Strange days indeed - a 24 x 7 experiment

[oznl]

3 hours ago, BlakeJordan said:

The wings somehow slip, allowing extra room in the leg gathering. Can occur with tossing/turning, tapes not tight enough, friction from other surface, and tape placement.

YES!  With the ABU Simple in particular, this seems to be the failure mode.  After I've finished pouring out my plastic pants, I inevitably find that the diaper itself is hanging loose down between my legs and also at the rear of my thighs although it is ALSO possible that pee has made its way across my crotch out past the padded zone to the plastic wings whereupon it obeys gravity and heads for the gusset of my plastic pants.

My natural inclination would be to have the lower tapes affixed down lower on the diaper but the location of the landing zone prevents this.  Attempting to fix the tapes outside the landing zone is doomed because the plastic backing outside the landing zone is weak, stretchy and failure prone.

Tapes tighter is not an option.  I've actually gotten to the point of tearing the tapes off.  This stretching/sagging happens during wear.

 

3 hours ago, BlakeJordan said:

I’m in a weird position- difficult to combat. Reclined positions in anything except a brand new diaper has exceptional odds on this.

Laying on my side in bed is an insta-fail.  Sometimes, even laying on my back I can feel it leaking across the front of my diaper, running down over my hips and finishing up sometimes in the rear padding, sometimes not...  Position does matter but I can largely manage this.  I've even started waking up to find that I've been sleeping on my back.  It's like my body knows that it will be dangerous to sleep on my side and avoids it.

 

3 hours ago, BlakeJordan said:

A quick/lazy change that is either too tight, too loose, or lopsided. This seems to be an issue with high capacity low absorption rate diapers and the most frequent occurrence.

Yes, lop-sided will do it although as someone slightly on the spectrum, I go to great lengths to ensure symmetrical fixing positions on my disposable nappies ?  (with cloth it's more like a painting exercise: coverage, coverage, coverage and don't miss any bits).

[BlakeJordan]

When it comes to the wing issue I have found that pulling the wings up and folding them over can do the trick.

Compression pants like the Gary wear active brief or even a onesie can help. These seem to be more with restricting movement than weight for the wing issue.

Also, I’ve found the frog leg position for taping helps here, both standing and lying. This seems to be due to the the muscle tone being lax, allowing for a snug fit around the thighs

For tapes, I’ve found that keeping them straight rather than the traditional angled up or down can help.

Playing around with how much of the diaper is in front vs in back can help as it changes the landing zone and where the wings cross the thighs. Each person and diaper is different so this last part is trial and error.

As for the issues with position of flow. YES! My solutions thus far have been all the adjustments previously discussed, boosters, and then specific combos of compression shorts, onesies, plastic pants, terry lined pants and switching up what positions I change (typically change laying down for lounging/sleeping/slouching and standing for the rest).

I do certainly tend to find myself on my back when I wake up, even though I fall asleep on my side. I agree that the habits come into the night.

I also find myself almost automatically changing body positions in the middle of a flow to adjust to the direction and absorption behavior. I mentioned awhile back, and on my own thread as well that I tend to have certain positions I hold my body that are prone to leaking but are not likely to change. It’s mostly these that I notice I’m subtly changing positions, likely because there is still some intentional subconscious awareness there.

These types of conversations make me wonder if the incontinent community discusses and troubleshoots in the same way or if the conversation is avoided completely. I would bet on the latter, which is a shame as it could really improve quality of life.

Since my rapid decline of control over the past year I found myself reaching out to venders and manufacturers of incontinence products asking about solutions for many of my issues. I was honestly kind of shocked of how little consideration was taken into account. It seems products are being manufactured for mostly the institutionalized in mind, even the higher end products.

There appears to be a lack of innovation and consideration from the design, use, manufacturing, and lifestyle. Pretty much all the way through.

It’s still not understood the need for high absorption rate due to various bladder behavior that ebbs and flows. Nor that additional capacity is not about max capacity and wearing a diaper for 24+ hours but rather comfort, confidence, and skin health. Diaper sag, retaping, a three tape system for limited mobility, none of it really considered. I’ve tried finding for instance a onesie that has a scoop neck and could act as a camisole and not a single product seems to exist. Adult diaper bags that can double as briefcase, backpack, laptop bag, purse are really nowhere to be found.

All of this makes me think that the market relationship is still in its infancy due to the taboo nature of incontinence as a fairly common and variable health issue. I imagine that most retailers and manufacturers are still not in touch with the actual needs of their target market and people just settle.

Then again maybe my gripes are in the minority, and mixed incontinence that requires management through diapers is actually really rare in the population that is still leading an otherwise active lifestyle.

Grumble grumble.

[oznl]

It seems sometimes that the mere act of THINKING that I’ve gotten past the stage of unplanned nappy leakage is a taunt to the diaper deities that cannot go unpunished.

I wet the bed again last night.  That happens a couple of times per week by now and is usually no biggie.

I have no recollection of substantively using my nappy but woke up warm, wet and empty bladdered after what was, unusually for me, a largely uninterrupted night’s sleep (oh sweet goddess of alcohol, confer thy somnolent blessing).

It was only I reached to adjust my pyjama pants to better conceal my nappies before arising to make coffee that I realised that my waist band was wet.  A quick precautionary dab around revealed that the lower front of my pyjamas were indeed quite damp from the sopping wet lycra waist band on my Babykins terry-lined plastic pants (oh WHY Lycra Babykins?  It’s BOUND to wick moisture) although the sheets around me appeared dry.

I decided to soldier on and had coffee in bed with my wife having adjusted myself sufficiently to keep damp cloth from the sheets.  Dark colour and gloomy light disguised any visual evidence.

At my morning change the extent of the malfunction became apparent.  My BetterDry had been used abundantly (presumably by somebody) and was heavy and sagging.  Somehow, I’d ended up peeing out the top of it.  The terry lining of my waterproofs (also heavy and sagging) wasn’t just damp, it was wet and suspiciously yellow.  It’s possible I’d let rip laying on my side but the evidence was at best circumstantial.

If it hadn’t been for that terry-lined insurance policy, I would have woken in a thoroughly wet bed and instantly been invited to a domestic dispute.  Since I’m warm and wet down there anyway, there’s no real cue as to which side of your plastic pant the “warm and wet” bit is coming from.

I salute those that can repeatedly and reliably bedwet in disposable diapers without the safety net of good quality plastic pants.

I had cloth nappies to wash anyway so another pair of trainer pants and pyjama pants is neither here nor there…

[BlakeJordan]

If I may suggest...

From someone who also has typically fitful nights of sleep as the norm.

On nights that I know I’m likely to sleep hard, be that alcohol, sleeping pills, or just exhaustion...

