24/7 startups, and unexpected pitfalls?

[oznl]

12 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I had a new experience today in the chat, albeit probably not a "strange" one for people who have been here a while; actually, it's probably more surprising that this hasn't happened to me before. People were exchanging thoughts, the topic turned to people's preferences in (what else?) diapers, someone mentioned that such-and-such a brand was bulky, and that brought me around to mentioning my ongoing experiment with trying to camouflage larger diapers when operating around the house. Now that everyone is home basically all the time. I thought it might be a concern shared by others. Anyway, a regular, someone I've seen and spoke with multiple times, pronounced that it was "creepy", which took me somewhat aback. I found it both a tad judgmental, and, also a bit of a case of the pot calling the kettle black. This is a strange little corner of the world, granted, but if you're "creeped out" by unconventional underwear preferences, perhaps this isn't the place for you?

I think the allusion was that it's creepy to wear diapers around one's family, presumably children in particular, but, first, if you wear diapers out in the world, that is going to encompass sharing space with people of all ages, eventually, and, second, if you live with children, and you wear diapers, well, unless one's primary objective IS to wear them around children, I don't understand the comment. I much prefer wearing them when children are not around, which I was doing blissfully until a pandemic cancelled school and all of my kids' activities. I am trying to find the best compromise I can between living life on my terms, and not inducing PTSD in my kids, by being as careful and considerate as I can. I wasn't in the habit of roaming about with my boxer shorts on display, either. Although on a side-note, I had a step-father who thought that it was "healthy" to occasionally hang out naked. That has scarred me for life, which is precisely what I don't want to do to my kids. It would have been far better if he'd had a diaper on. 

I think sometimes, these things are a function of the impoverished language of simple ASCII TEXT creating misunderstanding, sometimes because people hit the keyboard after hitting the beer fridge, sometimes because some people post on the internet as though they were driving a tank in wartime: consequence free and armor-plated, and sometimes because, well, they don’t think that much about what they are typing.

One of the more hilarious class of flame war I’ve seen in my time is where one or more practitioners of a particular off-the-wall behaviour starts taking pot-shots at another because the other’s particular implementation is somehow “weird”.   You know the one, two people both like dressing up as ponies but one’s pony suit is blue and that’s just WRONG!

We can only ask for as much tolerance as we’re prepared to give.

In your scenario I wonder if you have fallen victim to transposed motivations: because another may regard diapers as a sexual fetish (and for some they are), they assume EVERYBODY does and therefore that wearing diapers at home is practicing a fetish with your family (bad idea).  Then they take that last extra step and decide to impart their wisdom unilaterally.

I suspect your motivations are closer aligned to mine (and some others who share this place).  We are dealing with some kind of dysphoria that drives us to this and we practice this behaviour in an effort to remain sane and stay OFF the happy tablets.  Our commentary with respect to co-habitants in our respective households reflects our motivations to effectively balance our needs with theirs by keeping our unconventional underwear choices OUT of their gaze.  There’s the odd close call but usually we prevail (no pun intended).

But, it’s the internet and YMMV… 

[Little Sherri]

10 hours ago, oznl said:

In your scenario I wonder if you have fallen victim to transposed motivations: because another may regard diapers as a sexual fetish (and for some they are), they assume EVERYBODY does and therefore that wearing diapers at home is practicing a fetish with your family (bad idea).  Then they take that last extra step and decide to impart their wisdom unilaterally.

 

I suspect your motivations are closer aligned to mine (and some others who share this place).  We are dealing with some kind of dysphoria that drives us to this and we practice this behaviour in an effort to remain sane and stay OFF the happy tablets.  

I think you've hit the mark here. I hadn't thought of it that way - sort of akin to if one wanted to wander about in lederhosen because it was a huge turn-on, but also wanted to pick up the kids at daycare. Although if they wear their lederhosen carefully concealed under their clothing, I still don't see the harm done, but I guess it goes to intent. 

In some ways, I think that my decision to commit myself to this 'project', as I have, has had, at least in part, the purpose of desensitizing myself to being perpetually aware of, or excited by, wearing a nappy. I have been seeking a new homeostasis, where my diaper and related goings-on (but not all of them...) fade into the background for me. It's impossible to be charged up all the time by something you are exposed to constantly. If I were to commence taking opioids 24 hours a day, fro example,  I would not be getting high anymore - that would be my new 'normal', and I would need a much larger dose to be intoxicated. I'm not seeking a 'high', I'm seeking a generalized feeling of satisfaction and well-being that would probably otherwise have to be achieved via antidepressants. Antidepressants, used correctly, are intended to fill in for something that is missing, taking the user up to a baseline, rather than adding something beyond that, as with recreational pharmaceuticals. (Don't get me wrong, though, I'm not judging - I love my beer and wine). 

