Boots Active Stretch Nappies

I have to admit, I'm always a bit wary of trying own brand nappies because I have the often totally-unfounded idea that the big brands will be better because they're more expensive. That basically means that I'm quite happy to test out free samples of shop-brand nappies but I'm often unwilling to commit to buying a whole pack in case it works out as a false economy.

When Boots asked me to try out their Active Stretch nappies, I was more than happy to give them a try and came to them with a totally open mind, hoping to be proved that the cheaper "copies" can be as good as the big brands (with the big prices).

The name Active Stretch and the cute baby on the pack immediately reminded me of Pampers Active Fit, which is probably a conscious move on the part of Boots ! I pulled one out of the pack and couldn't see anything that leapt out at me as either amazingly good or amazingly bad - they don't look like budget nappies and I probably would have guessed they were a big brand nappy if this had been a blind test.

The purple edging is a lovely unisex colour and echoes the colour of the pack on the supermarket shelf (which makes it easy to remember which ones to buy). The cute pictures on the front are as appealing as those on other big brands, even if they don't feature licensed characters (but younger children don't pay the slightest attention to this anyway !). One bonus feature I do love is the big "4+" size printed clearly on the waistband which takes the guesswork out of sizing loose nappies.

I had a good pulling/squeezing/stretching session and found the inside of the nappy to be lovely and soft. The actually nappy material itself isn't particularly stretchy but the waistband has a nice amount of stretch and the inner elasticated sides look as stretchy and tight-fitting as similar active fit nappies so should be equally efficient at preventing leaks when baby is wriggling and crawling all over the place. (I say "should" because Pierre still can't be bothered to crawl anywhere at the moment so I can't really test this aspect !) The elasticated part fits snugly around the legs (to prevent leaks) but is not so tight that it leaves red marks. Pierre had absolutely no leaks (contrary to some of the other cheapie own brand nappies I've tried, possibly because the absorbent part of the nappy seems to go higher up his back on the Boots nappies) and no irritations or nappy rash at all. His bottom remained nice and dry even overnight, when his nappy was full of wee.

I have to say I was very impressed and I have absolutely no complaints. They're not as cheap as some of the other own brand nappies but they are better quality and if you can grab them on special offer, like the current "2 packs for £12" offer, they are a really good buy.

star rating : 4.5/5

RRP : £7.99 for 44 nappies (but currently on offer, 2 for £12)