Pampers Baby Dry's

[new_mommy25]

Anyone try the new Pampers? I saw an ad, now they have "Koala Grips", they look more like Swaddlers. I hated Baby Dry's before because of the adhesive, yet I like how the Baby Dry's come in those huge boxes.

[billysmommy]

We just got a big case of them from BJ's last week and I actually like them better than the Pamper's cruisers. THe outside isn't as "clothlike" as the cruisers but I really like the koala tabs and the fit is a little better than the cruisers fit, at least with DS.

[hez]

If I remember right, some of the new Koala features were bigger (?), cloth-like tapes, with hooks (like Swaddlers/Cruisers-- the velcro-style tapes).

Haven't tried 'em yet (we're still on a panel), but other friends did that panel and liked 'em pretty well.

And yup, the outer cover is a different material than the Cruisers, but still (IMO) so much better than the plain plastic stuff we had 4 years ago.

[egoldber]

Well BabyDry has had velcro style closures for awhile now (at least a year??). The last box I bought had "koala tabs", but honestly, I can't tell the difference vs the previous version of BabyDry. There were some minor cosmetic changes made to the diaper too, but no real functional changes as far as I can tell, at least for size 5's.

HTH,

[new_mommy25]

So does that mean they still have the adhesive?

[hez]

Beth-- did your tapes with the Koala tabs feel more soft/cloth-like, and were they printed (vs. plain white more-plastic-y tapes before)? I think that would be the biggest difference you'd notice, really.

We change the artwork on the diapers so often, and I wonder if it's really worth it (again, I'm in engineering, not marketing :) ). Right now I hardly ever look at what's on there when I'm putting 'em on DS. Maybe that'll change when he's old enough to know what's on there?

Edit: Angie, did the diapers you used before have ONLY adhesive, or did they have adhesive AND velcro? As far as I know, everything made today has both adhesive and velcro, even on the Swaddlers & Cruisers. I just checked one of my Swaddlers S2's, and there's some adhesive between the velcro & where the tape folds. Beth's right-- we've had the velcro kind of tapes on Baby Dry for a good bit, but some stores aren't real good about turning their inventory over. I once saw 2 year old Pampers Premium in a Kmart-- the artwork on the bags was what gave it away.

[new_mommy25]

They had adhesive and velcro, but sometimes the adhesive would stick to DS's skin. Maybe I tried an older model but they were really tape-like. We use swaddlers and huggies supremes right now and I've never had a problem. But I think I will buy a small bag of Baby dry's just to try.

So does that mean you get free diapers? Very cool.

[egoldber]

Oh yes, it had the new artwork on the tabs (little hearts) and the new Sesame Street designs on the front. To me, the Koala tabs didn't really feel any different than the tabs on the previous version (which also had velcro and adhesive).

OK, so I pulled out an old version BabyDry from my emergency stash in the car. I have it right next to a new version. Now that I am comparing directly, I can tell that the tabs are "more cloth-like" on the new version. But honestly, I never noticed it until I had the two diapers side by side.

Just for kicks, I also have a Luvs here. The tabs on it (pretty new package, bought in Orlando for our trip to Disneyword a couple weeks ago) are identical to the old version BabyDry tabs. In my experience, the design changes in BabyDry tend to flow into Luvs about a year later.

Can you tell us the differences (if any) between Luvs and BabyDry? Or could you lose your job over that! LOL! :)

[hez]

Sorry it took me all day-- all 4 grandparents arrived today for DS's dedication tomorrow!

To answer Angie: We get free diapers if we do consumer panels-- requires a little work to answer questionnaires & such, but definitely worth it. We've been on panels so far, except for when he was in newborn. I'm looking forward to size 3, 'cause there tend to be more panels for the bigger babies. I've mentioned somewhere before that I sponsored a friend who went months without buying diapers between the panel bags and the 'payment' bags.

