Pampers vs. Luvs. Sometimes a bargain isn't what you bargained for.

My husband recently stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some diapers, and noticed that Luvs diapers were quite a bit cheaper than Pampers, which is what we had been using.  Pampers was about $10 while Luvs was between $6 and $7.  So, being on a tight budget, he was excited to buy Luvs and save quite a bit of money.  

So I opened this package of Luvs, and to my surprise, found rough, flat, papery diapers.  Nothing like the thicker, softer Pampers diapers.  But I used them anyway.  Just to give you a little background information, my son is breastfed, which means that his stools are very loose and often liquidy.  What I found with the Luvs was that when my son had a bowel movement the liquid was not absorbed into the diaper at all.  It just sat there.  At first I tried to convince myself that this would be ok since we change his diapers immediately after bowel movements.  It wasn't like he was going to be sitting in a dirty diaper very long.  So I continued using Luvs.  As a result, within just a few days my son's little bottom was scalding bright red, despite using popular and effective ointments as well as petroleum jelly.  This was another one of my low points.  I sobbed when I changed his diapers and felt incredibly guilty as a mother.  It felt horrible to think that this was all I could afford for my baby.  

I called my husband, still sobbing, and told him about how red our son's bottom was, and how bad I felt because I couldn't make it better.  My husband, the sweet man that he is, assured me that everything would be ok.  He explained that he had rearranged some of his financial obligations so that he could pay all the bills that I normally pay and that we could afford Pampers.  He said he would buy a box of Pampers on his way home from work.

So we started using the Pampers immediately.  Within a few hours we could see a difference in how my son's bottom looked.  Within 24 hours, his bottom was no longer red at all.  Now we have a big stack of Luvs that I feel compelled to use and not waste, but I just can't make myself put them on my son!