More than half of American families with children are living paycheck to paycheck. As the costs of food and housing have increased over the past five years, more families across the US are struggling financially. In 2024, 1 in 3 adults with kids younger than 6 were food insecure or experienced difficulty paying for one or more basic needs.
For families with children younger than 4, these basic needs also include diapers and wipes, which cost up to $100 a month and are among young families’ top five household expenses. Nearly half of US households with children in diapers struggle to afford enough diapers (PDF) to keep their children clean and dry.
Rising costs and proposed cuts to federal safety net programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid could make it even harder for young families to cover the cost of essentials.
Though none of these programs directly cover the cost of diapers, they subsidize the costs of other basic needs, such as health care and food. In 2023, Medicaid paid for 42 percent of births (nearly 1.5 million) in the US. Approximately 30 million (PDF), or about 40 percent of all children under 18 in the US, are enrolled in Medicaid. Meanwhile, SNAP provides 4.5 million children younger than 5 (PDF)—or about 1 in 4 children in that age group—access to healthy food, and streamlines access to other nutritional programs such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) and free- and reduced-priced school meals.
Scaling back these critical supports would not only affect families’ ability to purchase necessities but could also have ripple effects on children’s health and development and increase parenting stress (PDF) and maternal depression.
When families can’t afford diapers and other basic needs, parents’ and children’s health and well-being suffer
Babies use an average of 6 to 10 diapers a day, which translates to about 3,000 diapers a year. Without frequent changes, children are more likely to develop urinary tract infections (UTIs) and rashes.
In our analyses of the National Diaper Bank Network’s 2024 Diaper Check survey, we found that more than one-third of young children living in families who struggled to afford diapers had been to the doctor at least once in the previous year because of a UTI, compared with just 13 percent of children in families that could afford diapers.
Caregivers who struggled to afford diapers were also more likely to report their child had gone to the doctor for colic, or when a baby is fussy or crying and can’t be calmed down for three hours or more a day for three days or more per a week. Repeated sick visits and treatments, such as prescription medication, can increase families’ costs.
In recent years, basic needs banks—local organizations that distribute essentials such as diapers, wipes, and diaper cream as well as other hygiene products—have reported surging demand. At a time when parents are struggling to balance the cost of essentials like food, rent, and diapers and turning to their communities for help, proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP could exacerbate parenting stress, directly harm children’s health, and affect parent-child interactions. Not having enough diapers prevents parents from going to work (PDF), which can hurt families’ finances even more.
Cutting Medicaid’s postpartum services will likely affect the mental and postpartum health of young mothers
For postpartum mothers, the financial challenges of being a new parent are compounded. In addition to purchasing diapers for their infants, they must navigate the high cost of menstrual products needed during and after postpartum periods. Recently, the price of these products has also increased because of record-high inflation and supply chain issues.
Menstrual products are necessary for women’s health, but half of women reported struggling to pay for period products in one recent study. About 52 percent said they didn’t have sufficient products to manage their period and instead used toilet paper, paper towels, or a cloth. Another 40 percent asked someone for products or money to buy them.
Proposed cuts to Medicaid could threaten postpartum mothers’ access to health care services and parenting supports. Through Medicaid, more than half of states reimburse early childhood home visiting services, which benefit maternal health and children’s health and development. In states that have expanded postpartum Medicaid coverage, mothers are covered by Medicaid for up to a year after giving birth instead of just 60 days. This expansion has led to better health outcomes for mothers in the postpartum period, but cuts to Medicaid could lead fewer states to offer this extended coverage.
Cuts to safety net programs would also affect families’ purchasing power and mothers’ personal health. This is especially concerning given the link between diaper insecurity and postpartum depression.
Our analyses of the 2024 Diaper Check survey show that more than 1 in 3 caregivers struggling to pay for diapers felt down, depressed, or hopeless more than half of the time. That’s more than twice the rate among caregivers who could afford diapers.
When mothers lack support for basic needs, their mental health suffers, which can, in turn, affect infant care and bonding.
Safety net supports for young families are an investment in the health and financial stability of the US workforce
Nonprofits and community resources play a vital role in supporting families, yet they aren’t equipped to replace the foundational support provided by programs like Medicaid and SNAP. Cuts to federal safety net programs would strain already-limited charitable resources for families, widening the gap between available assistance and need. This would come at a time when some nonprofits are at risk of losing government grants and bracing for budget shortfalls.
Eliminating programs families with young children depend on could have immediate effects on not only the US workforce, such as decreased women’s workforce participation, but also the country’s long-term prosperity. Parents' financial stability can directly affect their children’s future readiness to enter the workforce. And investing in children’s early health and development can improve their health and employment outcomes as adults.
By better understanding young families’ challenges, federal and state policymakers can work across federal and state programs and policies to ensure all families have the resources they need to thrive—including diapers.
Support for this blog post was provided by the National Diaper Bank Network. For more on Urban’s funding policies, go to urban.org/about/organizational-principles.
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