One of my brother’s friends had a baby a few months before I had mine, and they gave out the web address of their blog so that friends and relatives could keep up with the news. One detail caught my eye: they wrote that they’d been told to allow for 200 diapers for the first month, but that “those people don’t know our baby–we used 500!”
I’ve never tracked my babies’ diaper usage, but 500 sounded high. It’s not the first time I’ve seen estimates that seemed high: because I had twins, I’m always reading about and hearing about twins, and I would keep hearing about twin newborns “going through an entire package of diapers per day.” Diapers for newborns are typically sold in packages containing 40-56 diapers. If the twins were sharing a 40-pack a day, that would be 600 diapers per twin in the first month; a 56-pack a day is 840 diapers per twin per month.
I’ve seen high cost estimates, too: in the cloth vs. disposable debate, figures are thrown around about how many hundred dollars per month it costs to keep a baby in disposables, and the number always seems higher than I feel like we spend–but who knows, maybe it just disappears into the rest of the shopping and I don’t notice it.
So now I had to know: how many diapers does MY baby use? and how much does it cost? I brought a notepad with me to the hospital, and as soon as the nurse put Henry’s very first diaper on him, I started tracking how many we used. Looking back on it, I realize it would have been way WAY easier to keep track of how many packages of diapers we bought, but never mind that, I didn’t think of it, let’s just go with what we have and not discuss how dumb I may or may not have been.
One month seems like a good time to check in. Does this mean he is one month old? NO HE IS NOT I REFUSE TO ACCEPT IT. Also, Henry is right now outgrowing newborn-size diapers, so the next package I buy will be size 1, which changes diaper count and cost: going from size newborn to size 1 is the only time you get more diapers for the same price; after that, you get fewer and fewer diapers for the same price.
So here is the report: In one month, Henry used 180 diapers. The newborn-size diapers I buy are sold in packages of 40 diapers, and it’s possible I missed recording a diaper change or two, so let’s round it up to 200 diapers, or 5 full packages.
I buy Target brand diapers, which cost $5.75 for a package. So Henry’s diapers for one month (5 packages) cost me $28.75. It’ll cost me less next month when I can get 56 diapers for the same price as I spend for 40 now.
William’s diapers cost us more, though, when he was a newborn. The Wa1mart diapers I was using at the time (we didn’t have a Target near us then) didn’t work on him; he kept leaking out of them somehow, with the diaper dry and his outfit soaked. Memory fails me, but I think I bought Luvs because they were the least expensive of the brands. Memory fails me again when I try to remember how much a package of Luvs cost, but I know it was more than the store brand ones, so that would make his diaper use more costly.
EAR HAT! I love your ear hats. So cute!
OMG!! A MONTH??? I swear it feels like it was A WEEK AGO.
And four hundred diapers? Are people lining cribs with them? I know I never used four hundred diapers a month even when I was at my most neurotic about making sure his diaper was dry.
First, and most importantly, LOVE the picture, thanks for sharing. What a cutie!
Wow, 500 diapers sounds like a lots to me too. They must change their baby’s diaper every 5 minutes or something. I don’t think we probably used more than 200. Although I know that newborn diapers lasted a lot longer than we planned to use them, so I had to buy more even though I had other sizes stocked in the house. (We had weight gain issues for a while at first.) Anyway, I surely didn’t use that many diapers. Even now we probably use…(doing some math here)…150 a month or so. I understand that my son is older now, but that seems standard for the last 6+ months for us. Anyway, interesting topic.
Also, I am seriously considering cloth diapers for the rest of my babies in the future. I didn’t know anything about them before my son was born. Now I’ve done a bit of research and been informed more by wonderful bloggers like you. I mentioned this to my mom the other day, because I have slightly considered switching my son to cloth now. She said you will use cloth for a while, then just go right back to disposable so you don’t have to deal with them. She used cloth for two of us, then disposable for the last one. Any comments on this?
