Even before your baby is born, you are faced with an immense number of decisions regarding the products and services you will use to care for your baby. If you delivered your baby in a hospital, you were most likely given starter diapers. As a first time parent, you may not know which diaper brand you want to use. And, like many people, you probably assumed that the diapers you received were a good fit for your family. After all, if the hospital is giving them to you, they have to be good, right?
While no hospital will provide supplies that will be detrimental to any patient, most hospitals do not have preferred diaper suppliers. Generally, manufacturers provide supplies of diapers to hospitals as a marketing tool to get parents hooked as early as possible. It is a very effective strategy in that, if you can secure the payment of a week for three years, the cost of the initial diaper supply has more than paid for itself.
But, as a parent, you need to figure out which diapers are right for your child. You have already marveled over the individual fingers and individual toes. Now, it is time to determine which diaper will cover your child's individual tush. Part of figuring out which diaper will work is gaining an understanding how diaper sizing works. Logically, diapers are sized based on weight. The amount of diapers per package also decreases as the size of the diapers increase. This means that you will get fewer diapers per pack as your child grows.
Here's A Simple Example Of Different Diapers Sizes
To get a better familiarity with diaper sizing, this article will explore one brand of disposable diapers and their sizing metrics.
As most babies are born under ten pounds, the standard newborn diapers will be appropriate. They are categorized for up to ten pounds. Some parents forego the newborn diapers and opt for size 1-2. This is realistic by weight, but does not take into account diaper accommodations for the umbilical cord stump. Newborn diapers are specially designed to leave room for the cord stump to heal and eventually fall off, which typically occurs a few weeks after birth.
Once your child begins to grow, you will use weight as a measuring tool to determine when you need to purchase the next size up. You may want to determine whether your child has output capacity for the next size up. For example, normally if your child reaches 16 lbs, you are ready to purchase size 3. However, if your child is slow to gain weight or is in a lower weight percentile, your child still may have the output capacity of size 3 diapers.
Disposable diapers range in size from Newborn to Size 6, which accommodates over 35 lbs.
The normal size weight ranges are:
-Up to ten pounds: newborn
-8 to 15 pounds: Size 1-2
-16 to 28 pounds: Size 3
-22 to 37 pounds: Size 4
-27 plus pounds: Size 5
-Over 35 pounds: Size 6
Once your baby has graduated from diapers, you can stick with the diaper products and switch to training pants. Also, if you like to spend time swimming or at the wading pool in the summer, you might want to pick up a package of swim pants to make sure your baby is a welcome visitor at any aquatic attractions you visit.
