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There are a couple of ‘facts’ listed here that don’t line up with my current reality and very recent knowledge (3 kids, most recent is 18mo). First off, 12 cha

There are a couple of ‘facts’ listed here that don’t line up with my current reality and very recent knowledge (3 kids, most recent is 18mo). First off, 12 changes a day is a huge outlier - even for a newborn. 8 would be a more reasonable number, and it drops down to the 4-6 range in the first year, and by now we’re at 3 if we don’t go swimming. Second item that sounds waaay off is $1000/yr for diapers. Again, that has to be an outlier based on the worst possible set of assumptions. A box of 168 diapers lasts about a month and costs ~$40. That doesn’t add up... And finally, many of the charities I work with will hand out diapers or cards for free diapers to anyone who asks. If you’re really in a bind, call a local church, women’s shelter, or commissary! We really do want to help, but we have to know you need it.

mattbee 9y ago
I think you missed the part of the article where they talked about never having enough cash to buy in bulk, instead buying at 2 or 3x the unit cost in 5s and 10s from the corner shop.
- tw04 9y ago
  When bulk is $40, you're just making some really, really poor life decisions if you both have a kid, and can't find a way to save that much money in a 30 day window.
  - egypturnash 9y ago
    Condoms break, and it’s pretty damn hard to have an abortion if the only place you can get it done is halfway across the state.
    - briandear 9y ago
      Adoption? And, there are abortion clinics in Tampa Bay, where this story took place.
      - ada1981 9y ago
        The article did mention she has a rare condition meaning she might never be able to get pregnant and so this was may have been her only opportunity, so she choose it. I don't think she was complaining here, rather sharing vulnerably the truth of what life is like for her.
  - ansible 9y ago
    You are making other assumptions here too, like having a Costco or Sam's Club nearby to buy the giant packs of diapers. Low income people often don't have those nearby.
    - tw04 9y ago
      You can buy diapers in bulk from amazon, Target, Walmart, honest company (more expensive), etc. Costco and sams club have almost nothing to do with the conversation other than being one of many options.
  - zbentley 9y ago
    "Then you shouldn't have had a kid" is among the most useless, vacuously/pointlessly true at best (and cruelly stupid at worst) statements you can give to any parent, no matter their circumstance.
    - tw04 9y ago
      I guess it's a good thing I didn't say that then.
- adrr 9y ago
  I think thats a poor excuse. Even taking a payday loan out to buy a bulk bag(200 diapers) for $30 is more economical than buying a 10 pack every other day for $5. Pay day loan will cost $10 in fees but its cheaper than paying $75/m for diapers. And you just need do it once and save the $5 that you're spending every other day.
  - FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
    Using a legal loan shark to purchase nappies, we're now robbing Peter to pay Paul, the net gain once the legal loan sharks fees are rolled in would be pittance. How far did society have to fail for us to have to encourage the use of loan sharks so our children can take a shit, seriously? Edit: in an attempt to lighten the conversation which has suddenly became a class dividing conversation on economics and privilege. My most highly rated comment on Hacker News is now about shit. Brilliant. 2nd edit: Two people didn't approve and have either removed an upvote, or I've been downvoted. More drama than a soap box here today.
    - zeth___ 9y ago
      Have we thought about feeding the weaker children to the stronger ones and making diapers out of their skin? It's only a modest suggestion.
      - FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
        I think we've found the inspiration for Cloud Atlas' Xultation. 'Let Them Eat Xultation' - Marie Antoinette, probably.
      - KON_Air 9y ago
        Great idea, soft ideas like supplementing disposable diapers with washable kloth diapers wouldn't kreate the HARDKORE-ULTRA-VIOLENT generation we need anyhow.
        dang 9y ago
        Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?
- Robotbeat 9y ago
