What can I expect to pay for diapers each month? About to be a new mom!

For a newborn, figure at least 12 a day. As they get older, less. My one year old goes through about 7 a day. In fact, the companies seem to design the box so that it lasts exactly one week. Of course, you can save by buying in bulk at a big-box store. You can also save by buying online at vendors with free shipping. But, I would say ~$25 per week, since that is the cost of the “week-size” box in my area. Maybe less where you live (I live in San Francisco).

Normally a newborn will go thru anywhere from 6 to 8 diapers a day, and you would use about 3 to 4 wipes per diaper change. So that would be around between 42 and 56–60 diapers a week. Later on you can probably go down to about 5–6 diapers a day.
The amount of money you have to budget depends on where you’re buying the diapers and how big a package (the bigger the better prices) you’re getting. Just plan for about 50 diapers a week and go from there

A newborn will need to be changed roughly 12–15 times a day, but it becomes less as they get older. I found that a package of diapers would last roughly one week.

I’m only a dumbass daddy, but get a Costco (or Sam’s if you’re republican) card. You’re getting ready to buy (and change) 5000–6000 diapers.

At first it’s cheaper. An arm.

Then a leg.

They use 10–15 per day for the first couple of months and then it steadily decreases.

If you are environmentally conscious opt for cloth—birdseye cotton diapers. They are cheap and five dozen will get you through to potty training. Buy six pair of vinyl pants in each size. Keep a thermal carafe of warm water in the nursery and use washcloths at each diaper change. No recurring purchases.

I also used cloth diapers and rubber pants-so much cheaper and greener.

@faye. And, you never have to run to the store at 10PM to buy diapers. :)

No, but you might be doing laundry!!

@faye Yeah, a shitload of laundry…Sorry, couldn’t resist. Kick me now.

I remember figuring out that a package usually lasts a week. The smaller they are, the more they go through. As they get older, they urinate and defecate with less frequency.

Most diapered babies also go through clothes daily. I suggest washable, reuseable, cloth diapers and plastic covers. You will have to the laundry once a day anyway, so what difference does it make if the load is smaller or larger.

If you do not have your own washer and dryer, you could consider a laundry service that does pick up and delivery.

@shilolo. I never found washing the diapers to be a big burden. A load about every three days. You don’t have to leave home to do laundry—and with an infant that’s huge.

@YARNLADY You wash dirty diapers with the baby clothes? It seems those would definitely need to be washed seperately right?

Congrats on being a new mom!!!

@BBSDTfamily excellent point about washing the two together. I would probably not wash poopy diapers with clothing or blankets. I know that poop gets on the clothes as well, but that is different from putting a bunch of soiled diapers in with the clothes.

A week a pack sounds about right. When you are in your doctor’s office if you fill out a form companies leave on the counter, you will get on lots of mailing lists and receive tons of diaper coupons. Some of the best can save you over a dollar on a package.

This is why I would invest in plastics and paper. GOLD….nuh uh. Paper and plastics. Diaper commodities can make you rich!!

With cloth diapers, you’re really supposed to be dumping the poop into the toilet…which is what people should be doing with disposables, but I never did it..and only do it now to try to show my son that poop goes in the toilet lol

We also bought in bulk, unless we had a diaper emergency, we would plan it out with coupons to buy in bulk.
As they get bigger, they get more expensive and less in the box. Newborn diapers aren’t too bad, you get like 250 for for I think close to $50. They lasted us a while.
Then you move up in sizes, but you don’t want to buy too many ahead of time because you don’t know what diaper will work best for your little one, and you don’t know how long they will be in certain sizes.

We have a membership to BJs (like Costco or Sam’s club) and get the generic diapers. I know, I know… nobody believes me, but they’re really just as good as the name brand ones. It’s about $22 per box as opposed to $30 for Pampers or Huggies.

Cloth ones could be a cost effective alternative. I don’t have experience with these (only because I can’t get my husband on board) but even if you do cloth ones half the time, that’s half the cost.

Good luck, and congrats, mama!

@ubersiren I’m so scared to buy the generic diapers and have wasted the money. I find Luvs to be the cheapest and get the job done. They do get quite saggy with very little moisture though.

Yeah, we were really hesitant in the beginning, but they have worked perfectly fine. For us, that is… It seems that different diapers work for different babies. Although, I will say that BJs brand specifically runs a little small and we had to go up one size, but Costco diapers were 100% fine for us.

@BBSDTfamily The soiled diapers are rinsed in the toilet first, then placed in a pail filled with soapy water, which is discarded before putting them in the laundry. It’s really no worse than washing underwear with ‘tracks’.

@YARNLADY Works just fine, doesn’t it? My diapers got so thin tho that I was tripling up by the time my third was trained!

@YARNLADY Ah now that sounds a lot better! I had a bad mental picture earlier! :p