Toys'R'Us Diaper Performance Review

 So big corporation Toys'R'Us and more specifically their brand line that caters to maternity and babies, Babies'R'Us (BRU), is now doing more than just stocking major brand name diapers for us to purchase. They have designed their own line of diapers.

Thanks to Influenster, I was recruited to try a pack and write a review. It was with a little hesitation that I accepted this assignment remembering back to the catastrophe from our household's pre-Huggies days.  You can read all about that funny/terrible experience here.

Influenster sent me a coupon to where I would be trying them for free. So I thought, 'Why not? They can't be as bad as Luv's and we have survived that.'

So minion Number 3 and I packed down to the Babies'R'Us store. I used this time to stroll through the aisles of toys to see what grabbed his attention for ideas as to what to get him for Christmas. We finally located the diapers with all the others. Their display area was no more or less than the other name brand diapers. It was refreshing to see that the store was not 'pushing' their brand harder than the others.

Minion Number 3 and I checked out and headed home.

 After getting home, I opened the pack to check them out and compare them to the Huggies that we normally use. In comparison, the BRU diapers feel thinner than the Huggies and the outer material feel like thin paper. The outside of the pack boasted that they could stand up to 12 hour protection, but just from my initial inspection I was highly skeptical.  Furthermore, the shape of the diapers did not look like they would be very form fitting. However the elastic at the back and around the legs provided a decent fit.The designs on the diaper are generic but light and whimsical. To be honest, I don't particularly care which cartoon face they put on the diaper as it goes in the trash a few hours later.

With Huggies, it takes a lot of liquid before they start to look a little saggy. After a few hours minion Number 3's diaper had already begun to sag almost to his knees. 

 I decided to give the BRU diapers the benefit of the doubt and blame the older minions for giving Number 3 extra cups of water, milk, and juice. So I changed his diaper. But much to my surprise, he had barely peed the diaper. With these kinds of results, there is no way I am going to have him wear these through out the night. 

Now here is a concerning note. We have been trying these diapers off and on for about two weeks now, and minion Number 3 has broke out in a really bad diaper rash. It is so bad that he is going to have to spend tomorrow without a diaper to let his abused skin air out a bit. I am not saying that this is due to the BRU diapers, but to be honest, minion Number 3 hasn't had diaper rash this bad since Luv's. I suspect that the absorbent material of the diaper does not have a barrier to keep the moisture away from minion Number 3's skin. 

The bottom (heheh, you see what I did there?) line: While the BRU diapers are not good enough to win me over from my brand loyalty to Huggies, I think they are better than Luv's.

Newcomer to the Great Diaper Debate

Did you know that Toys'R'Us has started their own line of diapers?

I just found out. I have a pack to try courtesy of Influenster.

Stay Tuned to see how they stack up against the other diaper brands! Updates to come!

The Great Diaper Debate part 2

So to continue on my previous topic on the Great Diaper Debate I found this video that compares the three brands I have used in the past along with the Honest Company's diaper.

I hope this video helps you to make the best decision for covering up your little one's waste elimination end and helps you to avoid the catastrophe that I endured.

The Great Diaper Debate

One of the most important items you will purchase after the birth of a child is diapers. But there are so many different kinds and brands. How will you know which one is right for you?

For the longest time I didn't know. It pretty much took until my third child before I became convinced that I had finally got this whole diaper thing figured out.

For me this was never a question. For my lifestyle and the fact that I was always chomping at the bit to return to work after each new addition to the family it was a no-brainer that I would go with disposable. Yes, I know that decision is the worst for the environment, but I try to make up for it elsewhere. Life is about compromises, you know.

A mommy friend of mine who also had a child about the same time I had number 3, opted for the cloth reusable diapers. For me she is a trusted source of information. She was a stay-at-home mommy and when all was said and done, she stated that the diapers only added about one additional load of laundry to the pile. She also pointed out that in changing a diaper you are already up to your elbows in baby poo, so just complete the cycle and clean out the cloth nappie. That is a very noble decision on her part, and I give her props for being more of a supermom than I can commit to.

So instead, I opted for disposable diapers for all three of my children out of convenience. With child number 1, my husband insisted that the premium diaper brands (ie: Huggies and Pampers) were priced as more because they obviously were of a better quality, and only the best would do for his baby. I remained skeptical and stubborn and purchased which ever brand of diapers were on sale or whichever ones I happened to have a coupon for. (I mean really, how much do I want to spend on an item that is designed to catch poop and be thrown away?)

I have used three major brands through out the course of my three children: Huggies, Pampers, and Luvs. I mostly used Pampers when the kids were really small. All the hospitals I delivered at used that brand in their nursery and generally we just continued using them after we got home. I have never had any complaints about Pampers. They work wonderfully and very rarely leak, even on a long night after the baby has drained a lot of bottles. I love the Pampers Swaddlers brand, but that line stops right about the time the baby is a year old and begins to walk. At that time, I guess we are supposed to switch over to Pampers Cruisers. My one and only complaint is the price for the larger sized line.

The price for these larger sized diapers are substantially higher than the Swaddlers line and me trying to be frugal would eventually win out over the spouse and begin purchasing Luvs which is much more affordable.

And this is where things start to decline. With my older two children, using Luvs was an occasional inconvenience. Every once in a while they would fully empty more liquid into their diapers than I previously thought to be possibly contained within their pint-sized (appearantly gallon-sized) bodies. Leaks bad enough to have to change out their crib sheets maybe happened once every two months. So even with this little inconveniences, the product was still worth the price.

That was until child number 3.

On this fate-changing morning, I woke the older two and got them ready for school to catch the bus. It was early in the school year and light was streaming in through all the windows, promising "Today is going to be a beautiful day! Nothing can go wrong!".

It lied.

After gathering up the necessary items to wake number 3 and get him ready for daycare, I approached the door to his room. The gentle snoring from within lulled me into a false sense of security, and I cracked the door open quietly. (I love getting in the room before he wake up so I can see him sleeping peacefully.) However, as soon as the door was cracked the air from the room spilled forth and enveloped me within a putrid cloud.

Something was very wrong, if the smell assaulting my nose was to be any indication. I carefully creep over to number 3's crib and peered in. The sight laid out before me was one of parenting horror. Number 3 was still snoozing contentedly on his stomach, knees drawn up under him, BARE bottom up in the air with poop smears on both cheeks like some sort of yoga sun salutation: poopy variation.

Poop was EVERYWHERE!

(This scene has been recreated for dramatic purposes and is not an actual scene from the event)

I picked up Number 3 as gingerly as I could to contain the already catastrophic mess and ran him to the bathroom. Number 3 grumbled at his rude awakening but settled quickly and contentedly into a bubble bath. With the bathroom door open I went across the hall to assess the damage and try to piece together what happened. The only incriminating evidence as to what happened was the sad, scraggly Luvs diaper with a broken strap on the side. In the middle of the night, Number 3 woke briefly and dropped a decent deuce. He then curled up and went back to sleep. Somehow twisting around in his sleep the strap on the Luvs diaper broke spilling the stinky contents within. It took several hours to clean the mess. Since then, as the slogan for Luvs goes, (and almost gets it right) "You live and you learn, and then you DON'T get Luvs!"

The saying goes you get what you pay for and I definitely got what I paid for. 

For more information regarding the Disposable vs. Cloth debate below are some awesome sites that help break down the pros and cons.

www.thebump.com

www.babygearlab.com