I will typically add a booster, and double up on the Gary pul active wear, the terry plastic pants, and a onesie.

I find that this is needed as on those nights I am likely to stay in a single position for extended periods. The key seems to be to prevent movement and create a seal as close to the leg gatherings and waist of the diaper. I believe this basically creates additional time for the diaper to absorb/wick. The effect is different than what I would expect as there is typically very little liquid in the pul pants, and more often than not, the terry lined pants are dry. If the terry pants are wet it’s usually dispersed in the crotch area and not the waistband.

I believe the compression keeps any leaks coming up from the waist as well. I also believe that there is some sort of flooding involved in the alcohol induced sleep.

In all honesty I’ve come to have this combo be my default for nighttime protection as it’s easier to just have a habit I can stick with and not think about. I don’t recall the last time I leaked outside of this onto the sheets, bed-pad, or mattress cover. On most nights, the fitful night’s rest that is my norm, the tossing and turning + compression is enough to not leak at all into even the pul pants.

[oznl]

Closing in on month #16 of my second 24/7 “experiment” I came perilously close to a nappy-related fight with my partner earlier this week, after many months of detente.  To be transparent, it would have been me that started that fight.  It was a trivial incident, based on posture rather than artillery but harked back to the cold-war micro-passive-aggressions that rained down upon me during earlier days of this venture.  It reminded me that like North and South Korea, we had an armistice, not a cessation of hostilities with respect to my choice of underwear.

It’s the depth of winter here now in South East Queensland where some days, the mercury struggles to get up much past 20 or 21C (70F).  I know.  Everybody from Canada is currently rolling around on their floors wetting their diapers with laughter at this definition of “winter” but stay with me.

I’d spent the night in cloth nappies and so consequentially, my plastic pants needed a bit of a rinse along with the rest of me at my morning shower (the cloth nappies I soaked to wash in a larger batch later).

The clothesline outside doesn’t get much sun this time of year (it’s cold remember?) so I shook out my plastic pants, dabbed off the excess water and hung them from a wall-hook in our walk-in robe.  I intended to let them air out there for a few hours and put them away later.  Within 10 minutes, I’d commuted down the hall, started my working day and completely forgotten about them.

When my partner got home from work that evening (her office is still open and she commutes), I was still working in my study but about to turn my attention toward cooking dinner.  I hadn’t been back into our en-suite or robe at all during the day: I was already dressed and let’s face it, I don’t need bathroom breaks dressed as I am.  I was cooking this night and she was going over the street for drinks with some girlfriends.  We greeted each other on the landing, she went off into our room to get changed and I went downstairs and started identifying sufficient ingredients for chilli con-carne.

I heard the front door close as she left the house as I prepared food.  Around 30m or so later, I went upstairs for my evening shower and nappy change whilst the dinner I had made, cooked.

Upon entering our bedroom, I discovered my (forgotten) plastic pants. They had been taken off their hanger and thrown onto the floor on my side of the bed between the bed and the wall.

I was disproportionately annoyed by this.  There was just no reason for it.  Yes, I’d forgotten about them and left them hanging where she could see them but nobody else could see them.  They didn’t need to be taken down and even if they DID for some reason, why does she have to throw them on the floor?  It didn’t help that I was cooking dinner and she was out drinking with friends.  I showered, changed, and still grumpy, went back downstairs to see how dinner was coming along.

I cracked open a beer (alcohol always helps problems look smaller doesn’t it?) and fulminated along with my Chilli con-carne.  That beer evaporated quickly so I drank another one.  Eventually I got so mad at the injustice of it all, my anger-circuit-breaker kicked in and I decided to make no mention of it to her upon her return. 

That may seem odd but I have a kind of self-regulatory mechanism here and I realised that I was now two powerful beers in and too angry not to make a big deal out of it.  I don’t really know why.  I poured her a wine upon her return and served dinner through gritted teeth.

Vengeance shall be mine however. 

The next day I did something about my dwindling carton of BetterDry.  Out of sheer lockdown boredom, I drove up to “Littles Downunder” instead of getting delivery.  You have to weigh time and fuel cost against the delivery-free savings you get over the counter but it’s only about a 30m drive, gave me a chance of seeing something other than my study and to have a brief, socially distanced chat with the ever-affable proprietor.  I learned that pandemics are not bad for ALL businesses and something of the curious nexus between the worldwide surge in surgical mask demand and shortages of disposable nappies.

Of course, once up there, the proprietor has a kind of showroom thing going and showrooms do what showrooms do…  He had stock of the Rearz “Omutsu” bulky cloth diaper.  I’d been interested to try these, I relish the longevity, comfort, economy and environmental credentials of washable nappies and I considered the ageing state of some of my earlier-acquired pull-on Babykins cotton diapers and here they were, available off the shelf and priced reasonably relative to Canada. 

The Rearz Omutsu are sized quite generously and after he swiftly produced a measuring tape, we deduced that even I was merely a “medium” for this model: flattery by sizing indeed.  I decided to buy one of those and try them out.

Knowing of my conservative bent, he found the box of plain white ones.  They were ok.  Although looking like polythene wrapped surgical sheets, they would safely navigate around my partner’s expectation that nothing overtly “baby” would be worn by her betrothed lest I be considered a danger to our family and community. 

Next to them however, was a box of bright blue ones covered in happy penguins waving.

Penguins.  I love penguins. Maybe it’s the Charlie Chaplin comedic overtones of tuxedo and waddle, maybe it’s a Linux thing, maybe it’s that penguins spend most of their lives semi-saturated in salt water.

I looked back at the plain white Omutsu:  they soberly promised absorbency along with irrevocable greying with age and yellowing with pee staining.

I looked again to the Penguins:  they waved cheerfully back at me, promising absorbency and a party.

Now I own a bright blue penguin-motif cloth nappy.  Let’s see if I can turn the penguins green and my beloved’s face magenta…

[Little Sherri]

5 hours ago, oznl said:

Now I own a bright blue penguin-motif cloth nappy. 

Congrats, @oznl! I feel somehow closer to you, knowing that at some point those left a warehouse 45 minutes from my house. To me, they're a pretty good cloth diaper, although I haven't really tried any other kind, so my opinion may be of minimal value. But they do what cloth diapers do with minimal complaint. I've been on a disposable streak since I had that issue with my plastic pants clinging to a uric musk scent through about 7 washings, though talking about it now makes me want to go back. But the other issue is that I can't reliably wear cloth diapers around the house during the day right now - too bulky - so if I wore one to bed, I'd have be going through the washing procedure for a diaper that had only reached a fraction of its potential. 

