How Many Diapers a Baby Uses by Age
August 12th, 2009 · 7:00 am · Category: diapersWhen you’re pregnant everyone will tell you how much money you’ll spend on diapers, but until you’re throwing those things in the garbage, it won’t hit home. Here is a guideline about how many diapers your baby will use in a day by age.
How many diapers a newborn uses
Your newborn should wet her first diaper by the end of the first day and it should increase to about 5-6 per day by the end of her first week. Wet diapers is the #1 way to know that your baby is not getting dehydrated. It is important to track diaper counts, carefully, in the first few weeks of your baby’s life. Not only is it important to make sure your baby is getting enough breast milk or formula, but your pediatrician will also ask you how many wet diapers and how many dirty diapers your baby is having. It always helps you feel like a more confident new mom when you don’t have to tell your doctor “uhhh…I’m not sure.” 
Your baby should have 3-4 dirty (aka poopy) diapers a day by the end of the fourth day. You should no longer see meconium by the end of the 5th day.
Make sure you know the meaning of the various colors of poop for your baby, too.
How many diapers a 1-3 month old uses
Your 1 to 3 month old will still wet 5-6 diapers per day (or more), but dirty diapers could start to space out. If you breastfeed your baby, she may poop after every feeding (mine did!) or go up to a week without pooping! This is just fine. If you are formula feeding, though, it’s easier for your baby to get constipated, so if your baby does not poop for 2-3 days, you probably want to call your pediatrician.
How many diapers a 4-6 month old uses
The number of diapers a 4 to 6 month old uses doesn’t change much from 1 to 3 months, but if you start solids in this time-frame, expect the contents to change! 
It will smell more than breast milk or formula poop, too. Many people start with rice cereal which is notoriously constipating (we started with oatmeal for this reason), so make sure your baby is still having a dirty diaper at least every 3 days, if he’s eating solids.
If your baby is sleeping through the night, don’t worry about changing any diapers at night anymore. If she is not, you may want to change one wet diaper a night with a feeding and always change a dirty diaper to avoid diaper rash.
How many diapers a 7-9 month old uses
Expect your 7 to 9 month old to wet 5-6 diapers per day (or more) and again, dirty at least one every 3 days. Now that your baby is eating more solids, if she is constipated, make sure you offer a sippy of water (for practice with the sippy and to help constipation) and focus on “p” foods such as pears, prunes, and peaches.
How many diapers a 10-12 month old uses
Your 10 to 12 month old will also wet 5-6 diapers per day, but you might notice they space out a lot more with dry diapers between. If your baby is still not sleeping through the night, it is most likely not due to diapers and you may want to help your baby sleep better.
How many diapers a toddler uses
Most toddlers won’t be potty trained until past 2 and as old as 4 (especially boys), so your toddler will still be going through 4-5 wet diapers a day and pooping every 2-3 days. They do learn to space out peeing more, so hopefully you will be going through fewer diapers.
But, what size diapers?
The size diaper you use at any given age will vary baby to baby and just depend on his size. If your baby is in the 50th percentile, you will most likely be following the weights on the packages very closely. Most newborns outgrow the newborn size diaper very quickly, so don’t stock up on those too heavily. Some babies go home skipping that size! If your baby is leaking during the night, try going up one size just at night and see if that helps.
How many diapers does that mean in the first 2 years?
For fun, let’s do some math (ok not fun for all of us) and figure out about how many diapers this is in the first two years of your baby’s life:
Let’s assume only 1 wet diaper is also dirty at any given day. Most dirty diapers are also wet. Here goes the math.
6 wet diapers per day for 730 days = 4,380
1 dirty diaper every 2.5 days for 730 days = 292
1 “oops I changed a diaper that wasn’t wet or dirty because I’m a new mom” diaper for the first month = 30
= 4,702
*Note: If your baby will go to daycare, most have a rule they have to change a diaper every 2 or 3 hours whether it’s wet or dirty, so you may want to add a diaper a day here and there to the total.
If you were to buy the extra large boxes of 160 diapers a box for about $40, you’d be looking at about 30 boxes for a total of $1200 in diapers for the first 2 years. Scary, huh? For fun, track your baby’s diapers, so you can see if we’re right or wrong.