I have spoken with people here who have said they would never go 24/7, because it would remove the excitement, and probably take the pleasure out of their indulgences, but I am doing this for a different reason than they are, I think. I was deeply fascinated with nappies way before I was a sexual being. And, yes, per Freud, we are sexual beings almost from birth, and I'm simplifying here, but, when I was five or six, I wasn't aware of what those parts of my body or my psyche could be used for. However,  I was aware of an inexplicable calmness that came over me when I was in a diaper, and of a tension, or dissonance, between that feeling, and, the shame and anxiety that was generated when wearing a diaper in anything other than complete privacy. On the rare occasion when I met a fellow "diapernaut", someone else in my predicament, navigating the waters of maturation from within baby pants, I was intrigued and drawn to them, almost the way dogs are to each other. Living most of their lives in the company of an alien species, they are compelled, when they come across their kin, to interact. And sniff each other's bottoms. The metaphor breaks down if you stare at it too long. 

I've spoken here before of a girl who became essentially my best friend in early childhood, and after whom I actually chose my screen name here; she was very close to my age, and for reasons that were never revealed, she wore diapers all the time. She may have been developmentally delayed, but if so, not severely - she played the games the rest of us played. I was deeply, deeply fascinated with her, and willing to pay the occasional social consequences of being buddies with the "diaper girl", even though, given that I was a part-time diaper person myself, I could have done what I think some religious closeted homosexuals do, and diametrically oppose myself to anyone who shares the same predicament. My point, anyway, is that before I even completely know who, or what gender, I was, I was getting "something" from being in a diaper. 

 

10 hours ago, oznl said:

Our commentary with respect to co-habitants in our respective households reflects our motivations to effectively balance our needs with theirs by keeping our unconventional underwear choices OUT of their gaze.  There’s the odd close call but usually we prevail (no pun intended).

Exactly. With the exception of my wife - who, let's face it, is burdened with having to look at all of me, that's just part of the deal, and in return, she gets a new SUV every few years - my motivation is *solely* keeping my unconventional underwear out of their gaze, and I go out of my way to avoid close calls. I derive no secret pleasure in the prospect of discovery. 

[Little Sherri]

All that being said, here I am in a Barnyard under the cycling shorts and a pair of jeans, the barnyard being perhaps the largest diaper in my arsenal. I am definitely going to look into the Spanx options when I have a chance; if they are better at disguising diaper bulk than this, I may be in business. If anyone has any comments as to how one sizes compression garments like that, let me know - do I shoot for one size up, once size down, how does it work? All I know about things in those magic materials is that the dance shorts my kids wear all look like they would maybe fit on a teddy bear, and I can never tell whose is whose when we're sorting the laundry. 

 

[BlakeJordan]

All that being said, here I am in a Barnyard under the cycling shorts and a pair of jeans, the barnyard being perhaps the largest diaper in my arsenal. I am definitely going to look into the Spanx options when I have a chance; if they are better at disguising diaper bulk than this, I may be in business. If anyone has any comments as to how one sizes compression garments like that, let me know - do I shoot for one size up, once size down, how does it work? All I know about things in those magic materials is that the dance shorts my kids wear all look like they would maybe fit on a teddy bear, and I can never tell whose is whose when we're sorting the laundry. 
 

I think it’s going to be very brand dependent and also will vary with the results that you’re actually looking for. By that I mean are you looking for the compression garments to normalize you’re shape to how you look without diapers, or normalize your shape while wearing and this both dry and the ensuing expansion; minimizes the difference in body shape variance from one hour to the next ?

In either case I would suggest using a cloth tape measure to measure your body with and without a diaper, with a dry diaper and clothes, with regular underwear and clothes, and with a wet diaper, soaked to what do you would be typically the max acceptable/likely swelling before you want to/able to change. I would then average out those measurements and look for a brand and style that fits that mean measurement as a starting point. In all likelihood you may have to experiment just a little bit and may not get it correct on the first try. My hope would be that The extra the looseness while the diapers dry would even out the bulkiness that gets compressed all the diaper is wet.