As to the penguin print, my cloth diapers are white, but, I did buy a blue pair of plastic pants festooned with images of babies, which took me a couple of weeks to wear in front of my wife, but she barely blinked. Maybe penguins are neutral enough that she won't alert the authorities. I actually think that maybe nothing printed on a diaper either a) registers with my wife, or, b) alarms her, because I have now worn almost every theme of printed diaper you can imagine in front of her, including even ones that are a bit much for me, like Princess Pink's, which I got at a warehouse sale at Rearz because they had a fire sale on samples and this was back when I was trying to sort out if I was a medium or a large. Maybe for her, the mental impact of the diaper itself eclipses all other details, somewhat like you might not have the wherewithal to be astounded that the cement truck about to t-bone you had an image of a seahorse on the grill... 

On 6/20/2020 at 8:14 PM, oznl said:

I salute those that can repeatedly and reliably bedwet in disposable diapers without the safety net of good quality plastic pants.

I still fall into this club. I do sometimes wear plastic pants over my disposable, but only if it's been a big night in the beer or wine department, and I intend to have a good lie-in the next morn. Now, granted, I never wear my daytime diapers at night without backup, but my big nighttime diapers like Rearz Barnyard or Elite or Alpaca diapers, or Bambino Mangifico's or Classico's generally provide me with secure containment until the morning. But I pretty much never sleep on my side, only on my stomach or on my back, the latter being far less likely, because it causes me to snore, which enrages the spouse. I will, however, shift onto my back briefly if I need to make use of my diaper. I have no idea how it happens when I don't remember it happening - I assume I must be doing it on my stomach, but I've never really had an incident with frontal seepage, which causes me to suspect that maybe I'm rolling onto my back even when the process is entirely autonomous, which is still relatively infrequent. And regardless, when I wake up, my diaper is pretty much always at well below 50% capacity. 

 

On 6/19/2020 at 5:29 AM, BlakeJordan said:

It seems products are being manufactured for mostly the institutionalized in mind, even the higher end products.

There appears to be a lack of innovation and consideration from the design, use, manufacturing, and lifestyle. Pretty much all the way through.

I agree with this completely. It seems that the market has concluded that if you wear diapers, you also sit, or lay in a prone position, for most of your day. Whereas I have, according to my fitness tracker, sometimes walked 15 or 20 km in a diaper over the course of a day. A onesie, as a prophylactic for sagging,  is a valued addition to my wardrobe, and back when I was leaving the house at least a couple of days a week for work, I generally employed one. I haven't tried sleeping in one but now I'm curious. Although, as I said above, nighttime leakage hasn't been much of an issue for me.   

[BlakeJordan]

I agree with this completely. It seems that the market has concluded that if you wear diapers, you also sit, or lay in a prone position, for most of your day. Whereas I have, according to my fitness tracker, sometimes walked 15 or 20 km in a diaper over the course of a day. A onesie, as a prophylactic for sagging,  is a valued addition to my wardrobe, and back when I was leaving the house at least a couple of days a week for work, I generally employed one. I haven't tried sleeping in one but now I'm curious. Although, as I said above, nighttime leakage hasn't been much of an issue for me.   

If I didn’t toss and turn and sleep on my side for half the night I might be able to skip the onesie. As it stands that’s not changing anytime soon.

I somehow leaked twice in a row after not a single overnight leak in nearly three months. Grumble grumble. Granted the second one I was prepared for. My autonomic dysfunction literally forces me to drink an average of 1.5-2 gallons a day and my body tends to hold onto fluids and then exorcise the evil water that has diluted the balance of precious minerals.

The first one was “just” the super annoying “any diaper can leak” and I still have no clue how that one happened. Still wish those wtf leaks could be eliminated.

—-
I do wonder what exactly people who wear 24/7 and are not aware of the abdl community do to learn, troubleshoot, get product advice, etc.

I know in some parts of the world there are incontinence nurses and what not, but I’ve never found any here in the US.

I tend to wince when doctors and health care professionals think depends are a good option for long term wear.

I’m honestly surprised that once the management of incontinence is settled, via use of diapers that there is no patient education, referral to venders etc. it’s generally “good luck!”

Now I get that is obviously a last resort, but once decided and agreed upon it just seems obscured not to get a guide of sorts.

I’m constantly surprised when interacting with the medical community and I happen to need to change etc (I’ve spent over 3 months in hospitals in the past year) of how much shock there is that I use bed pads, pul pants, terry pants, onesies, repair lotions.. let alone that I have relatively thick/high end diapers and have a method to prep, fluff, boost, dispose of etc.

when asked “how did you learn this?” I want to scream back “how did you not‽”

It seems like the medical world is under the assumption that people don’t have systems to minimize say to say impact of wearing 24/7. Just weird to me.

[oznl]

15 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Congrats, @oznl! I feel somehow closer to you, knowing that at some point those left a warehouse 45 minutes from my house. To me, they're a pretty good cloth diaper, although I haven't really tried any other kind, so my opinion may be of minimal value. But they do what cloth diapers do with minimal complaint. I

Yes, and it came literally across the world to another warehouse which, due to some unexpected traffic, was also about 45 minutes from MY house instead of the 30 minutes it should have been!  It was a 28km trip up to Brendale.  In my limited Ontario driving experience however, 45 minutes on the 401 might be quite some distance or nearly none at all.  I found the greater Toronto area traffic to be reasonably hellish.

Standby for the Rearz Omutsu right-hand-drive road test report from the Southern hemisphere…

15 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

But the other issue is that I can't reliably wear cloth diapers around the house during the day right now - too bulky - so if I wore one to bed, I'd have be going through the washing procedure for a diaper that had only reached a fraction of its potential.

Compression pants are your friends here...

With respect to @BlakeJordan's comment.

I suspect the relatively small slice of the incontinent demographic pie who DO select their own products are influenced more by embarrassment, availability and economy than solid research or shared experience.  I also suspect that even those furtive few are in the minority and that MOST adult nappy customers are not “user/chooser” in purchasing modality and thus the marketing is aimed at caregivers, be they individual or institutional. 

A good example was the Molicare Slip premium getting replaced with the Molicare Elastic.  Whilst not terrible, the efficacy of the Molicare Elastic is simply LESS than the product it replaced.  It affords absolutely zero protection to the hip areas and when used repeatedly supine, is prone to overwhelming the front padded area and leaking out towards those open-range hips and adjacent bedding.  In addition to being slightly more leak prone, I find it slightly less comfortable to wear.

A little bit of google research into why these “improvements” occurred suggests that unit cost and changing time/ergonomic risk for carers were the prime drivers.  The “Improved patient comfort” claim I believe to be just the standard kind of meaningless drivel foisted on us by marketing departments to plaster over inconvenient product shortcomings. 

