It’s about providing diapers
About No Child Wet Behind
This woman was sitting at the bus stop thinking to herself, “How will I afford diapers today?” She wasn’t sure how it would happen but she had faith that it would. She said, “I was praying for an answer. We were desperate for Pampers and you showed up. You are angels.”
While we are not angels and not heaven sent, we are women who know how difficult life can be. We know that our babies matter and the stress of not being able to provide for them is a debilitating.
Something as simple as having a clean diaper for your child should not be something that adds stress to our lives, yet for so many, it does.
At No Child Wet Behind, we are doing our part. Not only are we donating on a national level but those involved are bringing diapers directly to families who are in need.
No Child Wet Behind’s executive director Debbie Aglietti shared donated diapers with this loving mom and her little one.
According to the National Diaper Bank Network
- 5.3 million children in the U.S. aged three or younger live in poor or low-income families.
- 1 in 3 American families reports experiencing diaper need.
- Diapers cannot be obtained with food stamps.
- Disposable diapers cost $70 to $80 per month per baby.
- No state or federal child safety-net program allocates dollars specifically for the purchase of diapers.
- Without transportation, buying diapers at a convenience store rather than a large “big box” store can significantly increase the monthly cost of diapers.
- Infants require up to 12 diapers per day, toddlers about 8.
- Babies who remain too long in a soiled diaper are exposed to potential health risks.
- Most childcare centers, even free and subsidized facilities require parents to provide a day’s supply of disposable diapers.
- Cloth diapers are not accepted at the vast majority of child care centers. Many parents cannot go to work or school if they can’t leave their babies at child care.
The long-term issues of diaper needs are more chilling.
When a baby presents with bad rashes and even staph infections people unfairly conclude mothers are neglectful.
The child is unable to be consoled, and the parent already has such limited resources both financially and emotionally. If the baby keeps crying and crying, it really gets to most anyone, so the risk of injury to the child is certainly much higher.
– Dianne Mueller – CEO of Crisis Nursery, a St. Louis-area child abuse prevention agency.
Diaper Need and Its Impact on Child Health
Diapers are mandatory. They’re not optional.
And yet families are making really hard decisions: Are we going to buy diapers or formula or are we going to buy food? That stress is putting a lot of hardships on families.
– Melinda Ohlemiller, CEO of Nurses for Newborns.