Cost Comparison



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In the United States, children potty train on average at 2.5 years old. During those 2.5 years, they go through about 6,500 diaper changes (10-12 per day as newborns, 5-6 per day at 2 years old).  Here is a cost comparison of cloth and disposable diapers during that time.

 

Disposables:

 

Age Range	Changes per day	Total Changes	Pampers price per	Total Pampers
Newborn Size 1	12	1080	.21	$226.80
3-6 months Size 2	10	900	.25	$225
6-12 month Size 3	8	1440	.25	$360
12-24 months Size 4	6	2160	.31	$669.6
24-30 months Size 5	5	900	.36	$324
			Total Cost	$1805.4

 

Cloth:

 

	Cloth Diaper	Price Per	Total Cost
Prefolds & Covers	36 infant Prefolds 36 premium prefolds 6 small covers 6 medium covers 6 large covers	$2 $3 $11 $11 $11	$378
Detergent Cost	2.5 years @ 3 loads per week = ~390 loads of diaper laundry	$0.25/load	$97.5
Energy Costs		Gas heater: $0.10/load Electric heater: $0.34/load	$39-132
		Total Cost	$514-608

(Special thanks to Elizabeth for article content.)