Why are diapers so expensive? • Hacker News Board

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#481

Post by Domenic_S » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:21 PM UTC

Fnoord wrote: post #342

tartuffe78 wrote: post #322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had the the same issue with my now 5 month old, I'd guess most first time parents do.

This is one of the reasons why I am happy with Kraamzorg [1]. I learned from them that if you got a boy the first thing you do when you change a boy's diaper is put something on their penis (such as a burp cloth) so that they can't pee you in the face (or on the carpet/wall/door or w/e). I remembered that even though we don't have a boy; we had a girl about 2 months ago. :-) FWIW, we're changing diapers roughly every…

What makes it too early for cloth for you? They come in all kinds of sizes!

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#482

Post by tabbott » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:24 PM UTC

djrogers wrote: post #28

There are a couple of ‘facts’ listed here that don’t line up with my current reality and very recent knowledge (3 kids, most recent is 18mo). First off, 12 changes a day is a huge outlier - even for a newborn. 8 would be a more reasonable number, and it drops down to the 4-6 range in the first year, and by now we’re at 3 if we don’t go swimming. Second item that sounds waaay off is $1000/yr for diapers. Again, that h…

Ultimately, I think the main thing that's interesting about this article is how programs for the poor have so many restrictions on what one can buy with them that can create sorta random hardships (in this case, essentially none of the financial assistance program funds can be used to buy things one might want to spend money on when taking care of a baby, like diapers).

That said, we have a 4-month old, and she still needs 12-15 changes a day (it's only gone down a little since birth) to be happy. She starts crying the moment she wets her diaper, and that and being hungry are just about the only reasons she cries, so it really is important to change her often, and those 168-diaper boxes last more like 2 weeks. For us buying bulk packages at about the same ~$0.25 each price you are, it does cost like of $80/month i.e. $1000/year. My friends tell me the rate of diaper use goes down at about the same rate that the size of the diapers go up (so a box of constant size lasts about a constant duration); I haven't researched the price for larger diapers, but wouldn't be surprised if companies price the larger diapers to keep a constant dollars/month rate.

This is also something that varies a lot more based on the kid than anything else. We have a friend whose kid was born the same week who never cries due to diapers and they have to set a schedule of checking to avoid her kid getting a rash, since the kid never asks for a change.

So I think certainly $80/month is the right number to think about from a policy perspective, since that's what they cost for a significant portion of families (even if you buy in bulk as we do). If some families (like our friends with the kid who doesn't complain about wet diapers) get away with less, that's great for them, but not much comfort to a poor family for whom this is a hardship.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#483

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:26 PM UTC

mythas wrote: post #37

I have an 8 month old and just the other day was thinking how are they able to make these things so cheaply? Seriously for 80 cents a day I can avoid the nightmare of cloth diapers (sorry planet). All the estimates in the post are soooo far off the mark. They are done with the cost of premium diapers for 4 year olds at the rate of use of a sub 2 month old. I’d say 350 bucks Canadian a year if I extrapolate out our co…

$350 a year is about what I pay. I have diapers arrive each month on Amazon Subscribe and Save. The price per box averages about $30 and we get 1/month. Every so often we might need to buy an additional box if we are running low.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#484

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

alistairSH wrote: post #465

war1025 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In addition to cloth diapers, babies got potty trained significantly younger than they do now. We had our daughter ~90% potty trained by her first birthday. From what we've found looking into it, that was extremely common until the past 50 years or so. Its not uncommon now for 3 year-olds to still be in diapers. That's two full years longer in diapers, simply because parents either can't be bothered to potty train th…

hvidgaard got it. The problem is the reliance on day-care providers, who have little incentive to stick to a potty-training regimen. Kids can be trained much earlier than today's average, but with today's time-crunched parents, it's hard.

Why would a daycare provider have little incentive to stick to the regimen? In my experience, daycare providers are usually the ones to push parents on potty training. Changing diapers means 1 staff is caring for 1 child. Once a child can go to the bathroom on their own, they have more time to spend with the other children. Additionally they have less waste, less need for storage of diapers and wipes.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#485

Post by parrellel » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

esaym wrote: post #451

I always take it personally when people complain about diaper costs. The fact is 30 years ago, most kids were out of diapers by the age of 2 [0] and nothing is stopping you from using reusable products just like people had to do 30 years ago. The shear unpleasantness of non-disposable diapers is what pushed people to start training their kids at age one. But now the "convenience" of throw away diapers leads modern pa…

Disposable diapers are required by, as far as I've been able to tell, all daycares, so if you're a working parent that "convenience" is in fact a functional necessity.

I'll agree that the later and later potty training is utterly disgusting though.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#486

Post by virusduck » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:30 PM UTC

There are organizations that help out with diapers in the US. Some notable: https://greaterdcdiaperbank.org http://nationaldiaperbanknetwork.org/

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#487

Post by speby » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:31 PM UTC

nostrademons wrote: post #149

djrogers wrote: post #28

There are a couple of ‘facts’ listed here that don’t line up with my current reality and very recent knowledge (3 kids, most recent is 18mo). First off, 12 changes a day is a huge outlier - even for a newborn. 8 would be a more reasonable number, and it drops down to the 4-6 range in the first year, and by now we’re at 3 if we don’t go swimming. Second item that sounds waaay off is $1000/yr for diapers. Again, that h…

I just had a kid 2 months ago, and 12 changes a day doesn't seem all that unreasonable for a newborn. At our one-month checkup he was averaging 9 pees & 5 poops per day - several of the poops were doubled-up where he also peed, so a dozen per day is about right. It's dropped a bit since, but instances where a single changing results in multiple diapers used (eg. he shits the table right as I'm getting the new diaper…

10 changes/day is a lot, even for a newborn. This number quickly drops to perhaps 4-6 per day, and continues to drop towards 1 year of life. As others have mentioned, it would not be uncommon to get to around 3 per day for a 1-3 year old. I also speak from experience with my own kids and would back that up as true.

