Budgeting for Nappies - How much should i spend?

[emt1980]

Hi, newbie here looking for advice.

On average, how much are you likely to spend on disposable nappies and wipes in a month? From new born onwards. I don't know if this is a daft question, but i thought i might as well ask!

Any tips on the best place to buy? We're thinking of going to the cash and carry to stock pile as many as we can before the birth.

Also, and recommendations on brands to go for? Can you get store own brand (Tesco brand), and are they just as good as the main brands, such as Pampers etc.

Any help in this area, ball park figures, would be useful.

Thanks in advance, and good luck for 2011 to all!

Dont stock pile too much before birth. Can be an expensive mistake if you baby doesnt get with certain brands.

Will let someone else give you figures as been 3years since my was a newborn and I always brought when on offer.

Tescos own brand are fantastic BTW.

I wouldn't stockpile as different brands suit different children better plus they can suddenly go up a size and you end up left with a pack you don't get to use!

Erm I reckon 6 nappies per day, perhaps less when they are older???

If you really need to save money use washable nappies, do your research and then buy 2nd hand as again different types suit different babies better.

Or you could use reusables a home and disposables when out.

I mixed and matched depending on what I felt like. Cloth nappies were very easy- even terries!

Well, in tesco at the moment they've got an offer on Pampers wipes - two boxes for £20, 24 packs in total. That will last us about 6 months.

I bought reusable nappies, so can't comment on newborn nappy costs, but we've recently had to switch to sposies. Again, 2 massive boxes of Pampers for £20, I think 190ish nappies altogether. They've lasted us about 8 weeks I think.

HTH

Oh, and I'm reluctant to do the nappy offer again, as I suspect DD will be moving up a size half way through a box.

I'm still gutted that we haven't got on with the reusables

If you want to save money, reusable are the way to go. Hundreds of pounds over the two-three years you'll be using nappies, and then hundreds more if you use them for the next baby.

Not to mention the environmental saving.

I only used wipes when out and about or to wipe poo off, used cotton wool and water at home and to finish off after poos. The chemicals in them are hideous and all the wipes made all the dc bottoms sore if used all the time.

We used a disposable overnight and cloth the rest of the time, mine were all heavy wetters and slept for 12 hours at night from really early on so we only used 7 disposbles per week!

Nine that's a shame cloth didn't work for you any particular reason?

And bulk buying disposables now would cost the same amount as a reusables set. Some companies do an entire set to toilet training. For less than you would spend bulk buying :)

Sorry wasnt clear. I mean, if you are going to spend £200 on disposables now, you may as well get a reusable set, which will then last you longer anyway with no more outlay in the future.

They leak constantly and seemingly uncontrollably

I've tried three strip washes, bigger vests, changing the size (BG v3) and they still wick after an hour. If I don't get there quick enough, she completely soaks through her trousers. For a while, she wore them 24 hours as they stayed dry overnight, but I had to change back to a disposable overnight, then give up through the day too. We did so well for 5 months!

I'm going to give them another go. Every time I give up, I find myself resolving to try again. If you have any ideas, they'd be very gratefully received!

Inkystamp, that's why we went for them - an entire lifetime of nappies bought in one go

If you can get membership of Costco, or know anyone who is a member, they do huge packs of pampers and huggies, you can also get wipes there.

Keep a look out for the 2for1 offers on the big multipacks of wipes, there is often one on in the supermarkets.

Budget for 10 nappies a day for the first few weeks, then it goes down to about 6. We use reusables in the daytime, itti bitty delish ones, and then a disposable at night or if we are travelling. I didn't start reusables till about 8 weeks though, when we weren't changing so much as we were at first.

If you want to give reusables a go, see if your council does a grant scheme tom give you some money back, ours gave us about £40.

Another vote for cotton wool and water instead of wipes when your are at home. Better for baby's bottom as well as cheap.

10 nappies a day at first was based on my DS who was breastfed, ie very frequent explosive poo! Maybe not so many if you are formula feeding?

What wraps are you using?

Perhaps you need the smaller nappies but looser more reliable wraps - motherease air flow are the best.

With my mega heavy wetter the only thing that really works was easy peasy bumbles super stuffed!

Thanks cargirl. I'm just using the Bumgenius v3s at the moment. Maybe I should experiment with different types. I think I'll start a new thread in the right topic to save hijacking emt's thread any longer. Sorry OP

will come find you there...

. thank you do much everyone for your help! It's been so good to get your responses.

I'm going to look into reusables then after the first few weeks, for the day times. I'll look out for that thread for some more advice!

Also, great idea of cotton wool and water for home, so thanks.

That pricing for the supermarket is very helpful. I've got a Costco card, so when we do but, we'll check out there'd.

Thanks again.

We buy our nappies and wipes in Costco. We wait for the offers and stock up, the offers are pretty regular. When on offer the nappies work out at about 10p each. As for wipes, make sure you find a brand you like before stocking up. We bought lots of Huggies wipes but found them very hard and liable to tear, so was really glad when we had used them up!

Having read the post above about 24 packs of wipes lasting 6 months I am now wondering how we manage to get through so many! I'm currently packing for a 2 week holiday and was wondering if six packs of wipes would be enough!!