Pampers Dry Max: Harming our Infants

I’ve noticed a bunch of articles in the news lately about the new Pampers Dry Max. The articles quote mothers that state their children received chemical burns from the new Dry Max diapers.

I thought I would weigh in with my concerns. We are pampers users. I bought the Swaddlers for the kids when they were newborns. They were the only ones that came in preemie size and we’ve continued all the way through to now. Rachael is currently running around tearing tissues out of the box while in a Pampers Baby Dry. Needless to say I love Pampers.

However I have a problem. In the last box of Baby Dry, we received 3 samples of the Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max. I was excited to see if they really worked they way they are supposed too.

According to the website:
“Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers with Dry Max are the brand’s new high performance diapers and the biggest innovation for the Pampers brand in the last 25 years. Pampers Diapers invented the Dry Max technology and applied it to the current Swaddlers and Cruisers core, which allows the diaper to be thinner than before. This game-changing diaper – Pampers’ driest ever – helps lock wetness in for up to 12 hours and its less bulky design helps give flexibility and comfort – perfect for all of babies’ play. The new diaper design also helps families reduce their impact on the environment by containing 10 percent less material weight. In fact, if current North American Pampers Swaddlers and Cruisers users switched to the new Pampers Cruisers Diapers with Dry Max diaper, they could together throw away the weight of 1 billion less diapers every three years (based on 08/09 volume for Swaddlers/Cruisers).”

So are we really going to lock in wetness for 12 hours? First and foremost I will say at no time should this be a concern. Really if your child has soiled their diaper they should not be in it for 12 hours.  A child sleeping through the night may come close but if they are sleeping 12 hours I’m thinking they’re probably sick and even more reason to be changing their diaper more often.

Neither of our kids have ever really had diaper rashes. Every once in a while Rach will eat the wrong thing and break out a little but a little Butt Paste and she’s better. The samples of Dry Max were placed in the diaper bag. While running errands, I slipped on this new Dry Max diaper. When we came home she had a huge welt in her groin. I thought I had pinched her with the seatbelt. Two days later (going back to the baby dry because they were on hand) and the welt had grown.  Rachael then had a 5-6 cm red area with a hard nodule in the center. That nodule began draining pus. Copious amounts of pus. We immediately called and got a pediatrician appointment.

The diagnosis an infected lymph node. $100 of copay and prescriptions later we were back on our way to feeling better. Rach was dosed with Motrin around the clock. Finally after 3 more days the swelling was gone and she had just a small spot where we could see the original infection.

Now a few days go by and while out running errands we changed Rach’s diaper and placed her in another of the Dry Max diapers. Can you see where this is heading? Got home that evening and found another welt on her bottom this time. We used some preemptive measures. Threw away the sole Dry Max diaper and started using the topical antibiotic again. Luckily we didn’t have to go back to the pediatrician and the lymph node was cleared up after 2 days.

At no time was Rachael in these diapers for 12 hours, more like 2-3 at the most. I seriously believe this is related to the Dry Max diapers considering Rachael’s previous history. She is 2 and magically she has only gotten 2 infected lymph nodes both at the same time she was using these new diapers.

I would strongly urge against using these until more is know about it. Switch back to the Baby Dry like we have done and keep your baby’s bum safe.
~~UPDATE~~

Proctor and Gamble spoke with the Wall Street Journal and a few other press outlets recently. You can read the whole Wall Street Journal here. But this quote hit hard for me:

P&G says it is cooperating— but it has also gone on the defensive. Last week, it issued a news release arguing that the claims are being “perpetuated by a small number of parents,” some of whom support competitors’ products or cloth diapers.

Le me tell you I am not a cloth diapering mother. HELLO read above my kids have only ever worn Pampers. I am not making money from competitors’ products. Again my kids have only ever worn Pampers. So you can rest assured my experience is a true and honest account of what has happened. The idea that all kids get diaper rashes is fine. However I can tell you MY kids have never had diaper rashes (except for Rachael’s allergic reactions at 1-2 months) and this is too much of a coincidence that two separate incidents happened after using these diapers.

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