Oh boy, do I ever struggle with those moments! They seem to always get me at Walmart. I have a love hate relationship with Walmart. It goes something like this…
I love that Walmart offers me more than groceries to fulfill my never-ending itch to shop. I hate that Walmart offers clothes, kitchen gadgets, household items, movies, electronics…EVERYTHING to prevent me from ever being under budget. 
One item that caught my eye a couple of weeks ago is the new Huggies Pure and Natural diapers. It must have been an exceptionally stressful day for me because upon seeing them I actually called my husband and asked if I could buy them!
*gasp*
I am ever grateful for my sensible husband who is hardly ever swayed by emotions. He calmly said, “No. Unless you know for sure they don’t have those gel crystals.”
I know Huggies isn’t stupid. They aren’t going to clearly state on the package whether or not Sodium Polyacrylate is in these “pure and natural” diapers. Consumers are smart these days and that may sway a few people if they saw a big word that sounds unnatural on the package.
But, upon seeing in a very, very fine print some kind of jargon that went “don’t be alarmed if you see gel crystals on your baby’s parts after peeing in this diaper. That is simply the super-absorbent gel we use to ensure a good 4 hours or more in our diapers.” Or something like that.
For a more straight-forward answer, I found that Courtney Poulos of Green Living and Design actually wrote to Huggies asking them if their “pure and natural” diapers contained the polymer gel. Their response: YES.
Not so pure. Not so natural. But hey they tried. I mean at least the little part touching your baby’s skin is organic cotton…well it’s “included” any how.
If you need a refresher course in what Sodium Polyacrylate is and why it’s bad check out these past posts:
Why choose cloth diapers: health reasons
Stay strong, mamas! Remind yourself why you cloth diaper next time you crave convenience 
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I got a sample for these in the mail! I can’t stand to throw them out, so I am going to put them in the glove compartment for “just in case” I guess…unless I find someone who can use them.
Presidents Choice diapers are now very natural. I cna’t remember what they are called but they are made with organic materials, are made in plants that use techniques that are low impact and they use wood fluff pulp for absorbency. It even says on the package that they are currently trying to figure out how to replace the small, remaining amount of plastic in the diaper and ask for our patience. I hope they are good diapers for people who use disposables.
Presidents Choice is a company that sells it’s products at Superstore in Canada.
Funny that you should post about this (I was thinking of doing the same). I actually ordered a FREE sample of the pure & natural diaper to see what it was all about. On the insert it states the it has a “soft OUTER cover with organic cotton” and the “LINER includes renewable materials” and the best part “less inks” That is Huggies claim to Pure and Natural *giggle*
And yes, it does contain those ‘crystals’ I tried one of the diapers on my baby and sure enough there were little gel crystals when I changed her back into cloth!
Oh wow! Thanks for posting this. I was just thinking about trying those myself. Huggies is just jumping on the natural band wagon that seems to be hitting the market these days, making it difficult for us to tell the real stuff from the fake.
Thanks for the reminder
I also wondered about those new Huggies dipes – and questioned the content because of their wording (included, etc….) I think Raley’s (here in CA) makes a sposie from corn and other renewable recources without the gel….that’s where I’ll turn for my “weak moment”! =)
I saw the same packaging at Walmart the other day and was wondering the same thing. Thanks for passing along the information.
Thanks Autumn for this. It’s horrible what these companies will say to sell a product. I’m glad I love cd’ing and am not even tempted to buy disposables.
I sadly, did buy these a few weeks ago. I was going through a lazy period and figured they had to be better than the regular Huggies. But they’re the same diapers (the fit is somehow different and better though) and they cost close to twice as much if I remember. I had a moment of weakness!
Funny post
I actually bought some of these the other day. My baby is 11 weeks and I’ve been keeping some disposables on hand for occassional outinfs, but I’m weaning myself off of them. I actually went out all day the other day with the baby and only used cloyh diapers and wipes 
great post!! I was wondering about this very thing when I got a free sample of huggies natural diapers in the mail this week!!
Hmm. Thanks for posting this. I was thinking of buying a package or two for convenience after this little one arrives, but had forgotten about the gel. Thanks for the reminder!
Looks like I should just get busy sewing some more AIO/pocket dipes and just have them handy instead!
Perfect timing! I just spotted these at the store and couldn’t find on the package what the diapers were actually made of…hmmm…pretty sneaky!
I got the free sample and tried them. First off, they smell more “chemically” than regular disposables; secondly, they leak. Sooooo, we will for sure be sticking with 7th Gen whenever we need to use a disposable. Thanks for posting this!
Myndee, FYI….7th Gen has the gel too! As far as I understand it, the only difference in 7th gen. is that they don’t use bleach in the processing. I may be wrong here, let me know if I am
Yep, Skye, you are right. There are brands though that do not contain gel crystals. I buy Natural Choice from HEB (grocery store here in Texas) if I need a disposable…like when Sterling was born and my mother-in-law took the older and I didn’t want her to cloth diaper Paisley
hahaha….saw these too….I guess I’m really skeptical because I looked at the package for about 10 seconds and figured it was just a marketing ploy (well, they probably do use organic cotton, but that doesn’t make the rest of it ‘pure and natural’)….Anyway, I keep a bag of Nature Babycare dipes around for my mom and my mother-in-law to use when they babysit (the babysitter uses cloth though since I pay her).
I saw those today. This was after I ran to whole foods at 730 am to get a pack of g-diapers upon realizing I had not packed enough diapers yesterday for an unplanned overnight trip. : /
I decided I need to instead, make a stash of cloth diapers to keep at my parents house permanently so I don’t have to go buy disposables/flushables, ever again. Maybe I’ll put a half dozen in the car, too…