Diapers, a messy affair: a breakdown of what to buy and costs

A child goes through diapers like a hot knife through butter.

The average newborn pooping machines need about 12 diaper changes a day, which comes to 360 a month and a staggering 4,320 a year. If you spend $0.20 a piece, that comes to $864 spent a year on diapers alone.

We at theAsianparent decided to help you by compiling a comparison and analysis of diaper prices and availability around Singapore to help you make your diaper-buying easier so you can focus more on diaper-swaddling.

So, for you new parents. When you step into the diaper aisle of the supermarket you may be a little overwhelmed with the range and variety of diapers that stretch from wall to wall. Even when you decide to shop online, the range of products that spread of multiple pages with similar names will appear strange to you as well.

It may be daunting now, but you will get the hang of it soon enough.

Diaper samples

It’s always good to try out a diaper brand before buying it. They offer different tightness and what is advertised may not be what you are looking for.

Here are some avenues you can use to get yourself a few free diapers before you go out and get them yourself!

It doesn’t hurt to be prepared.

• Drypers (Request one through their Facebook page)
• Goo.n (After you register at their page)
• Huggies
• MamyPoko
• Merries

Read on to find out about the availability of diapers.

Availability of diapers

You can avoid the trudge to the nearest shopping mall, away from your previous little baby who needs your attention by shopping online at the following shops:

• Luv Babies
• Red Mart
• Giant
• Cold Storage
• NTUC Fairprice
• Medi-ya

Luv Babies and Red Mart are online-only stores that you can purchase your groceries and baby products from. The other names should appear familiar to Singaporeans, having chains island-wide.

One advantage of purchasing your diapers online means that you will know whether they are available or not with a quick glance. When we went down to Bugis’ Cold Storage to take a look at diaper prices, we realise that they do not stock Pet Pet brand diapers or the Moony brand.

On the other hand, buying it off the shelf does not require you to wait for them to deliver to your house, nor do you need to pay the delivery charge. You can rip the pack open outside and wrap your baby up at the nearest toilet.

Additional options include delivery services such as honestbee who promises to deliver the product to you at the same price as those offered on the shelves.

There are a lot of brands to choose from.

We have trawled the great web and collated a series of brands offered by the respective sites.

Once you have decided on a diaper for your child, you will realise that every diaper will have a different price at different locations. We can help you with that dilemma with a comparison of prices of diapers in Singapore.

Click on to find out how to save when buying diapers.

Babies require a great deal of logistical maintenance. If you do not breastfeed, you have to grab baby formula off the shelves. That does not include, diaper creams, pacifiers and clothing that you will need to prepare for the little one. 

Diaper Pricing

When we look closely at the price of diapers, we realise a few things.

• Purchasing larger packs will save you more money (Luv Babies offer a 4*(64) packs of Merries S size diapers, which allows you to save $142.5 a year compared to buying NTUC’s pack of 54)
• Shops that offer both online and retail services tend to have the same prices, unless they come in different packages. (Pampers from the NTUC Finest at Bishan and the online store both cost $29.95 for a pack of 90)

Check out the comparison below.

The values on this charts are obtained through a comparison of prices found on the shelves and online retail sites. Values in the charts are based off a year’s usage of diapers with the estimated usage of 24 diapers a day. The cost is obtained by finding out the price of a single diaper in a pack and extrapolating a year’s worth.

First we have a comparison of amount spent on diapers if you choose to purchase Drypers (Weewee Dry XL) from the following online stores.

From the chart, you can see that you will save $434 a year if you switch from Cold Storage to Luv Babies for Drypers (Wee Wee Dry XL).

Difference in prices can be attributed to the packages offered. Luv Babies, Red Mart and NTUC Fairprice sell their Drypers in packs of 56, while we could only find packs of 36 from Giant and Cold Storage’s online stores.

Another implication will be the choosing of a smaller pack when you feel that your child is growing too large for the old pack. There is no point in saving by purchasing a larger pack from RedMart when you will end up discarding the extra 20 diapers.

Note also that while the individual packs range from a few dollars for the smaller packs to around 20 dollars, the amount adds up to over a thousand dollars in a year. That’s one more reason to save whenever you can

Prices in physical stores appear to be consistent regardless of supermarket brands.

To explain the difference between the NTUC physical store and the online store, the package in-store offers 4 additional diapers in their packaging.

While some products have a disparity in price, Merries appear to be consistent in its pricing.

The last graph proves that buying a smaller pack when shopping will lead to you spending a great deal more.

The pricing of physical store remains consistent as long as the products are in stock.

Other deals on diapers

#1 Baby World Fair

If you brave the huge crowds present in such conventions, you can find discounts such as a Lovely World 6 piece cloth diaper sets + inserts for $135 compared to the usual price of $203.

#2 Baby Market

2016 date to be announced.

#3 Price Panda

The website attempts to find the cheapest products online and links you to them. After checking the price, their offer of $15.60 for a pack of 50 MamyPoko Extra Dry (S) is still more expensive then commercial retailers.

Here are some resources that you can look through before you purchase the actual product. Are you looking for a cloth or a disposable diaper?

Information stated above are correct as of 1 February 2016. Prices do not take into account special sales.

Mums, what do you think about diapers in general? Take this poll and tell us about it.

Thank you for your response!