Plastic pants in the 1950s?

[Stroller]

As an AB I've nearly always worn plastic pants over my nappies, whether terry or disposable.  It's practical, for me.  But, I don't remember plastic or rubber pants being around when I was a kid.  I suspect my brother, sister and I just wore terry nappies - which would cover about 1954 to 1962.  I've just done a quick search to see whether that was common at the time, & it looks like it was, as it led to less nappy rash.

Now I don't have any nostalgia for having to wear just what I wore when I was really a baby, but how many of us are assuming we wore plastic or rubber pants back in the day, when actually we weren't?  I certainly did, until I started thinking about it, & realised I could remember nappies, changing mat, pins, but not pants over the top.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I remember being changed twice at around 3 and the first memory is the peach pink ones and the second was a kind of translucent off-white sort of ecru. I saw them as I was looking up and they were being gotten ready to put on me. That was at the latest 1948. Any kind of cloth diaper need waterproof panties. I never wear throw-aways as an LG. I also wore diapers and rubber panties under certain conditions from 1952 to 55 occasionally

[FretaBWet]

I was born in 1953 and I know for certain that my mother used plastic pants over our cloth diapers. As a Catholic family using no birth control my mother always kept cloth diapers, pins and plastic pants in a suitcase just in case. This was my go to place to “play” when I was in 3rd through 6th grade because that suitcase was in the attic with lots of privacy. I know there were pull on and snap on styles in there.

Hugs,

Freta

[WetDad]

'58- nothing but cloth when I was little.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

http://other.sandralyn.net/rppage.html

[rusty pins]

On the Antiques Roadshow a few years ago there was a Klinert's baby Pant's display from the early 1900's  http://www.pbs.org/video/antiques-roadshow-appraisal-kleinerts-waterproof-baby-pants-display/   That shows how far back waterproof pants go, even though they might not resemble the plastic pants of today.  I well remember in 1956 movies of my brother when he was 2 years old with plastic pants on over his diapers.  I also remember as a kid myself wearing Gerber plastic pants and ever actual rubber pants a few times around 1960 and 1961.  I wore cloth diapers and plastic pants to bed every night through 1963 and probably into 1964.  Yes, they have been around a long time.

[vvp39]

I first became aware of soft vinyl plastic in the late 1940's. Although I don't remember plastic pants per se, I do remember plastic tablecloths, aprons, shower curtains, and raincoats...why would there not also have been plastic pants?

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

The panties was my first awareness. The came a tablecloth that was transparent with a lace pattern and the edges had about a foot deep of red. Then a lace pattern transparnet aproon with red sort of binding. The material of the panties and the tablecloth were fairly thick, I would say 6 and 7 mil and the apron was maybe 5 and not as soft as the tablecloth. the table cloth and apron were from when I was aobut 5 and 6. Then when I was 7 we  got some curtains and bedspreads that were made of quilted material the big one was metalic blue with yellow trim with a cream white undeerside and the small one for my bed upstairs was metallic green and I do not remember the trim. The curtains in the living room that were more like drapes were a satin color dark medium grey with a beet color trim and we got a shower curtain of translucent underwater green with light medium and pale gray water designs and matching window curtains and the kitchen curtains were red on the outside with the insides being light ivory with small flower and leaf designs. The last I saw of those was when I was 14

[Stroller]

Don't get me wrong - I know plastic pants were around in the 50s, it's just that not all parents put us in them.  Including some of us, by the looks of things.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Then I wonder what they did use. In the US, waterproof panties were just about universal, even for many bedwetting childrent and just about every little girl under 8 years of age would be in diapers and rubber panties if she were going to be on a trip of about 2 hours or more if she could not hold it comfortably for an hour and a half, since a girl could not stop, get out of the car and go behind a tree in a wooded area. This was the time before the expressway system so it would take about 2 hours to goo the 52 miles from Tiverton RI to Roxbury or Dorchester, Boston MA. Also this was used in another way. Boys tended to roam and if they needed to go, they could find an out of the way spot. Girls tended to stay at someone's home. Well this was the day of the 5 gallon toilet and a water bill of more than about $4 or $5 in a month was bad news. so if you had let's say about 5 girls in one place and, two or more of them could not hold it for two hours comforably that two would be in diapers.. It made more sense to have the two, usually under 8 in diapers and rubber panteis than to have 4 extra flushes for the afternoon which would be 20 gallons more than usual and it also freed up the bathroom. Over the course of a week, this might mean  three afternoons. so it was just worth it to clean maybe 6  or 9 diapers and not have the full 60  or more gallons going down the toilet. The panties were easy to rinse so that was no problem. Super Large baby panties would do and there were still rubber panties made for bedwetters even into the 1960's

