Some of you may know about the current problems with the new Pampers with Dry Max diapers being linked to horrible rashes, burns, blisters, and scarring. You may have heard it on the news, read it in the paper, or heard it through the grapevine. You may have heard these claims dismissed by Procter & Gamble, who manufactures Pampers, as "urban legends", "myths", and "nonfactual".
Well, I am here to disagree. But before I give you reason X,Y, and Z as to why nearly 10,000 mothers cannot be "making all of this up", I am going to simply post this picture. Warning---it is disturbing. Heartbreaking. Literally brought tears to my eyes.
This is a 2 DAY OLD BABY GIRL.
I do not know this family but my heart breaks for them. I pulled this picture from a public Facebook form (that's my disclaimer) that was uploaded by this girl's father. She had a horrible reaction to the Pampers used on her in the hospital, that as you can see, caused her whole body to react.
Now, Pampers' response to these types of reactions have offered us suggestions on how to avoid problems like this. "Try changing the diaper more often". "Try going up to a larger size". And my personal favorite..."Diaper rash is very common and we are sorry that any child has to have diaper rash, but it's part of childhood".
EXCUSE ME? Does that picture look like a "diaper rash" to anyone? And how might Procter & Gamble explain the case above? Let me guess---the hospital staff had no clue how to put a diaper on a newborn. They weren't using the right size of diaper....sure, that must be it. This poor child is having a "coincidental" case of diaper rash, at the ripe age of 2 days old.
THIS SICKENS ME.
Disclaimer: my stance on this in no way, shape, or form is reflective of Mayo's stance. They employ me. That's all. They have had no public statement on this issue whatsoever. I just wanted to clarify that part before I go on. Afterall, I'd hate for some idiot to get ahold of this and blow it out of proportion. This is my personal blog and I can write what I want. I am a mommy in the context of this issue.
I'll briefly start by saying that over a month ago, at Emersyn's 2-year well child checkup on April 13th, I had intentions of bringing it to her provider's attention that I had been noticing her pulling at her diaper from time to time. "Diaper huwt" "Owie", and sometimes telling me her "gina huwts". (Yes, we choose to use anatomically correct terms in this household...that is as anatomically correct as a 2-year old can speak it!) She began to hold her knees together and plead "noooo mommy...pwease?" when it was time for a diaper change. Kathy, her daycare provider, even brought it up one day. I seriously lost sleep over it, wondering what in the world would cause my 2-year old to suddenly have a huge adversion to having that part of her body wiped, touched, or hardly looked at. Your mind begins to wander into unfathomable places. However, I trust the people she is with 110% (which is just me, Travis, and Kathy) and I just began to dismiss this new behavior as a "phase"...maybe she just didn't want to stop whatever it was she was doing to have her diaper changed? (An explanation as to why this part is important will follow!)
Exactly 2 weeks later, on April 27th, I bought a new case of these Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max.
In all honesty, I noticed the box had a new little "advertisement" on it, but that is nothing unusual. They were still the same product we had been buying for Emersyn's ENTIRE LIFE! She has been in Pampers from DAY ONE. So of course, picking up a box of "new and improved! 20% thinner!" diapers didn't seem like a crucial move by any means.
I put the first diaper from the new case on her late that same afternoon. I was getting Emersyn ready for bed later on when Travis commented that her diaper area looked swollen. I took note and proceeded to get her bedtime diaper and pajamas on her. (Side note: she has worn HUGGIES Overnight diapers for almost a year). She told me "owie!" and did her very best to fight that diaper change. Travis actually had to hold her down while I got her diaper on her. I slathered her up in Vaseline to keep her diaper from rubbing on her. Her actions in addition to the swelling we noted was really bothersome to me. Of course, my medical mind started wandering and I did an assessment on her. Everything else was unremarkable. We put her to bed and she went right to sleep.
The next morning, she woke up in a good mood. I took off the Huggies Overnight diaper, there was still nothing unusual going on. Off to Kathy's house she went, with the new diapers I just got the day before. I went to work and so did Travis.
I talked to Kathy late that morning and she told me that Emersyn was grabbing her diaper an awful lot and crying. I told Kathy that we had noted some swelling the night before, but nothing else unusual. Kathy also hadn't noticed any redness, sores, or otherwise at this point. She gets her diaper checked/changed VERY frequently at Kathy's, so I know she wasn't going unchanged. There was no fever, no unusual odor to her urine, and no frequency. I called and talked to Emersyn's physicians office, starting to wonder if she was getting a UTI. Despite absence of other symptoms, it wouldn't be completely unheard of, though I was pretty skeptical that this was the case. My mother's intuition was telling me it wasn't a UTI and I was skeptical to take her in, because I knew they'd catheterize her for a urine sample. She had that done once last fall when she had a high fever, and it was very traumatic for he (and probably more traumatic for me!) I didn't want to put her through that if at all possible. After thinking it through a bit more, I decided I was comfortable in just monitoring her symptoms and see what else might come about.
