'It was horrendous': Parents aren't happy with the new Huggies Ultra Dry nappies.

It’s arguably the most recognisable brand in nappies, but Huggies is currently receiving the wrong kind of attention.

The brand’s Facebook page is being peppered with complaints from parents and caregivers who claim its new range of Ultra Dry Mickey Mouse nappies are causing rashes on their children’s skin.

Many of the parents complained that the new product was too thin, sharing incidents of the nappies leaking and bursting, with some reports that the absorbent crystals had leeched through the material.

Sydney mother Emilie was among those to notice an issue. She’s always favoured Huggies Ultra Dry for her 3.5-year-old twin daughters, but since using the new Mickey Mouse design in recent weeks she noticed small red spots across their backsides.

“I put it down to the heat,” she told Mamamia. “I thought, well, it’s hotter, it’s humid; I probably just have to change them more often. But it seemed weird that both of them were always having the same issue at the same time.”

It wasn’t until she read complaints about the product on social media that she made the connection.

Emilie's experience echoes those piling up on Huggies' Facebook page.

"My son previously had no issues with Huggies nappies and was using the ultimate Winnie The Pooh ones for two months without an issue," one customer wrote. "Switch to these as he has gone up in size and gets a rash every time he wears them. Switch to another brand and the rash goes....Very disappointing."

"Huggies your new nappies are crap. They’re so thin, my 23-month-old goes through twice as many because they hold nothing in! He leaks every time, and every morning he’s leaked all the way through, the actual nappy is yellow from urine!" added another.

Another mother, who has been using the product for four years, wrote, "The quality is appalling. My kids have rashes and my youngest quite sore blisters on her bottom. With leakages almost everyday/night. This is not a product that I want touching my girls' skin."

"After my son woke after his normal night sleep of 12 hours and I stripped him out of his sleeping bag he was covered in gel crystals," another wrote. "After I panicked and started to strip him quickly I then realised your nappy had exploded! I would hate to think what would have happened if he had managed to get his hands on the crystals and eat them."

A Sydney father of two, who joined the chorus of complaints on Facebook, reported the nappy disintegrating as the result of overnight leaks.

Speaking to Mamamia, the four-year Huggies customer said the morning after first night he used the new Mickey Mouse Ultra Dry he noticed absorbent crystals in his son's bed. The second, he unbuttoned the two-year-old's onesie to find it had overflowed and leaked up to his chest; this after just seven hours.

"It was horrendous to find my kid in that state. They're meant to last 12 hours," he said. "I've never experienced anything like that. They used to hold very, very well."

The father posted images of his son (above and top) on the Huggies page and others in the hope of drawing attention to the issue and compelling Huggies to investigate.

"Other people are aware that the quality is not the same, and if the quality is not the same they can't change charge $30 a packet," he said. "If I was to buy nappies for $5 and something like this happened, I would think, 'Well, you get what you pay for'. I wouldn't say a thing. But not in this case."

Huggies' response.

In a statement issued to Mamamia, a spokesperson for Huggies' parent company Kimberly-Clark said it was aware that customers had "some questions" about the new Ultra Dry product.

"We recently launched an updated version of our Huggies Ultra Dry range – featuring a new Mickey and Minnie outer-cover, which replaced the previous Winnie the Pooh graphics. This was purely a change to the outer-cover and importantly, no changes were made to the existing absorbency specifications.

"We take product quality matters very seriously and have been dealing with these consumers directly to discuss their individual queries. As part of this process, consumers are sending back samples so that our quality control team can review these, in addition to all new products manufactured at our local facility.

"To date, we have not identified any manufacturing or quality concerns associated with the updated range."

Customers experiencing issues with a Huggies products are encouraged to submit their contact details at www.huggies.com.au/about-us/contact-us/products, or to call Huggies' customer care team on 1800 028 334 during business hours Monday to Friday.