Pampers vs. Huggies Diapers

When you have a child, the number of diaper choices can be overwhelming.  I recall standing in Target drowned in the sea of diaper racks.  Pampers or Huggies?  Swaddlers or Baby Dry?  Gentle Care or Snug N Dry?  Generic brand?  We tried consulting a few friends about this, and Olivia recommended Pampers Swaddlers after trying a few others and not liking them as much.  Christine, who did tons of research on the internet, got the typical internet result of comment overload where one swears by Pampers, another swears by Huggies.  One person would find the generic brands just as good but cheaper, but others warn about sticking with real brands or be prepared to swim in a lake of crap.  In the end, we decided to enlighten the world with yet another unscientific experiment by purchasing smaller packs of Huggies and Pampers diapers.  The three types that we ended up testing were Pampers Swaddlers, Huggies Gentle Care, and Huggies Snug N Dry.

 
Pampers Swaddlers (Left), Huggies Gentle Care (Middle), Huggies Snug N Dry (Right)

Because Odelia was almost 8 lbs when she was born, we did not get a chance to use anything but the Pampers Swaddlers for the newborn size.  It’s interesting that the Hospital Edition contains a yellow line that turns green when fused with pee, indicating a #1 has occured.  When we left the hospital, we continued using the Home Edition of the Pampers Swaddlers that Justine bought us, which is the same except the pee line.  These diapers were good, fitting snugly and held the thick fudge that came preinstalled in newborns.  Once the fudge was gone, it held the watery deli mustard equally well.

Pampers Swaddlers, Size 1

When we ran out of newborn size, we decided to start using Size 1 as Odelia is already at the lower end of the weight spectrum for size 1s.  The Size 1 Swaddlers seem thinner than the Newborn, but it may be due to the surface size of the diaper.  The extra net-like inner lining was nice, and it was the softest of the three diapers we tried.  We did experience one accident, but I attribute that to human error.

Huggies Gentle Care, Size 1

When we ran out of Size 1 Swaddlers, so we immediately started on Size 1 Huggies Gentle Care.  These diapers seem slightly smaller but more padded, and the design with Pooh and Friends is more lovely than the Sesame Street of the Swaddlers, which wins browny points with Karen.  However, within 24 hours, we experienced a pee leakage that escaped the diapers, through the new clothes I had just painstakingly picked out for her, and onto the blanket of our poor bed.  An examination after installing another new diaper indicated a breach, an opening around the legs, on the new diaper.  This may be because the Huggies material was harder, so it was easier to bend an opening around the legs, because we never had this problem with the Pampers Swaddlers.

Huggies Snug N’ Dry, Size 1

At this point we also opened some Huggies Snug N Dry, and immediately noticed the thinner padding, rougher material, and poorer construction.  If the Swaddlers were made in Japan, the Gentle Care would be made in Taiwan and Snug N Dry would be made in China.  The edges were stuck to the liners and the whole thing felt like a piece of wrinkled napkin with a toilet paper lining.  It seemed to fit more snugly, but after a crap fest, there still seemed to be smearing of sewage around the edges which was too close for comfort.

At the end of the day, we will be sticking with what works and can be trusted, which is Pampers Swaddlers.  It is clearly the Editor’s Choice.