Diaper Packages in N.Y. State Must Now Disclose All Ingredients

Before the legislation was passed in 2024, the disclosure of diaper ingredients was not required in any state in the U.S., meaning companies did not have to inform parents and caregivers about the substances babies were exposed to daily through their diapers. 

As of December 2025, manufacturers selling diapers in the state of New York must list all ingredients in the product on the package, including fragrances, dyes, adhesives, and bleaching agents, which are commonly used in the production of disposable diapers. 

The law doesn’t currently specify how manufacturers must list their ingredients on diaper packaging, but it states that any “intentionally added substance” must be listed in order of predominance. This could mean that diaper makers can simply list “fragrance” as a catchall term for the more than 100 different compounds that fall under that umbrella, which may not be helpful for a parent trying to avoid specific chemicals. 

Rosenthal says she’ll make changes to the law as needed. “I will be monitoring the implementation of this law, and if more specificity is needed to protect consumers, you can bet that I will be working to update our laws to provide that,” she says.

While some diaper manufacturers have already taken steps to voluntarily share their ingredients online or on packaging before the legislation was enacted, now all diaper makers will be required to do so if they want to continue selling diapers to families in New York. If a company fails to comply with the law, it may face a penalty of 1 percent of its annual in-state sales, not to exceed $1,000 per diaper package, as stated in the law text. 

If you’re buying diapers in New York state and find that there is no ingredients list on the package, you can file a report with the Office of the N.Y. Attorney General, Rosenthal says. She doesn’t anticipate many diaper companies not complying with the law. “In 2019, I passed the first-in-the-nation law requiring ingredient disclosure on packages of menstrual products, and we have not seen major compliance issues,” she says.

And if your baby has an issue with the diapers they’re using, you can always report product safety concerns on the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s SaferProducts.gov. 

Diapers are designed to absorb liquid and trap in solids, while wicking away wetness and masking odors. The specific ingredients used to achieve those goals vary by manufacturer, but disposable diapers are typically comprised of three main parts: an absorbent core, a waterproof outer layer, and a soft topsheet. On the new labels, you may see the intentionally added ingredients for each of these components, like the type of cellulose or pulp used to make up the core, the super-absorbent polymer used to retain liquids, and the materials used for the topsheet and outer cover. 

But there are other components commonly used in diapers, too, such as binders, adhesives, and sometimes fragrances and dyes—many of which have complex chemical names that can be difficult to decipher. Diapers may also contain unintentionally added ingredients, such as process contaminants or byproducts, which manufacturers are not currently required to test for or disclose. 

The level of transparency this new law provides parents regarding diaper components may vary by manufacturer, but it’s a good first step. Simply including this information on the packaging itself, in a clear and visible location, is a notable improvement. Before the law took effect, if you were curious about the ingredients in your baby’s diaper—or wanted to pinpoint a potential irritant or allergen—you may have had to dig around on a company’s website for the ingredients or contact their customer service. 

“It’s possible that the increased visibility into diaper ingredients may prompt some manufacturers to audit their ingredients and work harder to reduce the risk of exposure to potentially harmful chemicals,” says Shanika Whitehurst, associate director of product sustainability, research, and testing at CR, whose work includes examining sustainability claims from diaper makers. “CR works to create a fair marketplace for consumers, and part of this work involves demystifying what ingredients are found in products advertised for use with the most vulnerable members in our society, our children.” 

Rosenthal says she anticipates that the legislation will influence diaper-labeling practices beyond New York state. The menstrual products law she passed in 2019 saw manufacturers nationwide starting to include ingredients labels on menstrual products soon after the law took effect. It’s possible that this will also happen with diapers because diaper manufacturers may not want to absorb (pun intended) the additional costs and logistical challenges of creating and distributing different packages for specific states.

“As was seen during the implementation of my menstrual product law from 2019, companies may see the advantage of designing packaging not just for New York State and may instead choose to provide this information to consumers in other states,” Rosenthal says.

The new diaper law also comes after a recent California state law that requires baby food companies to label their packaging with a QR code linking to batch-specific test results for toxic contaminants that may be present in the baby food, such as lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium. Similar laws around transparency in baby food have also now been passed in Maryland, Virginia, and Illinois, and a related bill has been introduced in Pennsylvania. (CR found that even outside of those states, it’s possible to find baby food on store shelves with the updated QR code packaging.)

