This seems like a classic case of annecdotal evidence being extrapolated into general truth.

Two kids from an identical environment and sharing the same ancestors are hardly a significant sample.

Read anything about child milestones, and you'll see a great degree in variability in the value.

6-7 diaper daily changes. Normal. 8-10 diaper daily changes. Normal.

12 doesn't seem that strange to me. That's every 2 hours on average. 8 a day is every 3 hours like clockwork to keep a fresh/dry diaper on. Add in the unexpected poops that don't land on 3-hour boundaries and it's not hard to do 12. It seems like the upper end of normal but not an outlier.

It's pretty common for newborns to be on a highly regular 3 hours schedule for diaper changes. Happened with all three of our kids. Like clockwork, basically.

I’m going to disagree that this is common. Newborn schedules in general are not super predictable. I don’t know anyone who has described their newborn’s schedule as “clockwork”.

Babies don't read books about how babies are supposed to behave they just do what they do, be it 2 hours, 3 hours or some baby unique interval.

I had the the same issue with my now 5 month old, I'd guess most first time parents do.

This is one of the reasons why I am happy with Kraamzorg [1]. I learned from them that if you got a boy the first thing you do when you change a boy's diaper is put something on their penis (such as a burp cloth) so that they can't pee you in the face (or on the carpet/wall/door or w/e). I remembered that even though we don't have a boy; we had a girl about 2 months ago. :-)

FWIW, we're changing diapers roughly every 3-4 hours. I can pretty much put my clock on it (a blue strip shows if she's pee'd). Every 2 hours is overkill. The strip wouldn't be full blue yet.

There's also (washable) cloth diapers which are better for the environment and wallet though they're also an investment. We're planning on switching to them, but it is too early for now.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraamzorg

> I learned from them that if you got a boy the first thing you do when you change a boy's diaper is put something on their penis (such as a burp cloth) so that they can't pee you in the face (or on the carpet/wall/door or w/e)

We do this - we've got 20 or so cut-up facecloths we use for this purpose. They are usually the limiting factor on how quickly we do laundry. It's not uncommon to go through 3/day; it's like having a set of cloth diapers we use just for diaper changes. Plus, he's gotten pretty good at avoiding the cloth and pissing out the bottom, or choosing that moment right when I take the cloth off and put the diaper on to unload, or shitting all over his penis (!!) so that I have to clean that first and getting me in the face while I'm bent over him with a wet-wipe.

Someday he's going to win a lot of pissing contests.

That blue strip on newborn diapers must be generating billions of revenue.

Newborns pee so little and diapers absorb so much that one diaper would be enough for the whole day. But with the strip, people switch them every few hours :)

If you rely exclusively on the blue stripe you're gonna develop a skin rash. I would love to see the data on your one diaper a day newborn test.

A whole day? Until poo? Last night I last changed our little one at around 1 AM and my partner changed her diaper at around 8 AM. Suffice to say, she was completely wet.

What makes it too early for cloth for you? They come in all kinds of sizes!

Cloth diapers do cost a little bit more effort whereas the first months with a newborn are rather hectic. More so for 2 parents with ASD. So we've opted to consider going for it later on, when its less hectic. Also, in the beginning a newborn will grow quickly out of clothes. Almost everything she wears right now is too large. But the diapers (some of which were free with a "box") fit her very well.