I understand it may be more time consuming, but I think I’m up for it. Most of my reasoning for it is the cost. I only buy name brand diapers now. I used off-brands for a while when a friend gave us some leftovers of hers. I never liked any of them. I couldn’t even use Loves without leakage, so I stick with Huggies mostly and sometimes Pampers. It probably matters what fits your childs body too, I suppose.
Sorry about the long comment.
Um, just read my comment that I posted. That was really long. I should have just made it a post on my blog. Oh well. I hope you don’t mind. If you do, let me know, I’ll delete and just post on my blog. Thanks.
I had the same problem as Mommy Daisy- none of the generics work for me anymore. They did for awhile, it seems- I remember buying Wal Mart’s brand. But now I have to use Huggies- it must have something to do with fit. My child has no hips or butt still.
We use Target brand too, usually. They are the cheapest I have found. I sometimes buy Luvs or the more expensive name brand for night usage, if it seem like we’ve had an issue with leaking.
I’ve heard it takes about $1200/year to use disposable diapers. At your calculation of only around $30/month, that’s only $360/year. Even $40/month only adds up to $480/year. So I think they are throwing out some pretty inaccurate figures. I thought about using cloth too, for enviromental reasons, but then found out we were having twins and nixed that idea. Also, I have heard figures that say that all the bleach and water that you consume washing cloth ones negates much of the enviromental value.
Also, does anyone know how fast diapers biodegrade? I now when they 1st came out w/ disposables they were plastic, but now they are not…. Just wondering.
What an awesome little newborn-ish body he still has! My, they grow fast. =)
I’ve always considered it ridiculous too, the admission of people who use hundreds of diapers per month. If you figure the hourly rate of change, it’s highly unlikely. All I know is I think it’s amazing that you kept count, with everything else you’ve had going on!
Mommy Daisy: I heart long comments. About cloth, I think your mom might be right or might be wrong. People vary a lot in how they feel about cloth, and lots of people love them–you might, too. I used them for my first child and didn’t find them to be much more time-consuming than disposables, once I got my system down. Just a few seconds per diaper change, and then the time equivalent of an extra load of laundry every 4 or 5 days. Not bad.
I use 6 a day, unless something mandates using more of course. I change her every 4 hours. This started when I switched over to nursing and I wanted to make sure she was eliminating enough. The rules said 6 soaking wet diapers and when I was changing her every 2-3 hours, the diapers weren’t soaking. So instead of freaking myself out over it, I switched to every 4 hours and viola! soaking diapers.
I’ve been thinking about giving cloth a shot. I’ve also been thinking about potty training Darsie. Let’s all just laugh right here.
Elise could still fit into Huggies Newborn but not Pampers. We use Pampers or White Cloud. In White Cloud, Elise wears a 1.
I didn’t mean we use Pampers. I hate how they smell. We use HUGGIES or White Cloud.
500 does sound like a lot. Maybe their child can’t handle a wet diaper for long. Nathan couldn’t. We did try going the cloth route but I started working full-time and got lazy long before that.
Target diapers are great and now that’s all we use. Unfortunately, Nathan’s a size 6 and they don’t make a size 7.
Mommy Daisy: My sister is doing cloth diapers BUT they do not allow them at day care (Somthing about the Health Dept?)Anyway, if you work, you may need to consider that. She was totally caught off gaurd with that information. I think they still use them at home though.
Shannon: How old is your little one that you want to start potty training? Neither of my kids were trained until they were 3 although we tried earlier. It’s not worth it if they aren’t ready. In fact, we didn’t even start training my son until after his 3rd birthday and it only took a few weeks to completly potty train him. So now we are DIAPER FREE!!!
Swistle: LURVE the picture :)
I just read your statistical report to my Husband – all I can say is, what a sigh of relief! Yesterday I was looking at the many packages of diapers I’ve amassed and wondering how fast they’ll go – hopefully they’ll really end up lasting. I’ve heard some negative things about Target diapers, but your recommendation reassures me. I think it just all depends and there’s no way to know until you try a brand on your kid, don’t you?
