Zuru’s Nightmare Nappies
Alleged rashes, redness, swelling, blisters, peeling & “bleeding”.
Hi,
There’s a shitstorm brewing in the world of Zuru – quite literally – as a large US consumer group begs the brand to recall its Millie Moon diapers, with reports of rashes, redness, swelling, blisters, peeling, and “bleeding” on babies bottoms.
Consumer Reports – an independent, nonprofit that works side by side with consumers for “truth, transparency, and fairness in the marketplace” published this statement on October 22:
"Consumer Reports today called for Millie Moon to recall its diapers, based on the growing number and severity of incidents reported to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. CR is advising parents and caregivers to stop using Millie Moon diapers while the cause of the infant skin reactions is investigated.
Gabe Knight, senior safety policy advocate for Consumer Reports, said, “When reports pour in of babies suffering painful rashes, and hundreds of them mention the same diaper brand, that’s a serious problem that should prompt immediate action from the company and the government. Millie Moon should issue a recall together with the CPSC to prevent additional infants from being harmed."
The warning followed reporting from local Cincinnati news outlet WCPO 9 News last month, in which a mother claimed Millie Moon diapers caused her baby's chemical burn. WCPO 9 News reached out to Millie Moon, who said there would be no recall.
The Diaper Begins To Fill.
With Consumer Reports entering the fray last week, pressure was now mounting for Zuru – and yet, over the last week, Zuru’s @mymilliemoon Instagram account largely carried on as normal: Posting photos of happy, non-bleeding babies.
But there was a problem: Millie Moon's comments section was filling up with terrible customer experiences.
17 hours ago, the brand finally caved – addressing the situation by essentially saying everything is absolutely fine:
“We want to be transparent about the steps we've taken to investigate these concerns. Our diapers and training pants passed every test conducted as part of our independent investigation. No harmful bacteria were detected in the samples tested, and the products met the requirements assessed under the US Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.
[...]
Based on the investigations and testing completed to date, we have not identified a product-related cause for the reported reactions.”
There was no talk of a recall.
No Comment... Sort Of.
While it’s not immediately obvious the Millie Moon is a Zuru endeavour, it’s amongst their expanding range of baby care products which also includes Rascals and Hey Tiger. Front and centre of the brand is children’s TV megastar and advocate Ms Rachel.
While I do not know the inner workings of Ms Rachel’s mind, I don’t imagine she was familiar with the political beliefs of Zuru’s founder, or his tendency to be thin-skinned, when she signed up. I don’t imagine she predicted this diaper disaster either. Webworm has reached out to her for comment.
Webworm has also reached out to Zuru’s Millie Moon directly, but they have, so far, ignored Webworm. They also appear to be deleting my comments on their Instagram account.
Interestingly, when I posted on my own Instagram account (pointing out that Millie Moon is a Zuru product) my comments started filling up with nightmare stories, to which Millie Moon did respond.
So in a way I guess Millie Moon has responded to Webworm: Just using disgruntled, unhappy customers as a kind of intermediary.
“Nothing matters more to us than babies being safe and comfortable".
Webworm reached out to the Zuru customers who’d left comments on my Instagram post, seeking some added clarity around the issue – and to confirm they weren't just trolling. I agreed to keep their identities anonymous: They were aware that Zuru is fond of suing.
Some had been using Millie Moon for some time, noting that the problems appeared to be new. Mary lives in just outside of Austin, Texas:
“We just sized up to a size five diaper in early-September, and noticed what we thought was diaper rash appearing and treated it as such. It didn't get better with normal treatment, so after my wife did some Googling she found various accounts online of parents reporting similar issues.
We immediately discontinued use of the product and have no intention of trying it again.”
Sophie lives in Perth, Australia – and says she tried Millie Moon on her 11-month-old for the first time last week.
“We bought a pack just by chance, as we usually use eco cotton nappies but had run out. We grabbed a packet of the size fours from Woolies. Kind of the only option described as “luxury nappies”, they looked the most appealing.
After only wearing them for 24 hours-ish, she started having a bad reaction pretty much all over. I ended up just chucking some paw paw on her and we used them all the second day too. My husband mentioned to me that he thought she was smelling really chemically? And he thought it was odd.
That night I noticed the skin was so, so red and almost tight, like she’d been burned both inside and out. Which was a bit distressing! I stopped using them straight away, but it took a few days for the redness to subside. It looked really nasty and she started being very fussy when I was changing her.”
Despite all of this, according to their Instagram statement, Zuru’s Millie Moon appears to be staying calm and carrying on, confident their nappies are not the problem:
"We worked with six independent laboratories to test our diapers and training pants, including batches linked to complaints."
To Zuru, the source of the alleged rashes, redness, swelling, blisters, peeling & bleeding remains an unknowable mystery.
“Nothing matters more to us than babies being safe and comfortable, and parents feeling confident in the products they choose.”
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