Unpacking the diaper bag today for the first time in over a month, and I realized we had Pampers from three countries: the US, France, and Japan.
The Japanese ones [lower left] are far softer than either of the others, both on the surface and in their pillowy construction. But they must have some regulatory restriction on using weird scientifical absorbency crystals, because they hold far less--and hold it in far less well--than any others. That meant the kid's butt--and often, the outside of her diaper--were both damp when we'd change her. Heads up.
One innovation, though: the vertical yellow stripe running through the diaper's business district turns blue when it's wet. Call me a literalist, but shouldn't it be the other way around?
The French/EU diapers, meanwhile, are apparently identical to the US, including on performance and sizing [the Japanese diapers only have S-M-L.]. The only difference is the most obvious--and the most welcome: no Muppets being seared into your infant's subconscious.
Now, if only they'd come out with an all-white version, we'd be in business.
I don't know if this has been brought up before, but Whole Foods was out of gDiapers one day so we got a pack of the WF generic diapers. They're plain white, unbleached, and a little stiff, but worked well (except they don't feel any different when they're wet). But they're plain white.
[WF generics?? BRB. -ed.]
We got some of the WF/365 diapers too (when our WF stopped carrying 7th Generation and we were in a pinch). They are nice and plain (white), yet don't use chlorine bleach. They're bigger and unwieldy. And, we've found that if they get hit with a bigger challenge, they leak a bit more than 7th Generation, which seem to be the best fit for our kid.
We live in Barcelona and the diapers we get here are great... they are plain white with black little numbers printed on them...not sure what brand they are.
European diapers are smaller.
During our recent trip to Poland we discovered that american size 3 is the equivalent of European size 4. We preordered the diapers with my relatives before arriving and had to exchange them for the bigger size. They also sell size 4+ which is slightly bigger. So make sure to note the weight on the packaging before shopping for diapers in Europe.
[interesting point. we double-checked the weight thing, too, a good suggestion. -ed.]