run out of womb

... learning how to be a mum from scratch

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Tesco! Nappies are for messing in, not messing with..

Hi Tesco,

You know me, I'm the mum who's in one of your shops every other day. (Usually grappling with trying to stop my baby standing in his trolley seat, because all of the seatbelts on every £1 trolley are *always* broken, but that's another story.)

Anyway, I need to talk about poo. Yeah, sorry. It's your nappies, see. They've always been great. I mean, as great as a faecal receptacle can be. They've done the job - at a fraction of the price of the big brands' nappies, and that's why I've used them for a year. 

But you've changed the 'recipe' for your nappies without telling me. Or the thousands of other parents who rely on you. And seriously, this is even worse than Cadbury's screwing with the Creme Egg recipe. Because your new nappies are rubbish. Sure, all nappies are eventually - but yours are now bypassing the usual waste-collection stage as I put brand new ones straight into the bin. 

Why? A few reasons. About half the tabs in each packet are stuck on backwards, so you can't stick the nappy together. If you notice the faulty tab, you have to whip out a new nappy (which often has the same problem), and which isn't easy when your baby wriggles more than the average octopus.

But if you don't notice, a small paper tab - which is a chocking risk - is floating around in your tiny one's babygrow. It's dangerous.

Or perhaps you don't notice, and the tab is OK, but the nappy isn't stuck on. So you get a poonami. And you have to change your baby's outfit and spend precious nap time hand-washing poo encrusted clothing.

Yuck, right?

But others report worse. Hordes of mums are discussing on online parenting groups that their babies - who've never had nappy rash in their life - have developed it after using these new nappies. 

"My little girl has a really bad rash, which started a couple of days after I opened a new pack of Tesco's different nappies," said one mum. "I've used Tesco Tiny Love nappies for the last year because I've found them better and half the price of Pampers," another wrote. "But last week they seemed to have changed the design and they have leaked every night. This morning our little one woke up with the absorbent gel beads all over her. Be warned." 

I can't verify those claims - but these parents are calling your helpline to report it. Many have received condescending replies along the lines of, "If you are experiencing leakage, it may be due to the nappy not quite fitting your baby correctly. Check that the leg cuffs fit snugly round your baby's legs.." Because the average mum needs a lesson in nappy-application..

I can't believe I've written this much about nappies. But messy bums arn't the most pleasant aspect of baby-care, so it's nice when the things you pay good money for actually work. 

If you had to change a successful nappy's formula - which I suppose was due to cost-cutting - why didn't you tell customers? Stick a label saying 'new, improved formula' (at least we could have a laugh) and then we could stock-pile the old, working nappies. 

And please go back to your former manufacturer!


Your formerly-happy nappy-buyers


  1. I's difficult to work out which packs are the old design and which are the new - the packs are nigh on identical. There's different wording around day and nighttime dryness vs up to 12 hours protection on the new design (!)
    I've not had to deal with a poonami yet or leaking but am finding that I'm having to change my LO more often since the new design.
    Am not amused.

  2. You linked me on Twitter (@mrsnataliejade1) fab article, I hate the new nappies! Tesco refunded me and recommended I use a smaller size, though I'd been using the larger size for many months. I actually compared the new size 5 to an old size 5+ (the joy of having two kids 13 months apart!!) and the new size 5 was considerably larger in all areas. I'd very rarely experienced leaks but they became a daily, twice daily, three times.. Very frustrating. They now fall down around my little boy's ankles when they have the smallest of wees in them despite using a smaller size. Any smaller and they'd not fit over his squishy butt! I live in such a silly rural area that I'm limited on nappy choices. My frustration continues!!

  3. An important decision for new parents is to choose what type of nappies to use for their newborn.
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