by Michelle Stein posted in Mom Stories

In about five weeks, a baby girl will be joining our family of four -- and we couldn't be more excited!
Something I'm not excited about is the amount of money we'll soon be spending on diapers yet again.
The thing is, although we'll undoubtedly have to shuffle around our monthly budget, my family can afford to keep clean diapers on the new baby. This isn't true for so many other families in the U.S.
In fact, 1 in 3 American families don't have the diapers they need to keep their babies happy and healthy. Low-income families spend, on average, $936 per child on diapers every year???double what some higher-income families pay.
How is this possible" Well, higher-income families have access to online shopping (because they can afford things like smartphones, the Internet and the initial cost of an online diaper subscription,) where they can buy diapers in bulk for cheaper prices than, say, at the local supermarket or a corner store.
The financial strain of diapers sometimes leads to parents not changing diapers as often or even reusing them in order to make their supply last longer. (There are no federal assistance programs for diapers, after all.) As a result, babies are at an increased risk for infections and hospitalizations, and caregivers are prone to mental health challenges from the stress of the situation.
To address this problem, the President?s budget calls for a $10 million investment to test effective ways to get d...