Monday, September 26th, 2011
Diapers. Tell Me About Them.
Friends, I am perplexed by the diaper situation. I need help. Target (who I really hate right now) has been running some great sales and I’ve picked a few packages of Huggies and Pampers up, but before I buy any more, I thought I’d ask the wise internets for help.
- How many newborn diapers should I have on hand? How about Size 1 diapers?
- How long was your baby in newborn diapers? Size 1? And, so on?
- What brand did you prefer?
- What kind of wipes did you like?
- Do you use Amazon Mom?
- Why am I obsessing over this?
- What has become of me?
Comments on this post
Sanctimonious Portlander alert: I used a cloth diaper service. I absolutely loved it. They pick up the diapers and bring you more clean ones. Way more convenient than disposable. And they increase the size when you ask so you don’t need to worry about having too much of one. But I also had a small stash of disposables on hand. If you’re going all disposable, check out costco for deals.
26. September - 10:54 amMelissa Lion´s last [type] ..Hello Internet?
We’re die-hard Pampers fans, here (but Baby Dry ONLY–nothing that has a scent). I’d buy a couple packs of newborns and Size 1s and then don’t worry about it, since you *will* be able to go to the store after baby’s here, I promise. (Or there’s always ordering online.)
We used Pampers wipes, unscented, and skipped the wipe warmer figuring it would ruin him for situations in which we didn’t have a warmer on hand, i.e., in the car, at Grandma’s, etc. We figured why piss off a baby we’d *trained* to expect a warm wipe.
Oh, and get a Diaper Genie, not a Diaper Champ. The latter needs special bags, the former works with anything, including plastic grocery bags.
26. September - 11:08 amagirlandaboy´s last [type] ..246 to 252 and 253 to 259
Newborn diapers= free Pampers from the hospital. They go thru them pretty fast at the beginning so having another package around at home is a good idea, but I wouldn’t have a lot of newborn sized diapers (unless tiny, tiny babies are typical in your family- my baby got huge FAST). She was in size 2s & 3s over the summer (June-September) and then 4s from early October until now (i.e. 4 months to 16 months).
26. September - 11:09 amWe like Huggies Pure & Natural when we use disposables (we do cloth & disposables), though the Target brand is pretty good too. I didn’t like Seventh Generation, but the Good Earth diapers are nice. I don’t like how Pampers smell. After our Amazon Prime expired I did start using Amazon Mom. So far I am pleased. I buy Target unscented wipes and we also use washcloths at home.
Good Earth= Earth’s Best.
26. September - 11:13 amAlso, my baby was pretty giant, so her size experience is probably not a good basis. She weighed almost 15lbs at 2 months.
You will obsess about many more things! I say try a few packages of each. Babies are all shaped differently and you may find that one brand works when baby is tiny and not moving that much, one works when baby is sleeping, etc. Buy a few, but I wouldn’t go overboard is what I’m saying. I have no idea how many diapers we went through, sorry. As far as wipes, I think we used Huggies Gentle Care?
26. September - 11:33 amI swore by Huggies supreme. My babies had chunky legs and these seemed to fit the best. Also, they fit Suki’s bubble butt. It was so big it was dimpled.
My Friend swore by Pampers. Her baby had chicken legs and no bootie.
I preferred Target brand non-scented wipes.
If I had a baby now I’d definitely try cloth diapering and using flannel wipes. My babies had horrible allergies and extra sensitive skin.
Take as many diapers as you can from the hospital. Anything they put in the bed with the baby is yours to keep, minus the blanket, usually. With Suki I was even told to take home a book on childhood illnesses and injuries that went up to age four or five.
HAve at least one or two newborn packages of diapers.
Never open the next pack of newborn sized until you need to. The day you open it to restock your basket (or whatever you keep diapers in) around the ten day point will be the day the umbilical cord falls off.
26. September - 12:19 pmcc´s last [type] ..Snap is home!
I will preface my response by saying it all comes down to personal preference and what works best for your situation and your baby, but here’s what has worked for my family (I have 2 girls, ages 2 & 4).
How many newborn diapers you buy totally depends on how big your baby is at birth. My first was 9 lbs 13 ozs, and 22.5″ long, so she didn’t stay in newborn diapers much past the first week. I totally agree with what someone else said, that you should swipe all the newborn diapers that the hospital provides. You may not have to buy more than that. I can’t for the life of me recall how long my girls were in size 1, but I don’t think it would hurt to have a pack or 2 on hand, for when they grow into those. Don’t even bother thinking about any size beyond that at this point.
