Huggies Little Snugglers Diapers
$0.19 / per diaper
Starting at $0.19/diaper
Soft and breathable, with a handy wetness indicator and a pocketed waistband that protects against the much-dreaded blowout.
Overview
The Huggies Little Snugglers are very soft and comfortable diapers. They are also among the best at preventing leakage, a characteristic parents tend to highly value (understandably). These diapers are also quite reasonably priced, earning our Budget badge.
However, if eco-friendliness or knowing all the ingredients used in manufacturing are important factors in your diaper decision, Little Snugglers may not be the ones for you.
Pick for:
- Comfort – Little Snugglers are super soft diapers.
- Performance – Great leakage protection.
- Price – Good performers at a reasonable price point.
Skip for:
- Ingredients – Little Snugglers are made with lower-quality ingredients that can irritate sensitive babies.
- Eco-friendliness – Very few certifications demonstrating a green commitment.
Jump to:
Company Background
Huggies is one of the best known diaper brands in the country, if not the world. The brand is owned and marketed by American paper product giant Kimberly-Clark. They have impressive longevity, as Huggies products have been on the market since 1978. Huggies has a number of different diaper styles in their line, each serving a different niche of the market. The Huggies line has below average transparency into the ingredients of their products and very little verifiable emphasis on eco-friendliness.
Performance
Score 4/10
Huggies Little Snugglers diapers fell to slightly below average for performance, with below average scores for absorption and above average scores for leakage from Baby Gear Lab.
+ Absorption
Score 2/10
This is the “performance” measurement that matters most to babies. Bad absorption is what causes diaper rash and other uncomfortable situations for babies. Absorption should be quick and complete, in order to pull moisture away from a baby’s skin and lock it away. The diaper’s topsheet is the material that sits directly against the baby’s skin and (ideally) acts as a one-way barrier by allowing liquid to pass through into the diaper but NOT back out to the baby. The diaper’s Super Absorbent Polymer (SAP) core is the material responsible for absorbing and holding moisture. It expands considerably as it absorbs moisture, which is why a wet diaper feels so bulky and full. These two layers are responsible for the “quick and complete” absorption — quick transfer through the topsheet and complete absorption by the SAP core. If one or the other is not up to the task, the diaper’s overall absorption score will suffer.
During Baby Gear Lab’s testing, the Huggies Little Snugglers diapers were disappointing for their absorbency scores. The testing saw more wetness transfer to the test paper than most of the competition, which means babies prone to skin irritation and diaper rash may want to look elsewhere.
+ Leakage
Score 8/10
This is the “performance” measurement that matters most to parents. Leakage problems mean parents are cleaning up wet cribs and the dreaded car seat blow-out. Diapers should form a comfortable seal around the baby’s legs and torso to keep the urine and poop in place between changes. There are a number of factors in the design, construction, and material choice of the diaper that will impact leakage. This is also an area where user error plays an important role. Proper sizing and fit are critical before assessing the pros/cons of one diaper vs. another when it comes to leakage. Oftentimes, there is a parental learning curve with a new diaper brand and leaks will become less frequent as you become more familiar with the brand.
Opposite the scores for absorbency, the Huggies Little Snugglers diapers scores well above average for leakage. This was a combination of good laboratory test results, as well as solid customer reviews online. This means that blow-outs can be minimized during those early months when leakage is a big concern.
Sensitive
Score 4/10
Every baby is unique, but one thing they all share is that their skin needs a lot of extra TLC. A baby’s skin is significantly more sensitive and permeable than an adult’s, which means that the chemicals and materials that you put on your baby’s skin need to be vetted and understood. We assess each diaper for potential allergens and known toxic chemicals. We also do our best to help you understand the relative risk of each factor and will not scare you into buying only the most expensive diaper.
