Stockpiling diapers ahead of time

[marinomelissa2]

Should I start buying diapers one to two years ahead of time? My husband and I are thinking of starting a family next year. What is the best price you can get on diapers and how have you gotten those prices?

[JulieDB]

I would not for a few of reasons. One is that they are constantly changing how they make the diapers. If you buy them now, by the time you need them what is available will most likely be better. Next, you don't know how fast the child will grow. My daughter stayed in some sizes for many months and others she grew right out of. Then there could be allergies or sensitivities. My daughter could only wear Huggies. Any others gave her a rash. She technically could wear the store brands that were like huggies but they would tend to leak.

Also, I found that I got enough coupons and found enough sales that I never had to worry about the price.

[foggierbard9]

I know a lot of people do, but I wouldn't and here are my reasons. It isn't about the diaper being "better" down the road...in fact some of the new ones are causing a lot of harm to children to include horrid rashes. I stockpiled before my daughter was born(we were already pregnant though), and it turns out she was allergic to ALL disposable diapers, didn't matter what brand or how "green" they were, she broke out horribly. We ended up in cloth, and actually switched DS over also. Now the only diapers we will use are cloth, and in all honesty they have saved us way more than couponing for disposables ever could have.

[amylynne01]

I wouldn't start stockpiling until you were actually pregnant. 8 months of stockpiling will get you a really good stockpile, and the stockpile does not need to be finished by the time baby is born. To address the points from PPs, keep the receipts for ALL diapers you buy so that if baby cannot wear a brand for whatever reason, you can return them. If you plan on having more than one kiddo, you can always save them for future kids.

I am stockpiling for #3, and I've spent $60 on 1400 diapers using sales and Amazon gift cards. I can't beat that price by buying cloth. So for most people, cloth is definitely cheaper, but I personally can't justify it for this one especially since it's our last. Cloth is also great if you're having more kids because they can be resused at no cost to you. So for an initial investment of a few hunded dollars, you can diaper all your kids from birth to potty training. Most parents spend something like $3000 PER KID on diapers. That is just ridiculous.

But yeah, my vote is don't do anything until you're actually pregnant.

[hrhmom]

I wouldn't get a lot of the newborn or size 1. Neither of mine were in those very long.

[MrsPinecone]

I started in Jan 2005 and my first wasn't born until Dec 2006.

I didn't have to buy any diapers or wipes for the entire first year. Suggested amounts are in the Diaper Stockpile sticky at the top of the forum.

[atcwag]

What are some tips for getting diapers for .10/each (what I've been told is a good price when you aren't desperate)? I have been looking and looking for about 3 months and rarely find anything close to that :0(

[booklover]

I didn't stockpile diapers when I was pregnant. I received two cases of diapers that were size one from a baby shower, and I had one jumbo package of size one Huggies that I bought at a garage sale for $3.50.

Well guess what, my DD was a borderline preemie, and weighed only 4 lb., 3 oz. and NONE of the diapers we had would fit her. We had to go out and buy Pampers Preemie diapers for the first month or so.


So personally, I would not stockpile diapers because you don't know what size baby you will have, big or small.

Walgreen's and CVS put their store brand diapers on sale every month or so, and there are usually coupons to go with the sale.

[JulieDB]

I wouldn't get a lot of the newborn or size 1. Neither of mine were in those very long.

Mine wore those for a very long time. In fact when she was first born, newborn were too big for her. I think she wore the newborn for about 3 months and then the size 1 for 3 months. For a time she was in between the two sizes. I had to use a size 1 with a doubler and hope she didn't pee out the leg hole. The size 1 was too big but the newborn was really too small. She used to be skinny. That all changed once she started eating.

[NotaGrandmaYet]

I'm new so forgive me for jumping in here.

I read some not-so-nice comments about couponing and stockpiling diapers on Craigs List. People who stockpile diapers for themselves can also have diapers to share with other who may have a economic bump in the road.

It was clear she just had a bone to pick because people were stockpiling and she wanted to call couponers out for not just making cash donations instead of stockpiling diapers for charitable donations.

I couldn't help myself. I returned her comment back to her by trying to explain that $10 with couponing bought more diaper product for donations that are desperately needed by working moms these days than an outright $10 cash donation to a charity that puts it in an administrative pool of funding.

Do I think she "got it"? Probably not....

Hope it was ok to say this here. Thanks!