The combined effect of these efforts? Increased transparency around the essential products that babies and families rely on daily, with the goal of reducing exposure to potentially harmful contaminants among our most vulnerable populations. 

Advocates say that the state-focused transparency laws create mounting pressure for similar laws at the federal level. “Ideally, we would like to see federal action aligned with these new New York state requirements, but in the interim, we hope that other states use this law as a template to promote transparency for consumers nationwide," Grose says.

Ingredients labels on diapers vary greatly in terms of legibility, clarity, and thoroughness. Unlike with the Nutrition Facts panel you’ll see on food packaging, there’s no standard in place for diaper labeling—at least not yet. On some packages, we found the font size to be nearly illegible. We saw some companies list specific ingredients for different diaper components, including naming the “hot melt adhesives” and specific dyes used, while others used more general terms like “adhesive” or “fragrance,” catchalls that don’t offer much transparency for caregivers. Still others listed just the ingredients for topical ointments added for skin protection, without sharing any information about the diaper composition.

Consumer Reports contacted 27 diaper manufacturers in our diaper ratings to see how companies are complying with the new transparency requirements. We asked whether they’ve begun to update their packaging with ingredients lists, whether their diapers sold outside of New York state will also have the updated packaging, and whether they’ve removed any ingredients from their diapers as a result of the law. 

Several companies, including Coterie, Happy Little Camper, and Parasol, responded that they had included their diaper ingredients on their packaging even before the law was passed. 

“We have always fully disclosed the ingredients in all of our products because transparency is central to our mission, and we believe parents deserve complete clarity about what touches their baby’s skin,” a Coterie spokesperson said. “Our ingredient disclosures have always been standardized nationwide. No matter where families purchase our products, they receive the same transparent, detailed information about every ingredient we use.”

“Parasol has a long-standing practice of printing ingredient lists directly on our diaper packaging. As such, we do not anticipate significant changes to our current approach,” a Parasol spokesperson said.

Others responded that they have been taking steps to be in compliance by the Dec. 11 deadline. Amazon, which sells an in-house line of diapers under the name Mama Bear, said: “Our customers’ health and safety is of the utmost importance to us, and Amazon complies with all applicable laws. Ingredients for Amazon branded Mama Bear diapers are listed on our product detail pages and on packaging today, and we’re ensuring that all Amazon branded products sold in New York align with the state’s new disclosure requirements.” 

Target also produces a store-brand line of diapers, under the Up&Up label. “At Target, we are committed to providing high-quality, safe, and affordable baby products. We require our vendors to comply with all federal, state, and local laws,” a spokesperson said.

Procter & Gamble (P&G), which makes Pampers and Luvs diapers, said that it has been disclosing ingredients online for years. “We’ve been aware of and updating our packaging nationwide in preparation for this law since it was initially proposed as a bill to ensure compliance. Our diapers and training pants products use carefully evaluated ingredients that are common in most diapers and are safely used by millions of babies every day,” a company representative said. 

BabyCozy, which is owned by Momcozy, also says it will meet the compliance deadline. “We are currently in the process of aligning our practices with the upcoming New York disclosure requirements and will ensure that all necessary updates are completed by the effective date,” said a Momcozy spokesperson. 

Kudos says that it’s still working to update its packaging in compliance with the law.

Amrita Saigal, founder and CEO of Kudos, said that she applauds the new law as a big win for families. “We have always listed our full ingredients on our website, and all of our diaper packaging nationwide will have the ingredient list starting in early 2026,” she says. 

The Baby and Adult Hygiene Products trade association—of which P&G and Kimberly-Clark, which makes Huggies, are members—told CR that they “wanted to affirm that their members will be in compliance with the bill.” 

After multiple requests for comment, we didn’t hear back from Babyganics, Bambo Nature, Believe Baby, Cuties, Dyper, Earth & Eden, EveryLife, Freestyle, Happy Hues, HealthyBaby, Hello Bello, Huggies, Kirkland Signature (Costco’s in-house diaper brand), Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club’s in-house diaper brand), Millie Moon, Parent’s Choice (Walmart’s in-house diaper brand), Pura Baby, Rascal + Friends, Terra Diapers, and The Honest Company.