Here’s instalment #2 of “The One”. Check out our first post in this series: Finding the Right Bottle.
Diapers are another one of those baby necessities that come with a lot of options and promises, and it can be hard to wade through all of the information out there. During my pregnancy, I heard from a lot of people about diapers. Some people preferred Huggies over Pampers, others preferred Pampers; some people said Huggies worked better for their daughter than their son (this was confirmed by others who said Pampers worked better for their sons); some preferred cloth over disposable… The opinions were endless.
We received plenty of diapers as gifts, of course, and some leftovers from friends whose babies had outgrown a size. We had quite the pool to choose from when Olly was born, including cloth (although our laundry situation stopped us from actually trying cloth diapers). We had Huggies, Pampers, Honest, President’s Choice, and Kirkland. We later bought Parent’s Choice, Life Baby, and Babyganics. We tried them all, and had definite likes and dislikes. The funny thing is, I’ve tried these same brands again in different sizes, and they have almost all surprised me!
The very first diaper Olly wore was a Newborn size Honest diaper. I don’t think any diaper will ever compare in quality – maybe that’s because they’re fantastic diapers, or maybe it’s just nostalgia. Pictured below: Olly being fitted with his first ever diaper.
After that first diaper, we tried a Pampers Newborn, and it worked fine, although it didn’t seem to lock the moisture up quite as neatly as the Honest diaper did. Thanks to my sister, we had a box of Pampers in every size, so it was good that we liked them!
We tried a Huggies next, and when Olly peed, it leaked. Being new parents, we assumed we’d put the diaper on incorrectly, so we tried another Huggies, and had my mom and mother-in-law double check our work. We got the Grandma seal of approval and went on with our day, but this diaper leaked too. After the third Huggies leak, we gave up on them.
Fast forward to Size 2. This is when we tried President’s Choice, Parent’s Choice, Kirkland and Babyganics.
Babyganics was pretty darn close to the quality of Honest, but with that same hefty price tag (we’ll talk more about prices later on in this post). They seemed to fit a bit smaller than other diapers of the same size, which I had also found with Honest diapers.
Kirkland and President’s Choice diapers seemed to be at the same level – decent, but really did not absorb as much liquid as Pampers or Huggies. At this point, we had discovered the beauty that is Pampers Baby Dry – 12 hours of wetness protection! And they really did work (and still do today, in Size 4). Huggies Snug & Dry promised to do the same thing, so I decided to give them a try again and, surprisingly, we no longer had leaking issues! So we added Huggies back onto our list of acceptable diapers.
We tried Parent’s Choice in size 2 as well, but experienced a lot of leaking issues.
Fast forward to Size 3. I decided to give Baby Life a try. These are the thinnest diapers I have ever seen, and they really did not absorb much liquid. I compared them to Parent’s Choice Size 3, and actually liked Parent’s Choice better.
This is maybe starting to get convoluted and confusing, so here’s a chart. I’ve listed the diaper brand in order of quality (in my opinion), from best to worst, as it stands now (Olly is 9 months old and wearing Size 4). Please note that Life Baby (Shoppers Drugmart) is no longer available, so it is not included in the chart.
For us, the best value (quality vs cost) is definitely Parent’s Choice, but we’ve had to get creative. We use Pampers Baby Dry for overnights, and Parent’s Choice during the day. It’s a strategy that is working well for us, and we’re saving a bit of money.
Life with Olly 