With a little one on the way I’m trying to decide whether or not it’s worth it to stock up on diapers. Between Rite Aid, CVS and Amazon there are quite a lot of deals that enable savvy moms to buy diapers for 90 to 95 percent off the retail prices.
A lot of the coupon blogs I read have lists of sizes to buy and suggestions on brands to purchase, but it seems slightly insane to stock up on diapers before the baby comes. However, it seems even crazier to wait until after the baby is born and pay full price for them.
While I don’t have a child towing along behind me, it might make sense to stock up on products while I have the time to scour sales and clip coupons, but I also know that some diapers work better for some babies and some even have allergic reactions to others.
So, I’m not exactly sure if I should start looking through the sales circulars or if I should just avoid diaper shopping for the time being. If I purchase diapers in advance and they don’t work out I suppose I can always donate them.
If I can buy a pack for just a dollar or two then it might be worth it. On the other hand I don’t want to waste time shopping for things we won’t use.
No pressure…but have you considered using reusable diapers. I think it "eventually" ends up being cheaper and it's the greener option. I think they have made a lot of improvements with the system since the old "pin" system, so it might be worth looking into.
If you decide to stock up before the baby arrives, maybe just keep it light… like less than month's worth… or something along those lines.
@Ruby Leigh – I've been thinking of stocking up for just a few weeks š
I have considered cloth, but since I'll probably return to work after the baby comes I'll need disposables for most day care options. Otherwise I'd skip disposables all together.
I would definitely not stock up too many diapers until you've had a chance to try out a few brands.
It's been 8 years since my youngest was in diapers, but I found that some brands leaked more than others, and some definitely seemed to provoke diaper rash more often. (We had to make our own diaper cloths for years.) What's funny is that friends had different diaper preferences. It can sort of depend on your baby.
If I had to do it again, I'd have tried harder to use cloth diapers, especially because I was at home during their early years.
Congratulations, by the way!
Two things I have learned: Target diapers are awesome and nearly always the cheapest. Also, Amazon has a subscribe and program that will give you 15% off every subscribe and save purchase plus another 15% baby things and free shipping.
I would wait. When I was pregnant with my first everyone bought me huggies diapers. Unfortunately they gave my daughter a huge rash and they leaked on her like crazy!! Target diapers worked great on her. You never know which will work best until you try them out.
My child is now almost 17, so its definitely been a long time since I had to buy diapers. However, it seemed, especially those first few weeks, that she went through them faster than we would have ever imagined! Perhaps, maybe you could try a happy medium and stock up on a few packages of different brands to try when the specials are really really good?
If your baby has issues with one certain brand, you'll have to try others anyway, so maybe a couple of different options when they are at unbeatable prices? If it doesn't work out, you haven't made a huge investment, but if it does, then you're ahead of the game!
I would definitely stock up. I used to work at a Babies R Us store, and new parents would always tell me how quickly their new babies would go through diapers.
If you have extra, I'm sure you could donate or return unopened bags to the store for credit towards other items. š
@Anonymous – Thanks for the advice on trying different brands before stocking up on any one type! Great advice.
@SarahA & Anonymous – I never would've considered the Target brand. Thanks for the suggestion.
@Sass & CF – After sales and coupons I purchased a pack of Pampers for $1 yesterday. If I can find diapers for one or two bucks a pack I'll probably try a few different brands for the little one. I won't go out of my way to buy them, but if I'm out taking advantage of other cheap offers I'll certainly pick up a pack or two. If all else fails I'll return or donate them as CF suggested.
Pampers contains perfum which is why most babies react to it, also baby wipes themselves have a lot of harsh chemicals as do all the johnson and johnson products. Read the labels less is more for ingredients and stay away from anything with perfume added