WARNING. Razor sharp metal shards found in Pampers nappies

[rainmakerraw]

Joined to help spread the word. Our daughter has been crying this week in obvious pain. Medical professionals found cuts on her bottom and said she'd probably been straining to poo. During a nappy change two nights ago we found shards of razor sharp metal embedded in the core of a new Pampers baby-dry size 4 nappy. The top sheet was unbroken.

No wonder our baby was in pain! We're appalled and still haven't heard back from Pampers, Asda or Trading Standards. How many other babies will be hurt like this and have to spend three hours in A&E?

Please double check your nappies before using. The pieces are small and buried deep in the nappy's core, so was easy to miss until one of the nappies happened to have a larger more visible shard than the others. Imagine that rubbing on baby's bum while s/he sits and wriggles around. We feel physically sick and don't want anyone else to experience the same thing.

We're trying to raise awareness and still haven't heard back from anyone except the local paper. We want no publicity, and no compensation. We just want answers and don't want this to happen to other babies. If this was faulty machinery at the factory who knows how many other nappies are peppered with hidden sharp metal?

Please do be vigilant, and I'd appreciate any shares of my public Facebook post to help highlight the dangers to other parents.

Thank you.

[Jedi1]

I dont know what that is but it doesnt look like metal.

[StrawberriCream]

Can you cut it out the nappy to see what it is?

[rainmakerraw]

Jedi1 I assure you it's razor sharp metal. StrawberriCream we don't wish to tamper further and potentially mess up any Trading Standards or other investigation. At present the metal is clearly part of the nappy and under an undamaged top sheet. We start digging and it can turn into 'tampering' rather than clearly part of the manufacturing process.

We have since been made aware of other parents (at least two other sets) who have had children injured by metal in Pampers nappies this week.

[BlueThursday]

What type of pampers please and what's the batch number? Which Asda did you buy them from?

[rainmakerraw]

BlueThursday, it was Pampers baby-dry size 4 (78 nappy packs) bought from Asda Walton, Utting Avenue, Liverpool. The code on the nappies is 51984499781032.

Proctor & Gamble are collecting the nappies by courier on Friday and have started the ball rolling on an investigation.

[BlueThursday]

Thanks for that, hope your DD gets over her ordeal quickly

[DriverSurpriseMe]

Those fragments of "metal" are very dark in colour. Wouldn't they have been fairly obvious in a white nappy? The whole thing doesn't seem to add up, really.

[rainmakerraw]

DriverSurpriseMe, your skepticism is valid and predictable. The reps at Proctor & Gamble Global HQ didn't seem to think so and have speculated it's faulty machinery at a factory. They're very dark in colour because they are rusty metal, with clean shiny jagged edges where they've freshly sheared. An easy matter to forensically match the metal to that used in the factory machinery.

It was of course fairly obvious in a white nappy... how do you think we found it?? She didn't wear this nappy, it's what alerted us to the issue. Our concern is how many nappies had much smaller pieces which went undetected, especially during night changes etc. Even microscopic slivers of metal will cause extreme pain and irritation, though I don't suggest you try this at home.

Thanks for replying.

[BlueThursday]

I'm old enough to remember glass in baby food jars, these things can happen

Clearly a rare occurrence but not an impossibility. I'm willing to be taken for a fool for believing this

[rainmakerraw]

Thanks BlueThursday.

The Daily Mail et al. are wanting to publish tomorrow, and we have said only on the proviso we don't get paid but they do donate to a childrens' charity of our choice. To the (understandably) skeptical; why would we lie about this when we've outright refused money for the story multiple times? We've nothing to gain except saving any more sore babies. As I think I mentioned earlier, we've now 'met' online with other parents whose babies have also been injured by metal in Pampers' nappies this week. They had also complained to Pampers this week and included photos of their injured child. Feel free to look on Pampers' FB page for proof.

[PourquoiTuGachesTaVie]

So glad I use washable nappies hope your baby recovers quickly.

