Pampers Stages: Diapers Rule, Wipes Not Necessary

As I have said time and time again, I am a devout follower of Pampers products. After trying our every major brand when my (now 5 year old) daughter was a newborn, my wife and I landed on Pampers and have not strayed since. Now on our third kid and probably 5000 diapers later, Pampers still reigns supreme in the Noodad household.

So when I was approached to try out the new line of Pampers Stages products, I was stoked. After a week of testing, I was filled with mixed emotions.

First an explanation on this new line of products from Pampers:

Pampers® recognizes that babies have different needs at each stage of their development that go beyond a bigger diaper, and in 2002 the company revolutionized the diaper category by launching Baby Stages of Development. To accompany what Pampers identified as the four stages of a baby’s development, the company designed diapers to offer specific benefits for each stage of that development, from Swaddlers, that provide comfort and protection from the first days of infancy, to Cruisers for babies on the move, to Easy Ups,for toddlers starting to learn to do things by themselves and Feel n’ Learn, training pants and bathroom tools created for the potty training stage. Taking these findings one step further, Pampers broadened their STAGES line-up to include a corresponding wipe for every stage of a baby’s development.

The idea of offering diapers in different stages is good. After all, a crawling kid who poodads in his diaper has different needs than a baby poodadding while sleeping in a crib.

I have had great results with all 4 stages of diapers in the lineup. They are consistent in quality, seem to fit snug without cutting off circulation in the kids’ legs, and the adhesive sticks where it is supposed to.

I fully endorse all stages of these diapers.

The wipes are a different story. I do not agree that there is a need to version out wipes based on development. Sure, some may need extra sensitive ones for newborns, but after that stage, there is simply no need to vary the product.

For instance, Pampers pitches the Swipers Wipes as: “Featuring a Soft Gripper™ texture to help clean difficult messes and give baby a comfortable cleansing experience. They are 20 percent thicker than regular Pampers wipes to handle bigger messes.”

Both of these statements are true but in my opinion, it is not necessary. A mess is a mess. A wipe is a wipe. The texture and the thickness do not add anything special to warrant a separate purchase. These worked great. But any old wipe would have done the same job. To go out and actually buy wipes for your kid’s stage of development is not worth the work or the money. Just go and buy a case of whatever in bulk.

As for the Kandoo line of flushable wipes I am of the camp to teach your kid to use toilet paper. They are not going to carry wipes with them the rest of their lives you may as well teach them early to use the TP.

In conclusion, I feel all products in the Pampers Stages line are well-made and deliver what they are designed to do. But in my opinion, the stages of specialty wipes is nothing more than good marketing.

What does everyone else think about Pampers?