Diaper budget

[baconlettucetomato]

Am I being obnoxious yet? I just feel like I have so much planning to do.

How many diapers would you say you go through on average? I'm trying to budget what we'll spend and so far I've found the brand we want is cheapest through Amazon. We can do the auto ship for $15.82 and I found a $2 off coupon. There's 72 diapers in a pack, how long will that last?

[mollybrown]

For an infant, probably around a week. My memory is a little foggy, but I think you can expect an infant to go through around 8 diapers a day.

[Saudade]

We do Target brand overnight and on trips. We were using Pampers but they leaked all over the place. DS pees A LOT at night. When we use disposable during the day he goes through 5-6, depending on when he wakes up. When he was an infant he went through ~12 diapers a day.

A few weeks ago he had to be on disposables during the day and we went through a 72 pack in about a week.

[egishere]

I agree on around 8-10 a day. We pretty much changed every three hours before they ate when they were little and then extra of course if we knew they pooped or something.

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 13, 2012 14:59:37 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Agree, in the beginning you'll use 8-10 a day or so. Assuming you already signed up for Amazon mom?

Yes ma'am!

[pugz]

10-12 a day when she was a newborn

more like 8 a day now

[baconlettucetomato]

So if I round up, its a pretty safe bet to say we should budget $100/month for diapers? Also, I'm looking at whole sale options. We have Costco and BJs here. I'll have to do some price comparison.

[jessnpaul]

Have you looked at Target diapers? They're $6-ish for a 36 pack. We used to use Pampers but find Target's to be awesome as well especially for the price. We're slowly switching over to cloth diapering but Target has been the best bang for our buck for disposables!

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 13, 2012 15:33:21 GMT -5 jessnpaul said:

Have you looked at Target diapers? They're $6-ish for a 36 pack. We used to use Pampers but find Target's to be awesome as well especially for the price. We're slowly switching over to cloth diapering but Target has been the best bang for our buck for disposables!

Not yet but we will. Thanks for the heads up!

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 13, 2012 15:41:20 GMT -5 @mrswindycity said:

Can you find a bigger box that is less expensive per diaper? I'm not sure which brand you're looking at but 72 sounds like a small box for small sizes (the number included in each box decreases as the size increases, but even for size 5s, there are like 170 in a box of Pampers.

Maybe? I hadn't looked at quanity boxes all that much. They're Pampers.

[mollybrown]

We never spent anywhere near $100 a month on diapers. We use Luvs, and probably averaged about $50 a month from Amazon in the early days.

[baconlettucetomato]

I think them being delivered is the biggest appeal of amazon. I travel a lot for work so once I go back to traveling and DH is solo parenting I'd like to help in any way that I can. If that means ordering the diapers so they're home when he gets home at the end of the day with LO then I'd like to do that.

This also makes me think we need to figure out formula. I'd love to EBF but I'm just not sure I can stock pile enough milk to last LO while I'm gone for a whole week.

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 13, 2012 15:44:28 GMT -5 mollybrown said:

We never spent anywhere near $100 a month on diapers. We use Luvs, and probably averaged about $50 a month from Amazon in the early days.

I was guessing that for diapers and wipes. And over estimating. I'd rather have too much set aside than not enough. KWIM?

[hocus]

I usually go through a box a month more or less. I used more in the newborn phase.

Keep in mind that some stocking up is ok but don't go overboard because kids grow at unpredicable rates.

My kids wear underjams (she's too big for diapers) and size 6. They are 3 and 16 months. In my daughter's class kids where everything from size 4 to the mega stuff my kids wear. Most of my son's playdate friends wear size 3 or 4.

[Ashley&Scott]

The first 3 months we averaged 13 diaper changes a day. Now we're at 8 per day.

[dcn]

DS averages around 9 or 10 a day at this point. I haven't even kept track of how much $$$ it is. I got a box of 160 Pampers Swaddlers at Target for like $30 or $35 (and everything is more expensive up here it seems) so I think $50 - $60 or so a month is a good budget. Wipes are pretty cheap ime. You can get a giant box at costco for like $20. We're still working on the box we bought there!

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2012 15:23:10 GMT -5 pugz said:

10-12 a day when she was a newborn

more like 8 a day now

This is us too. I buy Pampers from the grocery store in the smaller pack (26 per pack depending on size). At 9mo, DS goes through about 2 packs a week, so about 52 diapers a week or 7-8 per day. I probably could change him less often though, I like him to be dry.

I would love to do Amazon to save $$, but we live in rural area and have no trash pickup, so DH has to take everything to the dump. The Xmas Amazon boxes are already taking over the house, I can't imagine the pile of boxes we would have if we did S&S

[Deleted]

Dec 13, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 baconlettucetomato said:

I think them being delivered is the biggest appeal of amazon. I travel a lot for work so once I go back to traveling and DH is solo parenting I'd like to help in any way that I can. If that means ordering the diapers so they're home when he gets home at the end of the day with LO then I'd like to do that.

This also makes me think we need to figure out formula. I'd love to EBF but I'm just not sure I can stock pile enough milk to last LO while I'm gone for a whole week.

