Some Of My Thoughts On Cloth Diapers

[rusty pins]

Ok, I am a strange one when it comes to how I was raised and my diaper preferences today. As a product of the late 1950's, I was always diapered in cloth diapers and plastic or rubber pants. That held true through about 1964 as I was a bedwetter until I was 6 years old. Always cloth and plastic pants because, even though disposable baby diapers were invented in the 1940's (so I've heard), they were not readily available in stores until the later 1960's.

When I really started getting into diapers as a 12 year old, it was with disposables like Pampers. That's why today I prefer disposables over cloth diapers. Also, with my current living arrangments, I am all but unable to wash cloth diapers.

So, here is the thing. I have a DL friend (also a member here) who prefers cloth diapers, although I have convinced him over the years that disposables are good now and then and have some distinct advantages (even "stink" advantages! LOL). Yes, I have many many cloth diapers due to there being given to me by a friend, and also probably 30 different pairs of plastic pants which I wear over my disposable diapers now and then. It's still a rare thing when I wear cloth diapers, but I know I would wear them a lot more often if I could launder them regularly.

So, the other morning I decided to put on a cloth diaper and soaker with plastic pants early in the morning and lay in bed wetting. Very nice feeling as the cloth wicked the wetness throughout my diaper! One big thing that I noticed was that the wetter the cloth diaper got, the more irritating it started to get on my butt as I was laying on it for a few hours! Sure, a disposable will get uncomfortable when it's totally soaked but this was a different feeling with the wet cloth diaper. Yes, it was properly laundered so no soap was left in it to irritate the skin. I think it was just the wet cloth fabric of the seat of the diaper and the fact that I was laying on it with a lot of my weight!

Now, I'm not saying this was a bad feeling at all! In fact, I did enjoy it! It's just a different feeling from a disposable, and I must say that I really enjoyed the feeling of a soft dry cloth diaper before I really soaked it! My observation here has to do with babies and toddlers, toilet training and older kids still in diapers!

I've heard people say that it's easier to train children who wear cloth diapers as opposed to disposable ones. One reason being said is that wet cloth diapers feel more uncomfortable to the child than disposables do. My recent experience proves that to be correct! Often wet disposables lock away the wetness and feel nice and dry until they get soaked, and therefore, actually pretty comfortable. Why would a child want their diaper changed if it felt comfortable when it was wet? The fact that a wet disposable diaper even feels pretty good may be one reason why children not only are trained at older ages, but maybe even why they turn into AB and DL's later in life! That's not to say many busy working parents put off toilet training until later and of course, the lazy parents who would rather change a 5 year old's diaper instead of toilet training them. I'm just saying that I do love both disposable and cloth diapers, but each has their own different properties and how they feel when wet. I discovered that I can stay more comfortable longer in a soaked dispsoable diaper than a cloth one, but also a cloth diaper can actually hold a lot more than a lot of disposables and it will wet evenly through out the diaper.

[Cloth Diaper Baby]

Intereresting observations -- and I admire you open-mindedness. I have worn disposables from time to time (a former baby-sitter insisted on them)and undertsand the logic. That said, I'm sticking with cloth!

[BabyJune]

Well, the problem with disposables is...disposing of them. A lot of people--me included--do not live alone or have a lot of time to be alone. Storing disposables is another problem since most of them come in cases. It's easier for me to stash a few cloth diapers and waterproof pants. As for using them and washing them, it's an occasional thing. I can only use them when I can be alone at my house so that I can wash them and dry them in the dryer. I live with my mother but own a house around the corner that my brother has sort of "commandeered." Fortunately (for me, not him) he works six days a week. Saturdays I can put on a diaper early in the morning before my mother gets up and then walk over to my house and wait for my brother to leave. That's my "diaper using" time. I also have a lot of vacation time (been at my job over 32 years) and take days off during the week.

Like Rusty Pins, I grew up wearing cloth diapers and "rubber" pants--not for long enough in my opinion. That's why I returned to wearing cloth. I also make my own waterproof pants. Somehow, I'm lucky enough with the UPS deliveries that all the diaper material I order online arrives at the house before my brother gets home. Only once did a box come when he was here and I told him it was "craft supplies." In a way, it was.

