All About Diapers (and how to get them cheap!)

Here's a really lengthy post about my thoughts on diapers, and ways to save on them:

 

The entire time I was pregnant I went back and forth about doing cloth or disposable diapers. While some of the cloth ones are pretty darn cute (bumgenius in butternut yellow, anyone?? bumgenius are on sale for buy 5 get one free right now!!) I finally decided on disposable diapers for two reasons:

1. We are moving to San Diego at the end of the summer and a lot of the places we've looked at are sans-washer/dryer. In the rare case that we end up in one of those apartments (however, my number one on our wishlist is a washer/dryer IN the apartment), laundry would end up costing us about $50 a month and would be a pain-in-the-gluteus-maximus. No thank you. I have enough stress in my life, thanks.

2. Morning sickness was bad enough with the first child. I can't even imagine scraping a toddler's poo off a cloth diaper and hearing the "plop" into the toilet while being pregnant. Those first five months of pregnancy are awful by themselves! Just the thought of it right now makes me sick.

So we went with disposable diapers. Cloth diapers work for two of my siblings, but you've got to be really dedicated. I understand how they save loads of money, but I've decided it's just not for me.

Unfortunately, the name brand diapers (Huggies and Pampers) range from 18-cents to 25-cents or more per diaper. With ten diaper changes a day, that could easily add up to two or three dollars per day, which is about $75 a month! Yikes! (But look towards the end of this post for ways to get diapers for 9-cents each instead. Score!)

My thoughts on diaper brands:

At first Tyler and I tried the Up&Up brand of diapers from Target. They worked great in newborn size, and I have a box of size 2 that I will try out here pretty soon and I'll let you know how they compare. I loved the fact that the newborn size was plain white (the other sizes have big green and blue polka dots, which isn't too horrible). No characters on Jack's bum made for one happy momma. But he soon outgrew those (2 1/2 weeks, so probably three packages) and we had to settle for diapers with baby Elmo or Pooh Bear. I received an assortment of Huggies and Pampers diapers at my baby shower (thanks!!), and have been using those. Here's the lo-down:

They gave us Huggies diapers at the hospital. These fit him all right. It was nice as a brand-spankin-new mom to have the little "wet indicator line" on the diapers so we'd know how often to change him, but completely unnecessary. I have found (and read a lot) that Huggies diapers tend to fit short&chubby babies while Pampers fit long&lean babies better. Jack definitely qualifies as a long&lean baby. I am still using both Huggies and Pampers in size 1 right now, and I've noticed a big difference. The Huggies Little Snugglers tend to run shorter in length. He doesn't have as much extra room in the front of the diaper. The Pampers ones are much longer in the front. 

I've tried out Pampers Sensitive Swaddlers, Pampers Swaddlers with DryMax, and Pampers Baby Dry. I definitely loved the Swaddlers. DryMax is the best stuff! It does an excellent job at wicking moisture away - no matter how soaked the diaper is, his body is never wet when I change him. The past two weeks on vacation we used Pampers Baby Dry and Huggies Little Snugglers and we hated them. The Baby Dry diapers are incredibly thin compared to the Swaddlers, and didn't seem to hold as much. I also found the Baby Dry, though size 1 just like the Swaddlers, ran smaller in size (around his waist) for some reason. I also love the softness of the Swaddlers and the weave on the inside. They aren't at all crunchy like other diapers. And Jack can easily sleep overnight with Swaddlers diapers, whereas on vacation with the Pampers Baby Dry and Huggies Little Snugglers he leaked four or five times. (No kidding - Tyler would understandably get really upset in the morning when he'd get soaked with pee because I didn't change Jack's diaper in the middle of the night. That doesn't happen AT ALL with the Swaddler's diapers.)

Ways to get diapers incredibly cheap:

Now for the best advice EVER on how to get diapers inexpensively. I don't know how long this will be around, but it's been a lifesaver for us! 

Amazon.com has two things going on: AmazonMom and Subscribe & Save, which are both free to join. With both you can get a 30% discount on diapers and wipes PLUS free two-day shipping. 

 +

We also receive the Parenting magazine. If you go here and enter the code HOLIDAYMAG at checkout, you can get a 2-year subscription for $5. Since June or July they have had 20% off diapers coupon codes for Amazon in their issues.

 =

Put these two things together, and you get 50% off or more on diapers PLUS free two-day shipping! (We found this out through The Thrifty Couple, who shares diaper deals weekly, along with coupons and how to use them. Here is their explanation of the amazon deal. Amazon even has online coupons that will get you another $1 or so off.)

For a big box of Pampers Swaddlers in size 1, we paid around $20 for 216 diapers, which is 9-cents per diaper. For Pampers Swaddlers size 2 we paid $20 for 184 diapers, which is 10-cents per diaper. (The number of diapers per pack will decrease as the size goes up, making it a teensy bit more expensive.) Half off! That's less than $1 a day instead of $2-3. So for $30 or less a month we can do disposable diapers. Not bad if you ask me. :)

P.S. Can I mention again that you should sign up on the formula websites? Gerber GoodStart gives the best coupons ($11 off!) but Similac sent me a coupon in the mail for a full-size tub the other day. Ka-ching! That's like a $21 coupon. And I've been eying those newly-designed tubs - the scoop is stored in the lid so you don't have to go searching for it. Yesssss, I can't wait to use it.