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How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

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Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#191

Post by gus_massa »

anonym29 wrote: post #113
vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ That's like $3 per day (a coffee).” Or $1000 per year? That little coffee a day already pays for a vacation flight.

Assuming cloth diapers cost an extra 10 minutes a day, the time savings of disposable diapers are "worth" 60 hours a year. What do you value more - $1000 or 60 hours of your time?

I's estimating like 30 minutes per day.

It's not only the time to change them, also wash, dry, fold, store. Each part adds like 1 or 2 minutes for all the diapers, in particular folding can't be done in bulk. Probably wash the diapers with shit twice once to remove most of it manually (+ 1 or 2 minute) and one in the washing machine. The 10 minutes go away too fast.

An I remember my mother talking about boiling or blenching the diapers, add like 15 or 20 minutes 2 or 3 times per week (that's like 5 minutes per day). And I may be missing other hidden time sinks.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#192

Post by bombcar »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #158
ThePowerOfFuet wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>If you want to train later and the diaper companies make more money, that's how a market is supposed to work. They're providing a product you value. So all good! Yeah, if you don't give a shit about the environment.

Best thing for the environment would be to kill your kid and then kill yourself. People can and do have multiple priorities

Technically you should kill as many as possible "for the environment".

What we're really seeing in all this is so many parents are insecure in their parenting and decisions that they feel the need to jump to "do it my way or you're the literal devil."

If we take the charitable view, it's that things like "cloth diapers saved so much money I'm sad others don't try it" - which may be entirely true. But trying to use things like "if you use a diaper you are the cause of climate change" is something beyond.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#193

Post by jbgt »

joenot443 wrote: post #33

Have any parents tried Elimination Communication? Basically teaching your baby to inform you that they’re ready to go, and taking them to the toilet immediately. This is something my partner wants to try when we eventually have kids. Something I’d never heard of until last week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

It works well! And it's not huge effort either. Don't overpressure your self or your kid but go ahead and follow the method it's fine.

You'll be fine.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#194

Post by jbgt »

colmmacc wrote: post #54
joenot443 wrote: post #33

Have any parents tried Elimination Communication? Basically teaching your baby to inform you that they’re ready to go, and taking them to the toilet immediately. This is something my partner wants to try when we eventually have kids. Something I’d never heard of until last week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

EC only works if parents are the sole carers, and every success story I've heard had one main parent doing 90% of the care-taking. No daycare would do it, and if you can find a nanny, au-pair, grand-parent or other carer who is up for it ... small kids still just behave differently around different people. If they have a different level of comfort, anxiety, or reluctance with a person it breaks down.

No, you just don't have to be black or white about it.

At daycare they don't do it, that's ok. Do it at home. It's not a PROJECT, it's an orientation.

Take it easy.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#195

Post by xbryanx »

the_gastropod wrote: post #99
xbryanx wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But cloth diapers are obviously much better for the environment What about this is obvious? Water usage, transportation, fabrication factors, different usage patterns; seems like there are many things to tease apart here.

I think as a general rule: a reusable thing is more environmentally friendly than a single-use thing (especially when the reuse cycles are high). Yes, there are exceptions. But you’ve got the bizarre case to make here, if you want to suggest single-use diapers (that also use water, require transportation, are fabricated, packaged, etc.) are a more efficient use of resources.

My primary point is that it's not a slam dunk for either side. Nothing's obvious about the "impact" here. I you're interested in picking a product based on its environmental impact, there are going to be many factors to consider. Just peruse this 200 page report from the UK government on the subject:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c4096ed915...

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#196

Post by bombcar »

cm2012 wrote: post #108

"Big diaper" has made basically every form if diaper 80% cheaper compared to 30 years ago, also.

They also survive much more and much longer than they used to, and even compared to cloth they can store a substantial amount of wee without having the kid soaking in wet.

Of course, they have that blue line that appears at 0.01% wetness to encourage you to change it earlier, but ah well.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#197

Post by kqr »

jswelker wrote: post #138

I did the math meticulously when I had my first kid years ago, comparing store brand diapers vs cloth. Once you factor in the up front cost of the cloth diapers plus the cost of water and energy and detergent running the wash, the costs are virtually identical. The math looks better for cloth if you use them for years or multiple kids, but that's not super hygienic. That's not even factoring in time and convenience.…

Did you calculate based on buying cloth nappies second hand and then reselling them? That was a great alternative for my family. Worked out to something like $100 in total nappy costs for one child, including the opportunity cost of tying up the capital up front. That's less than $1 per week. Make it $1.5 if we include electricity and water costs of laundry, compounded over that period.

I would struggle to find single-use nappies for $1.5 per week in my area.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#198

Post by bombcar »

tshaddox wrote: post #187
abustamam wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure where you live but formula is not cheap here. We use disposables while traveling. It's just easier.

Is formula more expensive than the portion of the mother’s caloric intake that’s used to produce milk?

Very likely. A container of formula runs about $25 and contains 1800 calories (my count may be off). Considering the mother is often trying to lose babyweight I think you can find 1800 calories cheaper.

The main thing is that for many, formula is paid for via support programs, but unless you're down on SNAP you don't get diapers AFAIK.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#199

Post by bombcar »

tshaddox wrote: post #188
lukas099 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exclusive breastfeeding (not bottle feeding breastmilk) is less labor than formula. The problem is potential discomfort, and inability for both parents to split the labor more equally.

“Potential discomfort” undersells it.

Spending the time to get the baby to really latch correctly is well worth it, if my wife's experience is anything to go by.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#200

Post by bombcar »

jswelker wrote: post #143
abustamam wrote: post #5

We're using cloth diapers for our daughter (6m). She's still exclusively breastfed so no solid poops but so far I estimate we've saved over $100/mo by this decision. The story may change when she starts on solids but I recommend everyone to try out cloth diapers, just make sure you have a routine and system in place to make it less overwhelming (we have two diaper pails next to the changing table, one for disposable…

That math does not match my math with my kids. Does that factor in the price of water and electricity and detergent? And are you comparing to store brand diapers or the luxury name brand ones? The price difference is literally 5x for some sizes.

Every time I get tempted to try it the $20 gift card at Target keeps pulling me back in.
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