Pampers Ingredients: What’s in Our Nappies?
As a parent, you know the most important thing about a nappy is that it helps keep your baby dry and comfortable. You may wonder how nappies are made and what materials are used to make this everyday product so reliable.
Pampers nappies are designed to keep your baby dry, comfortable and protected using carefully chosen, safe ingredients. Every material has a specific role and is rigorously tested for safety and performance.
Key Takeaways
At a glance, here’s what makes up a Pampers nappy:
All Pampers nappies are:
You won’t find common irritants or harmful substances like latex, parabens, perfume allergens, phthalates, or heavy metals in our nappies. We follow rigorous safety standards and only use materials that are proven safe for your little one.
How Do Pampers Nappies and Their Ingredients Work?
Like most modern disposable nappies, Pampers nappies are composed of several materials that each have a specific function and work together to provide a good fit and a comfortable wearing experience for your baby while protecting from leakage and helping to keep the skin dry and protected. Our nappies have a layered construction, which allows the transfer and distribution of liquid away from your baby’s skin to an absorbent nappy core, where the liquid is quickly locked away to help keep your baby comfortable and dry.
For over 50 years, we’ve helped care for the happy and healthy growth of millions of babies around the world. It’s an honour to be on this journey with you, and it’s a responsibility that we don’t take lightly. Every product we make must live up to the most demanding standards of all – yours. That’s why we only provide safe and high-quality products you can trust. Learn more about our key nappy components and how their ingredients have been evaluated for safety and performance in our safety promise guide.
Topsheet Layer: Quickly pulls wetness away from your baby’s skin. Helps maintain dryness. Made of soft and breathable materials such as polypropylene and polyethylene. Our Pampers BabyDry and Pampers Premium Protection nappies are made with a touch of protective balm, to help protect skin.
Anti-leak Barriers: Prevent the leakage around the legs. Made with polypropylene and elastane, soft and stretchy ingredients that help the nappy follow your baby’s movements.
Breathable Outercover: Keep air circulating, helping your baby’s skin breathe. Made with soft materials such as polypropylene and polyethylene – the same materials used in hospital gowns, as well as other fabrics. We’ve combined these materials into the perfect ratio to deliver breathability to your baby’s skin, but also softness and comfort.
Soft & Stretchy Fastening System: For optimised comfort and fit with ingredients such as polyethylene, polypropylene and elastane.
Acquisition Layer: Channels and distributes the wetness quickly into the absorbent core. Made with polyester and a special form of cellulose.
Super Absorbent Core: For overnight protection and dryness, helping keep wetness locked away from the skin. Made with super absorbent materials and distributed in 3 channels. Fun fact: one granule has a high absorbing capacity and can absorb up to 30x its weight in urine!
Wetness Indicator: Some of our nappies have a wetness indicator, which is made of pH-sensitive material that changes colour from yellow to blue when the baby urinates, letting caretakers know when it might be time for a change.
Stop & Protect Pocket: At the back of the nappy, which helps catch messy leaks. Made with materials such as polyethylene and elastane.
Other Ingredients
Adhesives are used in many baby products, including clothing and underwear. Pampers evaluates all adhesives to ensure they are safe, solvent-free free and non-sensitising, while also making sure they are tucked away from your baby’s skin.
Pigments: We use skin-compatible pigments for fun designs. These are large dyes that are not soluble in water and cannot penetrate the skin. They are away from your baby’s skin.
Tip
We use only trusted and safe materials in our Pampers nappies, and they do not contain harmful ingredients that will cause irritation for your baby’s skin.
What Ingredients Are NOT In Pampers Products?
As parents ourselves, we know that understanding what’s in your baby’s products can be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be. We’re glad you’re here, and we’re here to help if you have any questions about our products. We’re proud to take as much time and care determining what is not included in our product design as we spend evaluating the materials that go into them.
There are some conversations on what nappies should or should not contain that you might have come across. We’re proud to take as much time and care to use trusted and safe ingredients in our nappies. We do not add the following ingredients into our nappies:
Disperse dyes
Elemental Chlorine bleaching
Latex (natural rubber)
Perfume allergens as defined by EU Cosmetic Regulation: No 1223/2009.
Parabens
Bisphenol A (BPA)
Dioxins
Endocrine disruptors
Pesticides
Ethanol or alcohol
Organotins
PAH
Phthalates
Polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
VOC
Heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, mercury
Preservatives
And many others.
Remember that some of these substances are present in everyday life and therefore may be present in trace amounts of everyday household items, such as drinking water, air or dust. These can occasionally be detected using very sensitive analytical equipment, not representative of real usage conditions. What’s important to remember is that every substance has a safe threshold, and we’re committed to working against the highest safety standards. We will NEVER use an ingredient that poses a safety concern to your baby.
Our Products Are Championed by experts you trust and made in the UK
In Summary
Pampers nappies are specifically designed with safe ingredients and materials to keep your baby comfortable and dry. Check out our FAQs page for information on product ingredients.
How We Wrote This Article
The information in this article is based on the expert advice found in published research, trusted medical and government sources, as well as Pampers’ own safety and product experts. When applicable, you can find a full list of sources used for this article below. The content on this page should not replace professional medical advice. Always consult medical professionals for full diagnosis and treatment.
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*Input details of your baby’s last measurements **Source: World Health Organization
FAQ
Yes. Pampers nappies are made in Europe and undergo thousands of daily quality checks. They are dermatologically tested, certified to OEKO-TEX® STANDARD 100, and accredited by the Skin Health Alliance. We follow a rigorous, multi-step safety process from ingredient selection through manufacturing and continuous in-market monitoring. You can read more about our safety promise here.
The Bottom Line
There's nothing more important to us than your baby. That's why we are committed to ingredient transparency and creating safe, high-quality products to help you protect and care for your baby. As always, contact us if you have any questions, comments or ideas.
1 as defined by EU Cosmetic Regulation: No 1223/2009.
2 This programme was created in consultation with policymakers and reviewed by scientists, to provide science-based guidance on the safety of baby nappies.
