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Why are diapers so expensive?

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Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#431

Post by manitoo »

Simulacra wrote: post #360

My husband and I are gearing up for our first pregnancy. We're at the point in our careers for we know we can actually afford this. That said, we are really liking the idea of washable diapers. I'm surprised this hasn't caught on. Instead of more diapers, what if the state paid for a service to collect and wash those?

Not the state, but major cities each have several good cloth-diaper-as-a-service (CDAAS?) companies. You pay a subscription fee and exchange dirty diapers for fresh ones every week. Makes the whole process convenient as using disposables.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#432

Post by ada1981 »

iambateman wrote: post #412
ada1981 wrote: post #271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Park Slope we have our food coop, which is co-owned by 16,000 of us and does just bulk buys of everything we need. We also voulenteer to work 3 hrs a month (I do childcare). Our groceries are the freshest, localist, most responsibily sourced and affordable in NYC 20-50% off other stores. FoodCoop.com

Thx for sharing this. Really cool. Where I live, I'm pretty sure we don't have a coop...but I want one!

We do about $50MM in revenue a year and also provide startup capital, training and voulenteer labor to help folks start their own.

Drop by for a tour and say hey if you do.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#433

Post by otterley »

logfromblammo wrote: post #427
otterley wrote: post #417

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Outside the US, distilled water is often called deionized water. Same thing, different name.

It is not the same thing. Deionized water may contain neutral organic molecules, including viruses and bacteria, as it uses ion exchange resins pre-loaded with protons and hydroxides to remove all other anions and cations. Distilled water has been vaporized out of one container and recondensed into another, so contains nothing but water and molecules that form azeotropes with water. Distilled water is deionized, but…

Nobody's arguing that they're identical processes. My point is about the _labeling_ differences. Distilled water is often sold as deionized water in various parts of the world.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#435

Post by war1025 »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #125
war1025 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We cloth diaper too (3 kids, a two and a half year old potty trained for about a year now, and 5 month old twins). Personally, I find disposable diapers to be way more disgusting than cloth. With cloth, you rinse it out and the majority of the gross stuff is down the drain. With disposables, you end up with a garbage can literally full of poop. Its like having a mini pit toilet in your house. We have also noticed, li…

> you rinse it out and the majority of the gross stuff is down the drain. How do you rinse it? What drain? > Get some quality covers and then buy a ton of flour sack towels. They make the best inserts. Super absorbent, cheap, and unfolds to a single layer, which means they get cleaner and dry faster. Don't understand this whole paragraph.

Diaper covers are basically the water-proof outer part of the diaper. Then you put cloth inside to handle the absorbing liquid.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/Thirsties-Wrap-Cloth-Diaper-Cover/dp/...

Flour sack towels are thin kitchen towels, I assume named how they are because they are the same material that people used to buy bulk flour in.

The picture is bad, but these are what we bought: https://www.theisens.com/products/flour-sack-kitchen-towel/8...

Basically its a towel a little less than 3 feet on each side. I fold it in half the long way, in half the other way, and then in thirds the original direction. You put that inside of the diaper cover, and then put it on the baby just like a disposable diaper.

When the baby pees, you replace only the cloth part. When they poop and it gets on the cover, you get a new cover as well.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#436

Post by steelbird »

dbatten wrote: post #298
shiftpgdn wrote: post #2

My wife and I cloth diapered both of our children. In addition to being radically cheaper it also resolved rashes/eczema in both kids as well as accelerated potty training. There is an 'ick' factor but liners and a toilet sprayer take care of 99% of that.

Serious question(s) from a father of 2 under 2... How do you get the cloth diapers clean? Like, really clean so they don't still smell after they've been cleaned? My wife and I were planning on cloth diapering. We bought some high-end cloth diaper and liners and started on our merry way. We found that no matter what we did, our little guy smelled like piss all the time. My wife was washing diapers 2 or 3 times in bet…

Our routine: Warm wash with Oxi-clean, Hot wash with detergent, air dry the covers, tumble dry high the inserts. Baby is 8 months and so far no smell and very little stains on the inserts.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#437

Post by war1025 »

GordonS wrote: post #303
war1025 wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you are making minimum wage, which I believe is ~$7.50/hr, and are most likely not working full time, that is a good chunk of a day's pay. Granted, if you are in that situation, you are probably getting some government assistance. Also, some people are just terrible at managing money.

It's not $30/ day , it's $30 for 360 nappies that will last around 2 months. Even if you're making minimum wage, you can afford that if you've got your priorities right.

But when you are bringing in $50 / day, you have a lot less money to work with. That's the point I was trying to make. $30 is inconsequential to me, but 4 hours of pay is.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#438

Post by pbhjpbhj »

brianwawok wrote: post #352
pbhjpbhj wrote: post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With my first child I decided pretty quickly I'd had enough of changing pooey nappies once we began with solid food; so we started at c.6 months with potty training. All the guides said don't even try until they're 2½ IIRC. At that age they can't usually sit up, you hold them on first thing in the morning, and any time you're changing them. Worked quite well. I added in audio cues after reading some Elimination Commu…

> All the guides said don't even try until they're 2½ That is absurd. I wonder if the diaper companies wrote them? We did something like 18 months which is far less impressive than yours but was not rocket science or anything. Maybe cheap diapers helped, as they don't feel as dry?

TBH I think that we probably started before we needed to, but poop in the potty means less mess for me to clean!

I suspect you may be right on both questions.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#439

Post by balls187 »

sspiff wrote: post #353
perakojotgenije wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> or he pees all over the table including the diaper that's waiting to be put on) Now, that's just you being n00b :-). Source: father of 3.5 years old and 4 month old kids. And yes, I also think 12 is too many. 8-9 diapers a day was max for a newborn, now 4 months later it's around 6-7.

This seems like a classic case of annecdotal evidence being extrapolated into general truth. Two kids from an identical environment and sharing the same ancestors are hardly a significant sample.

Read anything about child milestones, and you'll see a great degree in variability in the value.

6-7 diaper daily changes. Normal. 8-10 diaper daily changes. Normal.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#440

Post by balls187 »

shiftpgdn wrote: post #2

My wife and I cloth diapered both of our children. In addition to being radically cheaper it also resolved rashes/eczema in both kids as well as accelerated potty training. There is an 'ick' factor but liners and a toilet sprayer take care of 99% of that.

We travel a lot with our son. No way we were gonna do that with cloth diapers.
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