 Quality Diaper Products for the Tiny and Not so Tiny Hinnies.
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Average diaper use for each child based on 2 ½ years of diapering is approximately 9,100 diaper changes. This is if you change your infant every 2-3 hours and your toddler is changed every 3-4 hours. Based on 9,100 diaper changes in a 2 ½ year period here is the breakdown.
· This would be an average of .34 cents per diaper · .34 cents times 9,100 diapers is a total of $3,094 *Note: you may be able to find a cheaper diaper or your child may potty train faster than 2 ½ yrs. It is also possible that your child needs diapers longer.
· This would be an average of $65 per week · $65 per week times 2 ½ yrs is a total of $8450 *Note: some diaper services may be cheaper or you will need fewer diapers so the average cost would go down.
Washing your own diapers also varies depending on the type of washing machine you use and how many times a week you wash your diapers. Consumer Reports estimates that the most inefficient washer and dryer system cost approximately .78 cents per load, whereas more efficient models cost approximately .44 cents per load. This is an average of .61 cents per load (including water and electricity). Loads per week can vary from 2 – 4 loads per week for an average of 3 loads per week. Laundry soap also varies in price from .30 cents per load to .85 cents per load, this is an average of .58 cents per load.
· Up front diaper supplies average cost is approximately $775
· Diaper Service Total $8450 · Buying & Washing your own total $1403.48 For overall cost washing your own diapers wins out by a landslide. Also important to note is that if you choose to have more than one child both disposable and diaper service costs will stay the same whereas washing your own will only be the cost of the washing since you can re-use all the diapers with your subsequent children. Your costs can also go down if you hang dry your diapers, which is very good for them. Lastly after all is said and done and your children are done with diapers you can sell them for someone else to use.
If you choose cloth there are many great diaper bags and accessories for a mom on the go. Not only are they cute but highly functional. When my children were in diapers I would pack my diaper bag with the diaper already in the cover so when it was time for a change all I needed to do was grab the clean one and put it on, slip the dirty one in the wet bag and off we went. While traveling we just brought a small amount of our laundry soap with us in a Tupperware and washed at families homes or made sure the hotel had a laundry room. If our trip were just for the weekend we would just wash the diapers when we got home.
In addition to the above, many disposables use fragrances. Some parents and children alike don’t do well with fragrance. It can be that it gives them headaches, or rashes; rashes are sometimes caused by the chemicals used to produce the diapers as well; so many people need to pay attention when purchasing these. Many cloth diapering parents like that they can change what they wash the diapers in to help with rashes, so this gives them more control around what touches their babies skin. It is also said that children who use disposables tend to take longer in the potty training process because the lock away cores work so well they never really feel wet, whereas cloth diapered children can feel the wetness and potty train faster. *Note: Some children continue to wet the bed at night till they are much older. These children have really large bladders and need something really absorbent so some parents (even devout cloth diapering parents) will opt to use disposables with their older children.
Links | Why Cloth
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