The Diaper Game

When Emma was first born we went back and forth on what we were going to do when it came to diapers. This was tough to say the least. I really wanted to do cloth diapers and had my heart set on them. I went ahead and stocked up on everything we knew we needed. I found a great deal on cloth diapers at Wee Cycle It and found several other things, like wet bags, at a great sales price at a place called Mom’s Milk Boutique. There’s a lot of things you have to do differently with cloth diapers, like diaper rash cream. We were recommended to get Grandma El’s. I loved the smell of it. Once we began looking into daycares I realized how hard it would be to go the cloth diaper route. Impossible, no, but still hard. JR and I made the joint decision to go disposable. I know, I know. This goes against my recent post on Going Green, but sometimes as a parent you have to make these tough decisions. Daycares wouldn’t let us do cloth diapers so I knew 4-5 days a week would be spent on using disposable diapers. Maybe one day times will change and daycares will permit the use of cloth diapers. Until then, disposable is the route we’ll go. Along with that comes price. We had already purchased all the things we needed for cloth diapers, minus a few extra things. It’s a bigger up front investment, however, disposable diapers are an all the time cost. For mom’s on the go, or mom’s who want to ease of disposable, I wanted to share some info with you about how to diaper shop and the best route to go.

Shop deals. It’s good to know what makes a good cost on diapers. It’s easy to look at a big box full of diapers at Sam’s and think, “wow! That’s a great deal!” based on size alone. Don’t let that fool you- a lot of times it looks like a better deal but the price is about the same AND you can’t use coupons. Here’s some average costs on diapers, based on sizes. Beside that is the regular prices I can get these items for on sale. My favorite places to shop are Rite Aid and CVS. They have the BEST prices by far and I’ve been known to get my diapers for FREE there. This isn’t all the time so that’s whey below I put an average sales price. All these are the jumbo size:

Diaper                                   Reg        How       Cost per               Sale        Cost per    Size                                        Cost       Many    Diaper                   Cost       Diaper

Preemie Below 8 lbs       $9.49     32           .30¢                  $5        .16¢            Newborn 8-14 lbs            $9.49     36           .26¢                  $5        .14¢                       Size 1 8-14 lbs                    $9.49     50           .19¢                  $5        .10¢                     Size 2 12-18 lbs                  $9.49     42           .23¢                  $5        .12¢                     Size 3 16-28 lbs                  $9.49     36           .26¢                  $5        .14¢                     Size 4 22-37lbs                   $9.49     31           .31¢                  $5        .16¢                    Size 5 27+ lbs                      $9.49     27           .35¢                  $5        .19¢                   Size 6 35+ lbs                      $9.49     23           .41¢                  $5        .22¢

It’s good to set a price and not budge. If you start buying EARLY then you don’t ever have to be worried about paying full price. We started shopping for Emma’s diapers during my second trimester and had hundreds before she even arrived. Most babies stay in newborns for a few weeks and then jump to size 1. Emma was nothing like this. She stayed in preemies for over a month and THEN skipped from newborns to size 1. We returned a lot of our newborn diapers for preemies. Keep in mind that in the Abingdon area, you can’t find preemie diapers. Bristol is as good as it gets.

The next thing is finding a diaper that YOU like. JR and I have tried anything and everything under the sun. Our least favorite style is the Huggie movers. They drive us NUTS. They are the kind that pull up and down but who needs pull up style for a one year old? Not us. When they’re at a good price, we go ahead and buy them. And send them to daycare to use. The majority of the time we try to stay clear. While she was a newborn and having to wear preemie diapers we loved Huggies. Now that she’s growing, our favorite is Pampers baby dry. They’re great for sleeping through the night (she started at 7 weeks- I know we’re blessed) and we just started using them all the time.

Shop by season. Every once in awhile, the diaper industry changes their style. Nothing is wrong with the previous one, they just want something fresh and new. This is the time to stock up and quick. I always try to buy ahead in sizes. At Babies R Us the other day, they had a special on a Pampers boxed set that was for the Olympics. “USA” was plastered all over the diapers. Did I care? Not a chance. I got 96 baby dry diapers, a pack of wipes, a Rubbermaid container (which we use to store Emma’s clothes as she outgrows them), and a TON of coupons. Score! I almost had to fight someone off to get them. I will fight for diapers any day. You don’t get deals like that often. Another thing to watch for are the swimmer diapers. This time of year they go on sale for a pretty good price. We just keep watching and stock up when we find a good deal. At this point, we have enough for this summer so we’re good to go.  

The last question to think about is the amount of diapers you will need. This is a really hard one. When you picture babies, you picture diapers and an unlimited amount. Here is a breakdown on how many you will need based on your child’s age. I went by Emma and how she did, so keep in mind it could easily be different based on the child and when they start sleeping through the night.

Newborn through 2 months:

Preemie diapers- 4 weeks           10 changes/day                                280 diapers/9 jumbo packs

Newborn diapers- 2 weeks         10 changes/day                                140 diapers/4 jumbo packs

Size 1 diapers- 2 weeks                 8 changes/day                   112 diapers/2.5 jumbo packs

2 months-4 months:

Size 1 diapers- 4 weeks                 6 changes/day                   168 diapers/3.5 jumbo packs

Size 2 diapers- 4 weeks                 6 changes/day                   168 diapers/4 jumbo packs

5 months-12 months:

Size 2 diapers- 4 weeks                 6 changes/day                   168 diapers/4 jumbo packs

Size 3 diapers- 32 weeks               6 changes/day                   1344 diapers/37 jumbo packs

=2380 diapers total/64 jumbo packs

The normal cost of all these diapers would be about $607 but with all the discounts you can get by shopping in advance, the cost would be around $320. What a deal! And if you work on shopping 24 weeks prior to delivery plus the first nine months of your child’s life, you’ve got about 62 weeks to purchase. If you bought one pack each week, you’re looking at $5.16 each week. Most people can afford that. It’s a lot easier than the full price and paying up front. Take my advice if you’re going to be a disposable diaper parent. Shopping in advance pays off and pays off well. And want to make good use out of all those empty diaper boxes? Check out this awesome idea!

What advice do you have for parents who go the disposable route?