Baby Diaper Certifications 101

There are dozens of disposable diaper brands available, and parents often have trouble determining which are the best soft diaper for their baby (and the planet!). Your baby will go through roughly 7,000 disposable diapers by the time they’re potty trained, spending both day and night with their sensitive skin touching whatever material the diapers are made from. 

Before the baby is even born, caregivers are faced with the question…which diaper brand can you trust with your baby and how do you know they’re the right ones? Are they all-natural and non-toxic? Are they super absorbent? Will they last a long car ride or through the night? Are they eco-friendly?

How do you find the brand that checks all the boxes? Diaper certifications are the perfect metric to use when you want to find a safe and healthy product for your child. Here’s the purpose of a diaper certification as well as four diaper certifications that can help guide your choices as a consumer.  

What is a Diaper Certification?

Disposable diapers hit the market in 1948, and they had become widely popular by the 1980s. In the last several decades, diaper certifications have been developed to ensure only the highest quality products for our little ones. 

The manufacturing process of any product is often complex. It requires people and machines to work together at high speeds and volumes. When you work with a product as sensitive as baby diapers, you want to make sure that this process is closely monitored. 

Disposable diaper brands typically focus on a few criteria for their products. 

• Safe, effective, and high-quality product
• Environmentally friendly
• Responsive to customer wants and needs

Of course, rare mistakes may occur due to human and mechanical errors. In these cases, a diaper certification can ensure that the products that make it to the consumer are always high-quality. Diaper brands will submit their product or materials to a third-party (see examples below) to ensure that their consumers are receiving the best product possible. The following diaper certifications have been established for decades and are often required to sell products to consumers.

Four Recognized Diaper Certifications

Here are four diaper certifications that disposable diaper brands use to verify products for their customers.  

1. CPC

CPC stands for Children’s Product Certificate. This document has been required by the CPSIA (Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act) since 2008 and certifies children’s products based on third-party testing. It’s required for all imports or sales of children’s products in the United States. To obtain a CPC, you must provide the following information.

• Identifying information about the products covered by the certification
• Identifying information about the importer or domestic manufacturer certifying compliance of the product
• Contact information for the individual maintaining records of test results
• Date and location where the product was manufactured
• Date and location where the product was tested for compliance
• Identifying information regarding any third-party CPSC-accepted laboratory that is testing the certificate depends

Certified products must be tested by a CPSC-accepted lab in the country of manufacture. This ensures that the products are compliant with the regulations in the country of importation.

CPC certifies that your child’s diaper complies with all applicable product safety rules.

2. FSC

FSC stands for the Forest Stewardship Council. The FSC is a non-profit organization established in 1993 that ensures responsible forestry is practiced. An FSC designation is the gold standard for companies harvesting wood from forests in an environmentally responsible and socially beneficial manner. 

To become FSC certified, companies must show that they comply with the highest social and environmental standards on the market. Here are the steps to becoming certified.

• Contact the FSC accredited certification bodies to request quotes
• Submit a certification application to the FSC certification body of your choice
• Ensure appropriate forest management or chain of custody system is in place
• Undergo an on-site audit by your chosen certification body
• Gain certification approval

When you choose a diaper brand that’s FSC-certified, you care for the forests as well as the people and wildlife that call them home. This is a great certification to look for if you want to care for the planet while using disposable diapers.

3. COA

COA stands for Certificates of Analysis. The model for COA was first published in 2002. When a brand has a COA, they have been issued documents by Quality Assurance. These documents confirm that a regulated product meets its product specification and often contains the results obtained from quality control testing.

Having a Certificate of Analysis gives a brand a competitive advantage over its peers. It provides current and future customers with confidence in the products they’re purchasing. Companies can also feel assured about the quality of what is shipped out to consumers. If products get recalled, then less time is typically necessary to resolve any issues. Any audits on products are also much shorter and simpler because the company is already held to a higher standard.

When you choose a diaper brand with a COA, you can feel confident that the products you’re using have been submitted to quality control testing. This testing specifically verifies that the product is up to consumer standards even with materials moving to and from different locations and suppliers.

4. SGS 

SGS stands for Standard Global Services, and it was founded in 1878 in Rouen, France. It is a world leader in testing, inspection, and certification. It understands consumer concerns about Absorbent Hygiene Products (AHPs). AHPs such as diapers, feminine hygiene products, and incontinence products touch sensitive body parts. The chemicals contained in AHPs could cause harm to the body if not properly regulated.

SGS works closely with stakeholders to ensure it has the latest testing solutions to help manufacturers supply safe and compliant products to customers globally. As of December 2020, they launched a new testing method that’s now available. This testing method allows stakeholders to gain access to “new and robust protocols to develop safer and more trusted products that will reassure consumers around the world.” 

Purchasing a disposable diaper brand certified through SGS ensures that your baby has safe and soft diapers that won’t harm their most sensitive body parts. 

Final Thoughts

When you see any of the above certifications on diaper packaging, you can trust that they meet the strict standards you hold for your baby’s health. Diaper certifications are your partner in choosing the highest quality disposable diaper.