13 Best Diapers, Lab-Tested and Reviewed

We’ve also tested diapers from Freestyle, Millie Moon, Parent’s Choice (Walmart), Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club), Rascals, Kirkland Signature (Costco), and Happy Little Camper, many of which are CR Recommended. See our full list of disposable diaper ratings.

Most of these scored decently in our dryness test, so you can rest assured that your baby will probably stay dry when they lie down in their crib. Some of these diapers were slower to absorb liquid, however, so when your baby pees in one of them, there’s a bigger risk of leaks than if they wear one of our highly rated diapers. 

We performed two tests on size 1 diapers from popular brands. 

Absorption: We added 25 milliliters of saline to a tube 1 inch in diameter and let the liquid empty into each diaper, and timed how long it takes for the diapers to absorb the fourth application of saline. This test shows us how quickly the diapers absorb liquid when they’re already pretty wet, so you can be sure that your baby’s tender skin won’t be exposed to urine for long.

Dryness: We looked at whether the diapers retained moisture after absorbing it or let it seep back out when we applied pressure. We did this by placing a folded paper towel over the saline-soaked diaper, placing a weight atop the paper towel, holding it for 30 seconds, and then weighing the paper towel to see how much saline seeped out of the diaper. This was to simulate a baby sitting down or being held with an arm around the bottom. 

At Consumer Reports, we take baby and child safety seriously. In the past, we’ve screened core diaper sections for heavy metals and phthalates, and discovered that the diapers fell below the regulatory guidelines, as determined by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, for each contaminant. Because we found nothing of concern in our previous test, we didn’t test for harmful chemicals this time.