Heres a dirty little secret. Because boys could go pretty much on demand, they did not learn to hold it as long as girls. If they did not roam, I wonder how that would have worked out. But then, someonwat loose-fitting, often full-circle skirt play dresses hid a multitude of "sins" like thick, homemade diapers and rubber panties in 1952, 3 or 4 in Southern New England where I leved

[willnotwill]

I was born in 1959 and my baby pictures all show milky white plastic pants (some guessed they were "Sears Best" which makes sense knowing my mother).   I do recall also finding some actual rubber pants and trying them on later in age (but still living in a house we moved out of in 1966).
I certainly remember them on my sisters (born 1961 and 63).   My brother wore pampers (born 66) but my mom still put plastic pants over them.

 

 

[dlnoir]

Born in the mid-sixties cloth and plastic pants were the thing to use and even now I still favor cloth diapers and plastic pants. The only thing that has changed over the years is the type of vinyl being used and that really is a shame. I still have some plastic pants from back in the days these I cherish as if they were made of gold. Every so now and then one comes up for sale on ebay and these I buy.

[AbabeBill]

Born early 60’s, and I wore plastic pants, or sometimes referred to as rubber pants by Mom. All my siblings, relatives, friends, neighbors, all, covered cloth diapers with plastic pants. I know some people on occasion, would not cover a diaper, to let more air around baby’s skin. This helpped if a rash was showing up. My mom, to this day, loves to proclaim, “she used cloth diapers and plastic pants on us, and we never had any diaper rash”! LOL. 

On a related side note. I remember watching The Little Rascals, and in one titled “Little Papa” (1935). Spanky’s little sister is clearly wearing plastic panties, over her diaper. They can clearly be seen, when he lifts up her dress, to walk her back and forth, in an effort to tire her out. 

[Guest]

On 3/28/2018 at 9:57 AM, Stroller said:

As an AB I've nearly always worn plastic pants over my nappies, whether terry or disposable.  It's practical, for me.  But, I don't remember plastic or rubber pants being around when I was a kid.  I suspect my brother, sister and I just wore terry nappies - which would cover about 1954 to 1962.  I've just done a quick search to see whether that was common at the time, & it looks like it was, as it led to less nappy rash.

Now I don't have any nostalgia for having to wear just what I wore when I was really a baby, but how many of us are assuming we wore plastic or rubber pants back in the day, when actually we weren't?  I certainly did, until I started thinking about it, & realised I could remember nappies, changing mat, pins, but not pants over the top.

Interesting fact: because rubber pants don’t breathe at all, people THOUGHT they caused diaper rash.

Prior to rubber pants, what we would consider diapers consisted of cotton or wool with maybe a wool cover that was water resistant, and only to a point. Mothers commonly had urine on them from holding wet babies without waterproof pants. Given the state of hygiene at the time, you can see why they didn’t care that much. And remember, even adults owning more than a couple sets of clothes was common in western countries right up until the Great Depression because they were expensive.

Washing was also laborious because, in addition to washing, you had to carry the water in, heat it, etc. Diapers were not often washed. Wet diapers were just hung to dry. Dirty diapers were scraped and hung to dry. We know from historical accounts that diapers in Elizabethan times would sometimes go unchanged for DAYS. 

So along came rubber pants, and later other kinds of waterproof covers, and people thought they caused diaper rash because they didn’t breathe. That belief persisted with some people for a few decades after waterproof panties became widely available.

What really caused diaper rash back then were the abysmal hygienic practices - infrequent changes, unwashed diapers. Parents can lose their kids for those same practices today.

Lack of airflow can make diaper rash worse, but it doesn’t cause it.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

It was them more than anykthing esle that defiened one as "a  baby". If you wanted to send a shiver down a 5-9 year odl boy, just say "If you don't stop... I'll put a diaper and pink rubber panties on you [not only a baby, but a baby GIRL]". THAt got attention!

[willnotwill]

Never got threatened with pink but "diapers and rubber pants" was enough to scare the hell out of me as a kid.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

You had a deprived childhood. Although that was kind of on the way out by 1964

[nappylover78]

Anyone have any experience or knowledge of adult plastic/rubber pants in that era?

The history of incontinence and its management is a subject that's always interested me... it was probably barely half a century ago that those left severely incontinent by childbirth etc. had no other options than huge terry/cloth nappies.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I do not know about the 50's but by 1964 I'd seen the Kleinert plastic panties made of a soft, smooth white plastic, the Salk Pro-pant AIO the outer cover to which was grainy plastic and the Salk Sani-Pant cloth snap-on panty lined with some kind of plastic that usued a pad of some kind. For children, beginning in 1957 or 8 that I knew of and extending to at least 1981, was the Sta-Dri grainy plastic panty with ties. Children could use the ultra-large baby/toddler panties, though we hated it and there were some rubber panties as will, There was also Bitner, which I do not recall seeing and know nothing about

[Angela Bauer]

Chances are there was some sort of waterproof diaper covers prior to 1900. Factory made cotton diapers hit the market about 1890.