[blibblobblub]

Jesus that's horrible. Glad your baby is ok.

[CurlsLDN]

How horrible. Thankyou for raising awareness, I'll keep a close eye on our nappies

[Queenbean]

How awful. You sound like a completely normal person. Don't get sucked in to daily mail sad face!

[Mintyy]

Have reported the troll hunting on this thread.

I hope your baby dd recovers quickly op.

[DriverSurpriseMe]

I wasn't troll hunting Mintyy.

I don't believe the OP is trolling.

I merely feel that there might be another explanation for these hazardous nappies. Happy to stand corrected if I am wrong.

[theelephantknownasnell]

Thank you for posting this, we're using the same size nappies, different batch.

Hope your dd is ok

[Allthenamesareusedup]

Bloody hell that's horrid.have asda size 4 baby dry on my 6mo old DS as we speak, batch no 519145220922. I need to go buy some diff nappies then! Shit.

[IamChipmunk]

I also use these nappies. I will check our packs.

If the metal is razor sharp, how has it cut your baby without cutting through the top sheet of the nappy?

I hope you get it all followed up quickly and your baby is ok?

[bonzo77]

chipmunk the OP said that the photo above is of an unused nappy, that she has intentionally not "tampered" with in order not to prejudice any investigation. I assume that the top sheet did indeed get damaged on the ones that hurt her baby.

driversurprise what kind of explanation? It's either accidental as part of the manufacturing process, or intentional during manufacturing, or soon after (but before packaging, assuming the packaging was not tampered with). Either way P&G will have to take responsibility.

I don't really understand the scepticism on here, people are very quick to question other people's experiences. It's fairly common to come across foreign bodies in manufactured goods. I found a plastic bag in a jar of jam, plastic shards in a kids ready meal, a dead caterpillar in a tin of soup and a live caterpillar in a box of cereal. That's just me.

FWIW OP I have seen you post on a FB forum, as well as the post of others similarly affected.

[rainmakerraw]

Just to update this once and for all, especially for the skeptics. I am amazed this thread didn't get more attention, I was always led to believe MN was very 'up' on this kind of thing and quick to help in such situations.

We have received a written statement from P&G, the people who make Pampers. They have confirmed that at 10.32 on 17th July 2015 one of their machines broke down. A part was replaced but pieces of the old part were wrongly left behind in the machine. Upon restarting production, the old pieces of metal were shattered and spread into nappies on the production line.

Despite having over 500 sensors, cameras and metal detectors (their words), the metal passed through unchecked because of its 'small size and unique angle'...

They have offered us a tour of their factory in Manchester and a donation to a children's charity of our choice. I do note they are deafening in their silence regards a public statement. They have also stated that only our nappies were affected, and everyone else who has complained this last week have been a different issue(!)...

Thanks to those few who replied, especially the supportive ones. Pretty appalled at the whole affair tbh, and do you know we still haven't heard back from the retailer (Asda). They were given our contact details three times and never did bother to get in touch. Thanks again everyone.

[bonzo77]

Have you tweeted asda? And maybe Pampers themselves if you find their reaction inadequate or disingenuous? I have found that a good way in the past to get a public response. You could also contact the press and trading standards of you are not happy with the outcome.

It does sound like a freak occurrence, that could happen with any manufacturer.

[rainmakerraw]

bonzo77: Asda have received tweets for over a week and had our contact details three times, but failed to reply. It's already made the news in the UK, Ireland, Greece, New York and Australia, and those are just the ones we know about.

[bonzo77]

oh, don't know how I missed that! Cannot believe the arrogance of Asda. I don't shop there and have not for years. Put off by things I have read about their online shopping experience, and this just fuels that. Coincidently we don't use Pampers either, only because we get a bit staff discount on Boots own brand which are fine: might be worth a try as I cannot imagine you want to deal with either Pampers or Asda again in a hurry!