of experimenting when her 23-month-old, Rashad, was born. By the time his little sister, Emery, came along, she thought she’d found her favorite brand. When we called her, she admitted she was a Pampers fan.
First-time parents Staci and Jan Kemnade said their friends and family loaded them up with all different brands of diapers before little Jackson was born. They tried them all; but when it came time to buy the daily staple themselves, they settled on Luvs. “We just found the one that was best for the price and quality that you got,” said dad Jan.
After 6 days of diapering and dissecting the look, feel and fit of 6 different brands, we asked the parents to tell us which unmarked bundle of diapers they liked best.
Mason was surprised to learn her second favorite was actually WalMart’s Parent’s Choice. She said it didn’t leak and the diapers were a good fit for 1-month-old Emery. “The basic functionality of the diaper, it passed,” Mason told me. She admitted that she thought it was a Pampers diaper; although she gave the Parent’s Choice label one of her lowest scores for comfort. “As far as the comfort, texture and feel, it wasn’t really soft,” she explained.
Mason’s last choice was Target’s Up & Up diaper, which she described as “tight around Emery’s legs.” She also said the diaper was the most difficult to put on because the enclosure tabs are positioned under the baby when you lay them down on the diaper, inside of on the sides.
The Kemnade family ranked WalMart’s diaper dead last. Even though the diapers didn’t leak, they wrote that Parent’s Choice “felt cheap like paper” and that they failed to control odor. “I think comfort is important,” said Jan. “You don’t want your baby to be uncomfortable by any means.”
When it came to comfort, the Kemnades and Masons both came to the same conclusion. Their favorite brand was Babies R Us’ “Supreme Diapers” line. Neither had tried the brand before our test. Mason said the tabs on the diapers are larger than most others; and the Supreme Diapers “definitely had better padding” than all of the other diapers.
At 19 cents a diaper, Babies R Us Supreme Diapers are more expensive than WalMart and Target’s store brands, but less than the popular Pampers and Huggies. You can buy 132 Babies r Us Supreme Diapers for $24.99. A year’s supply would cost you approximately $434. That’s less than Mason’s current stand-by, Pampers. They run about 22 cents per diaper at WalMart. At that rate, a year’s supply would cost about $506.
The Kemnades’ tried and true brand, Luvs, costs about 15 cents per diaper or about $345 a year. If they decided to upgrade to Babies R Us Supreme Diapers, they’d have to shell out an extra $89 a year.
Dad Jan says parents shouldn’t forget to check diaper prices online. By shopping at WalMart.com instead of the brick and mortar stores, you could save $42 a year on the same Luvs diapers. The secret? WalMart sells larger quantities online for less and they don’t charge shipping for diapers.
How did these brands stack up in a blind test?
1st Babies R Us Supreme Diapers
2nd Pampers
3rd (tie) Huggies & Luvs
4th Target Up & Up
5th WalMart’s Parent’s Choice
