Cost of nappies

[Catnary]

I was reading this article in today’s Guardian in which a couple going through the asylum-seeking process were talking about the high cost of having a baby.

The man is quoted as saying “a pack of 24 nappies is gone in 5 days!”. I checked and you can get 50 newborn nappies in Tesco for £1.80. Also, my son is out of nappies now, but I remember how eye-wateringly expensive Pampers were compared to supermarket own brands, and how corner shops/Tesco Express etc never seemed to stock the cheap ones or larger packs, so you might not even know they existed if you weren’t able to get to a large supermarket. I couldn’t help but think that, while it’s obviously important to highlight financial pressures, surely nappies should not be pushing people over the financial brink? I wondered if someone needed to give them some advice about buying cheaper brands in larger packs.

3 babies currently and more than happy with asda,aldi or lidl brands

Exactly. So why are people in precarious financial situations buying packs of 24 nappies?

My local Tesco express only stocks pampers, a small pack for about £7. I have been caught out when my Amazon subscription doesn’t come on time.

they know anyone buying nappies needs them

To be fair we have to buy pampers baby dry. Trust me I have tried all the rest. I do not want to be spending an arm and leg! I don’t know what it is about our boy that means the other nappies just spill out.

This is what I mean- if you are someone who doesn’t have access to an Aldi or a Tesco Extra, or a phone for online shopping and a secure delivery address, you might never know that nappies are much cheaper than you think they are.

The 2.5kg part? He’ll still be in size 0, they only come in small packs and only pampers or boots, even size 1 only come in small packs but you do get supermarket brand.

Not every child can use any nappy brand though. I’ve tried 100 different ones as DD has gotten bigger. The only one’s that fit her properly are Pampers Baby Dry, it’s so ridiculous. DS will happily wear Aldi brand with no leaks at all

I was loving using my Aldi nappies for £2odd a pack but they just don't fit my 4mo at all! So while she's between Aldi sizes I'm having to buy pampers and have to say I am not happy about it 😳

Try Tesco or Asda if there is one near by. Tesco nappies are pretty good.

Try having twins 🙄

I mix and match and shop for offers use discount codes and bulk buy

In all honesty though I'd be interested to know what family financial planning he did before having a child/more children

Children are expensive. They always have been. Yes I've seen some costs go up due to the cost of living - but not extremely so.

Where I live its ironic that the poor areas of the city don't have access to cheaper supermarkets and have to rely on cornershops. The richer people have plenty of access to cheaper supermarkets.

You can buy a pack of 24 in tesco for £1.20 so 5p each. The pack of 48 is slighly cheaper at 5p each but if you are living day to day counting the pennies you may not want to pay the extra.

They explain this in the article actually. link here

Full article here

I think the problem may be that their weekly allowance is only £46 for three people to live on. Less than the JSA rate for 1 person

Didn’t get on with Asda but will give Tesco a go thanks! :)

Newborn nappies are very cheap but they go up in price as the child grows. Size 5 nappies are £4.25 for 38 In Asda, about £3.50 in Aldi but Aldi aren't as absorbent as ASDA so I use more.

I never understand why people on benefits insist on buying Pampers at £11.00 per pack though when ASDA are just as good.

Not just relating to nappies, but lots of people are really having to strictly manage their weekly of monthly budgets more than ever now, so sadly this means bulk packs, multibuys and accessing all manner of economies of scale are out of reach. It's a shit fact of reality that those on the lowest incomes have to pay the highest price per ml/kg/whatever.

That said, buying in a convenience store, including a Tesco Express, Sainsbury's local etc. is more expensive yet again than a big store for the same item, so that's not efficient. These stores tend to stock the most popular items though because they have such a limited range, it's not a ploy to only stock the most expensive.

I tried to use cheap nappies and I tried reuesables with DS but everything other than pampers caused painful excema on his bum (to the point we saw the dermatologist at the hospital). Sometimes you don’t have a choice of what brand to use and therefore no opportunity to reduce costs either.

I was thinking the same thing.

It's lots of things, isn't it.

People on very low incomes wouldn't have a car or the bus fare or the delivery cost for the big supermarket / Lidl / Aldi. So they have to go within walking distance - usually a more expensive Tesco Metro or Coop or corner shop that only stock smaller packs of more expensive brands.

Size 1 nappies don't come in big packs.

Very low incomes mean you can't necessarily afford the outlay for bigger packs or multibuys that work out cheaper.

Cloth nappies are cheaper over a lifetime, but the initial outlay is huge, and they will be extremely difficult and/or expensive to use unless you have your own washing machine and decent drying space.

It's expensive to be poor, basically.

Surely cloth would be cheaper?

They probably don’t have good enough laundry facilities for cloth, and we are talking here about people who quite possibly can’t afford the difference between £1.50 for 24 own brand nappies and £1.80 for 50. Cloth initial outlay would be way beyond their means.

We don't know what their accommodation is like, is there a good supply of hot water, is there somewhere to dry nappies. I well remember being a teenage mum in a freezing cold flat with wet nappies draped everywhere trying to get them dry. Then you get the damp. That was the 70s, I hope people have it better now.

I agree dependent on washing facilities cloth might be harder. It’s only really posh cloth nappies that cost a fortune. “Normal” Terry squares and pins/clasps are far less.