Diaper Dilemmas: All Tooshies Are Not Created Equal!

I admit it, I pampered my first two children. . .at least when it came to diapers!  I was extremely loyal to Pampers, my all time favorite diaper brand.  I hated Huggies and I loathed Luvs.  Pampers kept the kids comfortable and dry, plus they smelled nice too!  From infancy to potty training, my children always wore Pampers.  Anytime I tried a freebie in the mail or grabbed a different diaper in the nursery or elsewhere, I always regretted it!  Inevitably, every other diaper would leak all over.

Naturally, when I found out we were expecting our third child, I assumed we would use Pampers.  I couldn't wait to use those tiny little diapers with the belly button notch.  I registered for Pampers diapers and wipes, even strolled down the baby aisle in the grocery stores just to smell the fresh clean diapers!  In the hospital they gave us the new Pamper's line, Swaddlers.  I just loved how they were so soft and wonderfully scented!  I was happy to use the Swaddlers and they worked perfectly.  All was well in my world with my new pampered little baby!

After a few weeks at home, baby started sleeping through the night.  When she started sleeping 5-6 hour stretches, I noticed that she was waking up damp.  It was not a drenched, soaked through leak, but her pajamas and swaddling would be slightly wet.  It was damp enough that I had to keep changing the bassinet sheets and therefore needed to do more daily laundry.  Something had to change.  I tried using some of those free samples I had received.  Unfortunately, none of them worked, in fact they were worse.  Instead of just a dampness, she would wake up soaking wet.  I started a hunt for the perfect diaper, one that would allow baby to sleep more at night and still wake up dry. . .what a novel idea!

I went through several name brands, no-name brands, store brands and generic diapers.  Since I assumed that Pampers must have changed their formula over the years, I even tried the Huggies I had hated more than a decade ago, hoping that their diapers may have changed for the better.  Still not feeling the love.  (Although Huggie's wipes are my favorite, especially the cucumber and green tea scent!)

I asked around to see what other moms were using and found that we are all very devoted to our diapers.  It seems that no matter which brand we use, we are loyal to it and tend not to stray too far for fear of getting wet!  I also found that the choices of diapers ranged widely.  Perhaps the problem isn't with the diaper, but with the baby?  Is it possible that some bottoms do better in Pampers and another in Huggies or Luvs?

In order to answer this question, I needed to continue my search and exhaust all my possibilities.  I had tried what had worked on my first two kids, what worked for my friends and even what hadn't worked in the past, but there was still one more brand I hadn't been willing to attempt. . . Luvs.

I had seriously loathed Luvs more than a decade ago with my previous babies (now 13 & 15 I'm sure they will be thrilled to find I'm discussing their bottoms with the rest of the world!)  A friend had passed on a huge box of Luvs, because she did not like the scent.  Not one to pass up free diapers, I took them even though I hadn't been a fan of Luvs before.  I decided to go ahead and give Luvs a second chance.

I've got to admit I'm now in love with Luvs!  Not only are they the cheapest name brand diaper out there, they are the best, at least for my baby's bottom!  She can go all night with no leaks and wake up nice and dry.  Plus, I love the fresh, clean, scent!

A few weeks ago, however, she started soaking through her size #3 Luvs diapers.  I was finding that I had to change her sheets almost every morning!  This is no easy task as the new fangled cribs don't allow the sides to go down, so it is a serious work out for me, at only 5'2", to change the sheets.  Once again I felt I needed to go on a hunt, since my tried and true diapers were now failing me.

I figured that since she was older that perhaps she needed to have an overnight diaper.  Having a coupon for some Pampers overnight diapers, I thought I would give them another chance.  That didn't work and I found myself back at square one.  My last resort was to try the next size up, even though baby hadn't grown out of the size #3's yet.  I bought a small bag of size #4 Luvs and prayed that they would solve the problem.  Thankfully, the bigger diaper was the solution!   I will never doubt my Luvs again.

So what has my diaper dilemma taught me?  That all tooshies must not be created equally.  Some bums do better with Pampers (as my older kids did), some bottoms work best with Huggies and my little baby does best with Luvs.  It's truly amazing that each baby can be so different and it may take a little trial and error to find the right diaper for the little tooshies in your life!