At some point I'm open to trying disposable diapers because of the super absorbency. I assume they don't feel as wet as cloth, nor would they leak. I pee like a baby, which means a little at a time and not one big gusher. That's why baby diapers work. Babies don't save up a good one and then let it all out at once. Well, maybe when they get older, but the idea is that they don't hold it in so there isn't a lot to empty.

[Bettypooh]

I'm sure I was raised in cloth though I don't remember those early days My first interest in diapers was seeing the early-style Pampers with tapes. No SAP's, no elastic, no leakguards- just a square pulp diaper with the sides glued into the middle to make an hourglass shape, two tapes total, and a baggy butt Those are what I wanted and I was lucky to find some Ambeze adult diapers which were made on this pattern. As diapers they sucked, but they were the "baby diapers" I remembered and wanted for me My first 'cloth diapers' were towels, but now I wear Birdseye pre-folds with a center soaker sewn in when I want cloth diapers at night. Daytime it's Depends pull-ups with a mix of 'Depends Max' tossed in on the weekends.

I love being wet in any of these, though I try to stay reasonably dry at work. There is a huge difference in how a wet disposable feels compared to cloth, on the skin and in how it changes fit as it gains weight. You feel wetness more with cloth- a lot more- but it doesn't change shape save for sagging between the legs. In a disposable you feel much less wetness but the SAP's swell up and get puffy, and my pull-ups sag a bit when they're getting full. Both ways are great to me, and I don't have any problems with rashes but my skin isn't delicate or trouble-prone.

I choose both cloth and disposables based on what is practical at the time and what I want from them. If I didn't have to work I'd probably switch to cloth almost all the time except when maximum discretion was needed. Cloth diapers rock in their own way- that's a lot like me too

Bettypooh

[Amyuser]

Just an observation here but you truly can not grade the feel of a cloth diaper on 1 use and without a onsie because the job of the onsie other than to not show your diaper to the world is to keep the diaper in the proper place all the time so that you can truly get the very best results out of your diaper. So i would ask you to get a onsie or bodysuit and try the test again and see if the results are the same , And also just to make sure You are using No fabric softener and perfume free or unscented detergent Right?

[rusty pins]

Just an observation here but you truly can not grade the feel of a cloth diaper on 1 use and without a onsie because the job of the onsie other than to not show your diaper to the world is to keep the diaper in the proper place all the time so that you can truly get the very best results out of your diaper. So i would ask you to get a onsie or bodysuit and try the test again and see if the results are the same , And also just to make sure You are using No fabric softener and perfume free or unscented detergent Right?

No fabric softener, perfume or detergent at all. This is not the only time I have worn a cloth diaper. In fact, I have had the same feeling in wet cloth diapers before after many hours of being in them. My plastic pants are pretty tight and do well in holding the diaper to my body. This last time I was laying in bed on my back for most of the time. I'm sure that my diaper didn't sag or move much. I just think that there is a difference in cloth and disposables other than just the fact that one is disposable and the other isn't. Cloth feels wetter, wicks the wetness throughout the entire diaper, but aside from that, the feeling of it against your skin when wet is different than a disposable. Nothing wrong with that at all! Cloth diapers are certinaly not rough like burlap, but I can draw a parallel. Disposables have a soft inner lining not made of cloth. It's made of a paper product like a very heavy tissue. Cloth is very soft indeed, but when it gets wet, I think the weave of the cloth adds a little to how it feels against the skin.

[Amyuser]

I do believe you "pinned the diaper on the baby" when the cloth is wet the weave of the fabric expands thats how it wicks the moisture and spreads it through out the garment.

And i was not trying to say this was your first rodeo with cloth,i certainly did not intend that. if i came off that way i apologize sincerely

And i always like to remind people when they talk about cloth and Disposables of the basics of cloth care because as you know the better the care the longer the wear,good cloth diapers can be quite an investment but with proper care they can save you a lot of money! and who doesn't need more of that !!