Fetus Fridays - The Dirty on Diapers

I'm going to do something fun for a change. =)


Mayhaps you've heard of her, mayhaps not, but Fabulous AmyBeth (from Ministry So Fabulous) and her Fabulous Roomie are going to be asking baby-related questions every Friday until Fab Baby makes an appearance.

Since I've had four of the precious little angels I figure I have a few opinions... =) So, without further ado, today's question is:

Here’s the question from Roomie and I for this week: Is it possible to begin stocking up on diapers even now, two months before Baby arrives? That’s our biggest (financial) concern, so we’d like to begin buying a pack a week or so. The only thing we’re concerned about is wondering if Baby will end up being allergic to whatever kind we buy therefore leaving us with a whole lot of unusable diapers on our hands. Is this likely to happen or can we safely start buying them? And, what general diaper purchasing advice do you have for us?

There are three issues with buying early 1) the allergy thing (though most babies won't have any reaction at all), 2) the fit - my babies all had thin thighs and certain brands (like huggies) didn't fit them right, other brands don't fit well on fatter-thighed babies and 3) the growth factor. In the first few months Baby will be growing so quickly it is impossible to predict how many of what size diapers you will need ahead of time.

My three full-term babies (my oldest was born 12 weeks early) were large enough that newborn diapers barely fit from birth. You could stock up on a few cases of size 1's only to discover that Baby grew so fast you only needed one of them.

Info I would have KILLED to know beforehand:

Major growth spurts tend to happen on the threes (especially for nursing babies) ... 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 9 weeks, 3 months, 6 months... of course it isn't an exact science, but it gives a generalized idea.

One of the biggest will happen right around 6 weeks - nothing scarier to a new breastfeeding mom than to discover that baby is hungry ALL THE TIME. Don't worry, you're not running out of milk s/he is just working to increase the supply. =) A lot of breastfeeding moms quit at 6 weeks for that reason.

At birth, breast-fed newborns should pee once for every day of life for the first week. So a three-day-old is perfectly fine if s/he only wets three times that day. After a week, all babies breast or bottle fed should be wetting 7-10 times a day, but don't expect the diaper to feel FULL. A full-feeling diaper probably has 2-3 wettings in it. Ew (sorry, that thought grosses me out).

A lot of people will probably suggest you just take the unopened diapers back if they aren't the right size/brand for your baby - but I HATE dealing with "customer service" because they are rarely very "service" oriented.

Honestly, if you want to "stock up," I would start out with a package of Newborns and 2 packages of 1's... then I would suggest getting a loadable gift card to wherever it is you plan to buy diapers (wal-mart and target are a LOT cheaper than Babies 'R' Us or grocery stores). That way you can get whatever brand works best and whatever size you need - and when you have some money to spare, just keep adding to the card. Or have a couple so you and Roomie can each carry one.

I bought my diapers at wal-mart and thankfully my kids all did well with the wal-mart brand. I only let them pee once in the diaper anyway so if the diapers didn't hold a lot, I wouldn't have noticed. Oh, and once Baby is out of size 1's, buy CASES. Size 2's and 3's will fit a lot longer than Newborn and 1's.

Of course... you could always do cloth! =)

The best, absolute BEST advice I can give for diapering, though, is Bourdeaux's BUTT PASTE. Yes, that's what it is called. =) It can be a tad expensive, but oh so worth the price. It works better than any other diaper rash cream out there. Target has little travel packs to go in diaper bags, three packs for $1, in their sample-sized section (oz for oz they're cheaper than the smaller tube of Butt Paste sold on the shelves).

I was so happy to be done with diapers, who would have thought I'd willingly think about them again? =)