Increasing diaper costs impacts local families and nonprofits

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — The Mini O'Beirne Crisis Nursery provides free childcare to families who don't have access to reliable care. In addition to childcare, they also offer a small pantry, stocked with diapers and formula. Each month, the crisis nursery hands out more than 250 packets of diapers to families in need and have to turn away dozens when their stock runs out.

"We've had families have to struggle between choosing clean diapers or food and getting help with either driving here or to the food bank and having to make the tough and difficult choices as to the resources that they need, which is something that is really hard for us to see," said Rachel Wilkerson, Assistant Director of Mini O'Beirne Crisis Nursery.

Wilkerson said once additional aid for the coronavirus ended, many families struggled to fill the gap and provide what their children needed. She said babies use between 10-12 diapers a day. At a central Illinois target, prices across several brands and package sizes averaged 26 cents per diaper. This means families can expect to pay $78 per child, per month, at minimum for diapers.

"There's new stats that almost one in two families in the US struggle to provide clean diapers for their families," said Wilkerson. "Diaper prices have gone up a lot since 2019 and we've seen that, even as far as the money we use for our pantry, we're having to spend more and more and more because the prices of diapers have gone up and we're still unable to provide each family who comes to the door with diapers."

The Mini O'Beirne Crisis Nursery is accepting donations of all types of diapers and pull-ups. They especially need diapers size 3 or larger, and pull-ups. For information on the crisis nursery click here. To purchase items for the nursery, click here.