Stock up on diapers?

~Soleil~ · October 2008

DH and I were thinking to start buying diapers now. Only one box a week. Do they have a shelf life? I would imagine that the material starts to breakdown after a period of time. But how long can I store them?

Annie_1208 · October 2008

We are going to buy from Costco. They have Huggies and their brand, but the huggies are cheaper(go figure). Also they sell wipes and other supplies. Might be an option to consider.

~Soleil~ · October 2008

Costco is a good idea. Thanks

Drgnfly · October 2008

careful on stocking up before DC arrives- you may find you love or hate a certain brand/type. we will only buy pampers now- and you'll be amazed when you realize all the different types. right now DS wears cruisers during the day and baby dry at night. (although if you find a great sale it's not a bad idea if you know you're saving $$)

hula_lula · October 2008

No they don't have a shelf life. But I don't recommend stocking up a ton on diapers. You won't know what brand works best for your or how many of what size you need.

instead, I HIGHLY recommend you start buying yourself some gift cards for the store that you'll buy them at most frequently. For instance, if you plan to shop at costco for diapers, start buying a $10 or $20 gift card and stash it away every could of weeks. That way you're not hit with the diaper expense when the baby is born but you also don't end up with boxes and boxes of diapers that you might not end up using

BlairWaldorf · October 2008

I would say if you find a good deal on them then it would be okay. I'll probably start this later in the pregnancy, though.

Annie_1208 · October 2008

That's true Hula and Drgnfly...didn't think about what brand I might prefer, though at the price of stuff these days I might make myself like Huggies no matter what because they are a really good buy at Costco, lol.

Thanks for the experienced advice!

birdie_1010 · October 2008

hula_lula:
No they don't have a shelf life. But I don't recommend stocking up a ton on diapers. You won't know what brand works best for your or how many of what size you need.

instead, I HIGHLY recommend you start buying yourself some gift cards for the store that you'll buy them at most frequently. For instance, if you plan to shop at costco for diapers, start buying a $10 or $20 gift card and stash it away every could of weeks. That way you're not hit with the diaper expense when the baby is born but you also don't end up with boxes and boxes of diapers that you might not end up using

This is a great idea. We received tons of diapers as gifts, but some just didn't work for DS and so we ended up giving them away to charity.

willflu · October 2008

I agree, wait until DC arrives and you might get quite a bit for your shower too. I had a TON from my shower. We had diapers until DD was 9m. However we found that Pampers Swaddlers were what we used for DD when she was a newborn. After that Huggies worked best.

2bearichards · October 2008

Annie_1208:

That's true Hula and Drgnfly...didn't think about what brand I might prefer, though at the price of stuff these days I might make myself like Huggies no matter what because they are a really good buy at Costco, lol.

Thanks for the experienced advice!

Its not really what brand YOU prefer, although it can play a part, it is mostly what brand fits your baby the best. Huggies did not work for us at all, except for the overnights.

So I would avoid buying a ton of diapers until you know what brand fits your baby the best. You don't want to have a ton of diaper that don't fit and have to clean up blow outs all the time.

Annie_1208 · October 2008

Right. Thanks.... by me liking it - that's what I meant...not having to clean up poo blow outs, or them not fitting. That equals them working for the baby too!

Since the baby can't talk....I'll do my best to decide that for him/her.

NDwife07 · October 2008

You might want to think about cloth diapers also. Same advice goes - don't buy a bunch until you know what works! But cloth have a much longer "shelf life" than disposables, and don't kill our planet.

~Soleil~ · October 2008

hula_lula:
No they don't have a shelf life. But I don't recommend stocking up a ton on diapers. You won't know what brand works best for your or how many of what size you need.

instead, I HIGHLY recommend you start buying yourself some gift cards for the store that you'll buy them at most frequently. For instance, if you plan to shop at costco for diapers, start buying a $10 or $20 gift card and stash it away every could of weeks. That way you're not hit with the diaper expense when the baby is born but you also don't end up with boxes and boxes of diapers that you might not end up using

This is a good idea too!

hula_lula · October 2008

NDwife07:
You might want to think about cloth diapers also. Same advice goes - don't buy a bunch until you know what works! But cloth have a much longer "shelf life" than disposables, and don't kill our planet.

Yay! DITTO DITTO DITTO

We use cloth on my DD and we'll be using 100% cloth for this baby too. Silly me for not mentioning it

MarriedBestFriends · October 2008

We are absolutely using cloth diapers- if it's a new thing for the daycare that we're using I will show them how easy it is to just put the diaper in a plastic bag for me to take home.