[oznl]

5 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

All that being said, here I am in a Barnyard under the cycling shorts and a pair of jeans, the barnyard being perhaps the largest diaper in my arsenal. I am definitely going to look into the Spanx options when I have a chance; if they are better at disguising diaper bulk than this, I may be in business. If anyone has any comments as to how one sizes compression garments like that, let me know - do I shoot for one size up, once size down, how does it work? All I know about things in those magic materials is that the dance shorts my kids wear all look like they would maybe fit on a teddy bear, and I can never tell whose is whose when we're sorting the laundry.

Here they're cheap enough for trial and error.  I have no idea how AU sizing relates to CA sizing but I have a 44" waist (yeah, I know...) and am pretty tall (> 6'3").  An "18" is great, a "16" is usable with peripheral blood flow constriction.  Both those sizes are off-the-rack which here, commonly goes to 20 before you have to head off to specialty shops.  The other usual tricks (which I do pull because some days, I just need a long-range diaper) are the one-size-up dark pants and an overhanging shirt (not tucked in if I can possibly help it).

[Little Sherri]

@BlakeJordan, the goal would be to minimize a diaper's impact on my silhouette, basically, but I get your point about how variable that target can be with respect to which diaper, how wet it is, and what trousers I'm wearing. I'd like to have this figured out before the hot weather arrives (well, what passes for hot here), so I don't have to go one-size-up all my summer wear. I never went for a tight fit anyway, so if I can tame the bulk somewhat, I am hoping I could be more comfortable spending the day in in longer-range diapers this summer than I was last; last summer I stuck to the slim ones during the day and just always had a couple with me so I could swap them every few hours. 

18 hours ago, oznl said:

The other usual tricks (which I do pull because some days, I just need a long-range diaper) are the one-size-up dark pants and an overhanging shirt (not tucked in if I can possibly help it).

This is my go-to if I want to wear a longer-range diaper these days. 

On another topic, I think I want to put together a spreadsheet and commission a bit of an engineering study, because I'm intrigued by the variance between products with respect to their acoustic signatures. I have some diapers that are really, really loud under, for example, athletic wear, or pajamas, but that go completely silent under jeans or khakis. Whereas other ones seem to find their voice under clothing; I am wearing a Rearz Lil' Squirts right now, and there is a distinct crinkle soundtrack to my wanderings, though I wonder as well if I just pay more attention to it, and maybe it goes under the radar of everyone else. These compress down and lose a fair bit of their bulk under jeans, so I don't have bicycle shorts on over it right now. I think I am going to give that a test-drive. Be right back. 

Well, that quiets them down a bit, although not completely. Whereas the Barnyard I had on for most of yesterday goes silent under the shorts (under jeans). The plastic-backed Depends, on the other hand, make a cacophony under pajama pants but are rendered tomb-silent by jeans. Bambino Magnificos, a plastic diaper with stretchy cloth wings, are silent under pajama pants. Prevails and Play Dayz are quiet under almost anything, although certain synthetic materials will produce a notable swishing sound over them. I find BetterDry's to be pretty quiet once constrained, although they like to vocalize when worn uncovered. Cloth diapers never tell tales, but plastic pants will emit some sounds under athletic clothes - admittedly, an uncommon pairing. Under jeans, the plastic pants I have go silent, but in that case it's the bulk that gives them away - so far I have only found cloth diapers useful for nightwear, or during the day if I'm strictly at home and the kids are out for the day.

[Stroller]

13 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

Cloth diapers never tell tales, but plastic pants will emit some sounds under athletic clothes - admittedly, an uncommon pairing. Under jeans, the plastic pants I have go silent, but in that case it's the bulk that gives them away - so far I have only found cloth diapers useful for nightwear, or during the day if I'm strictly at home and the kids are out for the day.

I suppose I'm well-placed to give a view on this, as I'm in cloth full-time.  Yes, cloth nappies are bulkier than disposables, although high-volume disposables get to be about the same as cloth when they're good & wet.  I still manage to wear cloth under my street clothes though, without any big problems.  They're silent of course, apart from my plastic pants, which are thin polyurethane - which I find quieter than most disposables.  When I wander round the house in my jamas (as now) then I can hear a quiet rustling, and I'm sure my wife can too, but under shorts or trousers they're silent.