  I do not blame stressed people (single mother most of all!) from making decisions based on lack of time. However, it really IS helpful to make a larger purchase. You can think of convenience-purchase-pricing of things you use regularly at home like loan-sharking at exorbitant rates. It hits those least capable of affording it. The flip side is you get a huge benefit from scrounging for the money/time to get the bulk package. It's like an small investment that returns 200%. My wife makes fun of me, but I often buy a large amount/quantity of a few items at the grocery store, i.e. ones that we already use regularly, that I know the usual price of, so I know when a "sale price" (or bulk price) is actually a good deal. This only really works well for things that are shelf-stable, of course. Diapers are definitely one of the things you should try to buy in large packages when the prices are low. It genuinely is hard for a single mother to do this, but there's a significant payback in both money AND time.
  - NoGravitas 9y ago
    It's not just convenience. Because of cash flow (rent, groceries, etc), people on the poorer end of working class just never have enough money available at one time to do bulk buys, even with perfect money management.
nroach 9y ago
This article was from Tampa Bay, Florida. Different states have very different social services nets. And it also varies by metro area. Also, prices are often (perversely) cheaper for basics like food, gas, and diapers in wealthy areas vs poor areas.
rubicon33 9y ago
Why would people bring a child into the world if they can't even afford diapers, will always blow my mind.
- mirimir 9y ago
  Because they got pregnant. And an abortion wasn't possible, for medical or ethical reasons. Edit: Or for other people's ethical reasons, manifested as laws against abortion.
  - gizmo686 9y ago
    Or political. Abortion is not accessible in all parts of the country.
    - mirimir 9y ago
      Right, political. I was including that in "ethical". But I see my error.
    - EugeneOZ 9y ago
      Or religious. Most idiotic decisions were made by religious reasons.
      - ILikeConemowk 9y ago
        At which point did we, as a society, settle the philosophical conundrum that is taking an unborn life? Cells, fetus or baby? What is it? Since when? Why? How should it be done? I'm not religious at all but it seems to me that, at least tangentially, most religious believes are rooted in philosophical unknowns and feeling of uncertainty. Religious people then resort to their faith of choice as a way to find answers. Then again, since, as you say, being against abortion for religious reasons is idiotic, do we have an all encompassing scientific and philosophical answer about when, why and how it is "not idiotic" to perform an abortion? If we don't, because as far as I know we don't, then why is it idiotic to decide based on your inability to understand a situation for which other people do not have answers? As I said, I'm not religious and agree that religion is certainly not the only compass some people should lead their lives by. Nevertheless, your remark rubbed me the wrong way. "Idiotic," how can you be so judgmental if you to don't have answers to all the questions I listed above?
brohoolio 9y ago
12 changes a day is not an outlier for a newborn, it’s normal. My son is 18 months and we change him probably 6 times a day at least. Diaper pricing is dependent on how many you buy at once, I buy giant boxes so my unit cost is low. If you don’t have $40 to buy the giant box, but only $10 to buy a small package. You are paying twice the unit cost.
- distances 9y ago
  > 12 changes a day is not an outlier for a newborn, it’s normal. My son is 18 months and we change him probably 6 times a day at least. You can start potty training a kid at around one year's age though, which will decrease the need for diapers. That age depends on a kid of course, in my family it has started around when the kids learn to walk so age of 1-1.5.
  - billyhoffman 9y ago
    What? Potty training is dependent on physiological changes around muscle control. It is usually not possible before 18-24 months. I have 3 kids under 5, and 24 months is the earliest that interest to go on the potty started. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/toilet-training/Pages/Psychological-Readiness-and-Motor-Skills-Needed-for-Toilet-Training.aspx https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/...
    - snovv_crash 9y ago
      Then how do Asian kids do it by age 1?
      - Someone1234 9y ago
