Monday, June 16, 2008

How many diapers in a pack?

Pricing diapers is like comparing apples to oranges. When you look at the sales ad, the number of diapers per pack is often obscured.

Baby Cheapskate to the rescue! Angie has compiled a chart with brand, size, and number of diapers per pack.

Now you can whip out the calculator on the couch--not in the aisle with a toddler climbing out of the seat.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Boy, isn't that the truth! The sales ads NEVER seem to give an actual count of diapers, so this will be very helpful. Thanks, Meredith!
Susan

Anonymous said...

Thank goodness for cloth diapers. I used cloth for 2 reasons. One the cost. As a stay at home mom, with a husband in school at the time, I could not afford the disposable diapers. Then the one time I did buy a package of disposable diapers to use on a trip my son had an alergic reaction to them. So it was cloth all the way after that. It was really not all that much extra work. I enjoyed hanging the diapers out in the sun to dry. I did not own a dryer till my oldest son was 2. So even in winter I hung diapers to dry. I made it through his diaper training with just 4 dozen diapers. My son is now 34 years old. I still have a few of his diapers. I use them to dust with. I used the same diapers for 2 baby boys. Roxie

Karen said...

I've never been that attentive to diaper prices, although when my kids used formula, I had a target cost per oz I used when buying generic formula on Ebay, vs buying generic formula at the stores.

I have almost always skipped Huggies/Pampers and Luvs brands and instead purchase Target generic and White Cloud (at Wal Mart) dipes. I've noticed the prices to be comparable when I've paid attention. My only gripe with Target generics is they don't print the size on the diaper, which can be frustrating if you have two kids in diapers in different sizes.

I've only bought brand name for the pull ups (huggies) and swim diapers, and I try to get those on sale although we haven't used nearly as many specialty diapers as the plain generic or White Cloud ones.

I've been very happy buying generics and have found them to perform well for our family.

Anonymous said...

I agree with using cloth diapers. I used them on both my kids (ages 3and 2 now). And I am all ready to go again with my third one (currently pregnant). I use the fitted kind that have elastic at the legs and waist and they close with velcro. I use a very simple nylon diaper cover to keep clothes dry. I use a nylon liner for my diaper pail that washes with the diapers. I also use cloth wipes. Not as gross as you would think. Since my whole set cost around $250and they say the average kid uses around $700-$900 worth of disposable before potty training, I think I am saving money.

Meredith said...

I don't disagree that cloth diapers are the way to go.

Just wanted to provide a helpful resource for parents who are buying disposables.

Anonymous said...

With my second, I used sposies until size 3, and then made the plunge into cloth (using AIOs), as I figured my payback was 4-5 months and I knew I would be able to use the mediums for close to a year, and then the larges I used for almost 2 years.

I did use sposies for outings, but we went through far less since we were home a lot more anyway. :)

For brands, I did fine with WM's White Cloud, Sam's Members Mark and Target's Premium for my second ... it was also my goal that time around to not use any "name brand" diapers. Some of the other generic brands were a waste of money as they did not work well for us.

Anonymous said...

On a slightly different note: I "made" cloth wipes for my current baby and it's soooo easy and cheap! I bought a knit sheet at a thrift store and cut it into squares. I don't mind the laundering and I feel happy saving money and not filling the landfill with packaging and used wipes.

I don't have experience with disposables diapers - we have a diaper service which I LOVE.

Anonymous said...

I remember when disposables came out and you had to pin them on - no velcro, no elastic at the legs, and did they ever leak! It gave a real sense of satisfaction to see those cloth diapers all hung out to dry, just flappig in the breeze. And the sun would serve to bleach and freshen them too. Oh, for the "good ol' days." :) Mrs. L.

Angie said...

Thanks for the mention, Meredith!

(We love cloth diapering at Baby Cheapskate, too!)

Kristy said...

I use cloth on my 3 month old. I spent baby shower gift cards on 2 dozen diapers (prefolds) and inherited lots of covers (Bummis) in both small and med. sizes from friends whose kids are out of diapers now. So I got my cloth diapers basically for free. Yay!

I do plan on buying another dozen diapers and may splurge on some AIO's or pocket diapers so my hubby can use them. He's afraid of the prefolds.