The Germans have simply fabulous word for this:  verschlimmbesserung.  An "improvement for the worse".

And that’s even with a “medical” grade adult diaper.  Don’t get me started on the desolately porous rubbish that is peddled on retail shelves down here…

 

[BlakeJordan]

Compression pants are your friends here...
With respect to [mention=16278]BlakeJordan[/mention]'s comment.
I suspect the relatively small slice of the incontinent demographic pie who DO select their own products are influenced more by embarrassment, availability and economy than solid research or shared experience.  I also suspect that even those furtive few are in the minority and that MOST adult nappy customers are not “user/chooser” in purchasing modality and thus the marketing is aimed at caregivers, be they individual or institutional. 

A good example was the Molicare Slip premium getting replaced with the Molicare Elastic.  Whilst not terrible, the efficacy of the Molicare Elastic is simply LESS than the product it replaced.  It affords absolutely zero protection to the hip areas and when used repeatedly supine, is prone to overwhelming the front padded area and leaking out towards those open-range hips and adjacent bedding.  In addition to being slightly more leak prone, I find it slightly less comfortable to wear.

A little bit of google research into why these “improvements” occurred suggests that unit cost and changing time/ergonomic risk for carers were the prime drivers.  The “Improved patient comfort” claim I believe to be just the standard kind of meaningless drivel foisted on us by marketing departments to plaster over inconvenient product shortcomings. 
The Germans have simply fabulous word for this:  verschlimmbesserung.  An "improvement for the worse".
And that’s even with a “medical” grade adult diaper.  Don’t get me started on the desolately porous rubbish that is peddled on retail shelves down here…

 

Do you think the market beyond caretakers exist, or am I complaining about a true minority. Basically I’m wondering if there is a large market that has yet to be tapped?

[oznl]

4 hours ago, BlakeJordan said:

Do you think the market beyond caretakers exist, or am I complaining about a true minority. Basically I’m wondering if there is a large market that has yet to be tapped?

Well, demonstrably there is a market for "premium" adult diapers because they do exist (I've found the Abena L4 to be reasonably good, BetterDry are great and have at best a limited ABDL pedigree).  They just don't seem to be able to get their value proposition across to their addressable market.

Even so, they could still do to tweak their product.

I was looking at some basic research (sleep.org) and 41% of the general population sleep in the foetal position (making them effectively side-sleepers) and yet we know that side-sleeper protection in adult disposable diapers is effectively non-existent.

I'd be fascinated to see what kind of market research (if any) they do and what they think the key purchase decision factors are.  It can't be about keeping clothing, bedding and furniture dry or they'd be doing a better job than they do.

 

[rosalie.bent]

Reading some of your comments, I wonder sometimes if some medical diaper manufacturers have any idea what they are doing. We have found that much of the time their products are ill-fitting, leaky and low capacity while ABDL diapers are the opposite. I also suspect that the -non-ABDL diapers that are top quality like Northshore are designed with the ABDL in mind, understanding that non-medical wearers want performance capacity and protection.

I do wonder what manufacturers are thinking with their products as they range from the simply terrible to the remarkably good.

But if you are a heavy wetter and side sleeper, NOTHING beats a pinned cloth nappy and plastic pants.  also, I personally think they look very babyish as well - if that is the desired efffect.

[oznl]

56 minutes ago, rosalie.bent said:

But if you are a heavy wetter and side sleeper, NOTHING beats a pinned cloth nappy and plastic pants.  also, I personally think they look very babyish as well - if that is the desired efffect.

I absolutely agree but as you yourself are well aware, laundry, logistics (and in my case, love) can render adult cloth nappy use impractical.  If we can land a probe on Mars, we can build an adult disposable nappy that can withstand lateral use and there is ample evidence that a market for this exists.  It's a mystery to me why manufacturers seem so dislocated from their product's use-cases.

[rosalie.bent]

16 minutes ago, oznl said:

I absolutely agree but as you yourself are well aware, laundry, logistics (and in my case, love) can render adult cloth nappy use impractical.  If we can land a probe on Mars, we can build an adult disposable nappy that can withstand lateral use and there is ample evidence that a market for this exists.  It's a mystery to me why manufacturers seem so dislocated from their product's use-cases.

Yes, I often wonder at the design of adult diapers. I remember getting MOlicares that were so low in the front that i made me think that their idea of men were those with penises <2". Also, based on complaints from my baby, why is it that side-panels are not incorporated? The only reason that a side-sleeping bedwetter doesnt leak is if the middle section is thicke enough and absorbent enough to handle the initial flow. Can you imagine a different adult diaper where the front panel was padded all the way to the edges?

Prob too expensive, but still a worthwhile idea.

[oznl]

A slightly out-of-cycle update:

An interesting thing happened last night, it wasn’t a new thing because reviewing my own notes, something a bit like it happened about 6 months ago but this incident was a little more “powerful” than its predecessor.

It was bedtime on Sunday.  I’d been drinking a bit (so I was expecting bedwetting) but was unbothered as I was in a nearly-dry BetterDry that I’d changed into after dinner.  In our walk-in-robe, I peeled off my tracksuit pants and shapewear compression pants, pulled on a Babykins terry-lined waterproof over my BetterDry, long pyjama pants and a t-shirt before walking into the en-suite to clean my teeth.

I turned on the tap.  Immediately at the sound of the water, it occurred to me that there might be some pee in my bladder but at the same time this thought occurred, I felt warmth in my pants and realised I had reflexively started wetting myself.   Surprised, I involuntarily cinched up in a classic Kegel manoeuvre to stop the flow.

It didn’t do anything.  I tried again.

Despite exercising what I felt to be the correct muscles, I felt the warm trickling in my pants continue leisurely for a few more seconds before dissipating into dripping.

Standing at the sink somewhat wetter, I considered my position.  There was no logistical problem at all of course with this event.  I was wearing securely fitted nappies with plenty of capacity left.  It was just that I couldn’t recall specifically agreeing to start that pee and I was absolutely certain that my repeated requests to stop that pee had been completely ignored.

The “6 months ago” event was similar in that I couldn’t specifically remember deciding to allow pee to escape but different in that six months ago, that reflexive jerk in response to a surprise wetting stopped the flow.  Not this time it didn’t.  I continued wetting myself until I was done and there was nothing I could do about it.

It might have been alcohol.  Sure enough I woke up this morning thoroughly wet with no recollection of doing it.  This is very prone to happening after a few drinks now.  Sitting here at my desk the next day though and ALL decisions to wet remain mine.  I tried stopping (something I’m normally loathe to do) though.  One time the attempt, like last night, outright failed.  A second, later and more vigorous attempt did slow the flow to a drippy kind of stop but I couldn’t hold it there.