I talked to Kathy again later that afternoon, and between the morning call and afternoon call, Emersyn developed a very reddened sore, per Kathy's description, in her diaper area. I told her to keep it covered in Vaseline. Emersyn was now screaming every time she peed.
We got home from work/daycare, and I stripped her down to check this out. I was really horrified! It looked like someone took a vegetable peeler to her poor little bottom. That part was beginning to blister. It was raw, open, and weeping fluid, about the size of a nickel. I was beyond confused as to what was going on at this point. Diaper changes were, of course, excruciatingly painful for her...and I won't even mention how using any kind of wipes was! I gave her a baking soda bath, covered the sore in Vaseline, and put her Huggies Overnight diaper on her for bedtime.
The next morning, I was pleased it hadn't become worse, but it certainly wasn't healed either. It was still extremely painful for her and it literally brought tears to my eyes to have to wipe/change her. We hadn't heard her ever scream like that before. I again covered it in Vaseline and sent her off to Kathy's with her Pampers.
To keep it simple, by the end of the day on Thursday, it had become even WORSE. I called her doctors office once more from work that afternoon and described it to the nurse I talked to. I was just so baffled! She also had no clue what might have happened and advised she be seen. I was leaning towards a visit as well, because I thought she needed some prescription strength antibiotic ointment. I was at work, we were busy, and Travis was unable to go pick her up so I told them I would bring her in the next morning, which was a Friday, my day off.
We got through that evening and put Emersyn to bed at her normal time. I got online and lo and behold, being the loyal Facebook addict I am, saw a post from Jodi Allen of Pampers. You see, I am a "fan" of Pampers on Facebook and their new wall posts showed up on my page. I typically don't even pay attention to these wall posts, but this one caught my eye as it was to address the "Rumors about Pampers with Dry Max". That caught my eye. After a little more digging, I found out that THOUSANDS of moms had stories VERY similar to what had been going on with Emersyn! It all made so much sense! I left our house at midnight to go to Walmart for Huggies...and I was fuming mad the entire time. Mad, and sickened that this might possibly be the cause of all this.
The next morning, I called Emersyn's pediatrician's office and told them what I had found online. I told them I was no longer going to be bringing her in that morning, as I had pretty good reason to suspect that we would notice improvements once out of the Dry Max diapers. If that theory had any merit to it at all, we'd certainly see a difference once in a new diaper, right?
RIGHT!!
Within 24 hours of wearing a daytime Huggies diaper (for the first time in her life!), the little blisters began to heal! About 3 full days later, it was healed to the point where we could wipe her without hearing those heartbreaking cries.
We caught a lucky break and my Facebook addiction payed off nicely this time! We were able to get Emersyn OUT of those diapers in less than 2 days because I was able to hear about this almost immediately. Yes, she was in plenty of pain with this and so were we. I found myself completely outraged by the whole incident and found a Facebook group online that was created with the purpose of spreading awareness of this issue. Those of you who know me well know how tender hearted I am, ESPECIALLY when it comes to my pride and joy! In reading many of the Facebook group stories, and in seeing pictures such as the one above, it became obvious that this was NO coincidence. There is CLEARLY something wrong with this new diaper technology, and Pampers would surely listen and take note of what their product is doing to innocent babies, right?
WRONG!!
I have never been SO insulted in my life. Pampers had the nerve to post a ridiculous video titled "How To Prevent Diaper Rash" in response to thousands of stories just like Emersyn's! They have publicly belittled, criticized, and dismissed THOUSANDS of complaints. Procter and Gamble, are you kidding me?
"To attribute these conditions to the Dry Max disposable diaper is incorrect and misguided. Such a misperception only contributes to the real problem, which is lack of awareness of the nature and cause of diaper rash, and may cause some parents to delay pursuing important and timely treatment. Our own research, validated by outside experts and physicians, shows that Dry Max is a wonderful product that helps keep babies away from the very wetness that may contribute to rashes in the first place." ---Procter & Gamble
I called and spoke with Pampers the very next day. I told them I am not after coupons, not after refunds, and not on any sort of smear campaign. I simply begged them to take these complaints seriously, as I do have confidence in my parenting abilities and my medical background, and I know this was more than just a "diaper rash" that thousands and thousands of children mysteriously get within hours to days of wearing these diapers. They offered me a $40 refund for the case of diapers I just bought and would now not let anywhere near my daughter. That was nice of them I suppose.
