by Jennifer Porter Gore
Since the Covid pandemic, the price of diapers for infants and toddlers has skyrocketed by nearly 50%, squeezing low-income families who want to keep their children dry and healthy — and putting pressure on community diaper banks who are struggling to keep up with demand.
That’s the assessment of the nonprofit National Diaper Bank Network’s 2024 Diaper Check, a survey of organizations that give free diapers to needy families. The situation is so bad, according to the assessment, that about half of all families with children in diapers can’t afford to buy them.
Besides putting a very young child at risk of contracting diaper rash or other health problems from wearing soiled diapers, a household’s lack of fresh Pampers or Huggies can keep their little one out of daycare — and add to already-high levels of parental stress plaguing low-income families.
“No family should have to choose between clean and dry diapers for their family or food,” said Lacey Gero, director of government relations at the National Diaper Bank Network. “No parent should have to stay home from work because they can’t afford the diapers required to take their child to daycare.”
While most new families take diapers for granted — and see them as, literally, a disposable commodity — experts say they are a critical part of keeping a child healthy. Clean, fresh diapers prevent diseases, including urinary tract infections, and help ease stress on a child’s parents. That’s because daycare providers typically turn away children who don’t have their own supply of diapers.
Though they’re disposable, diapers are no small expense. Infants use up to 12 diapers per day, which can cost as much as $100 or more per month per baby.
Nearly half of Americans with young children cannot afford all the diapers their little ones need. This includes the roughly 6.7 million children who receive childcare from a non-relative or who attend an organized preschool or daycare facility.
And 25% of those families reported missing work because they couldn’t provide diapers to their childcare facilities, according to the National Diaper Bank Network. “[F]or low-income mothers—especially those from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds who are more closely scrutinized by the child welfare system—the risk of not being able to diaper children appropriately adds to the stress and fear of being reported as negligent,” the Institute for Research on Poverty says.
Diaper banks try to assist families that are ineligible for Medicaid but they can’t meet the level of need. As a response to this trend, some states are getting help from Medicaid and more states are looking for similar help.
Earlier this year, Delaware and Tennessee became the first states to provide diapers for children covered by Medicaid.
Delaware will provide up to 80 diapers and one pack of baby wipes per week to mothers in the first twelve weeks postpartum.
Tennessee is authorized to provide 100 diapers per month for all children under age two through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The state will make diaper products available for all children under age 2 who are enrolled in TennCare, the state’s Medicaid program.
Delaware’s pilot program will allow delivery of meals and diapers to postpartum enrollees for three months after giving birth. Low-income postpartum enrollees in Delaware can get coverage for up to 80 diapers per week and up to one pack of baby wipes.
As reported by Axios, Delaware reported that its state-funded pilot also helped address maternal and infant health disparities. More than 40% of deliveries through that program were to “high risk” ZIP codes in the area, and 57% of enrollees who received deliveries were Black or Hispanic.Earlier this year, the Connecticut Legislature considered a bill to provide diapers for children under age 3. Although the bill didn’t pass, legislators approved a study to determine how families would benefit.
“We have to recognize how addressing something as simple as diaper need can really influence the economic viability of our families in Connecticut,” said Dr. Selina Osei, director of the Connecticut Health Association.