I guess this is what 18 months looks like (adding up my current nearly 16 months and the couple of months stretch before that)…  Once you’ve started, you can’t stop.

[oznl]

Like Clive James in announcing his own imminent demise, it seems that I am doomed to pronounce the cessation of my “pee dreams” many times before their eventual departure (assuming they ever do eventually depart.  Clive did though.  RIP Clive James) …

As a weeknight, last night was alcohol-free.  I try to avoid drinking alcohol on week nights to limit the calorific and lifestyle impact of COVID-compulsory sedentarianism (I think I just invented that word: I place it into the public domain and invite any and all to use it).  Generally speaking, an alcohol-free night is less likely to be a mystery-wetting night but it’s not a hard and fast rule.

At some point during that night, I dreamed I was in bed alongside my partner (fair enough, I WAS in bed alongside my partner).  In my dream, I was on my side laying behind her tightly in the “spooning” position and I also intended to wet the bed whilst there.  That was ok.  In my dream I was somehow allowed to do this.  In a remote and dissociated way, I felt myself wetting and could distinctly recall the creeping warmth at my crotch, obeying gravity as it migrated downwards towards my left hip where it rested upon the mattress.  As I continued to pee, she did not stir at all, a lack-of-reaction I found curious because I should be soaking her bum at which point, she should wake up and progress from “confused” to “ballistic” in 10 seconds or so.

And then nothing more…

Later, I dreamed again.  This time I was back in the late 1970s sitting semi-reclined in a bean bag (this was something we did in the late 1970s) in front of the TV (a period-correct Sony Trinitron) on a rumpus room floor we inhabited as kids.  For some stupid dream-reason, I also had a duvet (coverlet) over myself just as though I was tucked up in bed (which in waking life of course I actually was).  I was very comfortable.  My bum felt pleasingly cupped by the warm bean bag, suspiciously like a warm wet nappy might feel (possibly an outcome of the first dream) but this didn’t occur to me at the time.  Although I can recall no urgent need, I intended to pee right there where I was under my duvet and sitting in my bean bag (none of this “getting up to go to the bathroom” business) but I didn’t want to be caught by others.  Nil desperandum.  There was a solution at hand.  A garden hose was running water onto the floor in the corner of the room and it was only a matter of time before the water level in the room rose (like a fish tank, in my dream world, the room would hold water).  When the water level reached my bum, it would disguise any evidence that I might be wetting myself and I could let go.  Unlike the earlier dream, I do not specifically remember peeing in this dream, only waiting for the camouflage of wetness to appear so I could surreptitiously do so.  I slid back into dreamless sleep.

In previous pee dreams, I’ve typically woken on, or shortly after some kind of climactic pee event.  Not last night it seems. 

I woke up at 5am when my wife’s clock radio alarm went off.  It was THEN that I remembered my dreams.  My nappy was wet, my bladder was empty, my bed and partner were mercifully dry.

Last night I was wearing a sleep tracker.  I’ve been wearing a sleep tracker the last few nights as I’ve been making some conscious choices to try and bring my sleep patterns back toward something resembling normality.  Although I doubt the accuracy of the Samsung S3 Gear’s telemetry, it insisted that I fell asleep around 11:30pm and alternated between light sleep and REM sleep periodically before waking at 5:00am (unsure about the “fell asleep” time but the wake-up time aligns precisely with the clock radio).  It assured me that I did NOT wake up during the night.

I’ve always been suspicious that my “bedwetting” events were more to do with me not remembering waking to pee rather than actually peeing whilst asleep.  Perhaps that IS the case sometimes but for last night I have some evidence suggesting that I actually slept (and dreamed) through at least one wetting and remained solidly asleep after that wetting occurred until the next morning.

I think I need to stop prevaricating on this score and call myself a bedwetter as a consequence of prolonged 24/7 nappy usage.

[Little Sherri]

On 7/2/2020 at 1:46 AM, oznl said:

I think I need to stop prevaricating on this score and call myself a bedwetter as a consequence of prolonged 24/7 nappy usage.

Congratulations are in order! I don't think I'd call myself an inveterate bed wetter as of yet, unless one counts the first 10 years of my life, when I was at an Olympian-level, the uncontested champion. I do wake up in diapers that I don't recall wetting from time to time, but it's not very often, and I tend to attribute it more to wettings that I initiated, but don't remember, than to completely autonomous voiding. It probably has happened, though, and perhaps with increasing frequency, but it's still uncommon. It's hard to notice and document developments that transpire while I'm unconscious. One thing I have noticed is a lack of feedback when I "permission" a wetting while I'm awake, once the background systems take over - on several occasions now, I have had to concentrate on, or even physically investigate, whether I have stopped dribbling, because I can't tell at all via the standard feedback loops. I wonder if this portends a developing loss of control; if I am losing contact with the cessation mechanism, and I will next have increasingly strained telemetry with the commencement switch-gear. 

[oznl]

It’s 1965 at our house this week as our en-suite shower is again out of action.

I realise that this, like finding that your supermarket is fresh out of chia seed, is something of a first world problem but that doesn’t make it any less inconvenient.  Especially when you are in nappies.

This failure had been foreboded for some time.  The suspiciously-spreading discoloration on the ceiling downstairs below our upstairs en-suite had failed to disappear irrespective of my best efforts at ignoring it.  A subtle and vaguely fungal odour had begun to make itself apparent within the downstairs room and finally, after an especially Niagara-like protracted deluging of the type preferred by my beloved as a “shower”, light rainfall was spotted in the room below.  Not the first-time issues have arisen from this facility although the previous en-suite toilet failure was of little more than academic interest to me personally.

A tradesperson was summonsed.  After his arrival and some poking around, a Schrodinger’s Cat type of quantum indeterminacy discussion ensued as to the status of the waterproof membrane invisibly buried deep beneath tiles and bedding mortar.

“Anyway, I wouldn’t use this shower” he advised before whipping out a knife and excising a few yards worth of sodden and failed silicon sealant thus rendering it unusable anyway.  That sealant was the last barrier between shower water and downstairs.

“Let’s give it two weeks to dry out properly and I’ll pop back and have a go at sealing it back up.  It’s only a small job I think.  Put a fan in there to help things along.”

With this vague assurance and no specific return date, he departed leaving behind a single operable upstairs shower (usually occupied by a sullen teenager), the promise of imminent spouse disgruntlement and a nappy-clad-me contemplating managing changes, rinses, creams and disposal in the context of queueing for a shared family bathroom like it was 1965.

