Diaper (nappie) question from the US

[asymes]

Hi! I am a volunteer with an organization in the US called the National Diaper Bank Network. It's a collection of volunteers and donors that provides diapers (nappies) for families who struggle to afford enough for their babies, which amazingly enough is about 33% of young families here. There is no financial assistance for families in the US to purchase diapers, and we are trying to raise awareness of this issue to potentially start programs to help here. I was wondering if there are any national-level resources in the UK that help families obtain diapers that we might be able to research as a model. Thank you!

Food banks here give out nappies - look up trussell trust food banks for lots of examples of how they operate.

Otherwise as we have benefits (welfare payments) and not just food stamps the expectation is that people use their money to buy nappies.

Thank you so much!

Quite a few local councils here run, or facilitate, a cloth napoy scheme.

A family can apply (only once) for a starter pack of cloth nappies, liners etc. which they are given for free.

The expectation is that they'll buy more if they like them, and perhaps use the heavily advertised privately run laundry service, but there is no obligation.

I know many families use the cloth nappies when they run out of/can't afford disposables for a few days.

Supermarkets here do very cheap 'value/basic' own brand disposables too, at about £1.50p for 20. So that helps.

Also the reusable nappies are often sold on second hand for very little, or passed on through networks of friends. A lot of local areas have "nappycino" (like cappuccino) sessions where you can learn about and borrow reusable nappies for very little.

local governments (ie councils) vary a lot in what they offer butas PP mentioned some do have vouchers or similar for cloth nappies, this is motivated more by environmental reasons, especially waste disposal (as this is a local government function)
there's nothing specific within the benefits system to support buying nappies- all parents get child benefit which when my DCs were small would have roughly covered the cost of disposables, and those who are unemployed/unable to work will get benefits which supposedly suffice for all basics. An exception would be with a child who because of disability may need nappies for much longer, so this would be one of the 'extra costs' that - supposedly- families can get extra money for.
Cloth nappies have many advantages and as people have said are sometimes passed on free or can be bought cheaply second hand. However, if a family is in poverty the ongoing costs of washing and drying them (electricity mostly) may make it not a practical choice.

High earners don't get child benefit (or rather they do but have to pay it back trough the taxation system, so you don't get any extra money). Just an FYI.

mmm, which would be a way of transferring money from the wage earner to the child rearer

Hi all. Thank you for all this information. As for cloth, this is definitely helpful for some families. However, many of the families in need don't have their own washer/dryers, and most laundromats do not allow you to wash diapers. Further - in US daycares, cloth diapers are not accepted, so they need disposables to be able to work.

Yes can see that makes cloth nappies much less doable. You can (in a pinch) wash cloth nappies by hand so maybe an option for home use? Much cheaper to use.

We also have health visitors here (health professionals, paid by the state, to monitor and support health of babies and children) and they will sometimes collect donated nappies and give them to families they know are in need. Local Facebook groups for parents often coordinate those kind of collections.

Why do US daycares not accept cloth nappies? Surely people are trying to actively cut down on the amount of disposables used?

Our local church runs a food bank which also has a bin full of items you can help yourself to without being assessed. This includes items such as tampons, loo roll, condoms and nappies.

MonkeyJumping - we collect diapers in a similar way here in the US - I have collected many in my neighborhood that people no longer needed (after training or after sizing up) through my Facebook group.

Here's a little about my work if you're interested:
pix11.com/2017/11/15/new-york-city-woman-helps-get-diapers-for-mothers-in-need/

I agree cloth diapers are a great solution for some, and the National Diaper Bank Network promotes them. US daycares can't use them for health code reasons - I believe the underlying reason is that the spread of fecal-borne diseases are easier to prevent when everything is disposed of.

Thank you all so much again for the information! We also run diaper banks through food pantries here.

Diapers are also much cheaper here than the states. Most supermarket's have their own brand - something we really struggled to find in the US. Seemed to be Pampers or Huggies or nothing.

Asda (run by Walmart) own brand for a size 4 nappy, 84 pack (so hardly bulk buying) run at 6p or 8 cents each. I never saw anything close to that price in the US.

Thanks for the link, that's interesting. Honestly challenging those health codes is likely to be the most helpful thing long term, all of Europe manages to cope with cloth nappies without being struck down with dystentery or whatever :)

I agree! i was a childminder (family based day care I think in the US) and some of my clients used cloth nappies. It's handwashing at the end of the process that's important, not the type of nappy or how it's disposed of or stored.

what is the best diaper brand according to you?
i see that these buy.guru/best-baby-diaper-in-india/ says huggies and pampers are 1st and 2nd respectively, is it??