I'm not sure how I'd manage if I had to wear smart trousers, eg a work suit - I've been retired for a long time.  I know a suit works with disposables, but I'm not sure whether I'd be able to hide cloth nappies sufficiently well under those sort of trousers.  Heavy-duty cargo shorts or trousers are my go-to wear.  The patches & pockets are very good at camouflage.

[Little Sherri]

13 hours ago, Stroller said:

Heavy-duty cargo shorts or trousers are my go-to wear.  The patches & pockets are very good at camouflage.

This is a good point, @Stroller, even for disguising disposables - I may look at getting some cargo-type shorts for the summer. I'd like to be able to better integrate cloth diapers into my routine; I've worn one around my wife now a few times, and it doesn't seem to perturb her, at least no more than disposable diapers do. I think she's somewhere on the spectrum between "ignore" and "accept", although whether the next step after that is "embrace", or,  "bulk up life insurance, commence putting finely-ground glass in his lasagna" has yet to be established. 

I guess I'm in a project mood this week; I spoke already of wanting to compile a spreadsheet of the acoustic qualities of various diapers under different clothing. The next idea I've had is that I want to get my hands on some of the diapers I used to wear, back when this was strictly something I could do when everyone was out of the house or when I traveled for business. Being in a diaper all the time, under a wide range of circumstances and outfits, has made me a bit of a diaper sommelier, relative to back then, when my only considerations were if I could get it, if it would fit, and if its appearance appealed to me. 

Moving on to wearing diapers at night for a couple of years expanded my expectations of the products I wore, but it was still mostly about accessibility and containment. Now that I am wearing all the time, I am much more critical, and being "out of the closet" with my spouse on diapers means that I can pretty much access any diapers I want; I am not confined to places where I can go pay cash for small quantities of diapers, like I'm buying illicit narcotics. As an aside, back in the old days, the Rearz store selling samples and diapers over the counter, by the bag rather than the case, was a lifesaver. Other than that I was primarily reliant on what could be had at pharmacies and supermarkets, which were generally low-grade. Even medical supply stores tended to want to place orders with a credit card, and of course, back then, "XYZ Medical Supplies.... $87.49" on the credit card statement would have caused my wife to ask questions. Let alone "Big Baby Diapers Inc.... $109.80".

The first thing I want to road test under my new living conditions is some of the tape-on Bambino products. I remember being absolutely in love with them when I first got my hands on some; they were like water in the desert for someone who had previously only worn Tena, Depends, and tortured adolescent pull-ups. I was smitten with their cute prints, their bulk, their high-quality tapes and their capabilities. Unfortunately, though, at the time, I was sending most of them to their graves prematurely, putting one on and maybe getting a few hours out of it before having to take it off because I no longer had the house to myself. I want to get my hands on some more of them, and give them a proper review, under my current operating conditions, wearing them for most of a day, taking the dog for a hike, cleaning the car, getting groceries, drinking an excess of wine and going to bed in one. 

If anyone has any suggestions as to brands or models I absolutely have to try, I welcome them. 

Update: it got so warm today that I have put on some cargo shorts, per @Stroller's suggestion, and I have been operating in a sort of medium-bulk diapers (a Rearz Lil' Splash) for most of the day. These diapers are loud, though, so I have had to put bicycle shorts over them to quell that - interestingly, and in relation to my earlier topic about acoustic signatures, this diaper is quiet under jeans but gets talkative under these loose cargo shorts. I had a buddy coming over to drop off some tools and I needed my nappy to quiet down a bit - outside, the crinkle would probably get lost under the background noise, but in my garage, I know that I could hear it distinctly, anyway. I put a plastic dog bag in my pocket but it still wasn't enough to really explain the soundtrack I was generating, so I went to the bike shorts. Have any of you tried the "silence panties" that Rearz sells? Do they work? 

[wetngooshy]

On 4/29/2020 at 5:42 PM, BlakeJordan said:

I am definitely going to look into the Spanx options when I have a chance; if they are better at disguising diaper bulk than this, I may be in business. If anyone has any comments as to how one sizes compression garments like that, let me know - do I shoot for one size up, once size down, how does it work

I've had good luck with compression shorts-type athletic gear.  They're pretty cheap, $20-ish range.  I've bought Starter compression shorts at Wal-Mart, but it looks like they're carrying "Hanes Sport Men's and Big Men's Performance Compression Shorts" now.  More recently I've bought "Under Armour Men's HeatGear Armour 2.0 Compression Shorts" from Dicks.  Size may be dependant on your setup:  I have a 36" waist and use a medium for disposables, but I like things a bit snug.  If I tried to use them with cloth I might need a bigger size.  They're pretty good for reducing chafing too: I've worn them when golfing and/or during yardwork.