I find cloth to be very little extra work and such a huge savings. I use the same pail I was using for disposables. Every other day I take the bag (I use regular kitchen trash bags) down to the washer and dump the diapers in. I pre-wash in cold with no soap, then wash in hot with soap and vinegar in the downey ball (no fabric softener, it makes them less absorbent). I dry them in the sun if they're getting stained. Otherwise into the dryer they go.

I'm also planning on making my own re-usable flannel wipes out of some fabric I got out of the remnant bin at the fabric store. Then I can stop spending money on those too.

I do still keep disposables around for the hubby and for trips out and about. I haven't found a good solution for bringing home dirty cloth diapers.

Anonymous said...

I see some of you ladies make wipes from old flannel etc. That is good, not going to argue with that, but what I use (I am a licensed home day care provider in Texas) is real wash cloths. I buy all blue for diapers only. I buy them cheap at Target or Wal*Mart. I wash them every day in hot water and dry them on a line or rack in my laundry room if the weather is bad. I know if it is a blue wash cloth it is for 'bottom' use only. I use wash cloths as napkins too for the children. I buy yellow for napkin use. For family use we have white. Works well, is not expensive, and keeps disposable out of the landfill. Roxie

Anonymous said...

Roxie, I combined the two ideas into one, making a dual-purpose wipe, flannel on one side and washcloth on the other. :) They are fantastic.

As to the original question... "How many diapers in a pack?"
How about none? Natural infant hygeine saves landfills and cloth diapers (though you can still use a couple if wanted)! A good site to check out information on this is http://www.natural-wisdom.com/faq.htm


I love your site, keep up the lovely work!

Meredith said...

Very good, Mrs. Gunning!

I have tried a modified version of EC with Elise, and it worked pretty darn well. We did not do the infant stage, nor did we follow a proscribed book method.

However, just simple mindfulness around the house during the daytime saved us tons of diapers (or diaper washing, if you go cloth).

She potty trained much easier at about 22 months--and would have been faster if I had been more deliberate in the process.

Anonymous said...

I switched to cloth for enviornmental reason. You can order Kushies from Walmart at a very resonable price! They are great. I use disposables when I need to but I love knowing I never have to make that last minute run to the store just for diapers. I have also found generics to be just as good as the brands. So congrats and good luck!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, Elise is already potty trained! I assumed you would have 2 in diapers for awhile. My little one will be 2 tomorrow but does not stay dry at night, so his doctor does not recommend trying to potty train yet. We have been reading books together about it (obviously, age-appropriate books with pictures and simple language) and have bought some "big boy underwear" to introduce him to the concept. He is totally conversational now so we do talk about it, but he has asked to wear his diaper after the underwear is on for a few minutes. Sometimes he asks to put the underwear on over his diaper, so I think we are getting close - maybe before long pants and winter clothes! What is EC, by the way?

Anonymous said...

Well, I just used Google to find out that EC is Elimination Communication. Huh, to each his own, but this is definitely not for me!

Meredith said...

Like I said, we did our own pared down version once she was no longer an infant. The books with photos of newborns over a bowl grossed me out, too.

thought it was worth a try, especially on days when we were home for long periods.

all in all, it was MUCH less work (and cleanup) than potty training my reluctant 3 year old boy was!

Anonymous said...

You are right about when the disposable diapers first came out. My son is almost 35 now. He is the one that had a very alergic reaction to the diapers. I brought a 'name brand' back then called Kimby. It was so cute. Triangle shaped. I just knew I was going to be a 'modern mother' and use these 'wonderful NEW and IMPROVED' diapers on my son. If you could have seen what the chemicals in that diaper did to his skin; I felt so bad. He had blisters and running sores on his bottom before I got him to the doctor and the doctor told me to not use the diapers any more. (well duh? how dumb was I?) Just glad he does not remember. Roxie

MommyLydia said...

For some people cloth diapers are not the way to go.

For example, apartment living. We did the math and right now, it is not cost effective for us to do the loads of laundry that cloth diapering would make necessary. This is before you discuss whether we are allowed to wash diapers in our communal washers.

We certainly are NOT allowed to hang anything out to dry on our balcony.

When we move to Austin, I am making having W/D a requirement so we can cloth diaper. but right now, not going to happen.