        I assume you're referring to China, since "Asia" is a big and diverse place. The Chinese use elimination training, or "potty on demand." You place the kid over the potty, make a specific sound they associate with going potty (you created the association previously) and they go. You then repeat this enough times in a day to eliminate the need for diapers. I don't think elimination training is potty training. In potty training you're teaching the kid to tell YOU when they need to go, in elimination you are telling THEM when to go. Plus in potty training they're doing "active holding" whereas in elimination you're aiming for things to never get to that stage by going "potty on demand" enough throughout a day. I think elimination training is very interesting and some parents have had great success mixing elimination with diapers to reduce the amount of accidents/cost. But even if they're trained on the elimination technique, they'd still need to be potty trained later, it just might be easier (since, again, you're asking them to tell you, rather than you tell them).
nostrademons 9y ago
I just had a kid 2 months ago, and 12 changes a day doesn't seem all that unreasonable for a newborn. At our one-month checkup he was averaging 9 pees & 5 poops per day - several of the poops were doubled-up where he also peed, so a dozen per day is about right. It's dropped a bit since, but instances where a single changing results in multiple diapers used (eg. he shits the table right as I'm getting the new diaper on, or he pees all over the table including the diaper that's waiting to be put on) have somewhat made up for that. Unit cost of a diaper is about $0.25-0.30 when bought in bulk (even with your example), so $1000/year = ~3200-4000 diapers = ~10 changes/day. Change your assumptions on diaper use and everything else lines up.
- Amygaz 9y ago
  And diapers are just the tip of the iceberg in term of spending. /sigh
  - watmough 9y ago
    It was a huge relief to get the children weaned, and off the giant vats of Similac ... I feel that was probably even more expensive than the diapers.
    - daeken 9y ago
      Oh man, diapers pale in comparison to formula costs. My daughter gets changed ~8 times per day, but she eats up to 36oz of formula. That's about $1.76 in diapers and up to $6.79 worth of formula. Add in DI water (since we make it from powder) and the obscene cost of bottles, and it gets even worse.
      - dpark 9y ago
        What's wrong with tap water? Formula still costs a lot, obviously, but you generally don't need special water for mixing formula unless your kid has an immune disorder or you live somewhere with unsafe tap water.
j79 9y ago
My son is 4 months old. For the first few months, 12 changes a day was definitely not an outlier. However, we were very quick to change his diaper once we noticed it was wet. $1000/yr for diapers is definitely possible. You and I may have the luxury of purchasing diapers in bulk, but for many people (such as the young woman in the article), 32 diapers for 10 bucks is reality.
z3t4 9y ago
I called doctors as I was worried my kid only pooped once every second day, he said the normal range was around 20 times per day to once every 10 day (don't remember exactly). The price of diapers also have a very large range from a few cent to a several dollar per diaper. So it's worth checking several markets. Poor people usually don't have much free time though. Especially when you have 3-5 small kids to take care of. Taking the buss around the city with all your kids is very impractical. Add the sleep deprecation and you wont have much patience either, and make stupid decisions. It is really hard to imagine the life of a poor family mother/father when you have a nanny that takes care of dressing, feeding, diapers, cleaning, washing, etc. It's basically a full time job.
arkades 9y ago
12 changes a day is not a huge outlier, but it is on the high end. Standard pediatrics holds that a newborn - infant that is not dehydrated should be producing 2-8 diapers of urine per day. A newborn should be producing a couple of BMs a day, down to once a day by age four (though IME once/day even relatively soon after birth is pretty common.) And the articles does say “as many as 12, though older kids need fewer.” So, that seems spot-on.
noetic_techy 9y ago
Our pediatrician explained that the frequency of changes varies. Some children go more than others, some less.
foobarbazetc 9y ago
$1000/year seems normal to me. Even when they start using less the older kid pack costs the same for fewer diapers... plus night diapers etc. Add wipes etc and you hit over $1000 easily.
dfsegoat 9y ago
Anecdotally I agree. Especially if you are buying the Costco branded diapers in the 168-count boxes. The Costco diapers (and formula actually) are the same mfgr as the name brands, at a significant discount.
- zefhous 9y ago