But- if you're going the store-bought route I would also suggest the gift card idea. Friends that have done that said it helped a lot.

dccj · October 2008

Speaking from experience of a 10 wk m/c...I would wait to buy anything until you get to your 2nd trimester. There would be nothing worse than having to look at all the baby stuff if something were to go wrong early in your pregnancy.

HisBride2be · October 2008

Drgnfly is right. You won't know which diaper you like and what if you buy too many of the same size? I would wait until after your shower to see what diapers you get (i got a few packages at mine). the only ones I would buy a couple of packs for would be newborn because neither you or your DH will feel like running out to the store unless necessary when you are first home with the new baby.

Plus, you will start to get coupons once you have the baby so it will cost you less then than it will now to get some. Just put that money in a baby savings account!

LittleEgypt · October 2008

Buying diapers and gift cards are both stupid ideas. If you buy $1000 of gift cards to Target, Target gets to keep your money and earn interest on it for the next 7 months. How is that smart? Buy some 6-month CDs with your diaper money and earn a little bit, or use a high-interest savings account. In no way does having diapers or store gift cards help you now, unless you expect the cost of diapers to go up significantly before you give birth.

NDwife07 · October 2008

LittleEgypt:
Buying diapers and gift cards are both stupid ideas. If you buy $1000 of gift cards to Target, Target gets to keep your money and earn interest on it for the next 7 months. How is that smart? Buy some 6-month CDs with your diaper money and earn a little bit, or use a high-interest savings account. In no way does having diapers or store gift cards help you now, unless you expect the cost of diapers to go up significantly before you give birth.

?

::applause::?

Aimelynn · October 2008

NDwife07:
You might want to think about cloth diapers also. Same advice goes - don't buy a bunch until you know what works! But cloth have a much longer "shelf life" than disposables, and don't kill our planet.

I agree! We CD our daughter and love it. If you are thinking of going the cloth route, a lot of retailers have a trial kit that you essentially rent for a few weeks that contains all varieties of CDs (and there are a lot!). You never know what kind you are going to like best. For example, pocket diapers are arguably the most popular type of CD out there, and I really dislike them! Give me a good old fashioned prefold and cozy cover any day.

hula_lula · October 2008

LittleEgypt:

Buying diapers and gift cards are both stupid ideas. If you buy $1000 of gift cards to Target, Target gets to keep your money and earn interest on it for the next 7 months. How is that smart? Buy some 6-month CDs with your diaper money and earn a little bit, or use a high-interest savings account. In no way does having diapers or store gift cards help you now, unless you expect the cost of diapers to go up significantly before you give birth.

IMO it's a bit harsh to say it's a stupid idea.

For some people it may ease the financial stress that having a baby can create by spreading out something that can add up to a very high cost by doing it little by little every week.

LittleEgypt · October 2008

hula_lula:
LittleEgypt:

Buying diapers and gift cards are both stupid ideas. If you buy $1000 of gift cards to Target, Target gets to keep your money and earn interest on it for the next 7 months. How is that smart? Buy some 6-month CDs with your diaper money and earn a little bit, or use a high-interest savings account. In no way does having diapers or store gift cards help you now, unless you expect the cost of diapers to go up significantly before you give birth.

IMO it's a bit harsh to say it's a stupid idea.

For some people it may ease the financial stress that having a baby can create by spreading out something that can add up to a very high cost by doing it little by little every week.

Harsh but true. Your justification doesn't make any sense either. If you can buy a $10 gift card every week, you can put $10 in a savings account. I do not understand why people are so allergic to saving money.

hula_lula · October 2008

Thanks, but I'm not. Yes, it is a goo didea to put money in a high interest savings account.

It's just really not necessary to be a judgemental *** about it.

LittleEgypt · October 2008

hula_lula:

Thanks, but I'm not. Yes, it is a goo didea to put money in a high interest savings account.

It's just really not necessary to be a judgemental *** about it.

It's funny that they *** out the words when you post, but if you 'quote' you can see them - Not that it was ambiguous .

Weird that you feel so motivated to defend ideas, but have no problem calling people names. IMO that philosophy is hypocritical and stupid, lol!

hula_lula · October 2008

Oh for the love of Pete.

meghanchrisaz · October 2008

NO NO NO do NOT stock up on diapers. ?Like others have said certain diapers may not work for your baby. ?My daughter leaked right out of pampers, but others swear by them.

I love the idea of adding money to a gift card. ?If you think you might go the CD route, add money to a prepaid visa or a savings account.

?

Mike&Care · October 2008

Just FYI diapers definitely do not have a shelf life. It takes 500 years for them to decompose.

