Buying diapers before baby arrives

[HOBSON725]

Would it be worth our time and money to buy diapers before our baby is born? She is due in december. Thanks.

[HeyHeyMama]

For us, the answer is yes. We're due in Dec and have been buying a jumbo pack a week. Here's my strategy:

I bought one each of stages 1, 2, 3, & 4, so when the diapers get too tight, I'll have one pack of the next size handy. On advice of my neighborhood moms, I didn't buy stage 5s and bought only 4 packs of stage 1.

As for sales...(1) My state (TX) had a tax-free weekend - that was an 8+% savings, then I used some coupons, which made the namebrands inexpensive. (2) My grocery store sells their storebrand as a loss leader - plus for the last month the jumbo packs have been on sale, making the jumbo cost per diaper cheaper than in the mega packs. My neighbors swear by the grocery storebrand - good quality, as cheap or cheaper than Huggies/Pampers/etc at the warehouse clubs, and no special trips needed. So each week I throw a pack in my basket. No fuss, no muss.

FYI: Those diaper packs do take up space though!

[Geebee]

LAST EDITED ON Sep-04-01 AT 01:49PM (Mountain)[p]I wouldn't buy too many, and I wouldn't buy more than 1 package of newborn diapers. Some infants are in newborn diapers for a month or two and some are in them for a week (or less). It depends on the infant's birth weight. And it is hard to tell how long your infant will stay in a particular size. I have a friend whose little girl was in size 2 for about a week or two, but my girl was in size 2 forever.

And if you buy a bunch, just make sure that you keep receipts and you can return them.

I have two leaking diaper stories with the same child...
1. I had some Huggies size 1 diapers that I received at a baby shower. I tried them when my daughter was a couple of months old after she outgrew the Pampers newborn diapers. Well, for my daughter, the Huggies leaked and I had to stick with Pampers. Sometimes, you don't know what is going to work until your baby is born.

2. When my daughter was about 12 months old, the Pampers Baby Dry that I had been using since birth started to leak. She was in size 4, so I tried size 5. Pampers Baby Dry size 5 leaked, and Huggies lower end (ultratrim?) size 5 leaked. The size 5 was really too big. Then a friend suggested that I try Pampers Premium (high end) size 4. Well, they worked great, but then I had a huge box of Pampers Baby Dry size 4 (from Sam's Warehouse club) that I couldn't use. Ugh. I gave them to a friend, but I'm still out the money.

I hope that helps!