Generic diapers: good enough for your baby?

If your baby uses disposables, you'll buy thousands on the way to the Golden Throne. So, saving a few pennies per diaper adds up to a couple hundred bucks.

Diapers are, after all, poop bags. So why are you buying extra-expensive "supreme" and "ultra" poop bags? For most purposes, the store brands do a fine job of absorption and containment. As long as you change them often (and quickly after a poop), your baby's butt will never know the difference. But your wallet will.

(After you read the comments, the discussion continues over here. -- Ed)

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Tags: Diapers

Comments

[Dan]

"As long as you change them often (and quickly after a poop), your baby's butt will never know the difference."

But that is the whole point of buying the more expensive brands:

1 - don't have to change as frequently when wet since they keep the moisture away from the baby.
2 - less chance of, er, "blow outs"

If you have to use two cheaper diapers for every one more expensive one, or need to rush to change whenever dirty, then I see the more expensive ones as being the better bargain.

[Dan]

By the way, great site -- great idea and very nicely implemented. Kudos!

[John]

I agree with Dan (about the site and the diapers). The problem is that they are *not* just poop bags. They are primarily pee containment devices. What worked for us was buying them in quantity at a warehouse club, although we still sometimes would buy a different brand for overnight when our oldest son was older -- even the supremes wouldn't always hold a night of pee, and we weren't going to wake him up in the middle of the night to change his diaper.

[Jared]

We've never found a better brand of diapers than the Smiles brand from Sam's Club. Very affordable, and extremely leak-proof - well, unless it's a burden no diaper can bear.

[Angela]

I was given a "no name brand" of diapers and it has changed my point of view on diapers also. I think it is the walmart brand no sure but they work just as good if not better then Pampers so there for I will buy the off brand and save that extra few cents each month for education.

[Tyler]

My wife and I are converts to the Target brand diapers. They come in a package of 96 for the price of the name brand 52 (or what ever the biggest quanity at the super market is). We realized early on that on certain poops and pees, there is no diaper that will hold it all. So for now Target is fine with us, and my wife always needs an excuse to go there anyway.

[Sean Roche]

Ditto on the better brands holding more and fewer leaks. One bad thing about leaks: once you finally discover a pee leak (which can be a while), you have no idea where the little darling has sat!

Better diapers can also be virtual diaper genies. With just a little work, even the smelliest diaper can be wrapped up as tight as an overstuffed burrito. The tighter the wrap, the less smell gets out. But, and here's the key, a tight wrap only stays wrapped if the tabs hold everything closed. Pampers are number 1. Target house brand are good. Huggies/costco are only decent.

Random thought: Since the kids don't really see the decoration on the diaper, why aren't diapers decorated to please/entertain/stimulate me? I don't like Care Bears!

[Gary]

My twins have been out of diapers for a while - so YMMV - but Target was one of the "ultra soft-stretch" store brands (muppets on the tapes, by my memory) - also at Walgreen, CVS, and supermarkets. Worked better than "premium" for me.

[John]

We love our Kirkland-brand (Costco) diapers. 200-something for 30 bucks, in our opinion equivalent (if not better) than the Pampers/Huggies supreme versions.

[Todd]

I'm still 3.5 months away from being a father, but I've also heard good things about the Target brand diapers.

[Hutch]

Had mostly good experience with generics , and Walmart/Target ones but second kid was starting to develop bad rash/bleeding sores due to one brand that mostly disappeared upon changing back to huggies. Seems some or all of them use some deodarants/chemicals that can be irritating. And for those floks with a baby at the nighttime pee blow-outs try using the night liners that can be used to help absorb bigger qty. of liquids.

[Bostjan]

Perhaps for boys it also matters the type of "pee-containment-device" a diaper has. Some cheaper diapers use chemicals that get very hot when reacting with pee (e.g. containing and locking the pee). Better brands pay attention to that as it is thought that this additional heat on testicles can influence in a negative way.

