A warning about Pampers Dry Max diapers

from ZRecs

You may have heard over the last two weeks about Pampers diapers causing some pretty nasty rashes after the company changed both their Swaddlers and Cruisers diapers to a slimmer design. We've been doing our own research on the issue, and are working on what we hope will be the most definitive assessment of the problem you'll see unless and until the company issues a voluntary recall or offers some form of consumer advisory.
 
For the moment, however, the steady stream of new accounts of children suffering from serious rashes is urging us to publish a few notes now.


First, we have some frank advice. If you are looking for a diaper brand for a new baby, we'd advise you to try an alternative to Pampers Swaddlers or Cruisers for the time being. Additionally, if you are currently using Pampers Swaddlers or Cruisers (even if they are not promoted as "Dry Max" diapers, they probably are), we encourage you to consider an alternative, even if you have already used the new version of these diapers and your child has not had a reaction.


We say this because we have read impossible-to-verify but worrying reports of infants and toddlers wearing these reformulated diapers for weeks and only then breaking out into serious, painful diaper rashes. If these accounts are accurate, it means that children may develop rashes only after prolonged use of the new diapers, or after certain unusual conditions are met, and that it can happen even after you have tried the new diapers and think your child is fine in them. It is difficult to calculate the incidence of these rashes (if you believed Pampers' story, they are very rare) but based on the severity of the reported rashes (blisters, blood, persistence for a week or more after discontinuing use) we'd advise anyone with options to consider them. We've read from many parents that Target brand diapers are a pretty close match to the Pampers fit and function.
 
Second, although the CPSC has launched an investigation, that fact does not prove that there is going to be any action, and there may not be an action they are in a position to take. Recalls are voluntary and the companies that cave to pressure from the CPSC under circumstances like these are typically not those with the legal muscle of Proctor & Gamble. P&G may be using perfectly legal materials and chemicals in ways that cause an an increased incidence of severe rashes - severe enough that children are suffering and parents are angry enough to take action, but perfectly legal nonetheless.


We'll have much more to say on this matter in the next few days, including a rundown of possible sources of the problem, Proctor & Gamble's handling of the issue, and the central - yet in some ways problematic - role social media has played in this issue so far.