The International Latex Corp. began test marketing molded latex baby pants (diaper covers) in 1931. Those were sold in one major department store in New York City and Philadelphia starting in early 1932. As ILC was able to increase production of PlayTex Stretchy Baby Pants those were sold at one store in each of an increasing number of USA and Canadian cities. Finally in mid 1937 PlayTex began full distribution with national advertising support. My loving husband Don was a co-star in a film made for PlayTex to explain the benefits to prospective distributors. The film was shot at the Astoria studios in Queens, NY in April 1937. That fall some scenes were re-shot so the final film could be run as a pre-TV commercial in theaters. They even splurged on Technicolor for the consumer commercial.

Then came WWII, so rubber and especially were rationed. PlayTex suspended production between Jan 1942 and May 1946.

Meanwhile vinyl and become practical in thin sheet. Vinyl could be heat welded for side seams. Various firms made vinyl pants as diaper covers during WWII. They might not have been as nice as PlayTex but they were good enough that PlayTex never really restarted. By late 1954 production of latex PlayTex pants ended.

Gerber began making improved vinyl pants which stretched slightly. By 1955 Gerber was even making adult vinyl pants at a factory in Three Oaks, MI. My grandmother was incontinent as were all of her daughters, most by then adults. They were loyal Gerber vinyl pants customers until Gerber gave the adult side of the business to the employees who renamed the company VIP. My family visited the Three Oaks factory in the summer of 1976, just a few weeks after I reverted to bedwetting. The employees gave us a grand tour and a marvelous lunch.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Kleinert baby panties apparetly go back to 1871 http://other.sandralyn.net/panties.html

I had no idea factory made diapers go back to 1890. Most of what I saw was homemade before 1952

Just how this all relates to adult products I do not know

[Angela Bauer]

Trust me, there are many posts with pages from Sears catalogs going back before 1900 offering cloth diapers of various kinds. The Curity division of Kendall Mills started selling gauze diapers in the mid 1890's and paid for ads in newspapers and magazines.

By 1920 the two large rivals in the USA cloth diaper industry were Curity and Dundee Mills. Kendall Mills might not have invented gauze, but they did perfect the looms allowing gauze to be weaved commercially. When Dundee decided to make diapers they dug up an expired patent for Birdseye weave which could be made using a less expensive blend of cotton. Dundee made square diapers while Curity made rectangular diapers.

Circa 1990 first Dundee and then Curity were sold to Gerber.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

PUL leaks in a funny way. It is gas-permeable; that is what it means to "breath". This is fine for rainwear since that is only water both outside and inside. There are things in urine and excretia that are vapors and can get out through that pearmability, then, away from body head condense. I have heard too many stories of this and seen it some 35 years ago when I tried them, to trust them at all. They get damp. They have been trying to develop a waterproof cloth to use for panties for 80 years that allows the panties to "breath" but that is kind of irrelivant if you have thick diapers and, if the diapers are thin enough for that to be useful, other things get out along with water vapor. Also, being composite, they can come apartm which I have heard of from time to time. Besides for me they are not authentic, sort of like a Barbie doll qua Barbie; she can pass as a generic small doll just as a Patti Playpal can pass as a generic "jumbop" doll from any period and they are lovable. It is like being little with an 18" doll. Like the song says, "ain't nuthin' like the real thing,baby"

[rusty pins]

9 hours ago, alwayswet12345 said:

 There used to be a material called Ultrex. I used to sew my own "plastic panties" out of this material. However, I cannot find it anymore.

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/Waterproof-Ultrex-Fabric_c_271.html

 

[Wetpants]

I was a baby in the 50's and I know for a fact that I wore Playtex Rubber Pants.  I have memories of wearing them when I was as young as 2.5 years.  I have a vivid

memory of her asking me when she was going shopping, what I "wanted from uptown", which usually was a new toy.  I asked for a new pair of rubber pants, she

gave me a funny look, but got them.  I would hold them at night when I went to bed.  They were folded and put under my pillow for a few weeks, then disappeared.

Later, I started bedwetting, I remember my mother getting several pairs of Stay-Dry AIOs....in the beginning, the sides were tied with laces...it wasn't till

just near the end of when I stopped, that they had snaps.  The plastic was very smooth and the diaper unfolded to make it easier to try them after washing.  They

weren't supposed to be drier dried, only line dried.