I'd like to note that LaToya from Pampers was kind enough to note my blog entry. I never imagined that! I usually write open letters just to vent without any real hope of a reply. Thank you LaToya, and I am reposting her response from the comments section with my reply following:I’m LaToya from Pampers. I’m so sorry your family had this experience. I have two little ones so I can imagine your frustration having to worry about your new baby. Our number one purpose at Pampers is about caring for babies, so these comments mean a lot to us. The Swaddlers Sensitives do contain the Dry Max technology but only in sizes 3 and 4. The mesh liner is available in the smaller sizes, as it’s used to keep the runny mess away from infant’s skin. As the baby gets bigger, their “poo” is more formed and the mesh liner is no longer needed. In fact, before we removed the mesh liner from Cruisers, we tested both liners with moms and moms actually preferred the new, softer liner opposed to the mesh liner. A small amount of fragrance is added, however, between the backsheet and therefore is not touching the baby’s skin. But a “chemical smell” is not expected at all. These diapers are indeed sensitive. Swaddlers Sensitives has more lotion and both the ears and outer cover are breathable to help maintain the natural healthy look of your new baby’s skin. I hope this answers your questions. When you get the time we would like for you to call and tell us more about your experiences (1-877-256-3265). We may also be able to give you more answers. Again, I apologize for your experience and I hope you call us soon.
I'm happy to see that Pampers has put a lot of thought into their products. I have a few problems with the assumptions made for the sizes 3 and up however. My baby is in the 90th percentile for height and the 75th for weight. That means that he grows out of the mesh liner before his poos become more formed. Furthermore, according to many doctors, a baby's main mode of nutrition to at least 6 months is supposed to be breast milk (no formula). Breast fed babies tend to have more watery stool than formula fed and solids fed babies. Since my son is under 6 months, he still has that kind of stool and the new liner does not work as well for it, yet he's outgrown the 2s. I imagine that happens for a lot of babies, and the large number of babies onto formula by that age may have skewed your results for expectation of need in the liner.
I'd actually rather not have lotions, perfumes etc put into a sensitive diaper as you never know what a sensitive baby's skin may react to. And even though our son is not sensitive per se, we don't want to expose him to skin products of which we don't know the chemical composition. The chemical smell was quite strong to me compared to the earlier Swaddlers and another brand to which we've switched. It smelled like a very harsh version of baby powder and actually made my Mom draw back quickly when I handed it to her to smell. We tried the diapers on the assumption that perhaps the problems noted with them were blown out of proportion or were restricted to certain batches or certain babies, but when we noticed him getting more red than usual and then noticed the few little bumpy patches on his normally fine skin, we stopped using them.
It is becoming much more common and dare I say even "fashionable" for parents to use whole, sustainable and environmentally friendly products as often as possible. Therefore, the expectation of a sensitive diaper is going to be much higher I believe than ever before. I would use cloth almost exclusively if his daycare would agree to it. Alas, that isn't always possible.
But I thank you very much for your response. You have definitely earned my respect by doing that. I think, though, that you may need to look into at least opening up some of your older lines without drymax again to gain back many customers. As I said before, your diapers were fine without it. And blessings to your little ones LaToya.
Thanks!
FCiF