  Unfortunately for families that struggle with finances and like many other issues — it takes money to save money. People buying small packs as needed will end up spending significantly more than those who can afford to stock up at places like Costco. I also use Costco diapers, and I basically only buy them when they're on sale at $8 off per pack, which is a 20%-25% discount, depending on diaper size. To do this you have to: - be educated about looking at unit prices and be able to think through these issues - afford a Costco membership in the first place. Yes — it "pays for itself", but you have to afford it in the first place and have the self-control to not spend more than you should. - afford and plan accordingly to stock up by buying multiple boxes of diapers at a time when they're on sale. You have to buy enough that you don't need any for the 3-4 month gap between sales. Besides Costco, I've found that the Target brand is priced rather reasonably, even at the smaller quantities. The difference between buying newborn diapers at Costco sale prices vs a normal-sized Pampers box is $0.11/unit vs $0.28/unit. It's huge, and remains high as sizes go up ($0.21 vs $0.40 for size 5).
  - dragonwriter 9y ago
    > afford and plan accordingly to stock up by buying multiple boxes of diapers at a time when they're on sale. You have to buy enough that you don't need any for the 3-4 month gap between sales. Right, and “afford” doesn't just mean the price of buying the diapers in one shot (which is simply the discipline of saving for intermittent purchased) but also affording adequate storage space for the stockpile (including after all applying a similar strategy to any other productd for which it provides a higher return. The “cheaper if you buy bulk packs at Costco, and cheaper still if you buy multiple of those when they are on sale” thing is true, but is equivalent to “cheaper if you have a big chunk of storage space you can devote to it, and cheaper still if you have a giant chunk of storage space.”
ataturk 9y ago
I don't even think the article is asking the right question. Diapers may be "expensive" but so is everything else. I have two kids that both went through diapers (and yeah, formula) so I kind of take exception to all these people with their hands out because I know from my own experience and from living next door to a public health nurse on one side and a social worker across the street that people always have money for booze, cigarettes, and drugs while their kids are sitting in dirty diapers and not getting enough to eat. So while there is a social problem out there, it has more to do with people being complete fucking idiots than any other leading factor.
eco 9y ago
I have a 10 week old and we've kept meticulous logs of diaper changes[1] (and everything else). We get 12 diaper change days a couple times per week. 9 is more typical. $1000/yr is pretty high but not unbelievable. A lot of grocery stores and small shops don't sell diapers in cost saving bulk packages so it really just depends on where you live and your access to more economical options. 1. https://i.imgur.com/IAFAu18.png https://i.imgur.com/IAFAu18.png
tabbott 9y ago
Ultimately, I think the main thing that's interesting about this article is how programs for the poor have so many restrictions on what one can buy with them that can create sorta random hardships (in this case, essentially none of the financial assistance program funds can be used to buy things one might want to spend money on when taking care of a baby, like diapers). That said, we have a 4-month old, and she still needs 12-15 changes a day (it's only gone down a little since birth) to be happy. She starts crying the moment she wets her diaper, and that and being hungry are just about the only reasons she cries, so it really is important to change her often, and those 168-diaper boxes last more like 2 weeks. For us buying bulk packages at about the same ~$0.25 each price you are, it does cost like of $80/month i.e. $1000/year. My friends tell me the rate of diaper use goes down at about the same rate that the size of the diapers go up (so a box of constant size lasts about a constant duration); I haven't researched the price for larger diapers, but wouldn't be surprised if companies price the larger diapers to keep a constant dollars/month rate. This is also something that varies a lot more based on the kid than anything else. We have a friend whose kid was born the same week who never cries due to diapers and they have to set a schedule of checking to avoid her kid getting a rash, since the kid never asks for a change. So I think certainly $80/month is the right number to think about from a policy perspective, since that's what they cost for a significant portion of families (even if you buy in bulk as we do). If some families (like our friends with the kid who doesn't complain about wet diapers) get away with less, that's great for them, but not much comfort to a poor family for whom this is a hardship.
sizzle 9y ago
What about diapers not pumped full of BPA and other chemicals?

