Diaper Need Awareness Week!

September 24, 2022 marks the start of National Diaper Need Awareness Week

One in three U.S. families struggles to provide enough diapers to keep a baby or toddler clean, dry, and healthy according to the The National Diaper Bank Network.

Here are a few fast facts about diapers. They are expensive and the cost quickly adds up for families living on the economic edge. The average cost of a diaper, pre-inflation, is 22 cents. With babies requiring 8 or more changes per day, this monthly expense exceeds $50. Low-income parents often leave their infants in soiled diaper for longer than recommended, contributing to a higher risk of urinary tract infections and diaper rash. Exacerbating the economic toll, working parents miss work because they do not have enough diapers to leave with their infant or toddler at daycare.

The Sharing Shelf includes diapers and wipes in each Wardrobe Pack we pack for infants and diaper-wearing toddlers as well as adult incontinence products to children and teens who need them. Clothing together with diapers meets a basic need and reduces both an economic and emotional stress on the families.

We need your help this week and throughout the year. Help The Sharing Shelf meet diaper need and provide this essential to infants and toddlers. Organize a drive at school, work or in the community, shop for and donate diapers (for updated needs visit our Target registry), or donate diapers that your infant or toddler no longer needs. Most acutely, we need sizes 5, 6 and pull-ups for toddlers but we can use and we distribute diapers in all sizes, including adult incontinence products.

We are proud to work in partnership with the Westchester County Diaper Bank and the Junior League of Central Westchester on this important work.

Visit our website to get involved: https://www.sharingshelf.org/diapers