Sanitary napkin with garment attachment panels

A sanitary napkin for mounting onto the bodyside of a crotch portion of an undergarment, and, during use, absorbing bodily excretions, comprising:

• an elongated absorbent pad having a longitudinal axis, a longitudinally extending central portion and opposite longitudinal side edges, said side edges being deflectable with respect to said central portion, and including an absorbent contained between a bodyside, liquid-permeable cover and a garment side, liquid-impermeable baffle;
• and
• first and second opposite garment attachment panels, extending downward and inward from an underside of said absorbent pad adjacent to said side edges said garment attachment panels being anchorable under said crotch portion of said undergarment, said anchoring establishing a downward pull on said side edges and preventing said side edges from folding in toward said absorbent pad;
• and
• wherein said garment attachment panels include a fixed portion attached to the underside of said absorbent pad toward said side edge and a free portion diverging from the underside of said absorbent pad for, during use, extending under said crotch portion of said undergarment, wherein a garment attachment point is defined where said fixed and said free portions meet each other;
• and
• including co-acting fastener elements, one on each of said garment attachment panels, said co-acting fastener elements which are mated to one another when the article is fastened under said crotch portion of said undergarment, said co-acting fastener elements anchoring said free portions of said garment attachment panels so as to establish a predetermined deflection of said side edges and to facilitate accurate mounting of said sanitary napkin on said undergarment, and
• wherein the opposite longitudinal side edges of the elongated absorbent pad are widened laterally in at least a longitudinally central portion of their length to define a pair of first side panels, each first side panel extending laterally beyond the absorbent sufficiently that, during use, the first side panels extend beyond and depend below the side edges of the crotch portion of the undergarment.