Also, I get all squishy with love when I see Henry with his cute ear hats. They are definitely his signature look.
OMG! The ears! My heart cannot take such blatant cuteness! I totally heart Henry!
I have no idea how someone could go thru 500 diapers in a month. That’s insane! Not to mention, pretty wasteful.
I’ve never counted how many we go though, but we use Huggies and I get them at Costco. We get 250ish for $37 and it lasts about two months.
Now I had a dream about target diapers!
we use cloth, and I hate getting into these discussions because everyone is so different. There’s some people who truly amaze me in their ability to stretch the use of a single disposable diaper as far as possible, if you know what I mean. I always changed on a schedule, so I did 6 per day at least. Same with the cloth, I never stopped my schedule. (I started cloth later with my daughter)
Sam: That’s totally right: different kids fit different brands differently. And it’s worth it to try a brand again a little later: William leaked right out of the Wa1mart ones when he was a teeny baby (size Newborn and size 1), but they worked fine for him by the time he was in size 2. I’m not sure why this happens, but I guess it must be the proportions of the baby.
$5.75 for a pack of diapers?!? I use mostly cloth, but I buy disposables every five or six weeks or so to cover off nights. However, here (Canada) the best price I have seen is $12.99 for Wal-Mart brand. At $5.75, even a cheap, I mean frugal, gal like me might consider disposables!
Okay so I’m a faithful Pampers user and everyone is telling me they changed, but since my son has no ass I really haven’t noticed. Anyway I’m pretty sad now that I never counted how many diapers I used with my first son. I’m due in November and I for sure want to count, but with Brandon my first I think the figures would have been astronomical since that kid pooped out his diaper and up his back every 30 minutes or so. I do not exaggerate this kid has always had a poop issue for instance he’s nearly two and I had FOUR damn poopy diapers just yesterday on top of 3-4 wet ones. Sigh!
I’m glad to hear that everyone thinks the numbers are exaggerated since I’ve never kept track before, and we are going to have two diaper wearers in the house at the same time.
How long do you think you can keep Henry in ear hats? Till he’s five?
My twins (together) averaged 12 diapers a day the first month. My husband told me that. I dont remember that stuff. But they were clock work every four hours eaters. I would imagine a breast fed baby would use more. But not 500 in one month!! Jeez.
Misguided Mommy: One of my babies did that “poop up the back” thing, too. How do they DO that? I think I changed his outfit almost every time I changed his diaper.
Nowheymama: I’m already desperate for ear hats in larger sizes. What will I do when he outgrows this one?
a 40 pack of diapers is only $5.75?
Up here where I live in Canada…not the boondocks or anything either…a pack is at least $18 for 50 or 60 diapers!
I think that I should have invested sooner in cloth…the baby is already a year.
AmyQ and LoriD: Only the Wa1mart and Target store brands are that cheap–other brands can be twice or three times as expensive as that. And the number varies: by the time it’s size 5 or 6, there are only twenty-something diapers in a package. A package of 50 or 60 larger-size diapers in a brand name would be in the high teens of (U.S.) dollars.
What an interesting post! I have always felt that these estimates are a little off…but that’s amazing how off they really are. I think when you hear those estimates of how much it costs to have a baby and how much diapers cost each month, they usually have an agenda…like use cloth diapers b/c disposables are going to make you poor..or something like that.
I also use the Target brand diapers. It’s amazing how much cheaper they are than Huggies/Pampers…about half the cost. I have had to move to using Huggies Overnights at night b/c she was waking up in a pool every morning (gross, I know), but otherwise Targets are great.
Trying Target diapers for the first time because of you. Cheaper than White Cloud and SOOOO CUTER (now that they got rid of the Lennon animals).
You’re too much. I’ve never bothered counting. I have a sort-of idea about how much time I have left before I need to buy more, and that’s about all the brainpower I put into thinking about that. You impress me with 5 kids and thinking about this!