mattbee 9y ago

I think you missed the part of the article where they talked about never having enough cash to buy in bulk, instead buying at 2 or 3x the unit cost in 5s and 10s from the corner shop.

tw04 9y ago
When bulk is $40, you're just making some really, really poor life decisions if you both have a kid, and can't find a way to save that much money in a 30 day window.
- egypturnash 9y ago
  Condoms break, and it’s pretty damn hard to have an abortion if the only place you can get it done is halfway across the state.
  - briandear 9y ago
    Adoption? And, there are abortion clinics in Tampa Bay, where this story took place.
    - ada1981 9y ago
      The article did mention she has a rare condition meaning she might never be able to get pregnant and so this was may have been her only opportunity, so she choose it. I don't think she was complaining here, rather sharing vulnerably the truth of what life is like for her.
- ansible 9y ago
  You are making other assumptions here too, like having a Costco or Sam's Club nearby to buy the giant packs of diapers. Low income people often don't have those nearby.
  - tw04 9y ago
    You can buy diapers in bulk from amazon, Target, Walmart, honest company (more expensive), etc. Costco and sams club have almost nothing to do with the conversation other than being one of many options.
- zbentley 9y ago
  "Then you shouldn't have had a kid" is among the most useless, vacuously/pointlessly true at best (and cruelly stupid at worst) statements you can give to any parent, no matter their circumstance.
  - tw04 9y ago
    I guess it's a good thing I didn't say that then.
adrr 9y ago
I think thats a poor excuse. Even taking a payday loan out to buy a bulk bag(200 diapers) for $30 is more economical than buying a 10 pack every other day for $5. Pay day loan will cost $10 in fees but its cheaper than paying $75/m for diapers. And you just need do it once and save the $5 that you're spending every other day.
- FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
  Using a legal loan shark to purchase nappies, we're now robbing Peter to pay Paul, the net gain once the legal loan sharks fees are rolled in would be pittance. How far did society have to fail for us to have to encourage the use of loan sharks so our children can take a shit, seriously? Edit: in an attempt to lighten the conversation which has suddenly became a class dividing conversation on economics and privilege. My most highly rated comment on Hacker News is now about shit. Brilliant. 2nd edit: Two people didn't approve and have either removed an upvote, or I've been downvoted. More drama than a soap box here today.
  - zeth___ 9y ago
    Have we thought about feeding the weaker children to the stronger ones and making diapers out of their skin? It's only a modest suggestion.
    - FuckOffNeemo 9y ago
      I think we've found the inspiration for Cloud Atlas' Xultation. 'Let Them Eat Xultation' - Marie Antoinette, probably.
    - KON_Air 9y ago
      Great idea, soft ideas like supplementing disposable diapers with washable kloth diapers wouldn't kreate the HARDKORE-ULTRA-VIOLENT generation we need anyhow.
      - dang 9y ago
        Would you please stop posting unsubstantive comments to Hacker News?
Robotbeat 9y ago
I do not blame stressed people (single mother most of all!) from making decisions based on lack of time. However, it really IS helpful to make a larger purchase. You can think of convenience-purchase-pricing of things you use regularly at home like loan-sharking at exorbitant rates. It hits those least capable of affording it. The flip side is you get a huge benefit from scrounging for the money/time to get the bulk package. It's like an small investment that returns 200%. My wife makes fun of me, but I often buy a large amount/quantity of a few items at the grocery store, i.e. ones that we already use regularly, that I know the usual price of, so I know when a "sale price" (or bulk price) is actually a good deal. This only really works well for things that are shelf-stable, of course. Diapers are definitely one of the things you should try to buy in large packages when the prices are low. It genuinely is hard for a single mother to do this, but there's a significant payback in both money AND time.
- NoGravitas 9y ago
  It's not just convenience. Because of cash flow (rent, groceries, etc), people on the poorer end of working class just never have enough money available at one time to do bulk buys, even with perfect money management.

nroach 9y ago

This article was from Tampa Bay, Florida. Different states have very different social services nets. And it also varies by metro area. Also, prices are often (perversely) cheaper for basics like food, gas, and diapers in wealthy areas vs poor areas.

rubicon33 9y ago

Why would people bring a child into the world if they can't even afford diapers, will always blow my mind.

mirimir 9y ago
Because they got pregnant. And an abortion wasn't possible, for medical or ethical reasons. Edit: Or for other people's ethical reasons, manifested as laws against abortion.
- gizmo686 9y ago
  Or political. Abortion is not accessible in all parts of the country.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    Right, political. I was including that in "ethical". But I see my error.
  - EugeneOZ 9y ago
    Or religious. Most idiotic decisions were made by religious reasons.
    - ILikeConemowk 9y ago
      At which point did we, as a society, settle the philosophical conundrum that is taking an unborn life? Cells, fetus or baby? What is it? Since when? Why? How should it be done? I'm not religious at all but it seems to me that, at least tangentially, most religious believes are rooted in philosophical unknowns and feeling of uncertainty. Religious people then resort to their faith of choice as a way to find answers. Then again, since, as you say, being against abortion for religious reasons is idiotic, do we have an all encompassing scientific and philosophical answer about when, why and how it is "not idiotic" to perform an abortion? If we don't, because as far as I know we don't, then why is it idiotic to decide based on your inability to understand a situation for which other people do not have answers? As I said, I'm not religious and agree that religion is certainly not the only compass some people should lead their lives by. Nevertheless, your remark rubbed me the wrong way. "Idiotic," how can you be so judgmental if you to don't have answers to all the questions I listed above?

brohoolio 9y ago

12 changes a day is not an outlier for a newborn, it’s normal. My son is 18 months and we change him probably 6 times a day at least. Diaper pricing is dependent on how many you buy at once, I buy giant boxes so my unit cost is low. If you don’t have $40 to buy the giant box, but only $10 to buy a small package. You are paying twice the unit cost.

