When our children were born, we were forced to decide between cloth or disposable diapers. This was at a time when the world was beginning to learn about the earth’s resources, and we joined many of our friends at wine tasting events to discuss the environmental effects of recycling instead of going plastic. Could we, in our right mind add to Earth’s destruction? What sort of planet were we leaving if we continued to pollute the very planet that gives us life?
We all agreed and, at first, we enlisted the services of delivered cloth diapers. The driver dropped them on our doorstep, picking up the large bag of soileddiapers and we began a new week with freshly laundered diapers. I don’t remember the cost, though it was expensive, then again, wasn’t our consciousness enough? Saving the world from further landmines as we tried to establish a socially conscious world was our right. And our responsibility.
After a couple of years, our efforts were stymied for practical reasons which soon became economic. A diaper service was twice that of purchasing disposables and we thought our efforts at rescuing our natural resources were better put toward recycling our empty wine bottles, which were growing exponentially as our children’s demands increased. The children would grow up, but it appeared that our wine consumption was also increasing.
Now that our kids are well out of diapers and into their own wine consumption, diapers haven’t been in the conversation for many years…until recently, when the next round of babies started to appear, and we are once again in search of and purchasing disposable diapers.
My interest in consolidating natural resources is still prevalent, but it has expanded to the work we do as a family nonprofit organization.
As we encounter the poorer inhabitants of our communities, it is striking the number of children I witness with diapers that need attention. Our family and staff members have discussed this, and I went on a pricing venture to further understand the cost of such a basic need.
How much do diapers cost? How many does a child need on a daily, weekly basis?
These facts have been compiled by Total Care.
All children will be different based on size and weight, but these numbers seem to be well received in the social services world.
The average cost of a diaper is .29
Families will spend about $70 per month on diapers
Babies will go through 6,000 diapers in their first 2 years
The cost of an annual supply of diapers is estimated at nearly $2,000
When we started to witness the desperate for more diapers among people we were serving, Stephanie Machado and I started discussing about how to address this problem. We know from statistics that 1 in 3 mothers do without basic essentials to provide diapers for their children and we have witnessed first-hand how families “make a diaper last”.
A child will use 6,000-8,000 diapers before potty training
A baby will need 10-12 diapers per day
