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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

#241

Post by bombcar »

UncleMeat wrote: post #93
db48x wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m no expert, but I suspect that going from disposable diapers to cloth diapers would not be quite that bad.

Babies are incredibly difficult even in the best case. Sleep deprivation is intense. Breastfeeding is difficult. Adding in small additional difficulties adds up. "This is a bit more difficult" becomes a huge mess when you are on three hours of sleep and there are 10 different "this is a bit more difficult" things that people are suggesting to you. Add this on top of any sort of complex baby (illness, allergies, colic…

Babies are incredibly difficult even in the best case. Sleep deprivation is intense. Breastfeeding is difficult. Adding in small additional difficulties adds up. "This is a bit more difficult" becomes a huge mess when you are on three hours of sleep and there are 10 different "this is a bit more difficult" things that people are suggesting to you.

Add this on top of any sort of complex baby (illness, allergies, colic, slow weight gain, etc) and suddenly the slightly less complex door dashing a warm bottle of formula becomes a godsend just to save a few minutes or a bit of mental load.

Anything can become normalized.

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

#242

Post by bombcar »

Archonical wrote: post #47

With declining birth rates in the west, wouldn't it also make sense that Big Diaper is increasing prices and expanding into luxury products while unit sales go down? Expanding into products for the elderly, like incontinence, would also make sense, or perhaps expanding products into more countries (I don't know the global reach of say Pampers). I know it's not the same thing as enshitification, and I don't know if th…

Big Diaper already makes product for elderly, etc (look at the brand owners, there's not very many).

They're also probably developing a baby with two butts to double sales.

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

#243

Post by bombcar »

jwrallie wrote: post #18
Forgeties79 wrote: post #7

That does strike me as pretty early but hey, I’m sure it happened and it still happens! But I do agree with the core thesis that people seem to be waiting a very long time. How long is “too long“ is hard to determine though if you ask me. Potty training is not just about when your kid is ready, it’s also about when the parents have capacity to handle it because frankly it is an incredibly intensive, involved, messy p…

I had almost the same experience, with around 18 months it felt possible but ultimately it was frustrating for everyone so we waited more, a few months later we tried again and it went smoothly. The main factor was she could understand what we were doing much better just because she understood more words. I think 2 years is a sweet spot.

A big part of it is modern diapers keep them so dry unless they're absolutely soaked that the feedback loop of "have to go" and "now I'm uncomfortably wet" is snapped.

The difference between modern "swaddlers" and "training pants" is basically the absorbance.

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

#245

Post by bombcar »

beAbU wrote: post #227
bombcar wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

After nappy number 200, which you'll reach by the first month probably, you'll become very good at gauging nappy fullness, and the nature of the filling by touch and smell alone. At that point the blue stripe is basically meaningless. I can tell if my baby needs a change just by picking her up.

Yeah the only real thing the stripe does is encourage people to change early (and often).

If the diaper is darn close to a lethal weapon weight, you can wait.

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

#246

Post by oseph »

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

My sibling used EC with my nieces and it worked really well! Took a bit of patience up front but the kids were basically potty trained within a few months of being born. They also used cloth diapers because accidents happen, but rarely so!

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

#247

Post by eager_learner »

tldr:

- In the 1940s, ~80% of kids were trained by their 1st birthday

-By 2004, the average completion age was 37 months (over 3 years old)

-That extra year of diapers = ~$3.1 billion annually for the industry

-A pediatrician named Brazelton popularized "wait until they're ready" advice in the 60s — and later became a paid Pampers spokesperson, which is... a conflict of interest

-Diaper companies responded by making bigger and bigger sizes (up to 65 lbs!)

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

#248

Post by caminante »

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.

No way. This quick math doesn't make sense and seems grossly shortsighted.

(1) You have to ingest more than 1800 calories to get 1800 calories of milk. I'm seeing a 1.25x multiplier at a minimum so 2250 cal.

(2) That's already close to a full daily calorie intake (3 meals).

(3) Kirkland formula is $13 per 2250 calories ($32/5400cal*2250cal). You're not beating $13 per 3 meals unless you're meal prepping.

(4) This doesn't even factor in the vitamin loading via formula.

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

#249

Post by TheScaryOne »

a_cool_username wrote: post #115
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.

I had planned to do cloth diapers if we had a diaper service available, for environmental reasons, but there's none where I live now and I definitely am not up for washing diapers by hand/pooping up my nice washing machine. Props to you for sticking with it.

They make portable nappy washing machines. They have resale value, just like well taken care of nappies.

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

#250

Post by UncleMeat »

bombcar wrote: post #241
UncleMeat wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Babies are incredibly difficult even in the best case. Sleep deprivation is intense. Breastfeeding is difficult. Adding in small additional difficulties adds up. "This is a bit more difficult" becomes a huge mess when you are on three hours of sleep and there are 10 different "this is a bit more difficult" things that people are suggesting to you. Add this on top of any sort of complex baby (illness, allergies, colic…

Babies are incredibly difficult even in the best case. Sleep deprivation is intense. Breastfeeding is difficult. Adding in small additional difficulties adds up. "This is a bit more difficult" becomes a huge mess when you are on three hours of sleep and there are 10 different "this is a bit more difficult" things that people are suggesting to you. Add this on top of any sort of complex baby (illness, allergies, colic…

I don't judge people who order out all the time or pay for a night nanny or do any of a million things that make life easier with an infant. Infants are fucking hard.
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