I'd recommend G-diapers. 1/2 cloth 1/2 disposable. With my first I used anything and everything. She had no preference or irritability for certain diapers. This time I am going to try to be a bit more environmentally friendly.

GC's seems kind of silly to me. Most people know a baby costs money, so just cut out something else. Don't go to dinner as much or don't shop as much. Typically your lifestyle will change so much that you'll find yourself doing a lot less of the expensive dates that you used to do. Diapers aren't going to send you to the poor house.

thenewmrsrussell · October 2008

My step-sisdid this and I thought it was such a great idea. DH and I want to do this and already bought one box and a container of baby wipes. The idea is to buy various sizes each week/month...whatever we can do. Our parents have pretty much told us they think its a waste of $$ b/c we are going to get diapers at our baby shower but I very much doubt we would get as many diapers as we will actually NEED....

~Soleil~ · October 2008

Wow, lots of different opinions. Thanks for everyone's imput. DH suggested it but just keeping the money is probaly a much better use of storage space!

Steph_Kevin_41908 · October 2008

Buying the gift cards are a great idea, just becareful to read to info on the card because some start charging money off your card after the are so old, some as soon as 6 months.

holly_23 · October 2008

personally i wouldnt do this just yet id wait a little while untill your a bit further along in your preg. and i wouldnt recomend huggies they are the worst diapers that leak and just are no good. i have yet to hear something good about them stick with pampers. just my opinion though

GL

mommashell · October 2008

birdie_1010:
hula_lula:

No they don't have a shelf life. But I don't recommend stocking up a ton on diapers. You won't know what brand works best for your or how many of what size you need.

instead, I HIGHLY recommend you start buying yourself some gift cards for the store that you'll buy them at most frequently. For instance, if you plan to shop at costco for diapers, start buying a $10 or $20 gift card and stash it away every could of weeks. That way you're not hit with the diaper expense when the baby is born but you also don't end up with boxes and boxes of diapers that you might not end up using

This is a great idea. We received tons of diapers as gifts, but some just didn't work for DS and so we ended up giving them away to charity.

Target, Walmart, and babies R us are great places to return un opened diapers. As long as they carry the brand you don't have to have a reciet. I got tons of diapers with my son all different sized but some he out grew before I could use them and they let me exchange them for a different size even a different brand if I choose. So those places were great!

mommashell · October 2008

birdie_1010:
hula_lula:

No they don't have a shelf life. But I don't recommend stocking up a ton on diapers. You won't know what brand works best for your or how many of what size you need.

instead, I HIGHLY recommend you start buying yourself some gift cards for the store that you'll buy them at most frequently. For instance, if you plan to shop at costco for diapers, start buying a $10 or $20 gift card and stash it away every could of weeks. That way you're not hit with the diaper expense when the baby is born but you also don't end up with boxes and boxes of diapers that you might not end up using

This is a great idea. We received tons of diapers as gifts, but some just didn't work for DS and so we ended up giving them away to charity.

Target, Walmart, and babies R us are great places to return un opened diapers. As long as they carry the brand you don't have to have a reciet. I got tons of diapers with my son all different sized but some he out grew before I could use them and they let me exchange them for a different size even a different brand if I choose. So those places were great!

turtlegirl115 · October 2008

Personally, I think the gift card idea is a great one. Even if you don't want to stock up on diapers due to brand issues, I think it's totally safe to stock up on wipes, lotions, etc. I already have about 30 wipes (totally free after coupons) and multiple bottles of shampoo, baby wash, lotion, etc. I got such a good deal on them that if my baby had allergy issues with any of it, I could just donate it or save it for baby shower gifts.

For those of you that ARE intested in stocking up on diapers, here's a great link to a couponing website that helps you estimate how many of each size you will need. Of course it will vary for your own baby, but it's a good guideline. It also includes ways to save money on diapers if you're into couponing (which I totally am):

https://www.hotcouponworld.com/forums/family-way/44-diapers-wipes-101-new-improved.html

tmp-304259 · October 2008

Wow, that is a really good idea about the gift cards! I may start that today! Great thinking!!!

librarianlisa · October 2008

My mother-in-law is already buying us diapers. She said she's clipping coupons on the weekends and stocking up. I'm a little concerned about brands - my sister swore by Pampers and had leakage problems with others. But it would break her heart if I told her to ease up at all. We'll accept them gladly and make do or donate some to charity.

I had really wanted to try cloth diapering, but my SO - already having had two children - is very much against it. I'm thinking perhaps we can do a combination. Cloth at home and disposable on the run. Thoughts?

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