[Little Sherri]

12 hours ago, wetngooshy said:

I have a 36" waist and use a medium for disposables, but I like things a bit snug.  I

Sounds like we are of a similar size. I have a 36" waist but I tend to go to large for disposables because my legs are big and often the bottom tabs won't reach the landing zone on a medium diaper. Although I intend to buy some of the Rearz Elite's in medium and see how they fit. I like things snug as well. 

I got let down by one of my regular diapers yesterday, and I think it had to do with what I was sitting on. A buddy came over to try a beer I made, and we did a responsible, socially-distanced tasting from either end of an 8-foot table, sitting on a hard patio chair. I had taken the cushions off because it had rained earlier. Anyway, I was wearing one of my daytime slim diapers, a Prevail 360, because I didn't want noise or bulk to betray my padded status to my buddy. I'd had the diaper on for maybe a couple of hours. I know these diapers well - I wear them all the time when I'm at work or out of the house. I have one on now because I'm going to be doing chores with the family in a bit. I know what these can hold and how far I can push them. But somehow, sitting on that hard patio chair for a couple of hours caused crescents of wetness on either side of the bottom of my jeans, to the point where I decided just not to get up from my chair as much as possible. I think the hardness of the chair must have either squeezed out some dampness, or maybe deformed the leg gathers somehow. It was at about 50% capacity so it should not have leaked, certainly not on both sides. Now I am going to see how these stand up to biking - wish me luck. 

[Little Sherri]

Update: Operation: Medium Experiment has begun. I have some Rearz Elite's in medium. When I initially pulled that first diaper out of the case, I worried that I had made a terrible mistake. When I fanned it out, it looked wearisomely small, however, based on the size guidelines and the fact the the large size ones are gargantuan on me, I had to see if I could fit into it, or if I was now the proud owner of a year's supply of plastic-backed disposable car towels. The size reminded me of a Bambino Magnifico medium, but, the Magnifico's have stretchy wings, and the Elite's do not. I positioned it on my bath mat, laid back and commenced putting it on. The upper tapes reached the landing zone on both sides, but the lower tapes looked like they might be a struggle. Okay, worst-case, I now have some really thick, single-tape diapers, I thought. But wait, upon standing up, the lower tapes reached over the the landing zone as well. Barely, but they reached. The diaper was snug - really snug, but also quite notably smaller than the large ones are. Cautiously, I pulled a pair of jeans on over top of it - my regular size, not my one-ups. I tried walking; there was a perceptible bulk down below, but it was possible to walk without drifting into a waddle, and, the diaper went silent under the denim. A quick check of the mirror suggested that, at least while stone dry, I may have found my holy grail - I thick plastic diaper that I could wear during the day. If I put some compression shorts over top of it, I think there is no doubt that the bulk could be camouflaged. 

I tried a test-walk past my wife; admittedly, she's about as hard to surprise with a diaper these days as someone who lives in Morocco would be with exotic cars. They've seen a lot. But I drew nary a glance, whereas if I had, say, a Barnyard on under these jeans, she'd probably have raised an eyebrow - "Going out like that?". The only questions that remain are, first, can I wear this thing for an extended period of time at this level of snugness, comfortably? Will the tapes hold up? And, second, how notably do they expand? The large size ones don't seem to expand as much as a BetterDry, for example, but then again I've never really tried to wear a size large Elite under jeans that just fit me, because it's too large of a diaper, so I can't say that I have detailed field notes about how much they expand with use. I'll probably test drive one of these tomorrow and see how they do. 

[Little Sherri]

Field notes for the aforementioned acoustic characteristics log, which I have not started and probably never will: I have not put on the medium Rearz elite discussed yesterday because I woke up in a Play Dayz that was at less than half capacity, so I've been in that up to now, although I am really getting into change territory, I think. But I'm impressed; I had forgotten how much these can take, although I didn't forget one characteristic I don't appreciate as much: the tendency for the sodden stuffing to migrate to the rear of the diaper, and give the wearer a "toddler with a load on" look. To curtail that junk-in-the-trunk aesthetic, I threw on my bicycle shorts, even though these Play Dayz are of medium bulk and being cloth-backed, they are generally silent. However, under the spandex or whatever these shorts are made of, all of a sudden, this diaper has a voice, making a swishing noise. Nothing obtrusive, just interesting. 