To answer Beth: I wish I could list out all the differences, but you're right, no-can-do. That's the one thing I don't like about my job-- I can tell you I work with the backsheet (outer covering), but I can't tell you what all I do with it or Huggies will catch on before it's in the market, and then we don't make any money :( I can tell you that the marketing people target folks who want pretty good performance for a pretty decent price with Baby Dry-- and that they target folks who want good performance for a great price with Luvs. Luvs really competes with store brands like White Cloud, but from what I know of store brands, Luvs is better :) I know, I'm biased!

And you're right-- you tend to see the newer/better features on the upper end diapers first. For instance, the Premium tier was the first of P&G's brands to become cloth-like on the outer covering, and Luvs was last. Some of that has to do with finding less expensive ways to add the feature, so that it's cost-effective and prevents Luvs from costing more. I haven't decided if I'll become a Luvs mom or not. My personal problem with Luvs is that I really don't like Barney, and that DH dislikes Barney even more than I do! Silly reason, I know...

[egoldber]

Well, here's my purely consumer perspective on BabyDry vs Luvs. :) We are a Barney-loving family here, so Barney is OK with us. :) I don't think that Cruisers are worth the money (IMO only of course...), For me, BabyDry and Luvs perform identically (in terms of absorption and fit), so I buy whichever is cheaper.

Usually, that is actually BabyDry. If Costco is running a promotion (like they did a month or so ago), their price was the best (in my area). Otherwise, I find it cheaper to buy BabyDry at Target with a coupon. If I don't have a coupon and can't wait to buy diapers, then I get Luvs, since their shelf price is usually significantly cheaper than BabyDry.

And I'll tell you MY #1 complaint about disposable diapers. Sizing variability! I have had different packages of diapers that were and 1" or so different in the rise. THAT really irritates me!!

[mom2kandj]

Since you work with the backsheet, how hard would it be to fold the top of the backsheet in towards the baby? I've got a little guy who went through a major blowout phase and that was one of mommy's little tricks to try and keep it all in! Just my two cents!


Rose
mom 2 Katie (almost 3!)
& Jack (19 months)

[hez]

Beth-- do you mean the strip with the characters or the tape was up to 1" different from the top edges depending on the diaper? I'm not sure what the limits are 'supposed' to be, but there is some variation in there... Of course, I wouldn't expect that much in one bag! I always advocate calling the 1-800 # if you're not 100% happy, because you might get some coupons or free product out of it :) Plus, then the company gets the feedback about what really ticks off consumers.

Rose-- the way we make diapers today (and I'm sure the way most manufacturers make them today) makes it tough to do what you're describing on a manufacturing line. With my engineering hat on, it might be possible... But there might be another way to contain the blowouts that might be easier. I agree, though, it'd be nice not to find a pretty yellow stain on the back of DS's onesie every few days!

If you're curious, here's a link to what some diaper lines look like:

http://www.gpoabs.com.mx/cricher/machines.htm

The gentleman who runs this site is out of Latin America. I have no affiliation with him (so I can't vouch for all his details), but he's got some neat info on the site if you ever really wanted to know that much about disposable diapers!

[egoldber]

I mean that if I hold up two diapers of the same "size", one diaper could be up to an inch longer than the other diaper. Usually this was when I compared diapers from two different packages, not within the same package (so probably a lot-lot difference, not a within lot difference, LOL!)

I used to work in a manufaturing environment and I really enjoyed it. Its pretty cool working to make a better product and a faster, more efficient process (or at least I thought so :) ).

[hez]

If you ever happen to have both a S5 Luvs & a S5 Pampers Baby Dry, hold 'em next to each other for comparison of length. You might be surprised...

Yup, my whole job is better, faster, cheaper. Especially the cheaper part :)

[egoldber]

Well I do that often. They're not usually the exact same size, but usually pretty daggone close. In fact, I'm doing it right now. The BabyDry is maybe 0.25" longer. Anything I should be looking for.....

[hez]

You got it :) It used to be more dramatic than that, even.