The care and comfort of your little one are a primary concern for all parents. Whether newborns or toddlers, they pretty much spend a lot of time in diapers.
Thus, parents are extra careful when it comes to diaper selection. The two predominant types of diaper styles are the diaper pants and tape styles.
Most parents get confused about using diapers, establishing which one is favorable for the parent and providing comfort for the child.
Both diaper styles are convenient in different cases; one is great for a particular age group and the alternative is for a different age group.
There are both good and bad things about both types of diapers, and this article is going to look at both.
What Is a Tape-Style Diaper?
Tape-style diapers often have an open front and back that allows you to adjust the diaper using tape or Velcro.
This diaper style is appropriate for newborns or children with minimal mobility. This diaper style is suitable for children aged 6 months and below.
It is easy to put the diaper on the child and adjust the tape as needed without causing harm to the naval area.
These diapers are also absorbent and safe for the baby’s skin. The challenge begins when the toddlers get active and start crawling and moving around, which may cause the tape to flip open, causing leakages.
Moreover, diaper changing requires the help of a parent as the child cannot put it on themselves.
Examples of Taped Diaper Brands
- Pampers Active Baby Taped diapers
- Huggies Taped Diapers
- Freshkins taped diapers
- Merries Newborn size taped diapers
- Diaper Champ Baby Diapers
Pros of Tape-style Diapers
Adjustable, Providing A Good Fit
Tape diapers are easy to fit into the baby’s legs by adjusting the tape to suit the child’s needs. This feature makes diaper wear comfortable for the child and prevents leakages and blowouts.
Cost-Friendly
The purchase of diapers is a costly investment but is also necessary from childbirth to when the child is about three years old, or even more.
You will want to save any pennies you can. Thus, investing more in tape diapers can be a good move for your pocket.
Cons of Tape-style Diapers
Not Mobile-Friendly
Taped diapers are not ideal for an active baby as the tapes tend to detach following vigorous activities, causing the diaper to fall off.
A taped diaper on a mobile or playful child needs extra vigilance from the parent if the diaper falls off to avoid leakage.
Tape Rip-offs
It is normal to experience rip-offs with tape diapers, especially when pulled forcefully. Ripping off is common during diaper changing struggles when the child crawls away or will not lay still.
What Is a Diaper Pant?
Diaper pants have become popular in modern times, even though they are expensive compared to tape-style diapers.
It is easy for the little one to handle diaper pants as they’re worn and removed like regular underwear. Parents often use these diapers during a child’s potty-training stage, as the child can remove and put on the diaper when necessary.
Moreover, the diaper pants are convenient for parents when their children crawl or walk, as they do not need to lay them down for a diaper change.
Diaper pants have an elastic, breathable cotton material that is safe for your baby’s skin; thus, you need not worry about irritations and rashes.
Furthermore, these diapers come in colorful designs that are absorbent and lightweight. If you plan on a day out with your little one, this is preferably the go-to diaper style.
The downside to diaper pants is that they do not adjust to fit the baby’s legs and can increase the chances of leakages and blowouts.
- Examples of diaper pants brands
- Huggies Wonder Pants
- Pampers All-round Protection Pants
- MamyPoko Pants
- Himalaya Total Care Baby Pants Diapers
- Supples Baby Pants Diapers
Advantages of Diaper Pants
Easy Diaper Change with A Mobile Child
When the child starts crawling, rolling, or walking, diaper changing can be a struggle as they try and get away from you. Diaper pants are easy and fast to pull up, even when the child is standing.
When the child is moving, using tape diapers can be challenging to secure the diaper properly and may even cause the tape to rip off.
Convenient For a Playful Child
Diaper pants have an elastic and sturdy waistband with no uncomfortable tightness around the toddler’s waist if it is the appropriate size.
These pants provide a perfect fit for the child’s vigorous playtime routine. On the other hand, tape diapers can flip open on one side or even begin sagging when the tape gets loose from constant movement.
Advisable For Potty Training
As stated, diaper pants are like underwear, which makes it easy and exciting for the toddlers to pull them on and off themselves.
If they need to use the potty, they can pull the diaper on and off without any help, making the potty-training process simple.
With tape diapers, it can be challenging as you must help the child get the diaper on and off, which makes the child prone to accidents that interfere with potty training.
Good For Travel
Diaper changing while on the move requires rushing to a nearby restroom and hardly getting changing stations with high hygiene standards.
Diapers, on the other hand, require only tearing the sides off and pulling them on; thus, the simple diaper change makes them ideal for travel.
Cons Of Diaper Pants
Costly
As mentioned, diaper pants are expensive compared to tape-style diapers.
To minimize cost, you can invest in both diaper styles and use diaper pants when necessary or use them interchangeably; for instance, use diaper pants for the daytime and tape diapers for the night.
Not Adjustable
Diaper pants come in a particular size and are not adjustable to fit the baby’s legs. This property makes it susceptible to blowouts and leakages if you do not use a proper fit for the child.
Which Is Better? Diaper Pants or Tape-style
Most parents struggle with the selection of either diaper style.
The simple answer to this question is that both styles are great for use and selecting either depends on preference and convenience after evaluating both pros and cons.
Essentially, high-quality tape diapers have similar qualities to modern diaper pants.
Some Of the Essential Diaper Qualities in Both Styles Include
- Both diapers are absorbent and provide your child with hours of dryness. In addition, they come with wetness indicators that inform you when the baby needs a diaper change.
- Both diapers are breathable, allowing good air circulation that maintains your child’s skin dry, soft, and free from rashes.
- In both diapers, a perfect fit avoids the coming off of the diapers and prevents leakages and blowouts.
The Best Choice
The type of diaper you settle on is a matter of choice.
However, the general recommendation is to use tape-style diapers for newborns and little ones and shift to diaper pant style when the baby starts moving around.
Also, you can combine the use of both by opting for diaper pants during the day and tape-style diapers for the night.