“Well it’s hardly surprising since that shower gets used SO much these days” grumbled my beloved upon her return from the office as she glared pointedly at my slightly-puffy crotch (ABU simple in the late phases of its working day).  Who knew that you could wear out bathroom waterproofing with nappies?

“How long will THIS take?” demanded teenager, furious at this latest privation and squalor imposed by outrageous paternal negligence.

“How much will this cost?” I thought to myself considering the latest tranche of emails from my employer opining endlessly on “difficult but necessary” de-staffing strategies.

Anyway, it’s two days later and life in nappies did indeed get a bit harder.  No more immediate and private access to ablution facilities. 

Gone is the decadence of my quick morning rinse to wash away any evidence of nocturnal marination.  A quick wipe with a wet flannel has to suffice.

Wandering up and down the communal hallway carrying fresh and/or used nappies isn’t likely to go down well with family members so I’ve taken to removing a used nappy in our shower-free ensuite, wrapping myself in a towel for the semi-public commute to the teen-shower, using the same towel to dry-off and wrap myself again for the return commute back to the bedroom whereupon rash cream, dry nappies, plastic pants and grown-up clothes may be reapplied.

Dirty nappies are out of the question.  They were never much of a thing but to the extent they did occur (usually driven by overwhelming convenience), their remediation relied upon a swift, seamless and private transition from toilet to shower that is no longer available to me.

Cloth nappies pose additional challenges.  My practice has been to rinse these in the shower (along with me) and (depending on spousal positioning within the household), leave them to drip-dry a little until the coast is clear and I can spirit them down to my secret bucket in the laundry.  So far I’ve avoided cloth use to avoid these new limits but as I’m writing this in a damp Rearz “Omutsu” cloth diaper, clearly processes will need to be developed in the next few hours.

I wonder how the fulltime diapered amongst us cope with single bathrooms and families.

I wonder why the perfectly usable third bathroom (featuring a non-leaking shower) that exists downstairs isn’t used by anybody, ever…

[Little Sherri]

My condolences. Hopefully it's just the failed sealant. Years ago, I ripped into the ceiling of my dining room once, believing that I would find evidence that our shower was leaking - creeping discolouration in the ceiling had finally drawn my attention. However when I got under it and ran the water for about 30 minutes, not a drop... but I left the hole open, and then a "splot" on the table a few days later revealed the culprits - my kids preferred our shower stall to their shower/tub back then, and they tended to emerge from the shower soaking wet, and dripped all over the threshold, where the water ran under the trim and down onto the ceiling below. The inside of the shower was perfectly watertight, the outside, less so. A smear of clear silicone along the base of the trim, and 5 years later, no recurrence. 

I'll be thinking of you at a friend's cottage this weekend, though - there will be 7 of us sharing one bathroom. I'll probably have to diaper myself in our bedroom, something which I have not yet done in front of my wife, preferring our ensuite bathroom for the purpose. But at this cottage, the bathroom is right off of the main living area. 

[oznl]

12 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

My condolences. Hopefully it's just the failed sealant. Years ago, I ripped into the ceiling of my dining room once, believing that I would find evidence that our shower was leaking - creeping discolouration in the ceiling had finally drawn my attention. However when I got under it and ran the water for about 30 minutes, not a drop... but I left the hole open, and then a "splot" on the table a few days later revealed the culprits - my kids preferred our shower stall to their shower/tub back then, and they tended to emerge from the shower soaking wet, and dripped all over the threshold, where the water ran under the trim and down onto the ceiling below. The inside of the shower was perfectly watertight, the outside, less so. A smear of clear silicone along the base of the trim, and 5 years later, no recurrence.

Thanks, I'm cautiously optimistic that it might be.  I had all the bathrooms renovated several years ago and I know that membranes went down and I don't believe there has been any significant movement.  We did have a warranty issue with that membrane but this was found and fixed (air bubble).  The labour was phenomenal as a bunch of tiles had to come up.  Don't want to do THAT on my own dime.  Also reviewing the damp marks, it is entirely possible (as the tradie is suggesting) that this is due to water sliding off the side of the membrane near the wall and door rather than going through it.  With the failed silicon, a LOT of water was going down into the tile bed apparently.

It took me 15 minutes of diversions after getting out of the share-shower before I could get a nappy back on last night: that was not comfortable with my beloved seeming to do all she could to delay my opportunity to re-attire (dressed only in a towel), perhaps hoping I'd just give up.  I didn't leak though and I thought I might of so I'm possibly in better shape than I think sometimes.

[oznl]

Well into my 16^th consecutive month as a full-time nappy user, I thought I’d record my experience to date with the penguin-themed Rearz “Omutsu” bulky cloth diaper that I treated myself to the other week.

The headline here for those disinclined to read on is that I’ve used it thrice (one day shift, one night shift and I’m wearing it now), I ordered a second one.  There will probably be a third and fourth but these will have to wait until I can attend Littles Downunder in person as the postage rates become punitive with multiple sku shipping.

Possibly by way of penalty for NOT washing the nappy before first use (in contradiction to Rearz recommendation) there was some dye transfer after it got wet the first time.   A waterproof pant is needed as the Omutsu nappy doesn’t have a waterproof outer layer.  I actually approve of this design choice because waterproof layers just make those kinds of garments even harder to dry than they already are and invariably the waterproofing fails long before the absorbent components do.  Still, a faint blue tint with the odd partial grey echo of a penguin has indelibly transferred itself to my (formerly white) Babykins enclosed vinyl waterproof pants but that’s of little consequence.  I should have waited but it was changing time, the brand new Omutsu was there waiting and penguins aren’t designed to remain dry for long.

First use was a day shift after changing out of my disposable night nappy after breakfast.  The Omutsu didn’t really look that bulky and along with it being it’s maiden voyage, I added a Babykins cloth soaker pad to the crotch.  I initially thought I’d received a mis-manufactured diaper because the Velcro “hook” pads on the wings were completely smooth and wouldn’t adhere in any way to the loop pads on the diaper front.  It was only when I was flirting with despair that I realised that there is a protective panel that sticks to that hook pad that you need to peel back.

As expected, the medium fitted just fine although I ordered the next as a “large” if only to have a broader swathe of cloth covering the front of my thighs.  There is probably only a couple of inches overlap there and my habit of side-wetting may prove challenging at some point.  To wear, the Omutsu was extremely soft and comfortable.  Furthermore, it didn’t restrict my movement in the way that my traditional kite-folded and pinned terry nappies do.  I’d be game to attempt an oil-change on the car or paint a ceiling thusly attired.  As I didn’t want a Onesie, I wore compression pants over the lot which further reduced visual bulk.

