Stroller

I wear one type of washable for daytime in the summer, and a different type in the winter months - the winter ones are too bulky to get away with under shorts, but hold more. At night I prefer terry nappies - they never leak for me, but they're too bulky for daytime. When we go away I switch to disposables, and I like to try all sorts of different ones. Betterdry if I've got to be a bit careful someone might find them in my bag, but preferably printed - Astronauts, Overnights, etc etc. For long walks I wear Tena pullups as they chafe least and don't disintegrate with wear. So - loads of different ones.

My nappies are now an essential part of my life. I'm always in one, and always will be. Everything else has to fit around them - and it works OK for me. I don't look back.

I remember seeing the Beatles in concert in London.

I posted a bit on this on anther thread yesterday. I'll try to find time to post a fuller account - I'd guess there aren't many full-time washable wearers about, so my experience is probably potentially useful to others. Watch this space...

Where to start? Firstly, I'm in cloth nappies full-time, and have been for about 4 years, and part-time for years before that. I wear disposables only when we're away on holiday without access to a washing machine, and for long walks, to avoid chafing. As far as leaking overnight is concerned, that hasn't happened to me for a year or two. I'm wet every night, but no leaks. I wear different nappies at night from daytime. My nighttime nappies are terry squares (4ft square) with an extra washable soaker pad, folded in the butterfly fold (aka Chinese fold, origami fold). I fasten the nappy with a Snappi at the waist, and pins at each thigh. The objective is to keep the nappy pretty tight up against me, with no gaps to allow leakage at waist or leg. I tuck the fabric in round each thigh as well. Then a pair of large plastic pants - big enough for there to be no risk of the nappy getting out at waist or leg, with elastic taut enough for it to keep my nappy properly enclosed. Finding the right pants is important - I've been wearing Gary polyurethane pants for the past year. They are expensive, but they're bombproof, and they fit me properly. I've no idea how long they last as I've been alternating the same 2 pairs for the past year, and they're still as good as new. What will fit you depends on body shape, but the principle of leaving no gaps is key, whatever your shape. My waist is 34 inches, my Gary pants are Large size, to give an idea of what sizes work for me. My experience of other cloth nappies overnight is limited, but my daytime nappies do work overnight, as they are a snug fit. Again I use an additional soaker. They're Mediums from the Dotty Diaper Company here in the UK). I wear Medium disposables overnight on holiday, and I've found that the addition of a soaker makes leaks a lot less likely. Of course if you drink too much you'll saturate any nappy, but 'normal' fluid consumption is easily handled by a cloth nappy overnight once you've worked out what works best for you. Good luck!

Mainly for that reason, I'm in washables apart from odd times such as holidays and long walks, when that's impractical. Now I don't feel guilty. Have you tried using washables?

Any time. Mind you, scampi was a 70s thing over here.

Hmm. I'm going for cardiac tests on Tuesday. Probably nothing, but there have been a few worrying symptoms. If I need to be admitted to hospital at some point in the future I'm pretty confident that Mummy will bring in the nappy supplies periodically though. Betterdry rather than Astronauts I hope... Good luck with it oznl.

I've been avoiding it since I went into nappies full-time. I used to love asparagus, and there are farms around here growing it. But it's not a great loss for me, since I've lost most of my sense of smell now. That means asparagus no longer tastes like it used to, and is consequently no longer worth eating for me anyway.

Well yes - I don't think about it a lot of the time. Even though I'm generally in a thick cloth nappy. My routines are all ones that have adapted to wearing full-time, so they're just that - routine. Even wetting usually just goes on in the background, and often doesn't make me start thinking about it. I suppose that's where I always wanted to get to - as much awareness of it as a baby. No idea why that's what I wanted, but it was ingrained in me, and always will be. And I'm pretty much there these days. Of course I'm always being reminded I'm in nappies, but that just gives me a happy feeling - no adrenalin rush, no worries, no connection with feeling I ought to be behaving differently, or being careful in any way.

My other half (wife/Mummy) sees me naked and in wet nappies all the time - it doesn't matter to either of us. Nobody else outside the AB scene knows I'm in nappies, so although I'm usually in a wet nappy in front of them, it's always discreetly covered up. As for naked in front of others, I wouldn't go there these days in the vanilla world. I'm clean shaven from the neck down, & going public on that isn't top of my wish list. Sooner or later I'm going to have to go semi-public with things at the doctor's or hospital, but I'll face that when it comes...

Lovely intro - welcome on board Mixymagic!

One of my daughters has been vegan for years, and I was vegan myself for about a year a long time ago. The key things to remember to include in your diet are proteins and fresh veg. If you do that, the only thing you may be short of is vitamin B12. You can get that from supplements or from yeast products. Good protein sources are pulses such as lentils, split peas, tofu. There's some in wholemeal bread too, but I wouldn't rely on that entirely. The main problem with following a vegan diet is that you have to be able to cook. Fast food is unlikely to cut it. Hope this helps.

When adult nappy ads come up on the television I sometimes suggest to Mummy that perhaps she ought to try them. She's not keen for some reason. Can't think why - they're obviously the latest thing in underwear. I like the Fairy Liquid washing up ads too - particularly the cartoon baby in a thick cloth nappy riding a motorbike. Mind you, the lack of any plastic pants makes that a bit impractical. And yes, any nappy advert works for me. My heart jumps every time.

