My Untraining Journey (Trans, Pre-to-Post Op)

[~Brian~]

4 hours ago, Kif said:

I think at most I'll don some pullups during doc appointments. Otherwise, I'm quite happy to stay in diapers!

@Kif

In my case, its Diapers 24/7 - I wear everywhere, and since the doctor knows of my incontinence, I don't have to worry about that - He is QUITE understanding   I don't worry about wearing when I see HIM or any other doctor.  We have a system called MyChart By Epic, and every medical professional that deals with patients puts information on there, and can access my records, which say I am incontinent with the 2 diagnisis boxes:  One says "Continuous leakage of Urine" while the other one says "Fecal Incontinence with Fecal Urgency"  These 2 diagnosis were put there so I don't get anyone giving me a strange look if I am in the hospital and need or ask for diapers   It also helps, because my need of diapers is documented, so medicaid won't give me a ton of hassle.  I prefer diapers too - much easier, and a lot less hassle for me.

IF I were to do pullups, they would be the Northshore GoSupreme Pull On Underwear:  They seem to be the best pullup

Have a Great Day

Brian

[Kif]

One of the changes Kali talked about recently on their blog was about going from thick diapers to thinner ones, and then back to thick ones. 

I think I've gone through both of these now? 

I started thinner quickly got thicker to feel more secure, then had a very brief period (a week or two) where I lasted a lot longer in regular nappies and seriously contemplated going thinner...but never did, because I was a too scared to be wrong and leak. 

Ironically in the past week now, I've been feeling increasingly frustrated with leaking anyway despite cutting back on fluids...(I don't want dribbling to depend on pushing fluids forever)

After my second leak today at work (thankfully into my liner) I'm now seriously contemplating upping consistently-soaked Seni Quatros...I used to last 4 hours easy, but now I barely scrape by on 3.

I'll use boosters as a holdover, ofc, but anyone have any tips for a European? Ideally something not AB/DL printed but...tbh I'm not sure if there's much better medical-print-wise?

Otherwise am I spiraling? Not thinking so tbh...I was wetting 4-5 times per week last time at this point if that's any judge (I barely hit once per week these days). Not that it'll stop me or anything, just gotta' keep going. But if there's one thing that's different, it's my mindset...compared to last time, I have many more personal things to handle and fewer means to increase nappy security (use cloth) for at least a little while more. Maybe things will pickup more in the next month, we'll see.

[Enthusi]

What if you change more frequently?  It’s more costly but it will definitely cut back on leaks. 
 

 

[oznl]

4 hours ago, Kif said:

I'll use boosters as a holdover, ofc, but anyone have any tips for a European? Ideally something not AB/DL printed but...tbh I'm not sure if there's much better medical-print-wise?

BetterDry if you can hide them.  Abena M4/L4 with an Abrilet booster will last a day for me.  The Abena wick really well but they're a bit saggy.  I need compression pants over them to withstand an active day.

For me, it DID get better over time.  In the early months, I leaked a lot.  This was not so much that I'd overwhelmed the capacity of my nappy to hold but more that I was probably tending to episodically flood.

Over time, my body changed.  I drip and dribble slowly and my nappies began to leak less and last longer.  Leaks still happen but they are MUCH rarer.

For me (wet only), I consistently use only two high capacity nappies per day and have been doing it that way for the last 18 months or so.

[Little Cub Pants]

1 hour ago, Enthusi said:

What if you change more frequently?  It’s more costly but it will definitely cut back on leaks. 
 

 

That's true buddy, and no one likes a leaky diapie!????

[Hannah YMS]

6 hours ago, Kif said:

One of the changes Kali talked about recently on their blog was about going from thick diapers to thinner ones, and then back to thick ones. 

I think I've gone through both of these now? 

I started thinner quickly got thicker to feel more secure, then had a very brief period (a week or two) where I lasted a lot longer in regular nappies and seriously contemplated going thinner...but never did, because I was a too scared to be wrong and leak. 

Ironically in the past week now, I've been feeling increasingly frustrated with leaking anyway despite cutting back on fluids...(I don't want dribbling to depend on pushing fluids forever)

After my second leak today at work (thankfully into my liner) I'm now seriously contemplating upping consistently-soaked Seni Quatros...I used to last 4 hours easy, but now I barely scrape by on 3.

I'll use boosters as a holdover, ofc, but anyone have any tips for a European? Ideally something not AB/DL printed but...tbh I'm not sure if there's much better medical-print-wise?