distances 9y ago
> 12 changes a day is not an outlier for a newborn, it’s normal. My son is 18 months and we change him probably 6 times a day at least. You can start potty training a kid at around one year's age though, which will decrease the need for diapers. That age depends on a kid of course, in my family it has started around when the kids learn to walk so age of 1-1.5.
- billyhoffman 9y ago
  What? Potty training is dependent on physiological changes around muscle control. It is usually not possible before 18-24 months. I have 3 kids under 5, and 24 months is the earliest that interest to go on the potty started. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/toilet-training/Pages/Psychological-Readiness-and-Motor-Skills-Needed-for-Toilet-Training.aspx https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/...
  - snovv_crash 9y ago
    Then how do Asian kids do it by age 1?
    - Someone1234 9y ago
      I assume you're referring to China, since "Asia" is a big and diverse place. The Chinese use elimination training, or "potty on demand." You place the kid over the potty, make a specific sound they associate with going potty (you created the association previously) and they go. You then repeat this enough times in a day to eliminate the need for diapers. I don't think elimination training is potty training. In potty training you're teaching the kid to tell YOU when they need to go, in elimination you are telling THEM when to go. Plus in potty training they're doing "active holding" whereas in elimination you're aiming for things to never get to that stage by going "potty on demand" enough throughout a day. I think elimination training is very interesting and some parents have had great success mixing elimination with diapers to reduce the amount of accidents/cost. But even if they're trained on the elimination technique, they'd still need to be potty trained later, it just might be easier (since, again, you're asking them to tell you, rather than you tell them).

nostrademons 9y ago

I just had a kid 2 months ago, and 12 changes a day doesn't seem all that unreasonable for a newborn. At our one-month checkup he was averaging 9 pees & 5 poops per day - several of the poops were doubled-up where he also peed, so a dozen per day is about right. It's dropped a bit since, but instances where a single changing results in multiple diapers used (eg. he shits the table right as I'm getting the new diaper on, or he pees all over the table including the diaper that's waiting to be put on) have somewhat made up for that. Unit cost of a diaper is about $0.25-0.30 when bought in bulk (even with your example), so $1000/year = ~3200-4000 diapers = ~10 changes/day. Change your assumptions on diaper use and everything else lines up.

Amygaz 9y ago
And diapers are just the tip of the iceberg in term of spending. /sigh
- watmough 9y ago
  It was a huge relief to get the children weaned, and off the giant vats of Similac ... I feel that was probably even more expensive than the diapers.
  - daeken 9y ago
    Oh man, diapers pale in comparison to formula costs. My daughter gets changed ~8 times per day, but she eats up to 36oz of formula. That's about $1.76 in diapers and up to $6.79 worth of formula. Add in DI water (since we make it from powder) and the obscene cost of bottles, and it gets even worse.
    - dpark 9y ago
      What's wrong with tap water? Formula still costs a lot, obviously, but you generally don't need special water for mixing formula unless your kid has an immune disorder or you live somewhere with unsafe tap water.

j79 9y ago

My son is 4 months old. For the first few months, 12 changes a day was definitely not an outlier. However, we were very quick to change his diaper once we noticed it was wet. $1000/yr for diapers is definitely possible. You and I may have the luxury of purchasing diapers in bulk, but for many people (such as the young woman in the article), 32 diapers for 10 bucks is reality.

z3t4 9y ago

I called doctors as I was worried my kid only pooped once every second day, he said the normal range was around 20 times per day to once every 10 day (don't remember exactly). The price of diapers also have a very large range from a few cent to a several dollar per diaper. So it's worth checking several markets. Poor people usually don't have much free time though. Especially when you have 3-5 small kids to take care of. Taking the buss around the city with all your kids is very impractical. Add the sleep deprecation and you wont have much patience either, and make stupid decisions. It is really hard to imagine the life of a poor family mother/father when you have a nanny that takes care of dressing, feeding, diapers, cleaning, washing, etc. It's basically a full time job.

arkades 9y ago

12 changes a day is not a huge outlier, but it is on the high end. Standard pediatrics holds that a newborn - infant that is not dehydrated should be producing 2-8 diapers of urine per day. A newborn should be producing a couple of BMs a day, down to once a day by age four (though IME once/day even relatively soon after birth is pretty common.) And the articles does say “as many as 12, though older kids need fewer.” So, that seems spot-on.

noetic_techy 9y ago

Our pediatrician explained that the frequency of changes varies. Some children go more than others, some less.

foobarbazetc 9y ago

$1000/year seems normal to me. Even when they start using less the older kid pack costs the same for fewer diapers... plus night diapers etc. Add wipes etc and you hit over $1000 easily.

