California will send 400 diapers home with every newborn

California will send every newborn delivered at participating hospitals home with 400 diapers, about five weeks' worth, under a new program from Governor Gavin Newsom called Golden State Start. There is no income check and no enrollment form. Newborns go through eight to ten diapers a day, and diapers run about $100 a month, a bill that arrives before most parents have slept. The program runs through a partnership with the nonprofit Baby2Baby, which built its own manufacturing line to produce diapers at 80 percent below retail. Year one covers 65 to 75 hospitals and about a quarter of California births, with priority for facilities serving low-income patients. The state put $7.4 million toward it last year and has proposed $12.5 million more through June 2027. "The first days at home with a newborn should be focused on the love, connection, and joy of an expanded family, not stress about affording diapers," said state health secretary Kim Johnson.