From Birth To Toilet Trained: How Many Diapers?

Have you ever thought of just how many diapers your baby will use before becoming fully potty trained?

While it might not seem like something you need to worry too much about, it can help you to budget if you have an estimate about the number of diapers you're going to need. Of course, every child is different, so what I'm about to tell you might vary.

I found some pretty comprehensive information, though, because I was interested in the answer myself.

The Averages

I found a decent amount of numbers out there, and it seemed like most places agreed. On average, newborns apparently go through between eight to twelve diapers per day. Yes, that's a lot, but luckily, most diaper packages come with plenty of extras to spare.

Diaper manufacturers prepare for the worst, so you'll be happy to know that you won't have to worry too much about them (in the early months).

Every infant is different, as well. Some are born at seven pounds, while others are more like thirteen (give or take). For that reason, I can't give you a definitive answer about how many diapers your newborn will go through each day.

You have to play it a little bit by ear, but I believe the eight to twelve mark is a pretty good one to watch out for.

Diaper Sizes

The next thing to consider is the sizes of diapers you might need. You'll go through a lot of diapers regardless of the size of your baby, but it could have a negative (or positive) impact if they're too big or too small.

Manufacturers base their diaper sizes on weight rather than age, which is helpful for the most part but makes it difficult for new parents to know how large their baby will get (thus making it difficult to stockpile early).

One good thing to think about, though, is which company you're going to go with. Most manufacturers will base their diaper sizes on general scaled options.

You can get newborn diapers for children ten pounds and under, all the way up to size six diapers, for children thirty-five pounds and over. If your newborn doesn't fit those sizes, specific companies also offer sizes on either side of the scale.

Once you can figure out the sorts of sizes you're going to need with your growing baby, you'll have a better idea of the number of diapers you're going to need.

Demands

Okay, I've said this plenty of times already, but I really can't stress this enough: every newborn baby is different. Every baby develops differently, and they have different demands as they grow. You really can't put an exact number on the number of diapers your child will grow through the whole time from birth to potty training age. Some children have vastly different ages when it comes to potty training, too.

While newborn babies expect to go through between eight to twelve diapers a day, older babies closer to potty training may go through as few as four to five.

It mostly depends on how old your baby is when it comes to potty training age. Some parents like to get it done as early as possible, while others are much less likely to worry about it until they deem it necessary.

Potty Training Age

As I've said, potty training age is a fickle thing. I can't put a number on it, though there are plenty of average amounts available.

I've read plenty of children aren't potty trained by the age of three (which has slowly increased over the years with the introduction of disposable diapers). Generally, the average age for complete potty training falls somewhere between months thirty-five to thirty-nine.

So, if I were to give you a number of diapers you might burn through with your baby from newborn to potty training, I could very easily be wrong.

If you want to keep your child in diapers until they're ready for more, there's nothing wrong with that, but it will probably mean that whatever number I decide on by the end of this post will be incorrect for you.

Similarly, if you'd like to get your child potty trained as soon as possible, you'll find yourself buying way fewer diapers than I told you was a good idea in this post!

I don't want you to overstock on diapers, then decide to blame me for feeding you incorrect information (which is not my intention at all).

The Answer

I think I've managed to cover my back enough to bring myself to give you a decent answer. I don't know what number you may have expected to read here, but based on the averages I've provided, you're looking at about 7,000 to 10,000 diapers between the newborn and potty training stages. I've left the final numbers deliberately large in range to let you know how random it can be.

Also, I wouldn't recommend buying thousands of diapers all at once! Yes, it's great to have plenty of diapers at hand. There's nothing worse than running out of diapers when your baby has just had a particularly nasty accident.

However, I do recommend you buy your diapers in boxes rather than packs. Bulk buying your diapers is the best way to ensure you always have enough for your baby.

Summary

I suppose it's not the worst thing in the world to have plenty of diapers left over. While it might seem like a waste of money to some, you could always find another use for the boxes or packs you didn't get to if you have plenty left over. You could give them to your friends if they need them, for example.

If anything, you should be proud of your work if you've managed to potty train your child before you ran out of diapers!

Don't be annoyed about the extra money you've spent! See it as an achievement that your baby was ready to potty train early and reap the rewards of that! It's every parent's dream to eventually get their children out of diapers and onto the potty, after all!