1) You should change every diaper you can from as soon as you can. It's called division of labor. Especially if your womenfolk (or in the case of non-polygamists, womanfolk) are breastfeeding every couple of hours, they may feel somewhat tied down, put upon, exhausted. (You'll know this is the case because they'll tell you about it. ALL THE TIME.) Taking over diaper duty gives you some real skin in the game.
2) As for what diapers to buy and where, I have two words for you: Cost co. Two more words for city-dwelling dads: suburban relatives. They're the ones with Costco cards who you're going to press into service to get you the biggest damn boxes of diapers you've ever seen. We've found that the kid begins to outgrow a diaper size just as a case runs out.
Stay tuned for a separate diaper test drive post, where I'll try to decipher the rather arbitrary branding conventions (Swaddler vs. Baby-dry? What's the deal with that?). In the mean time if anyone has a clue, post away.
Point 1 is important, but change them as quickly as you can for another more important reason... they leak! Since babies have very immature digestive systems compared to adults things are a bit um, looser than you might realize. Stuff flows out... very easy to have it happen and when it does it will be when you least expect or are prepared to deal with it. (Never go anywhere without a change)
We use swaddlers... I think the main difference aside is swaddlers are more form fitting on the exterior and have a better internal tuck system. Who knows - they seem to work just fine.
Pricing is good at Yourgrocer.com which is Sams Club delivery for urban dwellers without cars and no access to Costco. Toys R Us also has good prices on the larger boxes, but not the same quantities as YourGrocer/Costco.
Good point. When my brother-in-law told me he'd bought a 50-pack of diapers and that "that oughta cover us," I laughed out loud. You're easily changing 10 diapers a day, especially at the outset.
From what I can tell, the Swaddlers are more fabric-like, with velcro tabs, while the Baby-dry ones are slicker, with tape-like tabs. They're like the various materials Band-aids come in.
I imagine regular visitors understand that they should wait until Jonathan confirms or corrects me before giving any credence to a post ;)