Help me figure out size 6

[kijip]

I buy/beg a ton of diapers for work. I am trying to figure out what amounts of what sizes to regularly stock and I am confused about size 5 vs. 6. It seems that families that request 5 or 6 sizes will take either size interchangeably. How big/old are your kids that can only wear size 6s and NOT 5s? Am I right in thinking that few kids

What size were your kids in (3, 4, 5, 6) when they stopped using diapers?

Are pull-ups a reasonable substitute for size 6 or are diapers needed?

[sidmand]

DS wears a size 6 diaper. He couldn't do a pull-up, we're nowhere near potty-training (I think that's what a pull-up is for, right? Doesn't hold as much, but helps with PT). We could probably get by with a 5, but it would depend what brand it was. Not all diapers are made equally! Huggies definitely run a bit smaller and those are what we use. So we could probably get away with a size 5 in other brands.

We've probably been using size 6 for many many months. I'm not even sure exactly (we still use size 5 Huggies overnites only because they don't make bigger. And those are getting very tight though). I know a little girl who is DS's age and has been wearing size 6 for at least a year. I really don't think she needed size 6 that long ago (she's smaller than DS!), but it worked for her family.

DS hasn't been weighed or measured since his 2-year check up, but I'd say he's about 33 lbs and 39-40 inches tall (he's tall, but still a bit thinish). He's 28 months, and like I said, I see months and months of diapers in our future! I'm guessing we won't stop using them until he's 3+ anyway. I know Pampers makes a size 7...we may be heading that way!

Debbie
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[psophia17]

N was in a size 6 generic when he turned 1, and would've stayed in that size for the whole next year. A 5 was not big enough in the legs, although would've been okay in the waist...or maybe I have that backwards, I can't remember.

[american_mama]

My small/medium sized child was toilet trained while wearing size 4 diapers. She does, however, still use size 4's at night, so you might find many families still looking for diapers for nightime long after they no longer need them for daytime.

You might also consider the acceptability of diapers vs. pull-ups. I personally favor diapers even for older children because they are cheaper and because I fear that pull-ups will seem too much like underwear and encourage a child to use them indefinitely rather than toilet training. But I think I am unusual in that. Most families seem to desire pull-ups at a certain point, based on the size of the child, the child's ability to pull clothing up and down while trying to use the toilet, and the parent's belief that pull-ups are the acceptable thing for older children to wear. If you stocked only larger size diapers for older children and no pull-ups, I wonder if some parents would not accept them.

[hez]

There's generally less absorption in training dipes than in regular disposable dipes. So if the kiddo's not PT'ing and fits a S6, the parent may prefer it.

Payton wore a size 6 for good bit-- mostly needed for rise, not width (we were using Cruisers-- at that time the only P&G regular dipe with stretch).

I have a friend whose kiddos never made it out of size 4. They're healthy and PT'd at about the same age as Payton-- just on the other end of the growth curve.

[kijip]

>You might also consider the acceptability of diapers vs.
>pull-ups. I personally favor diapers even for older children
>because they are cheaper and because I fear that pull-ups will
>seem too much like underwear and encourage a child to use them
>indefinitely rather than toilet training. But I think I am
>unusual in that.


I agree with you completely, so I guess we are unusual together, LOL. Pull-ups are sort of a pet peeve of mine and I have resisted buying them for work at all just because of the expense per dipe. We have actually not bought 6s (but we do get donations) because I was under the impression that most people in 6s could use 5s. I think I am wrong about this based on the growth charts I have looked at and the input here and from IRL. I think I am going to start buying some 6s. I am pretty ignorant on this as I think we used maybe 2 packages of paper dipes after Toby turned 1 and 1/2. He was out of dipes, even at night, well before age 3 (sometime around 2 years, 9 months if my memory serves me right).

Pull-ups are sort of a toss up. I think we get more bang for our limited bucks, quite apart from the philosophical issues so I think I will steer clear for now except for donations. We do not get all that many requests for pull-ups (anecdotally, I think many of my clients try to get out of diapers ASAP due to the cost involved- impractically expensive if you are living in a price-tastic city like Seattle on an average of $16K a year and are in school full-time and even if they get some from us and other sources).

[kijip]

I was hoping the expert would chime in! Thank you!

Yeah I remember pull-ups being less absorbent than diapers, especially since many kids in the larger sizes are mainly in them at night.

****Rocking out while parenting my smart little munchkin Toby. Just trying to do good in the world, a little at a time. Words to live by: it is *never* the wrong time to do the right thing :)

[Marisa6826]

The "new" Cruiser 6s (now that they came out with the size 7s a few months ago) seem to be actually what the 5s used to be.

I unearthed some old 5s and compared them to newer 6s and they're pretty close in size. The new 6s may be a *smidge* larger. If it helps, Mia is roughly 37" and 35lbs and wears the new 6s with some room to spare.

She can still fit into the 5s if she needs to without a problem. In fact, I just unpacked a bunch into the drawer yesterday.

Prior to this new size 6 nonsense, Sophie went right into Pullups/Feel and Learns at around age 3-1/2 or 4. The F&L were a size 3T-4T, I think.

I've not ventured into size 7 territory at all. ;)

HTH

-m

[hazel]

DS is 22 months. We just moved him from size 5 to size 6 last month. He is just over 30 lbs and the size 5s were getting hard to stretch around his belly. It could work in a pinch, but the size 6 really fit better now. We use the Especially for Baby brand (TRU/BRU store brand).

We use Huggies overnites in size 5 only because they don't make them any larger.

[elephantmeg]

at our hospital we only stock up to size 4. Most kids can squeeze into a 4 for a short time. I'm not sure what the reluctance to have bigger diapers is but I have a feeling that we're going to have to start carrying them. I would think that if you had 4's and 6's you would be OK (we have premie, NB, 1's, 3's, 4's but no 2's and parents cope)

[Radosti]

We blasted right through size 4 and went quickly through size 5. DS has been in 6's for at least 6 months now. IF I had to go with a size 5 (like being at the ped, realizing he's wet and not having a spare diaper - and all they have is a 5), I would take it and put it on him. It would be ok for an hour or 2. But by the time I need to take it off him, it's like a bikini on him. That's how we knew size 5 weren't good, he pretty much walked around with his hand at the back yanking his diaper up as it slipped off his bum. Plus, size 6 has a lot more absorption.

He's a big kiddo though, 35 lbs now, but he's lost a pound over the summer as he's losing his baby fat. He was also the kiddo that came home in size 1's. The first time I got him, there was a pack of N in the drawer, after that it was size 1's. So, he's not an average sized kiddo. I do have size 7 bought already, but haven't needed them yet.

[kijip]

>I'm not sure what the
>reluctance to have bigger diapers is but I have a feeling that
>we're going to have to start carrying them.

It may be the cost per diaper. When you are buying a lot it adds up...each size up contains fewer and fewer diapers.