Nappie Showdown II:
This time it's personal



Background:
As you may remember, Pampers Cruisers were our pick in N.S.

This time, we tested an inexpensive brand--the new Luvs with Bear Hug stretch against 1.) our reigning champion, Cruisers, and 2.) what we call our 'daily didees'--the Kirkland brand 'premium' diapers. Note: on very careful inspection, I am convinced that this private label nappie is actually a Huggies Supreme in disguise. In any case, it has become our daily go-to because Costco sells them in bulk for around $0.19 each; Luvs cost about the same. Since Cruisers range from $0.30- $0.40, this is a savings of approximately $22-$40/month.


Here the lab crew prepares to employ the Scientific Method

In Nappie Showdown II, our test was 3-fold:

1.) Preliminary Test

Each diaper was examined in its’ original state for thickness, materials, etc.

• Bulk & material
  The Luvs and Pampers felt thinnest and lightest when dry. Kirkland was slightly bulkier. Luvs has an inner blue panel which is supposed to improve absorbency, but which didn’t add any bulk to the diaper. Pampers has a premium dry-weave fabric which is intended to pull liquid away from the baby’s skin and allow it to breathe better.

• Stretch & fit
  All three competitors have stretchy tabs on the side, which give a much more comfortable fit, not to mention better protection from leakage. Luvs and Pampers seemed to have a more contoured fit. However, the Kirkland brand provides extra comfort and tailoring with stretchy material throughout the entire back waist. All three also had stretchy panels throughout the legging area for added protection against leakage.

2.) Roadtest

• 200ml of blue, scientific-looking liquid was poured into each diaper and allowed to settle for a few minutes; we did also observe how quickly the liquid was absorbed as it was being poured.
  
  
• In addition to feeling how wet each diaper felt to the naked hand, we did the patented ‘Paper Towel Test:’ we held a piece of paper towel on the wet spot for 5 seconds and then looked to see how much liquid transferred to the towel.

• It occurred to us that there might be a difference in how diapers perform when subjected to #1 and #2. So, for the first time ever, we tested the addition of a substance meant to simulate baby poo: porridge with prunes. Each diaper was blessed with exactly ¼ + 1/8 cups porridge.

3.) Lab Rat

Throughout the past week or so, Audrey has worn all 3 brands of nappies in real life.

It's a tough jury and she cannot be bought;
Except for may be with blueberries.

Test Results & Conclusions:
When subjected to the liquid, both Pampers and Luvs felt extremely dry to the touch and showed no sign of wetness on the paper towel, whatsoever. The Kirkland brand had slight wetness to the touch and on the towel.

Interestingly, both Luvs and Pampers had a slightly cool and gel-ish (not wet) feeling on the outside of the diaper—giving the (accurate) indication that they were wet on the inside, while the Kirkland brand had a very dry, sturdy feeling on the outside. In other words, if you are a parent using Kirkland brand diapers, you cannot use the old ‘squeeze the bottom a bit to ascertain whether or not it’s wet’ test.

Our Lab Rat tests on Audrey confirmed our ultimate conclusions:

While all three diapers performed very well and none leaked, the Luvs and Pampers outdid Kirkland in dryness--the single most critical factor, in our opinion. Both were equally dry after 200ml of liquid, although the Pampers did seem to absorb a tiny bit more of liquid from the ‘poo.’ This may be due to the dry-weave fabric (ladies, dry-weave technology is a breakthrough, no?)

However, given the fact that we were not able to verify this scientifically or accurately, and that Luvs are significantly cheaper, we are very surprised to crown Luvs the best overall value. While we still love Cruisers for the feel of their dry-weave, our test results indicated that the Luvs with new stretchy side tabs keep baby just as dry.