Size seven redux
Interesting range of feedback on the size seven diaper post.
A few commenters either have or know of healthy kids at the top of the weight range. A few commenters have healthy kids who are late to train. And at least two commenters agree that I’m a judgmental bitch.
(Aimee and Patois, you’re right.)
Kids with special needs – of course it’s reasonable to expect that older children who aren’t yet physically or mentally able to use the toilet would need some sort of absorbent pants. Mia’s comment was spot on:
You know, if I weren’t a mother of a special needs child, I may think the same thing. However, my 5 year old is the size of a 7 year old (in height) and is skinny. He has Cerebral Palsy. We have tried numerous times to potty train him, even taking him to a specialist. In the end, she felt because CP kids are among the hardest to train, partially due to the physical limitations, our son was also going to be hard because of the overwhelming cognitive disabilities. He just doesn’t get why and therefore there’s no motivation. He also has sensory issues, meaning he can’t tell when he has to go. The specialist thinks we’ll be LUCKY to have him trained by 8 years old.
For us, we have to use healthcare style diapers for him. They can generally be uncomfortable and “noisy”, not stay fixed as well, other kids can see them, and be terribly expensive (which hits you hard when you have a ton of out of pocket medical expenses).
But that’s why I doubt that these size seven diapers are intended for special needs children. They’re Pampers Cruisers. They’ve got a picture of a baby on the side of the box. Each of the Pampers Stages has a symbol – a reclined figure for Swaddlers, a seated figure for Cruisers, and an upright figure for Easy-Ups – and per the website, the Swaddlers are for new babies, the Cruisers are for active babies, and the Easy-Ups are for training toddlers.
Beyond that, I doubt that the Cruisers can handle the output of a big kid’s bladder. There are probably some incontinent little old ladies out there who could technically fit into the Size 6 Easy-Ups, but I’m guessing that they need to wear Depends or Poise purely for the absorbency, no matter how much they might like Dora the Explorer.
Mayberry Mom makes a great point regarding the range of products for older kids:
There are lots of options for pull-ups, goodnites, etc that are for bigger kids–I am having trouble getting why a kid that size/age would want or need an actual DIAPER.
My thoughts exactly. CJ wears a Pull-Up to bed every night. When she was not yet day-trained, we used Huggies Overnites. If she outgrows the night-time Pull-Ups before she’s night-trained, we’ll move to Goodnites.
I appreciate and agree with Marketing Mommy’s professional insight:
…profits are most definitely the motivation behind putting size 7 diapers on general market shelves. There’s a finite number of babies in this country and they wet a finite number of diapers. The only way to grow the market it to convince parents to keep their kids in disposables longer.
Maybe it’s a matter of brand loyalty (I use Pampers Cruisers for Oliver myself) that would prompt parents to choose size 7 diapers over night-time training pants, but it also seems that Pampers is really lacking in the big kid options. Perhaps they’re trying to make up for that shortfall by launching a larger size of Cruisers. But the unit retail cost of Cruisers is less than that of Easy-Ups; why not launch size 7 Easy-Ups instead?
I still think it comes back to a combination of factors – big kids, tired (and sometimes complacent) parents, and a company that seeks to capitalize on both.
As an aside, I wrote the original post after putting a load of kids’ laundry in the washer – laundry that included a few urine-soaked pairs of size 3T pants and underwear – when I got a whiff of that cloud of ammonia Kelly referenced in her comment. Definitely gag-inducing, but still preferable – both for her and me.
October 24th, 2008 at 5:45 am
Great follow-up post, MGM! I think you’ve summed it up really well.
Yesterday Dooce linked to a YouTube video of David Sedaris reading one of his pieces on Letterman. The topic of his reading has to do with peeing in your pants and I think you and your readers would find it very amusing. (I sure did!)
This video is embedded in her post here: http://www.dooce.com/2008/10/22/rare-moment-blue-sea-red
Enjoy!
October 24th, 2008 at 6:12 am
Thank you for the follow up. I think it’s a fair assessment of the reason for the size 7 diapers!