I don't know how I got any work down before I put myself back in diapers - I've been stuck in my chair all morning, and if I had to get up every time I needed to pee, I don't think I'd get anything done. Although arguably back then I also didn't need to pee every 15 minutes. 

[oznl]

12 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

I don't know how I got any work down before I put myself back in diapers - I've been stuck in my chair all morning, and if I had to get up every time I needed to pee, I don't think I'd get anything done. Although arguably back then I also didn't need to pee every 15 minutes. 

This is interesting and echoes my own thoughts after I went on that 110km trip up to the Sunshine Coast last week and realised that, in stark contrast to the tradespeople I had hired, I was somewhat dependent on my nappies to get through that morning.

This morning I had to go out in order to get a flu shot.  This involved about 90 minutes out of the house with a bit of waiting around here and there.

I must have been distracted because it seemed that every time I paused to think about it, I noticed a pee-urge and was greatly relieved to use my diaper.

At some point I can recall thinking to myself how convenient it was to have nappies to deal with this.  Then, I though properly:  the primary issue here is not convenience.  It is NOT normal to need to pee a bit every few minutes and to be uncomfortable if you don’t have a diaper to do it in…

Dependency comes at us like a thief in the night unseen through our rear window, not a Mariachi Band down our street.

[Little Sherri]

12 hours ago, oznl said:

Dependency comes at us like a thief in the night unseen through our rear window, not a Mariachi Band down our street.

Well-worded as always, @oznl. I laughed out loud at this. 

Rearz Elite size medium expedition update: these things are damned snug. I slept in one last night just to see if I could do it, and I did, and I still have it on because it was barely used. I might conceivably have it on well into the evening - these things hold a lot. I've discovered that by easing the lower tape back until it is *just* kissing the landing zone, the leg gathers don't have quite as much of a tourniquet feel to them. However, I would be amazed if they leaked down there; if blood can't get through, surly unpressurized liquid can't. 

I think this may confirm that medium diapers are not for me, at least in most styles. The waist, as is often the case, fits fine, and I can pull the upper tapes into the middle of the demarcated landing zone "parking spots" that these Elites are known for.  As usual, though, I am an outlier with respect to my tree trunk upper thighs, which I have heard referred to as "hockey legs", although I am letting my country down in admitting that I have not played very much hockey. As a side note, when I get a (rare) black eye from martial arts training, my American colleagues always assume that it's a hockey-related injury as well. 

Now, I must pause to clean up dog vomit. Dogs are great. Where was I?

Ah, yes, the medium Elite's. This diaper does seem to stay under the radar, though. Even being plastic, they don't crinkle so much that they becomes the elephant in the room. I'm wearing this one under flannel pajama pants (every day is Sunday, right?), and I can operate around my house without drawing any glances, whereas normally, in a plastic diaper, I would have put jeans on. Under jeans, these offer tomb-like silence. I could easily go shopping or to the bank or whatever without concern. If I can get used to their unrelenting snugness, these could be a go-to daytime diaper for long days away from the house. 

[Little Sherri]

Rearz Elite medium field test, day 3: right now I have a loose pair of athletic shorts on, though I have a bulky sweatshirt above it. It's one of those typically-Canadian May days where it looks glorious outside, and the sun streaming in through the windows warms the room, but, if you opened the window, you could keep lager at serving temperature on the window sill. I am somewhat coming around to these diapers. The tapes are very tenacious, even when barely engaging the landing strip, and they are very quiet for a fully plastic diaper. They feel bulky, but they don't look bulky, and they have a looooong cruising range - this is an honest-to-goodness 16 hour diaper. 

Here's a random thought that occurred to me while I was refreshing my upstairs diaper selection from my basement storage area: try as I might, I cannot recall a single time that my parents ever asked my opinion about the diapers they bought for me. They inquired about their status, or sometimes deputized me with the alleged authority to decide if I needed one, although, as an aside, if they were asking if I should maybe consider putting a diaper on before we got in the car, or before we went to a movie, or before we started an after-dinner board game, or whatever, the answer they expected was pretty much always "yes", though I can see what they were trying to do. But, as to if I had any preferences with respect to the brands I spent so much time in, they never asked. Whereas, for example, I recall being in a Towers or a K-Mart and being encouraged to thoughtfully peruse the bags of "Underoos", before deciding if The Hulk or Spider Man were more to my liking. When we walked the diaper isle, I generally kept my distance anyway, not wanting to be associated at all with their purchase, so maybe my mom thought I wouldn't have wanted to discuss it. I also have no idea what the options were back then; maybe Pampers were the only diaper that went up to the size I wore. I should do some research. I do recall being at the cottage and having a box of Luvs there for a while, because my sister used to tease me with their jingle, which went something like "Your baby's comfort begins with Luvs..."; she used to whistle it here and there. The cottage boxes tended to last for ages, because we were only up there a few days a month. 