Target diapers! I have priced them out and they are cheaper then Costco. The best part, you can do free delivery. If you sign up for a target red card ( which is free!) shipping is free, and you save 5%. The red card can be a debit card so no ding on your credit. Look in to it.

I had my first in pampers for a year (ordering through amazon) and I cringe at all the money I wasted.

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 14, 2012 10:30:20 GMT -5 @bearysweet10 said:

Dec 13, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 baconlettucetomato said:

I think them being delivered is the biggest appeal of amazon. I travel a lot for work so once I go back to traveling and DH is solo parenting I'd like to help in any way that I can. If that means ordering the diapers so they're home when he gets home at the end of the day with LO then I'd like to do that.

This also makes me think we need to figure out formula. I'd love to EBF but I'm just not sure I can stock pile enough milk to last LO while I'm gone for a whole week.

Target diapers! I have priced them out and they are cheaper then Costco. The best part, you can do free delivery. If you sign up for a target red card ( which is free!) shipping is free, and you save 5%. The red card can be a debit card so no ding on your credit. Look in to it.

I had my first in pampers for a year (ordering through amazon) and I cringe at all the money I wasted.

Interesting. I'll have to look more into that! Thanks!

[holly116]

When we did disposables, I found that a good, rough estimate was one super large box a month. That's what I had shipped from Amazon and we never ran out. The smaller the diaper size, the more per box so it evens out for the beginning when you're going to go through more frequent changes.

If I were you and trying to budget, I'd figure out where you're going to buy from, look at how much the large box is for Pampers/Huggies, and multiply that by 1.25-1.50 to give yourself a high estimate. If you end up liking Target diapers or coupon, awesome! You'll be under budget! I'd probably add another $15-20 month for a big box of wipes, diaper genie refills, rash cream etc. That should at least get you in the ballpark.

I agree with others and wouldn't stock up too much. I had a small box of each newborn sized pampers and Huggies on hand to see which ones I liked better once I actually had a baby. If you want to be super prepared, have the $$ set aside and then order them/buy them as needed. I saved some between kids when they outgrew the box before it was empty, and they were all weird just 18 months later.

[birdmom]

Another vote for Target diapers. Priced right and I don't think we've ever had a leak or a blowout.

[pugz]

Make sure you follow the baby cheapskate blog. She lists diaper/ wipe deals on sundays

[statlerwaldorf]

We spent between $25-35 per month including wipes. I used either Pampers Baby Dry from Amazon or Target depending on which one I could find cheaper. As dd got older, she didn't go through as many diapers, but there were fewer diapers per pack. I spent about the same since the bigger sizes were more expensive per diaper.

[ellipses84]

I found that less than $0.20/diaper for pampers is a good deal. Most other brands are cheaper. Make sure your baby tolerates a certain brand and "style" of diaper before stocking up too much. We've tried to switch to cheaper brands, but they give my son bad diaper rash. He has sensitive skin. If he's well within the weight for a size, I'll stock up, but if it is close, I will start stocking up on the next couple of sizes and buy his current size as needed.

[gibbinator]

As a newborn, he went through probably 10-12 diapers a day. That number has slowly decreased to 6-8

[Ashley&Scott]

Dec 13, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 baconlettucetomato said:

I think them being delivered is the biggest appeal of amazon. I travel a lot for work so once I go back to traveling and DH is solo parenting I'd like to help in any way that I can. If that means ordering the diapers so they're home when he gets home at the end of the day with LO then I'd like to do that.

This also makes me think we need to figure out formula. I'd love to EBF but I'm just not sure I can stock pile enough milk to last LO while I'm gone for a whole week.

I wouldn't give up hopes of EBFing yet. When will you start traveling again? Can you do shorter trips?

[baconlettucetomato]

Dec 15, 2012 11:24:02 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

Dec 13, 2012 16:02:27 GMT -5 baconlettucetomato said:

I think them being delivered is the biggest appeal of amazon. I travel a lot for work so once I go back to traveling and DH is solo parenting I'd like to help in any way that I can. If that means ordering the diapers so they're home when he gets home at the end of the day with LO then I'd like to do that.

This also makes me think we need to figure out formula. I'd love to EBF but I'm just not sure I can stock pile enough milk to last LO while I'm gone for a whole week.

I wouldn't give up hopes of EBFing yet. When will you start traveling again? Can you do shorter trips?

Not giving up but more mentally preparing myself that it may not work. Right now my first trip after LO would be in the end of August. I travel for usually 5-7 days at a time. But it usually is once a month or so. I think I'm mostly worried about a) stocking up enough before that first trip b)pumping/storing BM while I travel. Should/can I get a cooler so I can pump and save it and fly it home with me?

[Ashley&Scott]

Getting the stash for the first trip might be a challenge, but after that you'll be restocking every time you come home.

I've never traveled with BM but other MM moms have. I would start another post asking what worked best for them. You'll want a cooler but others might have better recommendations on which one.

[dumbledore826]

If you are going to be using Pampers anyway (most hospitals use Pampers), here is a tip I was given when I did my hospital tour. Every time there is a nurse shift change, ask for another new package of diapers. I left the hospital with probably 8 full packages because of this. And its not stealing....the nurses encouraged it. I had one nurse come into my room, and say, "Oh, I don't see a pack of diapers" walk out, and come back with 2 packages.