By Melissa Grant
Buying expensive disposable nappies doesn’t guarantee quality, new testing shows.
Consumer advocacy group CHOICE has tested 56 nappy products, with cheaper brands among those given top scores.
CHOICE tested 23 new formulations of nappies, including Huggies which has recently been at the centre of a consumer controversy with parents claiming some products have caused adverse reactions.
Scores for each disposable nappy were calculated by testing absorbency, leakage, rewetting and velcro strength.
The top rated product was Pampers Baby Dry Size 3 (which cost 52 cents per nappy), with an overall CHOICE score of 95%.
However Aldi Mamia Crawler nappies, which cost just 17 cents per nappy, came in second with a rating of 92%.
CHOICE Managing Editor Margaret Rafferty said the tests showed buying more expensive nappies didn’t always pay.
“We found that paying more doesn’t necessarily equal better quality, with some ALDI brands beating the scores of brands more than twice the price,” she said.
“As for the Huggies brand at the centre of recent controversy, they did drop in our recent tests from 86 to 73%, mainly due to losing score in our leakage test.”
Some Australian parents have claimed the new range of Huggies nappies have caused severe skin problems for their children. The Ultra Dry range was investigated by the Queensland Office of Fair Trading, which found the range was within safe tolerances for all aspects they were tested for.
When deciding what nappies to use, Ms Rafferty said parents should consider the cost in the long-run.
She also said cloth nappies, currently used by only around 1 in 10 parents, should be considered as an alternative.
“Given that on average your child will go through around 6000 nappies before they graduate to undies, it’s a good idea to put some thought into which option is best in the long run,” she said.
“When considering whether to go with cloth nappies versus disposable, you may want to weigh up factors like cost, convenience, performance and the environmental impact.
“The up front costs may be more when you use cloth nappies but in the long run you’ll save money.”
TOP 10 DISPOSABLE NAPPIES IN THE CHOICE TESTS:
- Pampers Baby Dry Size 3 (52 cents per nappy): 95%
- Aldi Mamia Crawler (17 cents per nappy): 92%
- Pampers Premium Protection New Baby Size 2 Nappy (57 cents per nappy): 91%
- Huggies Ultimate Newborn Size 1 (28 cents per nappy): 90%
- Rascal+ Friends Infant Size 2 (29 cents per nappy): 90%
- Aldi Mamia Newborn (14 cents per nappy): 89%
- Baby Solutions Nappies for Crawlers (19 cents per nappy): 88%
- Huggies Ultimate Size 3 (42 cents per nappy): 88%
- Simply Snookums Small (29 cents per nappy): 88%
- CUB Newborn Size 1 (17 cents per nappy): 87%
For the full results, CLICK HERE