Tags: how many diapers baby, how many diapers do, how many diapers does baby, how many diapers in a day, how many diapers newborn, how many diapers use, how many dirty diapers, how many wet diapers
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August 24th, 2009 at 2:59 PM
Wow.. I have just worked out the the minimum amount of diapers that I have changed in my six children’s lifetimes is around 28,000… That’s definitely a few diaper changes!!!! Mmmmmh, I wonder how much that cost me???
Just to let you all know…my youngest is now 7yrs and oldest is 20yrs…
November 5th, 2009 at 8:03 AM
[...] is so much to worry about. Parents of all newborns need to make sure their baby eats enough and have enough wet and dirty diapers, but when your baby is premature, extra care needs to be taken as there is higher potential for [...]
January 5th, 2010 at 7:46 AM
[...] transition him to a toddler bed in the next 6 months and start potty training (have you calculated how many diapers a baby uses, yet? Scary [...]
March 31st, 2010 at 11:25 AM
Cool website- As of one week my twins 4 and baby girl 3-1/2 (yes, should have spaced them out a little more) are now DIAPER FREE!!! Out of curiosity I was checking online to see how many diapers and money I spent in 4 years! Ouch!
March 31st, 2010 at 12:10 PM
@Anaelyz Ouch! That must have been a pretty penny! Congratulations on being diaper free!
April 29th, 2010 at 12:17 PM
My son will be 2 years old in two more month and he is only having 3 to 4 wet diapers a day? Is this okay? I am worried that he is not drinking enough. I fill his cup up all the time sometimes he will drink all of it an sometimes he doesn’t.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:52 PM
[...] now-a-days according to this article. I am basing my number of diapers used per day off of this article. For simplicities sake we are going to assume that one month = 30 days (365 days/12 months = [...]
May 10th, 2010 at 8:58 PM
[...] site I found somewhat close: How Many Diapers a Baby Uses by Age | Babble Soft Blog How Many Diapers a Baby Uses by Age When you're pregnant everyone will tell you how much money [...]
May 11th, 2010 at 6:57 AM
@Shawna At this age, they learn to hold it a lot as they approach potty training. You might talk to your doctor, but it sounds just fine to me. Good luck!
May 27th, 2010 at 2:48 AM
We use cloth diapers. Have saved a HUGE amount of money and as we use minimal washing powder (enviro friendly) on a cool wash and hang in the sun we’ve saved a lot of environmental damage as well. They are so easy to use – much easier than the old terry towellers my mum used on us! No more soaking.
July 20th, 2010 at 12:16 PM
Great Info! Thanks.
August 4th, 2010 at 8:33 AM
I think 1200 is a bit underestimated for most folks. You have to factor in the cost of wipes, rash cream, diaper pail etc. My kid also easily blew through about 15 dipes a day in the first few weeks. I ended up switching to cloth, and spent about 500- enough to cover his butt from birth to potty. With sposies, I would have spent around 2,000 (possibly more because his skin is so sensitive I had to buy the pricier “organic” diapers).
October 21st, 2010 at 11:13 AM
[...] breastmilk, formula or water. Diarrhea in babies can dehydrate a baby, so be sure to keep an eye on how many wet diapers your baby has when she is sick. If your baby seems to have an upset stomach and is eating solids, [...]
October 28th, 2010 at 8:07 AM
[...] appreciate information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
October 30th, 2010 at 10:07 PM
[...] information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
October 31st, 2010 at 6:33 PM
[...] information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
November 7th, 2010 at 9:07 PM
[...] information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
November 11th, 2010 at 7:53 PM
[...] information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
November 30th, 2010 at 4:30 PM
[...] information such as baby’s current temperature, how much she is eating and drinking and how many wet diapers she has had each day. Fewer wet diapers than usual might indicate baby is not getting enough [...]
December 10th, 2010 at 7:42 AM
The total number you calculated for the first two years is simply stunning. My son is now almost two, every time I look in the trash I think OMG, but I never really thought that it would be THAT many.