It didn’t remain dry for very long.  Being a cloth nappy, you DO feel it as “wet” after use but it remained soft and comfortable to wear and the compression pant stopped sagging.  I did notice however that once more thoroughly wet, it actually felt slightly cool in parts but again not uncomfortably so.  I suspect some moderate evaporative cooling.  About 8 hours later I decided that it was comfortable and non-leaking enough for me to attempt my early evening exercise walk in it.  I spent about 45m briskly waddling 5km in a fairly wet Omutsu “penguin” diaper and plastic pants under my shorts which happened without attracting chafing, rash, media or police attention.

At change time, it was revealed to be very soggy and saggy without the compression pant, promptly obeyed gravity once I peeled off my compression pant and headed for the floor although the wet Velcro could have been re-tightened.  Still I think practically a compression pant (or a Onesie) would be obligatory for out-of-bed usage.

Two days later, the Omutsu worked a night shift: on from around 7pm until about 8am the next day, again with a cloth booster pad.  I was comfortable in bed, so comfortable it seems that it turned out to be a “bedwetting” night and so I don’t remember much of anything about actually using it but I awoke with a dry bed and a soaked Omutsu the next morning which is a good outcome for all. 

Obviously it remains to be seen how durable they prove to be over time but I can assure readers that line-drying an Omutsu “bulky” takes a VERY long time.  On a clothesline, they unmistakably declare themselves as giant nappies in contrast to my terry squares which apart from aspect ratio, can pass for bath sheet sized towels.  I intensely dislike tumble dryers for their profligate wasting of electricity, premature wearing on clothing articles thus dried (clue: all the “lint” in the lint filter is actually your garment being shredded) and habit of starting house fires but I suspect hailing as they do from Canada, tumble-drying is probably the expected norm.

I’ve noticed that since the second wash and a decent line-dry in the sun, they do seem to have bulked somewhat and I’m not sure if they could still be reasonably considered as day-wear.  This is a nappy that WILL make your bum look big although this can be somewhat offset via compression shorts.  As expected, it also shrunk a little.  I’m it now and whilst it still fits ok, my decision to make the next one a “large” appears to be vindicated.  I don’t know if I’d trust it in bed again at its current size.  Speaking of size, the “nappy footprint” I have in our bedroom continues to grow with the new Omutsu and also some “mainstream” terry-lined waterproof trainers I obtained from my default incontinence supplier. 

My nappy hamper is full and the nappy shelf in the walk-in-robe (confined to plain terry squares as it can be seen by passers-by) has by necessity, scored a few extra stored items.

I really need a nappy wardrobe, or possibly a room.

No comment was made on the penguins but I hung them to dry in-side out and my beloved has long since stopped looking at my crotch so I’m not 100% sure if she noticed.

My “large” Omutsu arrived this week.  I hope my partner likes sheep, yellow ones this time…

[oznl]

I had a dispute with a neighbour this week.  To make this relevant to the current forum, I was in a nappy at the time but more on that later.

For the most part, I get on well with my neighbours and we drink copiously together at weekends.  These particular neighbours however are new, and are actually doing a pretty good job of alienating a few of the old timers in the street so I have company.

We’ll call Mrs New-Neighbour “Stevie Nicks”, living as she does in her own private 1973 San Francisco, dressed in voluminous flowing tie-die dresses, scarfs and tassels with hair that makes you think about macramé and flowers.  She hand-weaves her own yoghurt and has precious “special needs” children whose special needs seem to chiefly revolve around being given exactly what they demand swiftly to avoid breathtaking screaming fits rarely heard from human beings not on fire.

Mr New-Neighbour is nearly invisible.

Apart from her free-range chickens and children, she has a free range rescued stray cat.  We’ll call the cat “Chainsaw”.  This cat is effectively feral.  Whatever it cannot eat or procreate with, it will urinate upon or eviscerate.  She tries to keep it indoors (segregated from even her other pets which it apparently wishes to kill) but occasionally, one of her free-range children chooses to let Chainsaw outdoors and what her children want is what happens in this household.

Seemingly seconds after being freed by a free-range child, Chainsaw rushes over to our property and attacks our geriatric kitty (we’ll call her “Fur-potato”) as she lays asleep on her chair on our back deck.  Fur-potato’s usually got three new orifices torn into her by the time she wakes up.  We’re not talking about a few hisses and growls, we are talking fur, blood, pee, poop, injury and vet bills.  It’s happened on multiple occasions.

Now I work from home.  I am able to rush downstairs and intervene.

Earlier this week, an explosion of catfight broke out whilst I was up in my study.  Grabbing a broom from its rack, I went out to our back deck to discover Chainsaw operating in “evisceration” mode.  New brooms may sweep clean but even old ones are effective at settling catfights.  Chainsaw ran around side of the house back towards my neighbour’s with my broom and I in pursuit.

At the property boundary, amazingly, Chainsaw stopped, turned and faced me growling, apparently deciding that broom or no broom, this was “high noon”.  I puffed myself up and slowly advanced, broom extended.

“PLEASE leave Chainsaw” I bellowed (ok, they were more words to that effect than my precise phraseology).

At this point, Mrs Steve Nicks sweeps out onto her balcony overlooking the boundary and battleground like a Hendrix guitar solo, nearly knocking over a stone Buddha, Tibetan prayer flags aflutter in her wake.

I was expecting an explanation or apology.

“YOU ARE TRAUMATISING MY CHILDREN WITH YOUR VIOLENCE!” she shrieked.

FMD, I thought I was chasing off a cat!  A discussion ensued about vet bills, injuries and the general requirement for her to assume responsibility for what is essentially a feral and vicious animal.

Apparently, nothing can be done and, in any case, these attacks were at least partly my fault because of my “Negative energy” and I should just “let it go”.  Presumably Karma would fix things up in my next life, and maybe even my cat’s next life which I imagine without my intervention, Chainsaw would get her to fairly quickly.

I held my ground and attempted to reason with her.  Very quietly.  I have witnesses to that effect.  In the background, one of her uber-children (we’ll call her “Stonehenge”) slipped over the property line and started looking for Chainsaw who in the intervening fight, decided to quietly exit stage left.

“STONEHENGE!  Come back here at ONCE” she hissed at the child.  “I never want to see you on THAT MAN’S property EVER!” she continued before turning back at me to glare malevolently.

This was the first time I’ve ever seen Mrs Stevie Nicks actually issue a demand to one of her brood.  Nevertheless, it suited me.  Stonehenge, momentarily stunned by receiving a parental order instead of giving one, retreated to her side of the boundary.

There was a venomous undercurrent to this parental command that bothered me far more than the issue that had triggered it.  Apart from the obvious ad hominem of making ME that target of why she should not be accountable for her pets, there was the distinct implication that I was somehow a threat or a danger to her children.

