How to Handle Diapers During a PCS Move
A PCS move means buying your diapers ahead of time, carrying a few days' worth in a bag that never leaves your side, and not counting on the store at the other end. That is the whole strategy. Everything below is the detail.
Buy ahead, because the store at the other end is a guess
You do not know the base you are heading to. You do not know whether the commissary stocks your brand, whether the shelf is empty the week you arrive, or how far the nearest store sits from your lodging. So you carry your own supply. A newborn goes through 8 to 12 diapers a day. By the second half of the first year, that drops to 6 to 8. Multiply that by your travel days, add the days before your household goods arrive, and buy that number before you leave. Then add three more days. Moves run long.
Carry, do not pack, what you need for the road
The diapers you need in transit ride in the car with you. Not in the moving truck, not in checked household goods. Those boxes can land days or weeks behind you. Keep a road bag with enough for every travel day plus the first few nights, wipes, a changing pad, and two changes of clothes. If it is on the truck, treat it as gone until it shows up.
Plan for the gap between the old store and the new one
There is almost always a gap. Lodging with no car yet, a delayed shipment, a town you cannot navigate. This is the stretch where families run out. Size your buy-ahead pile to cover the gap, not the drive. If you think the gap is three days, pack for a week.
Sizing up in the middle of a move
Babies size up on their own schedule, not yours. If your baby is near the top of a size, buy the next size up for the second half of your supply. A slightly big diaper works fine for a week. A too-small one leaks through the night in a hotel bed you are trying to keep clean.
One rule
BUY AHEAD. A move is the worst possible time to hunt an unfamiliar town for diapers at 9pm with a crying baby in the back seat. The families who get through it easily are the ones who bought the pile before they pulled out of the driveway.