There are a lot of factors involved and the diaper industry is taking full advantage of each one; and even though Pampers, in all actuality, probably didn’t make these with my kiddo in mind, I’ll be searching for them….
October 24th, 2008 at 6:45 am
I have seen that David Sedaris bit and it is HI-LARIOUS. Recommended!
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October 24th, 2008 at 6:55 am
My oldest did not fully potty train until around age 4. She’s autistic and was completely reluctant to potty train. She had an irrational fear of toilets and was terrified of poop accidentally getting on her hands. We were lucky that she was so skinny, she was still able to wear size 5, though may of her autistic peers were much larger then her and in the same late training boat. Levi is not even 2 yet and is MASSIVE. He’s pretty much always been so. We can still squeeze him in to 6s but I dont know that he’ll be able to wear them up until next spring which is when we plan on trying to start potty training.
I dunno. I guess I see their availability as a blessing.
It used to be you HAD to be potty trained by 3 to gho into the preschool class (unles syou were special needs). What I’m finding is that your kid no longer has to be, you can just pay an extra fee and they will let your kid slide. Preschool used to be the big push by parents to get em trained.. I think now that you can buy your way around that laziness is winning out in a lot of cases
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October 24th, 2008 at 7:14 am
I have to say I have a “little” big guy myself and he’s only 18 months and in a size 5 because with one pee he can pee through a 4 now. I would have to catch him mid-pee to keep him from peeing through a size 4. (And, yes, he gets changed very regularly. He’s just a super voluminous peeing little guy.) His twin brother on the other hand is still wearing smaller diapers because he doesn’t do the giant pee like his brother. They were very early babies and are just now beginning to walk. They will probably potty train later than other toddlers and I may end up needing those size 7’s for the flood of pee from my bigger boy. There are a million and one reasons why people may need those diapers and I think judging others about something as trivial as diaper size is lame. Yes, laziness should be scorned, but not shaming everyone who may need these diapers for their kids.
October 24th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I think Marketing Mommy makes a lot of sense here!
Steph
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October 24th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Ha, what is funny is you are like the LEAST likely to snark of almost anyone I know. At least about personal stuff. And the MOST like to take a joke, so let’s go on record that I only think you are a judgmental bitch SOMETIMES.
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October 24th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
how timely, given my oldest–who turned 7 yesterday–had to leave the school skating party early last night because he pissed his pants. in his case, it’s not bladder control, it’s stubbornness–he didn’t feel like stopping what he was doing to take the time to go to the restroom. but he also still wears (and wets) a pull-up to bed every night because nothing, and i mean nothing, wakes him.
i will be more concerned when i see size 14 husky pull-ups on the shelves. and even moreso if i have to actually purchase them.
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October 25th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
I totally missed the first conversation, but Cordy wore size 6’s that were too tight until she was several months past three. They didn’t have the 7’s yet around us. At three years old she was 40 pounds and 40 inches tall. Size 6 was really too small for her.
Now she’s four (43″ and 45 pounds now) and we’ve moved to pull-ups, mainly because we’re trying even harder to potty train her. Part of the reason we were hesitant to move to pull-ups was the cost – the cost per pull-up is higher than per diaper. I didn’t want to pay more to put a pull-up on her.
It’s possible she’ll outgrow pull-ups soon, and I don’t know what we’ll do then. Hopefully it’ll click for her soon and we won’t have to worry about that hurdle.
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October 26th, 2008 at 11:42 am
I have a “3.95 year old who is not potty trained” and luckily he is the smaller of my children weighing barely 30 pounds and wearing his 2T clothing fairly well, even over a pull-up. Had my oldest son, who weight 26 pounds at his 9 month check-up) waited til he was this age to potty trained, we would have moved on to depends I”m sure of it.
Everyone has advice on how to potty train the little “3.95 year old who is not potty trained” but no one really wants to take him home with them and implement their plans – as I told the doctor, “I just got a new sofa and I don’t want to know what he would do if I let him go naked”….ugh…
size 6 size 7, who cares as long as they do the job
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