Patent ID: 8057454

Claim:
An absorbent article comprising: a device for measuring an amount of hydration in the absorbent article, the device being disposed in an absorbent area for receiving hydration in the absorbent article, wherein the hydration alters at least one of an electrical property and a physical property of the device, the altering of the property providing an indication of a plurality of degrees of an amount of hydration in the absorbent article irrespective of the number of times the absorbent article is insulted, wherein the device comprises a plurality of resistors wherein the hydration connects one or more resistors of the plurality of resistors to each other, thereby altering an equivalent resistance of the device, the equivalent resistance indicating the amount of hydration, and wherein the equivalent resistance correlates to a dimension of one or more insult areas of the absorbent article, the one or more insult areas defined by the hydration, wherein the dimension correlates to the amount of hydration; a timer for determining a time period over which hydration is received in the absorbent article; an output device including a receiver for receiving a recommended course of action from a peripheral device, wherein the output device is configured to display the received recommended course of action; and a processing circuit configured to receive one or more inputs from a caregiver and to provide the output device data associated with the hydration of the absorbent article.