[Little Sherri]

So I wore a Bambino Classico to bed last night and for most of this morning. This is a diaper I haven't worn since long before I went 24/7, or even started wearing diapers to bed every night. Back then, I was happy just to get my hands on a diaper like that, a proper ABDL product, rather than something from the pharmacy that whispers of illness and infirmity. So, I was ecstatic that they existed at all. Now, I have a bit more of a developed palate, after 13+ months road testing diapers more or less continually. So how do they stack up? Not badly, actually. They are a high-rise diaper for sure, at least in a large and on me in any case - the back feels like it nearly touches my shoulder blades when I'm lying down. The design - pink, yellow and blue alphabet blocks with the letters "B" "A" "B" "Y" randomly distributed  - is maybe a little on the nose, although my wife made no comment. They are loud under pajama pants but reasonable under jeans, although their bulk is hard to disguise. They are very comfortable, though, and seem quite capacious. I regret that I had to toss the diaper I was wearing probably long before it was at capacity, because I have some things being delivered today, and there was no way I could have answered the door, or operated nonchalantly in front of my family, without further testing. If I recall correctly, thought, a Classico in a medium is essentially a single-tape diaper for me - the lower tapes won't make it to the landing strip, so I would have to wear them as a one-and-done diaper, and commit to not taking them off for any reason, unless I want to engage in reconstruction with tape afterwards. Although I guess there is a feel of childhood "authenticity" to be found in wearing a diaper that you can't take a timeout from. 

[BlakeJordan]

One of my favorite tools for “retaping construction” is 3M’s tear by hand day packaging tape. It basically acts as a reinforcement, extender, and allows for either a tighter fit, a retape, or a second, second chance. It’s also nice as it can be used on top of other tapes and can help with expanding the width of the original tape, useful when I know I’m going to be active and if not perfectly fit I’m gonna run into issues.

The tape itself is very easy to work with, about 3x the thickness of normal packaging tape, and a bit thicker and more durable than most high quality tabs.

The other solutions I’ll use these for is if I know the diaper I’m using swells up quickly and the swelling can affect the tapes, popping them off. Or, if I know it’s gonna be a long haul, and a have used a booster to ensure a good fit over the long run (I am sometimes bed bound due to various issues, which makes even a quick change unpredictable). As I wrote that last note I realized that I’ve used these to adjust the fit on a daytime diaper that would typically leak at night to the cut and body position.

I also like the tape is extremely sticky, and yet shell/landing zone compatible, allowing for multiple adjustments on pretty much any plastic backed diaper I’ve tried it on, without damaging the shell. It’s certainly not great however for multiple goes on cloth backed, but can still be used to reinforce or even repair a small tear.



MMM3841 - Scotchreg; Tear-by-Hand Mailing Packaging Tape, 1.88 x 52.5 Yds https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009A56SZM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Y1ATEbQ34R8SY

One roll could last an entire case, even if used on all 4 tapes.

[DL-Boy]

That Scotch tape might come in handy with the Tranquility ATN diapers I bought a case of a few months ago.  The tapes are horrible!  If I wear the diaper more than about 30 minutes or so, the tapes will let go completely (without tearing the poly backing).  By contrast, the tapes on the Total Dry Plus are so strong that under most conditions after a few hours of wear, the tapes will tear the reinforced landing zone if I'm not careful!

[Little Sherri]

@BlakeJordan I have never heard of this stuff before but will surely have a look at it. If I were to extend the landing zone to the edges of the front panel, I could probably convert a size medium of a few of the tape-on diapers I have tried into a viable alternative to the large size, which always more than fit - sometimes, too much more. I don't know why I've never thought of doing precisely that - I have used run-of-the-mill packing tape, or white duct tape, to create a landing zone on Depends and other low-end plastic diapers before, so that I can snug them up or temporarily remove them without tearing the shell. But both of these are a pain in the ass to wrangle, you have to nick them with a sharp edge in order to tear them.

