Which baby brand diapers is better in absorbing more pee and should have no-leak protection, hopefully not expensive to buy? I am a new parent and have no experience in choosing the correct type of diapers for my baby infant.

Question

As a first time parent, I do not have experience in a lot of things. One of the things is choosing the right type of diapers and to choose from the best quality brand, without breaking my bank account. I have heard that a baby will have to go through a lot of diapers until the time when they are old enough to learn to pee and poo on the real big potty.

My neighbour showed me their garage where they kept their empty diaper boxes, and it was unbelievably piled up high. It was only then I realized, they had to go through so many diapers to raise a child to toddler age. A sudden thought came to my mind and I came to know, it would be my turn to buy that many diapers for my infant son as well.

My sibling was suggesting that I try buying Pampers diapers swaddler. But I am quite confused with so many different diapers brand and then each diapers brand has their own various types of design. For example, Pampers has swaddlers, baby dry, underjams, pull ups, cruisers, and swaddlers overnight.

Even Huggies brand has several designs of their own. Names such as little snugglers, little movers, overnight diapers, Snug & Dry, little swimmers, and lastly pull up training pants for boys and girls.

Now with so many choices to make, it can be hard to decide which one gives the best worth for the money. I understand that manufacturing diapers can be quite tough and not cheap but I just hope that the price of diapers would be reduced. It is so out of reach for some low income families and these just happen to be recurring expenses until the child grows big enough to do without diapers.

Answer 1

In Canada, pampers and Huggies are virtually the only two quality diaper brands. The other cheaper brand exist as well, but in my opinion, you should stay away from cheaper brands. I will explain why later in this post.

People say you could make your own cloth diapers, but hey, who has got the time and energy left to do that. Time is money and when you waste it on making your own diapers, you are wasting money too. Besides, home made cloth diapers have tendency to leak through, whenever your toddler pee or poop. And hopefully, the pee doesn't damage your laminate or vinyl flooring because it is a lot more work and money to fix your damaged wooden flooring than to simply buy quality brand baby diapers from your supermarket.

I used to purchase exclusively Pampers diapers in the past, but lately I have switched to using "Huggies snug and dry" diapers for my toddler. I find that Pampers swaddlers diapers absorbs well but they were unable to hold pee long enough and it starts leaking even before the diapers are full. Some days I couldn't go on for 4 hours, without having to change my baby's Pampers "swaddlers or baby dry" diapers.

At times, I get really busy with house work and I forget to check on my toddler's Pampers diapers. I only realised it when my toddler's pants becomes wet due to the leak from the diapers. There was this one time, when I just finished changing Pampers diapers for my toddler and within one hour it leaked again. So I was wondering what could be reason and I found out that Pampers diapers design wasn't made snug enough to cover the gaps on the sides of the diapers.

So I changed the Pampers diapers to a smaller size thinking that would help with the leak. Now the diapers were quite tight and still leak was coming out of the diapers by 5 or 6 hours time. Though it says on the package that leak protection works for upto 12 hours, but practically from my experience, it didn't go anywhere near that mark, unless my toddler drinks very little water throughout the day. I am not saying anything bad about Pampers diapers but it just wasn't working for my toddler.

Then I switched to Huggies and immediately I could feel the difference. Huggies snug and dry holds pee longer without leaking from the sides because it was designed to be snug around the edges. Now, I could actually go on for about 7 hours during the day without the need to change into new Huggies snug and dry diapers. Even at night, whereas Pampers swaddlers diapers could hold pee for 6 hours or 7 hours max, Huggies snug and dry diapers could hold for about 10 hours without any leak.

You could really see Huggies diapers swollen to the max when you remove the diapers from the baby, and still no leak yet. Of course, any time longer than that, would exceed the holding capacity limit of the diapers for Huggies snug and dry. All I am saying is that the difference is there and I am saying Huggies snug and dry is truly worth the money.

Do not go for the cheap brand diapers because you would end up paying more in the long run. With cheap brands, you have to keep changing the diapers every few hours and also there is the problem of leak happening all the time. With quality Huggies snug and dry diapers, you will require lesser diapers for your toddler and it can last longer without leaking badly.

So it comes upto the same cost when you buy cheaper brand diapers or the more expensive Huggies brands diapers. Pampers and Huggies diapers cost pretty much the same price. But again, it all comes to personal choice of yours, which brand you choose. I am only explaining my experience with two of the bigger brands of baby diapers.

Features and benefits of "Huggies Snug & Dry" diapers: 

1. Huggies baby Diapers absorbs the wetness from diaper liners in as fast as seconds. This helps keep the baby happy and dry, as you know some babies doesn't like having the feeling of wetness on their bottom. Babies may cry for no reason which could make you feel puzzled, but check to make sure the diapers are okay and not too wet.
 
2. Huggies really hit a home run with their leak lock system which ensure a tight comfy fit around the thigh & bum area of the babies. I have had success in letting the huggies diapers on for about 12 hours during the night or day, until the diapers became too full to hold anymore pee. 

3. Huggies have quilted liners which are made to perfectly absorb pee and prevent leaks around the edges. Mind you, these quilted liners are made of good quality material and unlike the other cheaper diapers brands. 

4. This one feature is really a plus point. Huggies diapers has a wetness indicator on the bottom back area of the diapers. It has a yellow line designed to turn blue when pee starts filling up the diapers. When you see that the entire yellow vertical line has turned blue, then you know it is time to change your baby's diapers. 

5. Huggies diapers has several sizes starting from "N - Newborn", to size 6 (upto 16 Kgs). This is great because it ensures every baby with different bottom size can find their own sizes that fits them. Even a particularly large infant who refuses to give up wearing diapers can still enjoy the convenience of using baby diapers.