An absorbent core comprising: a front portion; a back portion; a middle portion position between the front portion and the back portion; and a longitudinal axis extending along a length of said core and crossing said front, middle and back portions, the absorbent core having a width extending perpendicular to said length and a perimeter comprising at least two opposing ends and at least two opposing sides positioned between said ends, said core comprising an absorbent material sandwiched between upper and lower layers of said core wherein the absorbent core comprises at least one interconnected channel substantially free of absorbent material and with at least portions thereof extending along both the length and the width of said core arranged to form an open end proximal to the front portion and a closed end proximal to the back portion and wherein said channel is formed by mechanically bonding said upper layer directly to said lower layer at a plurality of distinct bonding sites, wherein each channel portion comprises no more than two consecutive bonding sites taken along a channel width axis.