ABDL Inflation Woes & Diapered 24/7 Buying

GASP! You look into your closet and notice you only have a few diapers left.

Regrettably, you wore past the danger zone of running low on your precious diaper inventory weeks ago. You soaked right past the half case safety mark until the day has arrived and you have but one pack left. *CUE PANIC!*

You go to your favorite diaper-buying websites to check for diapers to order and, "OH NO!" You find ALL the brands you like, and even the designs you don't like are SOLD OUT or only available in pack quantity! You look at the option of ordering individual packs, but the price per diaper is 2x-3x higher!

You glance at your bank account and all of a sudden feel so little knowing you're going to be wetting your work chair and friend's couch for the next few weeks until diapers are back in stock at an economically feasible price for your budget. *DEEP BREATH*

Does this sound familiar in 2022? How about 2024? 2025? You were not alone.

Things became more expensive in 2022; Inflation rose to 9.1% as of July in the United States and continued into 2025.

Today, we have so many options of diapers to buy, from medical brands on one side of the spectrum to play diapers with beautiful prints on the other. The main difference between these two kinds of diapers comes down to features and price.

If you've been an ABDL for a while, you know that medical diapers don't have the finesse and the super high absorbency of ABDL printed diapers. After running a quick poll of my fellow ABDL friends, we all found that when we think of medical diapers, we think of the tried and true XP Medical X-Plus, Purple Molicare, Depend (lol), Tena Slip Maxi, 24/7, and Megamax diaper to name a few. Of all of these diaper brands, many ABDLs lean towards Megamax for absorbency, but even a 40-pack case of Megamax diapers runs at a price of $3.32 a diaper after shipping with no discounts on average.

Leading up to the pandemic, there was very little shortage of what you could order for your ABDL needs, and most prices for supplies, including diapers, remained the same even with subtle yearly inflation of 3-4%. This changed in 2022 as inflation across all categories of goods rose by 9.1%. Inflation has continued into 2024, and now into 2025 due to new tariffs.

So why is the combo of the pandemic and inflation such a problem? Your money buys less if you can even order what you need. Inflation also means your job is paying you less for the same work as your money has less buying power.

As a side note, one may also ask, "Are there more ABDLs or is this a logistics problem?" The answer is both.

Yes, there are new ABDL's at record rates coming into their independence and braver than ever to order their own supplies, thanks to social media. COVID-19 lockdowns and at-home ordering also caused extended diaper inventory outages, ongoing issues with product container shipping timelines, and increased shipping landed costs for companies. The pandemic significantly changed the pricing structure for diapers, baby powder, wipes, and baby formula.

However, for this article we are going to focus on diapers.

The pandemic changed demand & increased logistics costs.

When the pandemic hit, everyone was forced to stay inside, which caused another baby boom similar to the mid-1950s. Heard of the term "Covid baby?" Families got bored and busy in the bedroom. This Covid baby boom caused items such as baby formula and baby powder to run low while inventory struggled to ship and keep up. Logistics across the globe were taxed and couldn't scale with the increase in home ordering demand across all items. If you have recently gone to a Target, Walmart, or a local store, you may have encountered empty shelves for baby powder or wipes.

The instant concern with inflation and diaper brands being out of stock lead to two ABDL problems to solve:

How do I buy affordable alternative diapers but still get the absorbency and diaper features I want/need?
How do I buy and afford enough diapers to support wearing 24/7?
How do I buy the diaper brands I like and want when out of stock?

What If I told you there is a new diaper on the market that has 5,000 absorbency, comfy fit, velcro tabs, and an affordable per diaper price?

"Wait, wait, wait, are you saying I could get a diaper that has most of the features I want for less than $1.84 per diaper?" Yes, I recommend you give the XP Medical 5000 diaper a test run for the price! And no, PretendAgain does not get any spiff or affiliate kickback for recommending any of the below diapers unless you buy our diaper: TryAgains. Our goal will always be to help you maximize your ABDL fun and pretend time! Many ABDLs are in careers where they can buy whatever brand of diaper they want regardless of price, whereas others need to budget. We hope to help both kinds ABDL buyers make economically smart decisions.

For those who have never done a "per unit cost" diaper price analysis when buying diapers, we have created a price key to help. Review the following price key before looking at the price sheets below:

Price Color Key

Green: Between $1-2

Orange: Between $2-3

Red: Between $3-4

Dark Red: $4+

Do you know how much you spend per diaper? Some of us hadn't, and after seeing the costs, we wanted to share what we found in 2022. You will want to update your own chart to 2025 pricing:

Popular Medical Diaper Price Sheet (September 2022)

Diaper Brand

Top 3 ABDL Features

(opinion features)

Average Price Per Diaper

(to your doorstep)

Northshore MegaMax

High Absorbency
Thin Pre-wet Profile
Squish Factor

$3.32 USD

(40 Case)

XPMedical Abena

Sticky Tapes
Medium Absorbency
Nostalgic Feel

$1.59 USD

(42 Case)

Beyond XP5000

High Absorbency
Velcro Tabs
Comfy Fit

$1.84 USD

(56 Case)

XPMedical ComfiDry 24/7s

High Absorbency
Big Feel Fit
Squish Factor

$1.72 USD

(72 Case)

Seni Super Quatro

Breathable Cloth Softness
Medium Absorbency
Major Squish Factor

$1.74 USD

(40 Case)