Mom Horrified At What She Claimed To Find Woven In Her Huggies Wipes

Amanda Shea

Screen captures from Estrella’s Huggies wipes video, that’s now been deleted

Hello Huggies Parents, As some of you may have heard, a concern about our wipes was raised recently on Facebook. We...
Posted by Huggies on Thursday, August 20, 2015

A California mom thought she could trust her child’s cleanliness to Huggies baby wipes, until she pulled one out and noticed something amiss with it. This led her to inspect the entire container, which is when she said she made the horrifying realization that what she was wiping her baby’s bottom with was exceptionally dangerous. She created a cellphone video to warn other mothers, and now the company has been forced to respond.

Melissa Estrella from Camarillo recorded her hand brushing across the wipes purportedly showing shards of glass effortlessly falling off. According to her claim, her Huggies wipes had piles of these fine pieces woven into them. She uploaded her video on Facebook Thursday to show that she allegedly wasn’t lying, prompting other moms across the country to check their wipes too, regardless of the brand. Within a few short hours, Huggies hysteria had taken hold, with over 5 million viewers watching, sharing, and freaking out about Estrella’s video.

Sometime between Thursday night and Friday morning, the company had no choice but to address the issue, posting a public statement about the claim, saying they’re looking into Estrella’s cautionary announcement. But is what she’s saying, even with video and photo “evidence,” to be taken as truth? Here’s what Huggies has to say on the matter:

Even with only having one random woman’s claim to go off of, not considering that a company who has been around since 1978 would want to protect their reputation more than harm their clientele, Kmart stores in Guam pulled all Huggies wipes off their shelves. This could be in part because the woman’s post instantly went viral and mothers around the country started claiming in the comments on it that rashes and scratches they have been noticing must be from supposed glass-riddled wipes. Huggies has yet to recall their product and probably won’t, unless more actual evidence comes from their investigation into the matter.

“We need to check Paisley’s wipes!!” one frantic mother wrote on Facebook. “That explains the little cuts we’ve been getting and the red rash she has in her diaper area!”

Another woman hopped aboard the anxiety train saying, “No wonder why my son always crying and avoiding to change the diapers and the rash ….no more Huggies.”

It sounds like they’re trying to blame diaper rash on a product and not accepting that they could be at fault for not doing adequate diaper changes. Without seeing photos or having the child checked by a doctor, it’s impossible to know for certain.

Nothing proves if Estrella’s wipes were in fact “woven” with shards of glass, except for the footage filmed in a dimly lit room with her cell phone, as she repeatedly announced on film that she’s not lying. Perhaps she wasn’t meaning to be dishonest, but was rather just naive and believed that the cotton fibers — glistening with soap soaked into the wipe that sparkle like shards of glass would under light — were something harmful. Or it’s possible that she’s looking for online notoriety or a lawsuit against a major company, in my opinion. Her original video was first removed from the Internet after it blew up in her face, probably on a larger scale than she ever expected. But it has since resurfaced.

The truth will come out about the woman’s claim, and if there was in fact a manufacturing mishap, they could pay the price. But if it’s social media slander, either intentional or accidental by jumping to conclusions, then there is a lesson to be learned here. You never know what someone’s motive is behind a post with a sinister claim about a company or an individual. Be sure to ask some obvious questions before jumping aboard a misguided bashing bandwagon.

h/t: [KTLA]