Diapers are surprisingly expensive. The fourth highest expenditure for families with young children (after housing, food and utilities), more than 1 in 5 families in Toronto cannot afford them. Removing roadblocks to diapers and wipes promotes infant physical health, supports positive parental mental health, unlocks access to childcare so parents can work, and allows families to reinvest their diaper budget in other essentials like food and housing.

“Diaper need” is the gap between the diapers a family can afford and what is required to keep a child clean, dry and healthy. For our Baby Love families, the gap can be upwards of 100 diapers a month. Diaper Need Awareness Week was established in 2012 to draw attention to this important issue, encouraging conversation and action. 

Every month, we’re in our communities distributing close to 100,000 diapers to families in the Greater Toronto Area through over 12 trusted charitable partners, helping to close the diaper gap. Partnering directly with manufacturers to produce diapers significantly reduces the cost and allows us to reach 2.5 times as many babies compared to retail prices.

Our Baby Love families tell us wipes are just as critical, and the cost just as prohibitive, as diapers to keeping babies clean and healthy. We’re working with our manufacturing network to find a scaled and affordable way to add wipes to our permanent offering, but we don’t have one yet. 

This Diaper Need Awareness Week, we’re asking our supporters to help us meet the urgent needs of our families by hosting a wipes drive. 5,000 packs of wipes donated would allow us to add wipes alongside our diaper distribution for the families we support for the rest of the year.