[Melanie]

Another benefit of generics: since they're cheaper, they often don't have all the perfumes and chemicals that more expensive ones have. Plus the baby can feel the wetness, which helps with potty learning. Both big plusses!

And you'll get heat issues with any disposibles; some studies have linked them with the rise in infertility problems. Cloth is the way to go if you really want to avoid that.

[recto]

Some diapers allow major amounts of leakage, especially in the case of boys. Look around for something that is affordable and effective.

[Hillary]

I agree that with some children cheaper diapers work fine. I have several friends who swear by WalMart's brand, as well as LUVs. However, with my two babies it is a whole different story. We tried generic (store brand) diapers from several different companies and none held up to the severe "blow outs" of our breast fed infants. After one or two terribly embarrassing incidents, we have returned to the brand we love - Pampers swaddlers for the little ones and cruisers once they are crawling/walking.

[Alice H]

"Random thought: Since the kids don't really see the decoration on the diaper, why aren't diapers decorated to please/entertain/stimulate me? I don't like Care Bears!"

The cartoon characters are there so when your baby gets a little older, she can refuse to wear two thirds of the diapers in the package because the diaper doesn't have her favorite character on it.

[Jon Henshaw]

Better diapers mean less leakage and a better fit. This is something I won't skimp on.

[Peggy]

LOL Alice.

Pampers cruisers are the only thing that can stop leaks with my baby. Also, he cried alot in the generics.. aparently has a sensative butt.

[chrysis]

With our daughter generics were just fine, never any problems - but with our son, every time he has a generic brand on (Publix, Wal Mart, Aafes) there was leakage! So the bill was not just for so many extra diapers used but also for laundering 6 or 8 little outfits every day!!!! So in our case the Huggies have worked best. Heard this also from moms who had boys in my daughter's playgroup.

[JMA]

We've used almost nothing but diapers from BJ's (a warehouse club here in the NorthEast). We did once recieve a gift of a Huggies when our second was born--they leaked so badly with my newborn son that my wife sent a letter to the company to complain! They sent us a $20 coupon for more of their crappy diapers. Being frugal, we used the *almost free* box of Huggies during the day and the cheaper, but more effective, off-brand at night. I know having to kinds of diapers might seem counter to the idea of simplification, but since the kids usually sleep for the night in one place, it worked pretty well.

[Ebstar]

Uh - have any of you thought about the chemicals that go into these things - bleaching them white etc. Let alone the amount of landfill these things take up. Be responsible and get ones that biodegrade (google it for your country). There are good ones from Moltex. See this http://tinyurl.com/8m99j

[Matthew Miller]

Ebstar -- there's now also gDiapers, which are flushable and compostable (!).

http://gdiapers.com/

[ian]

We've tried every brand of generic and "brand name" and keep going back to Huggies. Everything else either leaks or gives a nasty rash (sometimes within one diaper change).

So we stay with Huggies, and by them at a Warehouse store (Sams).

[Brian]

The Toys 'R' Us generics worked okay...until they didn't. Sometimes a transition in sizes brings with it a complete change in effectiveness, and not for the better. In Toys 'R' Us's case size 2 was fine for our daughter, size 3 was a nightmare.

The solution, if you need the high-end diapers? Clip a ton of coupons, wait for your local store to put the good ones on sale, and pounce when they do. Do it right and you'll get the high-end diapers for about the same price as the generics.

[RJ]

2 further hacks:

1) Teach your child the sign for potty, and get a little potty to prop them on when they signal the need to go. The ASL sign is really easy (right fist with thumb between index and middle finger, jiggle like a doorknob) and the number of diaperss saved using elimination communication (and messy butt-wipings prevented!) is what I call savings! My daughter has been doing this since she was about 8 months old and she really seems to appreciate avoiding the mess too.

2) Use a cloth diapering system. It's cheaper. It's more eco-friendly. It's legal- as in it is illegal in the US to dispose of fecal material in a landfill, so everyone flushes the dookie before tossing those disposies, right? The only time I'd go with disposies is if you don't have access to a washer on a daily or every-other day basis. Serious $$$ savings.