With my first, nothing but Pampers was good enough for her, but holy god are they expensive! I tried to be more environmentally friendly and use the Seventh Generation diapers, but they gave her diaper rash. I personally hated Huggies because to me it felt like they had a cardboard strip in the middle of them. They seemed super hard and uncomfortable (and I didn’t even have to wear them!). Once I had two kids in diapers we started looking around for low-cost options, and I absolutely love the Kroger Comforts diapers you can get at Fred Meyer. They’re inexpensive and they work GREAT. I buy them over Pampers now, even when Pampers are on sale.
As far as wipes, I aboslutely love the Seventh Generation chlorine-free wipes. They are the perfect balance of not too wet, not too dry, and they are very strong. I get mine auto-shipped (for free!) to me every 2 months from Amazon mom, and they are around $20/case of 12, which is a great deal.
OMG, what has become of ME that I write a scrolling comment on a post about DIAPERS???
26. September - 1:23 pmHuggies (Little Snugglers, which apparently they don’t make after size 3, boo) up in here. As for size, we just buy what we need as we need it. Costco is the cheapest, but Amazon is pretty close AND delivers right to your door. Amazon also does Subscribe & Save, but LG hasn’t been in one size long enough to warrant that.
I think the key is just buying a couple different kinds and seeing what you guys and BoB prefer, then buying that kind in bulk, either from Amazon or Costco.
As for wipes, we use Costco brand wipes.
26. September - 7:29 pmHow many newborn diapers should I have on hand? How about Size 1 diapers? Like someone else above, I don’t think we went through more than what we brought home from a hospital. Not sure if we went through the one package of newborns that my friend gave me or if we had to exchange them for another size.
What brand did you prefer? The first few months we used nothing but Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive (in the white packages). That’s what the hospital used, and in my new-mom crazy state of mind, I loved the yellow strip on the front that turned blue when she was wet. This was particularly useful the first couple of weeks where we had to track the wet/dirty diapers. The one time we tried Huggies, which ironically I bought when we went to a Huggies commercial audition, gave my gal the most horrific rash. As in, had to take her to the doc for the heavy duty cream stuff. That’s not to scare you, but just to note that some kids react differently to different brands.
I really liked Target’s Up & Up brand, but I was pretty good about finding deals on Pampers Swaddlers (and then Cruisers) via Amazon Mom, which I love, love, love. I earned a free year of free shipping ‘cuz of all my Amazon baby purchases.
26. September - 8:10 pmNanette´s last [type] ..Busy bees
Elz is right; babies are all shaped differently and the brand of diaper one mom swears by will be the brand another mom hates because it always leaks/gives her kid a rash. Take as many newborn diapers home from the hospital as you can, take the flannel receiving blankets, take pacifiers, take the nose bulb sucker thingy, take the stretchy mesh panties and gigantic pads, take your insulated awesome water cup. It’s part of what your insurance is being charged for, so take as much as you can carry. When we were leaving after Elliora was born, we had a nurse ask if we needed another pack of diapers, or a couple more pacifiers. Then she ran and got them for us.
With Annalie, we used either Huggies or Target brand (Up & Up) diapers. She never had problems with rashes or leaking or anything in either brand.
With Elliora, we’ve been using a mix of cloth (which we love) and disposables. Primarily we’ve been using Seventh Generation disposables, purchased from Amazon Mom using the subscribe and save thing. I just make one purchase with subscribe and save, ask it to deliver again in six months, and when the diapers arrive I go cancel the subscription. They don’t care.
We’ve also tried the Earth’s Best, and liked them a lot, but they’re slightly more expensive than Seventh Generation. We’ve bought a pack or two of Target brand diapers when we’ve been lazy about re-ordering from Amazon, and they’re fine too. (Honestly, one of the things I like best about the Target diapers is that they have no cartoon characters on them–no Dora or Elmo or Mickey Mouse–just cute blue and green polka dots. I also like that the Seventh Generation diapers are a plain light beige color.)
