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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

#201

Post by thatfrenchguy »

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.

Eh, you have to wash poop off them in a washer at high temps, so it’s a bit harder to compute. IIRC if you use the dryer it’s a wash: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c4096ed915...

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

#202

Post by thatfrenchguy »

vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #87
gus_massa wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like $3 per day (a coffee). Most diapers only get pee, but cloth diaper are more difficult to use, let's add 2 extra minutes, 4 or 5 times per day. No solids means "not hard rock solids", they still make a nasty stinky brown paste. Hopefully only once per day. But that diaper MUST be partialy hand-washed, don't put it as is in the washing machine. At least a partial hand wash and then go with the rest to the w…

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

Yeah, but you can hunt for discounts to reduce that bill quite a bit

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

#203

Post by thatfrenchguy »

konne88 wrote: post #116

TLDR: 80% of kids used to be potty trained by age one. Nowadays parents train later, because diapers are so convenient that its feasible to wait until the kids are older where it's easier to train them. This provides massive revenue to diaper companies. ---- This seems roughly plausible. I have never been successful at training 1 year olds to be potty trained, because there is so much exposed poop & pie involved over…

I had to go look at my Costco and Amazon orders to check because my intuition was that I spent so much more money in diapers in the first year and indeed, that was like ~75% of the cost of the first two years. Toddlers get changed so much less often than babies, and you can plan your purchases way more easily, so I’m not even sure they make that much money off those.

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

#204

Post by abustamam »

giardini wrote: post #178
gus_massa wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's like $3 per day (a coffee). Most diapers only get pee, but cloth diaper are more difficult to use, let's add 2 extra minutes, 4 or 5 times per day. No solids means "not hard rock solids", they still make a nasty stinky brown paste. Hopefully only once per day. But that diaper MUST be partialy hand-washed, don't put it as is in the washing machine. At least a partial hand wash and then go with the rest to the w…

Quick trick for processing dirty cloth diapers: After changing and settling the child, take the dirty cloth diaper to the bathroom, open the toilet, drop the solids into the pot and flush. Grasp the two ends of the diaper, turn it inside out, and dip the middle of the diaper (where the solids were and where some may remain) into the toilet water several times to rinse it further. Flush. Squeeze out the diaper and dro…

Thanks for the tips! Favoriting this for future reference

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

#205

Post by abustamam »

thatfrenchguy wrote: post #175
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…

Hard to say how much money you’ve saved because running the washer and dryer is not free though :)

This is true! Hard to gauge how much we spend there.

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

#207

Post by bombcar »

colmmacc wrote: post #22
cowpig wrote: post #12

I feel like the time demands of modern life are the main culprit here. Today families mostly need two working parents, which means nobody to take care of the baby full-time. If you have someone taking care of them full-time, toilet training early is usually easy and a net time save. But if you can't ever invest that time because of the time version of the poverty trap, you are in diapers until the kids are developed…

Our two year old is potty training right now, and this was definitely a factor for us. We had to wait until it could be explained. Another factor is that diapers are now so absorbent that the kid feels no real discomfort from a pee or a poop. His main motivation is peer pressure and to be a bigger kid; concepts he's only recently caught.

Swim diapers are not really absorbent and can be a good "make him feel it" substitute while still containing the worst of the explosions.

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

#208

Post by abustamam »

bombcar wrote: post #198
tshaddox wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yeah we don't qualify for SNAP (as an aside I'd be curious how many HNers do qualify). My area also has a program called WIC (women infant children) which I'm pretty sure covers diapers but not totally sure.

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

#209

Post by kqr »

A lot of people in this discussion seem to compare the price of single-use nappies to that of buying new cloth nappies and then giving them to the landfill once done with one child.

I can strongly recommend buying them second hand and then reselling them. They become effectively free at that point. (I get it to come out to $1.5 per week, including the iost of running laundry and the opportunity costs of tying up the capital in nappies.)

I'm also happy to hear about more people doing the hybrid approach. It's not all-or-nothing. One of our children peed so much at night they had to wear disposable nappies overnight but could do with reusable during day. We also packed disposable for longer outings or trips.

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

#210

Post by kqr »

tetromino_ wrote: post #119
sfpotter wrote: post #88

Cloth diapers are good. We used them for our last kid with a diaper service and are going to do it again washing them ourselves with our next who is due at the end of the month. Regular diapers are useful to have either way. But cloth diapers are obviously much better for the environment and if they're an option for you, you should consider them. Not a hard concept, not worth a big discussion.

> But cloth diapers are obviously much better for the environment It's obvious only if you save and reuse the same set of cloth diapers for 2 or more babies. (Which places some constrains on brand, durability etc.) If you have only one kid, I am not sure which side is environmentally more friendly; growing and processing all that cotton (not to mention the plastic for all the waterproof covers) uses a lot of water an…

> only if you save and reuse the same set of cloth diapers for 2 or more babies.

... or buy and sell second hand. Reusable nappies treated well retain surprising value.

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