Could you imagine what you would do if you couldn’t afford diapers for your newborn baby? A new nationwide study conducted by the National Diaper Bank Network (NDBN) and Huggies reveal that more than one-in-three surveyed families – including parents and other household members – reported struggling with diaper need in 2017, with the average household in need falling 19 diapers short each month.The 36 percent experiencing diaper need is slightly higher than the 34 percent recorded in a 2010 Huggies survey of mothers alone.
Following the initial 2010 survey, the diaper bank community has grown substantially to more than 300 NDBN member programs serving local families, from 40 in 2011, and so has the number of diapers and dollars donated to help keep babies clean, dry, and healthy. The new study provides an updated and comprehensive portrait of the impact of diaper need on families and the pervasiveness of the issue nationwide. And it makes clear the need to expand overall awareness of diaper need as well as community support for diaper bank programs and services.
Two-in-three families (65%) surveyed said they weren’t aware of diaper banks, even though the NDBN and its community-based diaper bank programs distributed more than 52 million diapers in 2016.6 Huggies, the largest supplier of donated diapers to NDBN, has contributed over 200 million diapers and wipes since its founding sponsorship of the Network in 2011.