dfsegoat 9y ago

Anecdotally I agree. Especially if you are buying the Costco branded diapers in the 168-count boxes. The Costco diapers (and formula actually) are the same mfgr as the name brands, at a significant discount.

zefhous 9y ago
Unfortunately for families that struggle with finances and like many other issues — it takes money to save money. People buying small packs as needed will end up spending significantly more than those who can afford to stock up at places like Costco. I also use Costco diapers, and I basically only buy them when they're on sale at $8 off per pack, which is a 20%-25% discount, depending on diaper size. To do this you have to: - be educated about looking at unit prices and be able to think through these issues - afford a Costco membership in the first place. Yes — it "pays for itself", but you have to afford it in the first place and have the self-control to not spend more than you should. - afford and plan accordingly to stock up by buying multiple boxes of diapers at a time when they're on sale. You have to buy enough that you don't need any for the 3-4 month gap between sales. Besides Costco, I've found that the Target brand is priced rather reasonably, even at the smaller quantities. The difference between buying newborn diapers at Costco sale prices vs a normal-sized Pampers box is $0.11/unit vs $0.28/unit. It's huge, and remains high as sizes go up ($0.21 vs $0.40 for size 5).
- dragonwriter 9y ago
  > afford and plan accordingly to stock up by buying multiple boxes of diapers at a time when they're on sale. You have to buy enough that you don't need any for the 3-4 month gap between sales. Right, and “afford” doesn't just mean the price of buying the diapers in one shot (which is simply the discipline of saving for intermittent purchased) but also affording adequate storage space for the stockpile (including after all applying a similar strategy to any other productd for which it provides a higher return. The “cheaper if you buy bulk packs at Costco, and cheaper still if you buy multiple of those when they are on sale” thing is true, but is equivalent to “cheaper if you have a big chunk of storage space you can devote to it, and cheaper still if you have a giant chunk of storage space.”

ataturk 9y ago

I don't even think the article is asking the right question. Diapers may be "expensive" but so is everything else. I have two kids that both went through diapers (and yeah, formula) so I kind of take exception to all these people with their hands out because I know from my own experience and from living next door to a public health nurse on one side and a social worker across the street that people always have money for booze, cigarettes, and drugs while their kids are sitting in dirty diapers and not getting enough to eat. So while there is a social problem out there, it has more to do with people being complete fucking idiots than any other leading factor.

eco 9y ago

I have a 10 week old and we've kept meticulous logs of diaper changes[1] (and everything else). We get 12 diaper change days a couple times per week. 9 is more typical. $1000/yr is pretty high but not unbelievable. A lot of grocery stores and small shops don't sell diapers in cost saving bulk packages so it really just depends on where you live and your access to more economical options. 1. https://i.imgur.com/IAFAu18.png https://i.imgur.com/IAFAu18.png

tabbott 9y ago

Ultimately, I think the main thing that's interesting about this article is how programs for the poor have so many restrictions on what one can buy with them that can create sorta random hardships (in this case, essentially none of the financial assistance program funds can be used to buy things one might want to spend money on when taking care of a baby, like diapers). That said, we have a 4-month old, and she still needs 12-15 changes a day (it's only gone down a little since birth) to be happy. She starts crying the moment she wets her diaper, and that and being hungry are just about the only reasons she cries, so it really is important to change her often, and those 168-diaper boxes last more like 2 weeks. For us buying bulk packages at about the same ~$0.25 each price you are, it does cost like of $80/month i.e. $1000/year. My friends tell me the rate of diaper use goes down at about the same rate that the size of the diapers go up (so a box of constant size lasts about a constant duration); I haven't researched the price for larger diapers, but wouldn't be surprised if companies price the larger diapers to keep a constant dollars/month rate. This is also something that varies a lot more based on the kid than anything else. We have a friend whose kid was born the same week who never cries due to diapers and they have to set a schedule of checking to avoid her kid getting a rash, since the kid never asks for a change. So I think certainly $80/month is the right number to think about from a policy perspective, since that's what they cost for a significant portion of families (even if you buy in bulk as we do). If some families (like our friends with the kid who doesn't complain about wet diapers) get away with less, that's great for them, but not much comfort to a poor family for whom this is a hardship.

sizzle 9y ago

What about diapers not pumped full of BPA and other chemicals?