What is RIDICULOUS for such a large company to do is continue to point fingers at the parents of these poor children! Calling us liars and accusing us of being Huggies advocates, tree-hugging cloth diaper activists, and uneducated parents. I respect those who do choose to cloth diaper, but sorry, that is the last thing I'd take on. I have nothing against Huggies, but have bought hundreds of cases of Pampers throughout the past 2 years because that is the brand I loved. And to accuse nearly TEN THOUSAND parents (the Facebook group is fast approaching 10K, sadly!) of making this up for some sort of personal gain? Unreal. Simply unreal.
I was so upset by everything that I sent an email to Dr. Kimberly Thompson, who is speaking publicly on this. I was very polite and professional in my correspondence with her. You can read her stance on this controversy here.What the news is failing to do is stating she is not a MD, but a PhD. She is not a MEDICAL DOCTOR, and furthermore, she sits on Pampers' external advisory board! Click here to see proof of that. She has a paycheck from Procter and Gamble, why on earth would she go national and state that there is definitely an issue with these diapers? I think that opinion from an unbiased doctor would hold much more water with everyone.
You know, I'm not one to jump into debates on politics, religion, and the like. But this has harmed my daughter and thousands of children everywhere. Hurt my baby and the Momma Bear in me comes out! No mother is going to allow her child to be hurt like this, nor will they allow other mothers to possibly make the same mistake. I am SO grateful for social media allowing groups like this this to come together to alert others to this mess. Had it not been for this group, who knows HOW long it would have taken us to realize it was the new diaper "technology" responsible for Emersyn's sudden fear of diaper changes, her fear of being laid down, her inability to sit without crying, her pain that I had to give her Motrin for (which I rarely, rarely give her), her open, weeping, blistered burn, and the feelings she certainly had as we, as her parents, were holding her down in order to get her diapers changed. The diapers were the last thing I would have pointed my finger to. We have been using them since the very start and we trusted Pampers. For Pampers to dismiss this outrage as a group of parents who have no idea what they are talking about is unacceptable.
Remember at the beginning of this story I mentioned how she would very randomly pull at her diaper and beg not to be changed prior to even buying the first case of Dry Max diapers? I promised an explanation, and here it is. I spoke with a Pampers representative, and also Dr. Thompson, who have indicated that though the Dry Max diapers have only been marketed as such since the end of March, they have actually been "phasing in" this new "technology" into UNMARKED BOXES for MONTHS! How is that even legal? How can you supply a new product to the consumer without indicating that? How is a parent supposed to pinpoint the diaper as the issue when they don't even know that the diaper was changed?!! My personal belief is that we had a box of Cruisers prior to me buying the marked box that was a mixture of the "old" and the "new" diapers. I think that we would get an occasional Dry Max diaper, and she would respond the way she did. It wasn't anything 100% consistent because not every diaper in the case was made with the Dry Max. Once we had the new box of 100% Dry Max diapers, that continuous exposure quickly led to her reactions. She reacted in less than 24 hours, and began to heal within 24 hours of wearing a new diaper.
Coincidence?
Doubtful. Not when there are over 10,000 KNOWN cases that are pretty similar.
Emersyn made her TV debut this past week. Well, her picture did. Here is our story we shared with KTTC, our local NBC affiliate. Sad way to make it on the news, but I really felt that I had to share our story. If even one child was saved by this, my purpose was served. And that it was! I received feedback from 5 people so far saying that they have also had issues and weren't sure what was going on until they were made aware of this. Whew!
Needless to say, we will never buy Pampers again. Not for Emersyn and not for future babies. Sure, every child responds differently to products. I realize that diaper rash is indeed a common childhood occurrence. Are there coincidental cases of diaper rash being pegged to these diapers needlessly? Sure there are. But I can guarantee you that what Emersyn had was NOT a diaper rash, and I think it's a safe bet that anyone reading this would agree the picture above is not a "typical diaper rash".
I am done with Pampers for good and the only hope I have for this very LONG, detailed post is that it has spread awareness. These children can't speak as to what exactly is happening to them. That is our job.
Here's wishing you a wonderful, Pampers-free week!
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