Friday, May 28, 2010

Bad Mom: Didn't Do My Research

About six months ago, I became friends with one of my neighbors who has a daughter a week older than Tali. One day we were having a conversation about diapers and she told me why she uses cloth diapers. As she's explaining this to me, I am thinking to myself "this sounds like something I would do, I wonder why I never researched it." I never bought formula, I never bought a can of baby food, why am I buying disposable diapers?

I never regretted my decision until now. Thanks to Pampers, I truly wish I had done some diaper research before we had Tali. Pampers recently introduced a new line of diapers with "Dry Max" technology. Unfortunately, many claim that this new technology (which Pampers claims is thinner and more absorbent) has a nasty chemical that is giving babies an awful diaper rash. Recently, Tali had the worst diaper rash I've ever seen. It was like someone burned her - ouch! This diaper rash, which happened about two weeks ago, lasted for four days. It was so bad that she cried when she sat down in the bathtub (I had to bathe her standing up) and screamed whenever I put diaper cream on her. After the rash was over, another friend told me that some people were complaining about Pampers burning their kids and it seems like exactly what happened to Tali. But as I had just purchased a huge box of Pampers I decided to continue to use them and see if the rash came back.

This morning, when I changed Tali's diaper I noticed the burn was starting to reappear. I put diaper cream on her all day but now it's getting worse. So tonight, after I put Tali down, I went out to buy organic disposable diapers. I'm just hoping it's not too late and that the burn won't be terrible in the morning. It's probably too late in Tali's life to switch to cloth but I'm not ruling it out.

The worst part about this whole thing is that Pampers is denying that there is a problem! They claim that all of these moms are lying. I'm angry. I'm not sure I'll ever buy Pampers again.

I burned my arm on the oven last weekend and it hurt for a few hours. I can't even begin to imagine what Tali's burn must've felt like. I was telling this story to a friend this evening and she responded by saying that Pampers should be accused of child abuse. I agree. If someone knowingly burned a child, that is child abuse. I feel awful for keeping Tali in Pampers after the first burn. No more. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of those diapers but I'll figure something out. I don't even want to donate them and risk another child getting burned. Any suggestions, let me know.

3 comments:

Hanna said...

http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/20159
get on Facebook, there is a site devoted to this problem. See the piece above. Also, write to P&G, send photos of Tali's chemical burn and ask for reimbursement of the price of the diapers and demand acknowledgment of the issue.

The Bean said...

http://celebritybabies.people.com/2010/06/02/constance-maries-blog-why-i-chose-cloth-diapers/

evans.l.12 said...

Hi Gia,

I’m LaToya from Pampers. I’m sorry that you and little Tali had this experience. As a mom of two little ones I understand how you must feel. My little boy has eczema so I have to be careful of what detergents I use. Trial and error (and many rashes later) helped me find the right one. Our babies’ skin goes through so many changes and they may respond to certain things in different ways. Not doing the research doesn’t make you a bad mom. How could you have known that your little one would have this reaction? Our number one purpose here at Pampers is caring for babies; babies all over the world. Your comments mean a lot to us. Please call us so we can help. Tell us more about your experience at 1-877-256-3265. I hope Tali is doing better.