Obsess away. You’ll be obsessing about many far stranger things in the months and years to come. :-)
26. September - 8:19 pmbethany actually´s last [type] ..two-cheese mashed-potato bake with rosemary
Swipe every single diaper the hospital has. Try a few different brands and see what works for you as far as fit and leakage/blowouts (since each baby is SO different). Then use Amazon Mom + Subscribe & Save. We’ve not paid more than $35/month to diaper our child thanks to Amazon.
27. September - 3:23 amOk, I have to say, I kinda love cloth! It took me awhile to find a system I was happy with, but we now use GroVia and TotsBots, and have absolutely no problems with them whatsoever! And, FWIW, I was totally opposed to even the *idea* of cloth until Zoey was about 4 months old. I don’t know why, but the lightbulb just clicked one day, and we’ve been doing cloth ever since!
If you decide to stay with disposables, though, my favorites are, believe it or not: Kidgets brand diapers from Family Dollar. I am SO not a dollar store shopper, but they are truly some of the best ‘sposies on the market. They don’t reek of chemicals, they’re super-absorbent, and, best of all–they’re cheap! If you haven’t already, sign up for Amazon Mom, and buy your diapers through their with Subscribe & Save – it’s a pretty hefty discount, and you can cancel after your first shipment so you don’t really have a subscription. About 90% of the time, though, the Kidgets still come out to be cheaper than anything I can get on Amazon.
27. September - 4:34 amJimmie´s last [type] ..6 months!
Oh, and after all that, I forgot to actually answer most of your questions. I had an 8 lb, 3 oz, newborn, and she wore NB diapers for a good 3 weeks. (So…3 regular size packages?) My favorite newborn sposies were Luvs, but they’ve since changed them, so I don’t know now. The Huggies do have a little cut-out for the umbilical cord stump, which is nice.
She was in Size 1s from probably about 3-4 weeks old until pretty darn close to 4 months old. I have a long, skinny-waisted baby with moderate thigh chub…haha. She could probably *still* wear the 1s at 6 months in the waist–the rise is just far to small. She fits 2s perfectly right now (we do use sposies on occasion for traveling and whatnot), and I’d expect her to do so until ~7 months, although she has had on a couple of size 3s, and while they look comically large, they work fine.
Wipes–my favorite is the “Simply Right” store brand from Sam’s Club. If you don’t have a Sam’s membership, my second favorites are the Parent’s Choice (Wal-Mart brand) with the blue label. They’re the sensitive wipes that compare to Pampers Sensitive. Zoey doesn’t have sensitive skin, per se, but the wipes are sooooo soft, and most importantly, they’re alcohol-free, so I can use them to wipe snotty noses and food off her face, and for whatever else.
27. September - 4:43 amJimmie´s last [type] ..6 months!
Every mom and every baby is different. I can only tell you what we’ve done.
gdiapers. (Disposables)
We stocked up during the pregnancy and used every coupon we could get our hands on. We make big babies, so we didn’t need very many “small” (we had so much left over that we ended up selling the small ones to some friends).
I would say to stock up on any size for a 18-28 pound baby. It seems like babies are that size for the longest amount of time.
We buy cheap wipes at Costco.
We buy our gdiapers through diapers.com. They have free OVERNIGHT shipping. Which I love. (I’ve never heard of amazon mom.)
If you aren’t sure what you want to do, buy just a VERY small sampling of a couple options and give them a try.
(Did you read Amalah’s recent posts about cloth diapering? I couldn’t get over how many diapers she has. Rerun has like 5 cloth outers. MAX. And we do just fine.)
Good luck!
27. September - 7:11 amIsabel´s last [type] ..In which he turns one
I cloth diaper, so my experience is limited. However, we do keep disposables on hand for emergencies and traveling. I’ve had pretty good luck with the Target brand, which are always cheaper than the name brands, no matter what. If you prefer name brands, you can usually do really well on Amazon mom. I am completely in love with Amazon Mom for diapers and wipes and if you use Subscribe and Save you get even more of a discount. (you can unsubscribe immediately after receiving your first batch) I usually follow BabyCheapscape.com for the best diaper/wipe deals. I haven’t found one brand excels over another, they seem the same to me.
27. September - 7:37 amMary´s last [type] ..Daily Goober 9/27/11
My sister LOVES the generic ones at Costco. They aren’t as chemically smelling, she says. I think @jonniker says similar things about them.