The Huggies Little Snugglers diapers were slightly below average when it comes to designing a baby-healthy diaper. The Huggies brand is trusted by millions of parents, but with no third-party certifications and their lack of transparency into ingredients used (and not used) means it won’t score as high as other diapers.
+ Certifications
Score 0/10
While transparency is key to a diaper brand’s reputation and understanding what goes into making their product, independent third-party certifications are absolutely necessary is holding the industry accountable. A good diaper brand tells you what is/isn’t in their diapers and a great diaper brand proves it.
Huggies Little Snugglers have no third-party certifications related to baby health and sensitivity.
+ Transparency
Score 3/10
Transparency of ingredients, unfortunately, is severely lacking in the diaper industry. The lack of regulations in the US means that manufacturers are able to hide hazardous materials and obfuscate ingredient lists behind words like “fragrance” or “ink”.
The Huggies Little Snugglers diapers had below average transparency, as is the case with all Huggies brand product lines. While we have a basic ingredient list, the only transparency we had for our critical ingredients was with fragrances, inks, and chlorine.
+ Ingredients
Score 2/10
Huggies Little Snugglers diapers were significantly below average when it comes to the quality of their ingredients that go into their diapers and the manufacturing process.
+ Comfort
Score 8/10
Unfortunately, we can’t ask a newborn how one diaper fits over another. We can, however, ask parents to gauge the comfort of their child and get a good sense for which diapers are the most comfortable for different babies. Our scores for comfort are subjective measures based on real-world testing and analysis of thousands of product reviews (i.e. asking and listening to parents). Diapers are meant to be universal, but in reality there are differences between diapers that will make the fit and comfort better for one body type over another. Honest diapers, for example, are significantly more narrow than Naty’s line of Eco diapers. This means that a longer, thinner body type might work better in Honest diapers — or it might simply mean that you’ll need to size-up on Honest earlier. We try to provide all the context you need in making the right decision for your child, as well as the right decisions on when/if to size up.
Eco-friendly
Score 4/10
We assess the eco-friendliness of the various diaper brands with a complete lifecycle philosophy (cradle-to-cradle). As best we can, we look at the manufacturing, supply chain, materials, and disposal of each diaper brand to give a full picture of their impact on our environment. Some of this relates to climate change (e.g. energy intensive production, long-distance supply chains, etc.), while others relate to the health of our environments and ecosystems (e.g. chlorine used in manufacturing, landfill compostability, etc.).
+ Sustainability
Score 0/10
Huggies Little Snugglers have no independent third-party certifications that prove its commitment to being a sustainable, eco-friendly brand and company.
+ Raw Materials
Score 6/10
Many of the ingredients using in diaper production find their way back into our ecosystems — whether through industrial by-products, off-gassing, or landfill disposal. For example, all diapers will claim to be “cholorine free”, while the details vary significantly between an “elementally” cholorine free (ECF) process and a “totally” chlorine free (TCF) process. ECF pulp production results in the release of dangerous chemicals into the environment such as halogenated organic pollutants and chlorinated compounds, which TCF pulp production is (as you’d expect) totally free of these risks.
Huggies Little Snugglers diapers use the ECF pulp production processes and do pose a risk to local environments. Their use of minimal plant-based materials does not help the raw material scoring.
+ Supply Chain
Score 10/10
Manufactured in the US, the Huggies Little Snugglers diapers have a minimal carbon footprint, as diapers are manufactured close to where they are consumed.
A baby can use more than 2,500 diapers in their first year, with 10+ diapers used each day as a newborn. The costs can add up quickly and every family’s budget is a personal consideration in picking diapers.
The Huggies Little Snugglers are relatively inexpensive diapers.
- Size Preemie costs: $0.28 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size Newborn costs: $0.29 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 1 costs: $0.19 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 2 costs: $0.21 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 3 costs: $0.24 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 4 costs: $0.33 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 5 costs: $0.38 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
- Size 6 costs: $0.40 per diaper for Huggies Little Snugglers
Related products