Rather bereft of any defensive logic, “I REFUSE to talk to you!” she pronounced before wheeling 180 degrees on her castors under her dress and gliding back into the house, rattling several wind chimes and a prayer wheel behind her.

Ironic since she was the one who started this conversation.  I just wanted to sweep up a cat.

I was talking it over with my wife later that evening, in particular I was confused by her implications that I was somehow a threat to her children.

“Oh, she’s probably seen your washing on the line” stated my beloved…

“What?”

“She’s probably seen your nappies”

Well OBVIOUSLY if the late middle-aged guy next door might be wearing adult diapers because you spotted suspicious underwear on his line by hanging down from rear balcony railing by your ankles and using binoculars then he’s probably a significant safety risk to your oh-so-precious child and precautions must be taken.

Maybe Mrs Stevie Nicks should call the Police, or perhaps Jethro Tull.

I’m still trying to work out which is the more disturbing scenario: that my neighbour might think thusly or that my spouse might…

[Little Sherri]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:35 AM, oznl said:

I’m still trying to work out which is the more disturbing scenario: that my neighbour might think thusly or that my spouse might…

You did a good job of painting that exchange. I can picture the type.

I don't imagine that she's deduced from your laundry line, if she's even seen it, that you're somehow a danger to the children... it takes several steps to get from "What's that on the far line that I can barely see and that neighbourly decorum suggest I shouldn't be paying attention to anyway", to, "those might be adult-sized cloth nappies rather than pillow cases or bath mats etc...", to "And I bet if they are nappies, the able-bodied gentlemen of the house is the most likely candidate for wearing them", and thence all the way over to "because he's a weirdo, and weirdos aren't safe around children." I think she was just being an idiot, and three plus blue plus avocado doesn't yield a valid output. Though if I were in your shoes I probably would have thought the same thing. 

Similarly, I think this was a rare opportunity, not to be overlooked,  for your spouse to welcome you into her world of paranoia and her assumptions about peoples assumptions, about your unconventional underpants, assuming anyone were to ever become aware of them. I don't think it was very nice of her to throw that out there, but I doubt that she has those types of questions about you herself, otherwise, what on earth is she doing there? That wouldn't be another straw on an overburdened camel's back, that would be a caber. 

I hate morons who have no consideration for how their pets (or children) impinge on other people's quality of life. It's illegal where I live to let a cat roam, because all they do is kill wildlife, defecate in playgrounds, and then are themselves killed by cars, and need to be scraped up off the street. They actually enforce this prohibition - I've heard of people being fined. I'm not really a big fan of militant bylaw enforcement, generally - I try to live and let live - but releasing a single-purpose killing machine into one's surrounds for an afternoon of mayhem isn't "letting live". I have similar disdain for people who don't pick up after their dogs, because I have a dog, and I don't want anyone thinking I'm the cretin leaving flyblown landmines on the trails around our neighbourhood, which are like magnets to children's' feet. As an aside, there is a special place in hell for people who take the time to stoop, scoop and bag the output of their beloved fur-babies, but who then toss the bags into the bushes or leave them on the path, to ferment perpetually in the sun. At least excrement left open to the elements has a half-life measured in days, rather than months. 

[oznl]

6 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Similarly, I think this was a rare opportunity, not to be overlooked,  for your spouse to welcome you into her world of paranoia and her assumptions about peoples assumptions, about your unconventional underpants, assuming anyone were to ever become aware of them. I don't think it was very nice of her to throw that out there, but I doubt that she has those types of questions about you herself, otherwise, what on earth is she doing there? That wouldn't be another straw on an overburdened camel's back, that would be a caber.

Yes, I should be clear.  I’m quite certain my partner does not regard me (and has never regarded me) as a threat to children.  There had been some questioning early on in our relationship to this effect.  I’m confident that she accepted my assurances as she was VERY keen for me to do my fair share of child-minding when my kids were small.  Now my kids are not so small, they still seem to basically like me. 

It’s also possible that I should have done the “carpe diem” thing when she tossed that verbal grenade and dived into a deeper discussion about why she’d even put that out there but I think I know.

  Throughout all of this, she has two primal drivers.  The first is the “protector and provider” thing she’s looking for. 

The second one is about what others might think.  She’s intensely worried about embarrassment and loss of status.  She has many other redeeming features so this is observation, not criticism.  I think this “what will the neighbors think!” factor is what is at play here.

6 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I hate morons who have no consideration for how their pets (or children) impinge on other people's quality of life.

Yep, in addition to the pets, her kids are already the talk of the street, and NOT in a good way: the “Stonehenge” in particular is an uninhibited, overly-entitled, foul tempered screeching snowflake prone to front-yard histrionics at 6am (incorrect breakfast serving choices) and perpetually indulged by cooing parents.  A previous incident, in which I was not involved, was due to Stonehenge decorating the street, the paths and even a neighbour’s parked car with her chalk “street art”.  Her mother marvelled at her creativity whilst another neighbour fumed at having to wash chalk off her car.

It's illegal to have cat at large, at night in *some* Australian council areas.  Irrespective of that, under local law, an owner bears responsibility for injury that an animal "at large" (off their property) may inflict upon another animal.

Fur-potato is in every night but does like to sun herself in her dotage during the day on the rear deck.  I also accept that unlike dogs, cats can houdini their way out of yards as they please and there are other neighbor's cats that occasionally come to visit but they do NOT immediately try to kill the local feline occupant.  Indeed Fur-potato even has a catty "boyfriend": I haven't the heart to tell them they are both spayed.

[oznl]

Grrr…

ABU Simple in Australia have simply dialled themselves out of the market price-wise.  Firstly, they stopped selling them in case units (dropping the case discount) and secondly, the postage charges have gone bananas: an eye-watering A$66 delivery for a half-case!!  This means a ludicrous A$190 for 40 nappies delivered.  That’s works out at about AUD4.70 per change which is enough to make anybody fill their diaper in horror.

If I’m paying that much for a nappy, I want it to change itself, and possibly pour me a beer whilst it’s doing it.

It’s not like they didn’t leak either, as comfortable as they were.

I’ve had to vote them off my island simply due to expense.  My washing machine will thank me I'm sure.

It seems like tectonic shifts in product availability/pricing are something I've had to live with constantly for the last 18 months.

My residual options for long-range-nappies are looking like double-orders of BetterDry (using them for day and night) or experiment with Abena L4 + Booster for workday use.  Any other decent Australian-available alternative for about AUD3 per unit or less suggestions welcomed…

[Stroller]

3 hours ago, oznl said:

Any other decent Australian-available alternative for about AUD3 per unit or less suggestions welcomed…

I reckon you'll be down to making your own from eucalyptus pulp and roo pelts soon...