An Open Letter To Pampers Vice President, Jodi Allen
This is a copy of a letter I sent to Pampers Vice President, Jodi Allen this morning. And if you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about?
Go here: http://www.kptv.com/video/23481190/
Frankly, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it any more.
Dear Ms. Allen,
Let me start off by saying that until a few weeks ago I was a loyal Pampers customer. My daughter is almost 2 and has been wearing Pampers from the day she was born. Being a working mother, I never once considered cloth diapering for my child. I asked every parent I knew for advice about diapers during my pregnancy, and overwhelmingly, time and time again I heard “We used Pampers. They were the best and had the fewest leaks.” I trusted my friends and family, so we stocked our nursery with Pampers Swaddlers as we prepared for our daughter’s arrival. Swaddlers were used on her the moment she was born. We changed to Cruisers as she outgrew Swaddlers. We experienced very few leaks.
About a month ago, I purchased a new box of Cruisers. These had the new Dry Max Technology. I didn’t think much about it, having trusted the Pampers brand for the last two years. Almost immediately, I noticed my daughter scratching her bottom and stomach. Within days she had redness on her bottom, and pimple like blisters developing. These blisters spread to her genitals, and even on to the lower part of her stomach. We tried several different over the counter creams, and even a prescription cream we had left over from her last diaper rash (that looked NOTHING like this current one). Nothing worked. I was at my wit’s end. It was obvious it was painful, as she would wince and say “hurt” if I touched one of the sores. I started doing research online and discovered that hundreds, if not thousands, of other babies were dealing with the same issue. Our common thread? All several thousand of us, from all walks of life and different parts of this country? Pampers Dry Max.
I’m sorry Ms. Allen, but I don’t believe this is coincidence. There has to be something in these diapers that is causing allergic reactions and in some case, much worse.
I cannot stress to you how upsetting and frustrating, not to mention disappointing, it is to see the response from your company, specifically from you. Instead of being sympathetic or concerned, and saying “Maybe we SHOULD look into this”, you’ve chosen to vilify the mothers out there who want nothing more than to protect the children they’ve brought into the world. We’re not all cloth diaper advocates. We don’t work for your competition. We’re asking for a company to do what’s right. What’s fair. We’re asking to be treated with simple respect. Instead we’ve been slandered. We’ve been portrayed as bad parents or stupid parents.
I’m 37 years old. I am educated. I have a good job. I’m not stupid. I know how to change a diaper and I know how often a baby should be changed. If it were my lackadaisical parenting, my daughter would have been experiencing these rashes for her entire life.
When this entire thing started, I would have gladly stayed with the Pampers brand if the old diapers had been brought back. At this point, I can no longer say that. I can no longer give my money to a company that thinks so little of its consumer as to slander and insult them when a problem arises. If this is how Pampers and Proctor and Gamble wish to do business, I will no longer be a consumer of their products. I realize that your company’s bottom line will not be affected one penny by my refusal to buy your products. However, I will sleep better at night knowing that my hard earned money went to a company that does not attack the very consumer to whom they are beholden for their success.
________________________
If you’ve been using Pampers and have not been having problems, I am grateful for that. Truly I am. Because what I and thousands of other moms have been through with our kids has not been pleasant.
Milk, It's What's Not For Dinner
Back in June, Ava had her One Year checkup. Everything looked good – weight, height, development, etc. Since she was now 12 months old, the doctor felt it was time to move her from her formula to whole milk. “Yippee!” I thought. No more expensive cans of formula, no more mixing up powder and hot water at 6 am, when I’m barely awake enough to find the kitchen, much less correctly guage the temperature of the water from the sink.
Off to the store I went, to purchase some organic whole milk for my baby girl. The doctor said we were free to make the switch cold turkey, no gradual tapering off of formula needed. The next morning, instead of a bottle of warm formula, Ava awoke to a sippy cup of cold milk. She happily slurped it down, handed me the cup when she was done, and burped. So far, a normal morning. I was ecstatic. Look at my big girl drinking milk from a cup!
All went well for a few days, then the diaper rash from hell arrived, and along with it (and here’s where it gets pretty TMI) diapers full of the liquidiest, foulest, muoucus covered poop I have ever in my 36 years encountered. I have a pretty strong stomach, but this made even me gag. It’s like the poop was covered in watery cottage cheese. It’s ok, go throw up now, I’ll wait……….Ok, back? Good.
We called the doctor’s office, who seemed very unconcerned about the whole situation. Just watch her, they said, it’s probably nothing, but if she gets worse, bring her down. It happened to be a Friday, the day of the week that my husband works from home and keeps our daughter. I left for work, advising him if anything got any worse, to take her in. Don’t call them, just go.
About 2pm he called me to let me know her butt was now bleeding and painful to the touch and he was on his way to the clinic. I sat and worried for an hour, waiting to hear back. Finally he called to say they still didn’t think it was serious, but did give us some cream for her bottom. They did not think it was the milk, but to take her off of it and when she is put back on, if there is an issue at that point, bring her back in.
So for two weeks, we slathered up her little bum with creams, fed her formula and kept her on the BRAT diet (Bananas, Rice, Applesauce and Toast). Gradually, the rash went away, along with Poopapalooza.
So I put her back on milk. Only one bottle a day this time, instead of a 100% switch. That was Monday of last week. By Friday, the bleeding rash was back, along with the Hershey Squirts. More cream,more doctors, appointment made for yesterday.
What it boils down to is this: the doctors seem to think her tummy is unable to correctly process the change from formula, which is a highly refined, and processed product. Formula is designed especially to NOT upset tiny tummies. Milk, on the other hand, seems to be an instrument of Satan an unprocessed product, and her tummy is confused by it.
For now, we are back to formula, at least for a couple weeks, until her body decides to cooperate again. Then we re-introduce milk into her formula, 1 oz at a time. If that doesn’t do the trick, we are back to square one. And I will be considering taking up drinking as a competitive sport.
I write here
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