 

[incondl]

I buy electrical tape by the sleeve, maybe 4 or 5 sleeves at a time. It works great and 4 or 5 sleeves literally lasts for 4-6 months. It’s easy and works very well

And if you use a diaper suspender and clasp then where the 2 ends of the diaper meet you never have any problems.

[Little Sherri]

Well I only had a couple of beers with dinner yesterday, in celebration of Mother's Day, but I slept like a rock and woke up soaked this morning, with no recollection of having done it myself, although I guess there is nobody else I can blame. I recall vaguely that I stirred at about 3 am when my wife got up to use the washroom, but I don't recall fallowing suit. Maybe I did. I'm still in the same Bambino Classico that I put on last night, a size large - I had forgotten how much these can hold. I am relying on my compression bicycle shorts and over-sized jeans to constrain my silhouette, although these big plastic diapers are very quiet. The plan is to run later today, so I will probably put on a slim diaper after this, something good for a few hours of wear. 

Having worn a couple of these now over the last few days, I can say that while they behave very much like the larger Rearz products functionally, they feel different. They rise higher in the back and they have a bit of a "snugger" feel, at least on me; I guess it's the geometry of the fit. Even without something on over it, the diaper stays in contact with the wearer. Last night in bed with nothing on but the diaper, I could feel its "support" - you really know you have a diaper on. There is subtle lift at the rear and a hug at the waist at all times. It reminds me of those diagrams they sometimes used in ads for baby diapers, where they had arrows showing the "hugging" of the leg gathers, and the cinching of the waist. Also there is no bringing your legs together in these once they're a bit damp. I can see why, despite what they cost, they have a following. 

The quality of their construction is high, as well; the tapes stand up to multiple adjustments, and the elastics in the inner leak guards stay where they belong. That would probably be one of my complaints with a number of the Rearz diapers I wear: I don't use my diapers for #2, so a diaper with a 12 - 16 hour life expectancy might get taken on and off a couple of times, and by 6 or 8 hours in, if you take at least some of the Rearz products off, the leak guard elastics have migrated out of the material and are suspended in midair, no longer pulling the diaper into the wearer. Sometimes the inner liner has actually parted ways with the shell, to the point that the stuffing could be dumped out, if one turned the diaper on its side, whereas in this Classico, everything has remained together, even though I've been in it for 13+ hours now. 

[DL-Boy]

3 hours ago, Little Sherri said:

It reminds me of those diagrams they sometimes used in ads for baby diapers, where they had arrows showing the "hugging" of the leg gathers, and the cinching of the waist. Also there is no bringing your legs together in these once they're a bit damp. I can see why, despite what they cost, they have a following. 

Definitely need a knee-pillow.  As a matter of fact, even though I just wear Abena L4's at night, I'm seriously considering the purchase of a knee pillow (or two).

[BlakeJordan]

Definitely need a knee-pillow.  As a matter of fact, even though I just wear Abena L4's at night, I'm seriously considering the purchase of a knee pillow (or two).

Well, glad I’m not the only one who has considered this since sleeping in diapers.

[oznl]

3 hours ago, DL-Boy said:

Definitely need a knee-pillow.  As a matter of fact, even though I just wear Abena L4's at night, I'm seriously considering the purchase of a knee pillow (or two).

These are meant to confer some kind of advantage for side-sleepers right?

[DL-Boy]

31 minutes ago, oznl said:

These are meant to confer some kind of advantage for side-sleepers right?

Yes, they are intended to keep your knees apart when on your side.  I have bad SI joints (SacroIliac joints) which cause lower back/pelvic pain when laying (or sitting) too long in one position.  Whether on my back, left side or right side, if I sleep all night in one position I can barely walk in the morning.  I roll through at least those three cardinal positions every night.  Sometimes even laying with my hips tilted toward a face-down position but those times are very rare.  I'm thinking even without factoring in the diaper's width, the knee pillow might help my SI pains.

Even though I fold the diaper in the middle lengthwise before putting it on, it's still a bit bulky between the legs and I always feel like I'm squishing out the pee when I roll over sideways.

Mind you, I almost always pee on my back although I'm starting to discover that at least the Abena L4's can handle some limited belly or side peeing without leaking - especially when I'm wearing my "waterproof" pants over them.