I seem to have escaped this sort of thing, so far - no idea exactly how. And Mummy has her own laptop and accounts, so there's little danger of any crossover there, unless your scattergun IP theory is correct. We use Firefox as well, and Thunderbird for mail. Firefox deletes all cookies every time I close it, and I always opt for minimal cookies whenever I get the chance. I haven't yet gone down the VPN route, mostly because I can't be bothered trying to understand how it helps. Amazon's browsing history still annoys me though - I've not found a way of automatically deleting it, but then I've not tried very hard either. I take it your other half hasn't yet been tempted by the rubber accessories? Maybe you need to check her bedside drawer just in case...

I was a similar age to you when I met my wife, and we decided we wanted kids. My AB side then went into the closet for over 20 years - that was my decision, to protect both my wife and any kids. My wife knew I was AB - I slept in a cot (crib) in my nursery. I didn't want my wife to worry about me being an AB affecting the kids, and I didn't want the kids finding out. So I pared back my AB things to what for me was the bare minimum, and wore nappies only very occasionally. We raised 2 girls, and they are now adults and (mostly) away from home. Once the younger one went off to college I went into nappies full-time, started going to AB events again, and these days I'm out completely when there's just the 2 of us here. Mummy's very much vanilla, but she's understanding, and does a good job of looking after me. So, that's one way of coping - it worked for us. I always had the long run in mind, knowing I wouldn't be in the AB closet for ever. I won't say it was always easy, but then life isn't always easy is it? Good luck!

It did take a while before I could wet freely while driving. My car has a foot rest for my left foot, and I find wetting a lot easier if If use this for my left foot rather than the floor. It's probably because this reduces the squashing of my urethra to give the wee a clear run. These days it usually just happens.

The great thing about baggy dungarees for me is that they aren't gathered in at the waist. That means there's not much of a bulge that anyone's going to notice. And I feel like a little when I'm wearing them as well.

That's likely to be the case, in my experience. Certainly some brands of hook and loop last a lot better than others. I've never washed hook and loop hotter than 60 C, so I can't comment on what happens if you boil it - I've not risked it. Get some better hook & loop & get sewing is all I can advise. I've been getting mine from myfabrics.co.uk - based in Germany I think, but they have a UK website as well.

Yeah - I went through all that and eventually came out the other end. Now I wear full-time and I'm relaxed and happy with it. Not for everyone, I know, but it's really worked for me. Good luck!

Dungarees in the winter months, heavy duty cargo shorts in the summer months. My dungarees are Uskees from dungarees-online.com - they seem to have been discontinued now, but I've got 4 pairs - , and my shorts are from Fat Face. We've even taken a couple of pairs of Fat Face shorts & turned them into shortalls, which I'll wear sometimes - with a top over them so they're not obviously shortalls. All overlarge sizes so they're good and baggy. Onesies of course - vest onesies in winter under vanilla shirts, and T-short onesies in the summer. All that is my vanilla wear for the benefit of the vanilla world. I dress up more AB when I can.

For me, this has definitely happened. The key question for me is whether this is physical or psychological. Or both. The muscle activity I used to use to control my wetting I no longer use. This is the same muscle activity I used to use as part of my toolkit to hold back no. 2 when urgency struck. I've trained myself not to use these muscles at all, as far as possible, and I'm not going to change that. So it's not surprising my bowel control is not what it was. What I don't know is whether those muscles still work effectively. I've no intention of finding out either. My goal was always to lose control of wetting entirely, and I'm not going to do anything to fight against that. It's too important to me.

I had a Joan Baez moment on reading this. 'There but for fortune go you or I'. I've been so close to this many times but never had the full nappy experience apart from a couple of times walking Binky when I couldn't make it home in time. Both times I came home to an empty house so I could clean myself up OK. It's a bit more work when you're in a cloth nappy. Many times I've only just made it to the bathroom in time - the urge usually comes on just after my breakfast & it's the trigger to change out of my overnight nappy & get dressed. Occasionally there's a bit more than skidmarks. Sooner or later I'm going to get caught out. It'll then be the time to accept and possibly make public that I'm functionally incontinent and it'll be awkward wherever it happens. I'm pretty confident my other half will be OK with it, provided it's not a daily occurrence, but of course you never know. Possibly it'll be that back-breaking straw, but she's not a camel, so I doubt it. She's not shown any signs of strain coping with my AB life in a long while. Anyway, I've got confidence I'll be able to cope with it, one way or another. And confidence you'll be able to as well. It won't be pretty though, for either of us.

What an ink monitor was. Why ballpoint pens were banned at school. Doing IT technical support with no tools other than scissors, a pointed metal spike and some black sticky tape. Doing remote IT technical support via an acoustic coupler. Why electrical goods and cars were priced in guineas rather than pounds. Why my parents dug a bucket into the ground in the garden in hot weather.

Yep, I don't get it either. Soaker pads are a lot cheaper, and work properly. I did experiment on long walking trips with wearing two pullups at once, with plastic pants over the top. The idea was that I could rip off the inside one when it got too wet, then use the other without having to take half my clothes off in a field. I wondered whether the cloth-type backing of the inner one would wick through if I left it to soak enough, but I never found out whether it did - I switched to using soakers instead.