Therefore, the cost of diapers is probably quite a bit less than $1000/year even in the worst case.

We've also invested in decent reusable cloth diapers. To buy "enough" of them so we aren't running out or doing laundry on a small set of them every few hours, we spent around $600 or $700 for a good bunch of them. These are reusable for years, and even across children. There's even a decent resale market for them if you can believe it. By far they are the cheapest means of diapering children, especially multiple children over time. However, the downside is quite an increased amount of laundry logistics. And, in some cases, it doesn't obviate the need for disposable diapers. For example, if you're going somewhere for the whole day, it might be easier to use disposables since you don't have to carry around soiled cloth diapers. Or if the kids visit other family... sometimes just simpler to rely on disposables.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#488

Post by giarc » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

ggg9990 wrote: post #447

senorjazz wrote: post #401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

3 kids, all been in cloth / reusable nappies. We were not militant strict. Used dispoable for night due to extra absorption. But day time use, pretty much only reusable. Anecdotal of course, but they all were toilet trained before other kids. Whether that is because it is more noticeable the nappy is wet and uncomfortable or other factors (wife was home all the time, kids in a nursery from a young age all day seemed…

“Wife was home all the time” is the key here and a luxury not available to all.

Cloth diapers are expensive. My wife and I bought them and tried them for about a week before giving up and selling our stock. So for one there is a large upfront cost, and if parents can get over that hurdle, there is also the need to find a daycare that will 1. accept a child in cloth diapers and 2. be reliable enough to send back your cloth diaper investment.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#489

Post by cf1463456 » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:32 PM UTC

esaym wrote: post #451

I always take it personally when people complain about diaper costs. The fact is 30 years ago, most kids were out of diapers by the age of 2 [0] and nothing is stopping you from using reusable products just like people had to do 30 years ago. The shear unpleasantness of non-disposable diapers is what pushed people to start training their kids at age one. But now the "convenience" of throw away diapers leads modern pa…

I personally find the line of thought of your post rather astonishing and even after a few years I am still not sure, how much of this is somewhat representative of a deeply disturbing mentality which is stereotypical "american" and what is just a individual abnormal lack of empathy and more so, being annoyed, that others arent even worse off.

>I always take it personally when people complain about diaper costs.

Like another poster said, you are aware, that the post is written by mother of a newborn struggling to make ends meet. Do you really take it personally, that a poor mother in the developed world is complaining about diaper prices instead of using reusable diapers? In a country where paternity leave is not the norm? And your argument boils down to the assumed availability of aid agencies?

As I am still not sure if there is a cultural misunderstanding here, Are you aware, that in some regions, arguments like this are considered deeply antisocial and seen as a lack of basic human decency?

Normally I wouldnt think to much about a post like this, seeing as you are posting it here, you have to assume, that you are making a worthwhile argument which might convince someone after he engages with the facts you put forward.

I am just lost on this.

Re: Why are diapers so expensive?

#490

Post by raiyu » Thu, Apr 05, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

rgovostes wrote: post #375

GordonS wrote: post #302

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the latter is the bigger of the issues. 360 nappies will generally last for 2 months. If you can't afford a mere $30 for that, then it's a case of your priorities being wrong (e.g. buying alcohol, tobacco, Netflix etc before thinking about your kids' needs) - in which case you should probably give serious consideration over whether you should bring kids into the world.

Did you read the article before writing this presumptive and judgmental comment? She had a difficult pregnancy and thought this would be her only chance to have a child. She left her job to avoid being exposed to harsh chemicals that could jeopardize her pregnancy. On welfare, she was allotted only $180/mo for necessities beside food. When her partner got a job, she was disqualified for the assistance—he had to work…

Well technically speaking, you kind of pointed out yourself how the mother is sort of an unfit parent.

Parenting is to provide for the child, not just emotionally, which I'm sure this mother does a tremendous job of, given how much she has sacrificed for the child's well being, but also to provide physically as well.

It seems like the couple were on the border of poverty before the child was conceived, so it wasn't a wise financial decision to do so.

Yes it's a rough situation, but as many commenters have pointed out you can do cloth diapers, more tedious to clean, but saves you supposed $1,000. As others have also pointed out you can goto Church or various other organizations that provide support. And more importantly you could have budgeted and realized, though you want to have a child, this is probably a bad decision.

Kids get more expensive as they grow up, not less, so if there are already issues around diapers, the situation will only get worse as time goes on.

Just saying, this isn't an unwanted pregnancy, this was a predetermined choice, so certainly some accounting and pre-planning could have been involved to show, this is definitely a bad decision before hand and will create a tremendous amount of strain on the parents as well as eventually on the child.