Disposable diaper

A disposable diaper, comprising:

• a front waist region, a rear waist region, and a crotch region extending between the front and the rear waist regions in a longitudinal direction of the diaper,
• wherein said crotch region has
• a front folding guide and a rear folding guide extending in parallel to each other in a transverse direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction,
• a front portion, a rear portion and an intermediate portion, said front folding guide located between the front portion and the intermediate portion, said rear folding guide located between the intermediate portion and the rear portion,
• an inner surface adapted to face a wearer's skin and an outer surface adapted to face away from said wearer's skin,
• leg-encircling elastic members attached to lateral edges of the crotch region, respectively,
• a feces receiving space defined between said leg-encircling elastic members and extending along said lateral edges,
• a pair of leak-barrier cuffs extending in the longitudinal direction;
• and
• a pair of contracting members between said leak-barrier cuffs, spaced from each other in said transverse direction, extending across said intermediate portion, and elastically contractible in said longitudinal direction;
• and
• wherein
• each of said contracting members includes front and rear sections and an intermediate section extending between the front and rear sections in the longitudinal direction, wherein
• said front sections are fixed to said inner surface at positions anterior to a line bisecting a length of said intermediate section in said longitudinal direction,
• said rear sections are fixed to said inner surface at positions posterior to said intermediate section, and
• said intermediate sections are free of direct attachment to said inner surface so as to be elastically contractible in the longitudinal direction;
• and
• upon contraction of said contracting members, said crotch region is folded downward in a vertical direction along said front folding guide and said rear folding guide to form, between said contracting members in the vicinity of said intermediate section, said feces receiving space,
• the disposable diaper further includes an absorbent core continuously extending in the crotch region and having an inner surface and an outer surface opposite to the inner surface, said inner surface of the absorbent core defining the inner surface of the diaper in the crotch region,
• wherein the front folding guide is provided on the outer surface of the absorbent core and the rear folding guides is provided on the inner surface of the absorbent core, and
• wherein the front folding guide and the rear folding guides are grooves which are compressed from the outer surface of the absorbent core and the inner surface of the absorbent core, respectively.