So I got curious today and decided to test out my nappies that I wear on a daily basis.
I’m fully urinary incontinent so I have to rely on them not to leak and usually use ones with good capacity rating.
I use the following:
Tena slip super medium in the day i have no choice on these and the rating is 1500ml and during the night I use ID slip super medium rated at 3500ml. Now I obviously know that these ratings are what they can hold at most but I wanted to see how far I could push them and get an accurate reading of what they can hold.
So to begin my test I took two dry nappies and weighed them.
Tena was 150ml and ID was 203ml
Next i took a two litre bottle and started with the ID slip i figured 3ltrs was a good run do i began adding the water at around 1500ml the nappy was very wet but i continued to see how far i could go i just about got 2540ml in before i would say the nappy was saturated beyond wear out of interest i threw the remaining fluid in and the nappy simply could not hold do overall ID failed by 1000ml on the test which is very disappointing as i quite like the ID range.
Moving onto the Tena i performed the same test and it got to around 900ml and it was quite wet i proceeded to add more and got to about 1570ml but it was heavily saturated and leaking badly.
So overall I was very disappointed with both test results and thought that it’s bad of manufacturers to promise such high absorption rates when they are physically not achievable. I get that the results they provide are done in a lab under strict test conditions but as with car MPG these do not reflect actual usage
Why does this keep coming up? The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) rating is where they lay the diaper flat and very slowly add water until it leaks over. This is in no way going to be a real world usable capacity rating. Besides, how could anyone come up with a usable rating anyways? Everyone has different body shapes, and different use requirements, under different conditions. That means everyone is going to leak at different times. By going with an ISO rating you can at least get an accurate comparison between manufacturers. In reality though, you can expect to get half of the ISO rating for any given diaper.
I personally have no issue with the nappies I use they do what I need them to do it was just something I was curious to find out if there claims laid true and they dont, I’ll still keep buying them as they work but it would be good if i could wear a nappy till it held three litres as it would one save my pocket and two the environment as you would use less in one day (let’s face it using less nappies per day is the closest thing your going to get to being incontinent and environmentally friendly given there Composition is around 80% plastic and 20% cotton which isn’t as environmentally friendly as people think).
My point is its just like when you get a packet of crisps and half the bag is air, the manufacturer makes a product look better than it is just be honest with your product at the end of the day I’m incontinent I’ll have to buy it anyway and it’s not like I’m gonna fork out for the super absorbent adult baby nappies that can hold 5000ml or so they say
The manufacturers’ claims do lay true for what they are meant to be. There are standardized ways to measure which are strictly followed. Problem is, you don’t use the nappies the same way. If you peed pure water on an outstretched diaper, you would get similar results.
You can standardize the way you weigh a bag of crisps. But if you devised a standard wetting protocol (body measurements, taping, urine composition, flow rate), someone would always complain that this does not conform to his personal bladder pressure or that the flow outlet’s placement is unfair to the nappy’s wicking abilities or whatever.
That freaking ISO rating gives you an objectively measurable overall comparison, no real-life expectation. YMMV. To qoute slomo, you can expect to get half of the ISO rating for any given diaper.
I’ve always been aware your never going to get the full absorbancy I’ve never been fooled into thinking I’d get 3.5ltrs into an ID slip the sheer weight of it alone would be unmanageable never mind the potential for leaks I know ID is the budget brand in Europe and there not for everyone but they meet my personal needs I was just shocked that they failed so miserably. The Tena performed I would say closer to its ISO standard rating.
I’m also aware that instant absorbancy is different to long term absorbancy and I’ve no doubt that the gel if given the time would be able to hold considerably more but let’s face it for most people a wet nappy is taken off reasonably quickly and changed for a dry one so maybe the ISO standard test should be altered to show both long term slow absorbancy and then instant absorbancy capabilities. I personally dribble throughout the day and night so mine is less of a flood so thankfully I don’t suffer from leaks but if you suffer say from OAB and you dump a full bladder load these nappies are going to hold significantly less for you and you might need to look at getting a higher one.
Going back to my car MPG analogy car manufacturers have been forced to put out road test MPG results and not just those performed under strict lab conditions.
Absorbency ratings are useful so you can compare different Diapers and see which is more Absorbent and decide what is worth buying for the cost according to your needs
While a 6000ML “Ultra” Diaper and a 3000ML Diaper might not actually hit those numbers in real world usage, you can still realize the 6000ML would need to be changed far less, which is both convenient and saves you money.
If you are using Cheap Diapers and changing 6 times a day, you may be better off buying Premium Diapers as while they seem “expensive” you will end up getting a better value by going through way less of them