27. September - 8:31 amKristabella´s last [type] ..I Left My Heart Something In San Francisco
We were strictly pampers people until after we realized his skin isn’t sensitive and we actually bought some target brand diapers which I like. We typically get ours at target or SAMs.
We only used newborn clothes and diapers for about two weeks. I don’t remember how long in each size but I do remember him being in size three forever. At 14 months be was in size four.
Wipes-we used pampers but now I typically buy target brand refills.
Never tried amazon mom. Don’t worry..I was obsessed about towels and wash clothes and other crazy things!
27. September - 1:04 pmBodies are all different so try several brands. I have had experiences with lots of brands and cloth diapers and here’s what I can tell you from my experience:
Cloth diapers gave Kameron a perpetual rash. Never figured out why.
Pampers were the best for Aaron but not baby dry because those gave him a rash. Just swaddlers then cruisers. He leaked out of every other brand I tried.
Kameron was better in Huggies (Kirkland at Costco is the same as Huggies but cheaper). HE leaked out of the Pampers. He was also good in Seventh Generation.
NB diapers, I didn’t bother with. A size 1 diaper with the top folded down under the belly button is essentially the same as a NB size and no diapers wasted if your baby grows fast or comes out larger than the average bear. I agree with pp’s, TAKE ALL SUPPLIES from hospital home because you’re paying for them anyway.
Wipes – they are all fine. Get generic because they are cheaper. And don’t bother with the wipe warmer. Just spoils them from day one and then they get all diva-like and expect warm wipes all the time. (This also goes for warming bottles. Room temp water mixed with formula is fine.)
27. September - 2:25 pmYes to Amazon Mom, if only for the free Amazon Prime. I do find that order my diapers through them is significantly cheaper than the stores, plus DELIVERY. I would only have a pack or maaaaybe two of newborn diapers (and tape the receipt to them so you can exchange them for bigger sizes.) A couple of packs of size 1, then just order as you go.
We like Pampers best, but it’s such an individual baby thing. I like Swaddlers, then Baby Dry. Honestly, it’s a personal baby thing. I have chunky babies and find that Pampers fit best, but some people say otherwise.
I think a wipe warmer is a waste of money and a fire hazard, but some people live and die by theirs. Welcome to parenting: Nine million different opinions on every possible decision.
28. September - 12:06 pmWe use Amazon Mom and love it. You spend $25/month on diapers/wipes, get free shipping, and get free Prime Membership too. (At least, that was our deal. And it’s awesome.)
We thought we’d use Seventh Generation but Kyle leaked like a faucet in those and the wipes smell, even though they promise they won’t. We like Earth’s Best wipes, pretty exclusively.
We use Nature Babycare diapers and have since nearly day one. We can only get them on Amazon, we’ve found, and they’re a little pricier than the average diaper but the Amazon Mom does get us a nice discount and we just love them. He never leaks, they don’t smell, they don’t feel cheap, and they seem to be made of the good stuff. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002UKOWE8/ref=rcxsubs_mys2_product_title). He was in NB for awhile, our tiny little guy, maybe 2 months? Then size 1 for … oh, man, I can’t remember. He’s been in size four for something like a year and a half.
28. September - 1:22 pmJennie´s last [type] ..Half-Marathon Training: Week 8
I think they recently changed Amazon Mom where you only have to spend $25/quarter and lots of things qualify you for it, including toys. I’ve never had trouble meeting the minimum purchase required to keep the membership.
We used Pampers Swaddlers with both kids because that’s what the hospital sent us home with. At one point Tru was leaking through them every five minutes but it was because he had skinny chicken legs and no diapers fixed this problem. We tried a free sample of Huggies and Jason hated them so I never gave them a second shot. As far as wipes, I love both the CostCo and Sam’s Club generic wipes. You go through them pretty fast and I like having packs all over the damn place so buying in bulk works really well for me. Plus I have to send new packs with Tru to school pretty often so I like having a stock of them at home. It’s the same way with diapers, so I buy the big boxes from Amazon using subscribe and save and we’ve never been caught without them.
For Pippa I placed an order for newborn sized diapers on Amazon before she was born so I would have a crapton of them waiting. Once those ran out we moved to size 1, where she’s been since.
28. September - 7:49 pmregan´s last [type] ..status: incomplete