How Many Diapers Does a Newborn Use in a Day? The answer to the question “How many newborn diapers do I need?” is fairly straightforward. Newborns may use up to 10 diapers per day. Of course, every child is different, and days can vary, so think about it in terms of weeks and plan for close to 70 diapers each week.
During the first few days of life, breastfed newborns have about 3 wet diapers a day. After that, they have 6 or more wet diapers a day throughout the first month of life. The number of diapers a baby wets is sometimes hard to know, because disposable diapers work so well at wicking moisture.
Wet & dirty diapers
A breastfed baby should have 6 to 8 wet diapers in 24 hours. A breastfed baby may have a bowel movement once per day or once with each feeding.
In the first month of life, newborns average up to 8 to 10 diaper changes per day. And over the first three months (the newborn stage), babies go through about 700 diapers.
For newborns you can expect to use 8-10 diapers a day for the first 30 days, bringing us to roughly 240 DIAPERS during baby's first month! To be clear, that's not to say that you'll use 240 of the newborn diaper size. Remember, diaper sizes are based on baby's weight.
Most babies younger than 6 weeks poop around two to five times per day. Babies between 6 weeks and 3 months of age typically poop less. Monitoring a baby's bowel movements is a helpful way to check on their nutrition and overall health.
How long are babies in newborn diapers? Most babies stop using newborn diapers once they're over nine or 10 pounds. So if baby arrives on the scene weighing less than that—and they weren't born prematurely—they'll probably grow out of newborn diapers by week three (give or take).
How long do babies fit in newborn clothes? This will depend on your baby, but typically infant clothing sizes fit for 4-6 weeks after you bring him home from the hospital.
As a rule of thumb, babies reportedly tend to stay in size 3 for the longest period of time — about six months by some estimates. Assuming six or seven diaper changes per day, this could mean you might need anywhere between 1,000 to 12,000 size-3 diapers before moving on.
Change Before You Feed
This usually wakes babies up enough to get them to take a full feeding. If that wakes your baby too much, change their diaper first, and then feed them. If you change the diaper after you feed your baby, you risk completely waking them again.
While most institutions used to bathe babies within an hour or two of birth, many are changing their policies. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends delaying baby's first bath until 24 hours after birth—or waiting at least 6 hours if a full day isn't possible for cultural reasons.
Hiccups are normal and usually don't hurt your baby. In younger babies, hiccups are usually a sign that they need to be seated upright during or after feeding, that feeding needs to be slower for them, or that they need more time before or after feeding to relax.
Most babies do not burp a lot when they are drinking colostrum the first few days, however, still burp them for a minute or two. If you don't get one, no big deal. Start all feedings with a burping session. They usually will give you one and this also helps to arouse them and be more eager to latch.
Common signs of dehydration include a dry diaper for 6 or more hours, a dry mouth, or sunken eyes with few tears. This condition can be serious. Your baby's body needs fluids to make enough blood. Without a good supply of blood, vital organs such as the heart and brain can't work as well as they should.
Babies are notoriously messy, and you might need to change their outfits 2-4 times a day just because they spat and got their onesie dirty again. Factor in the outfit needed for their 'outside' time, and you'll quickly come to learn you might need a few outfit changes throughout the day.
Size 000 is intended to fit babies from 0-3 months, and size 00 is for babies from 3-6 months. Some bigger newborns might be ready to go straight into a size 00.
Most newborns will be in size 0000 (newborn size) for 2-6 weeks and then move to size 000 | 0-3 months. From size 000 | 0-3 months, it is best to check approx weight and length of garment on the size chart. Remember, every baby grows differently and similar to adult clothes, the sizes vary from brand to brand.
Not every diaper change may require a wipe. If your baby has only urinated, then you can probably skip wiping to avoid unnecessary irritation. However, always wipe after every poopy diaper, and always wipe front to back to help prevent the spread of bacteria.
If your baby is at the smaller end of scale, you might opt for newborn size diapers, but if your baby is closing in on the upper end you might choose to start in size 1's. Many babies could really fit in either size (that's where the weight overlap comes in).
Because newborns eat frequently throughout the day and night, their schedule of peeing and pooping will also occur frequently throughout the day and night. Therefore, we typically recommend changing your baby's diaper with each feeding, as well as in between feedings when Baby poops.