Otherwise am I spiraling? Not thinking so tbh...I was wetting 4-5 times per week last time at this point if that's any judge (I barely hit once per week these days). Not that it'll stop me or anything, just gotta' keep going. But if there's one thing that's different, it's my mindset...compared to last time, I have many more personal things to handle and fewer means to increase nappy security (use cloth) for at least a little while more. Maybe things will pickup more in the next month, we'll see.

I've been field testing BetterDrys for a couple of weeks now. Normally I wear Abena L4s because they're good diapers and they're cost effective. Before Dry 24/7s got off of Amazon Prime (for my area at least), the Dry 24/7 was my daily diaper.

I'm happy to report that the BetterDrys are excellent diapers and compare well to the Dry 24/7s. They have a thin profile but quickly swell up to contain a huge amount of liquid and poo. They contain poo pretty well and hold a lot. Their tapes haven't failed on me and I'm on the fluffier end of the weight spectrum. They leak like any other disposable diaper out there so that's nothing new but you can get a long range out of them.

And the reason why I mention them is because they're German made, so right smack in the middle of Europe. Hope that helps. Good luck!

[Kif]

17 hours ago, Enthusi said:

What if you change more frequently?  It’s more costly but it will definitely cut back on leaks. 

16 hours ago, BabySpiderBoy said:

That's true buddy, and no one likes a leaky diapie!????

Haha, thanks! Though yeah, I've considered that ?

I mean, at home it's okay but having started going back to the office it would not work as well to have to change every 3 hours. Plus, it's a lot less flexible to changes of plans; e.g. a meeting runs over, or a train is delayed. For me at least, it works better to have minimum 4 hours capacity (ideally 5 to handle unexpected things). 

17 hours ago, oznl said:

BetterDry if you can hide them.  Abena M4/L4 with an Abrilet booster will last a day for me.  The Abena wick really well but they're a bit saggy.  I need compression pants over them to withstand an active day.

For me, it DID get better over time.  In the early months, I leaked a lot.  This was not so much that I'd overwhelmed the capacity of my nappy to hold but more that I was probably tending to episodically flood.

Over time, my body changed.  I drip and dribble slowly and my nappies began to leak less and last longer.  Leaks still happen but they are MUCH rarer.

For me (wet only), I consistently use only two high capacity nappies per day and have been doing it that way for the last 18 months or so.

15 hours ago, jonbearab said:

I've been field testing BetterDrys for a couple of weeks now. Normally I wear Abena L4s because they're good diapers and they're cost effective. Before Dry 24/7s got off of Amazon Prime (for my area at least), the Dry 24/7 was my daily diaper.

I'm happy to report that the BetterDrys are excellent diapers and compare well to the Dry 24/7s. They have a thin profile but quickly swell up to contain a huge amount of liquid and poo. They contain poo pretty well and hold a lot. Their tapes haven't failed on me and I'm on the fluffier end of the weight spectrum. They leak like any other disposable diaper out there so that's nothing new but you can get a long range out of them.

And the reason why I mention them is because they're German made, so right smack in the middle of Europe. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Thanks for your recommendations! ?

I used to use Abena when I was across the pond, but it's not one I've considered since because they didn't fit too well on me and have been more challenging to find here.

But the BetterDrys...I'm suuuuuuper tempted to go for 'em now with your recommendation and my own field-testing today. I happened to have three leftover and I field-tested them today. To my delight, I found they lasted at least 4 up to 5 hours and best of all I had zero leaks today! That alone has been a HUGE relief. Plus, while I didn't get to field-test messing I did notice the inner guards were at least twice as tall as the Senis or Tenas I had sitting around, so they would do really well at handling messies like you pointed out jonberarb.

At this point the only reason I've not switched to them is that I wanted to give a supplier that sells Tena Ultimas one last-ditch try, since they have apparently double the absorbency of the Maxis yet somehow cost less. Plus, I can buy them on subscription with home delivery, and it'd be nice not to worry about the stress of reordering and pickup.

But! If they're anything less than what I need then I'll probably switch over to BetterDrys for daytime.  

And regardless cost-wise I'll be dropping 30 diapers off of my orders once I switch to cloth at night, so there's that at least.

And as oznl pointed out, things will change over time...I look forward to that!

[Little Cub Pants]

19 hours ago, jonbearab said:

I've been field testing BetterDrys for a couple of weeks now. Normally I wear Abena L4s because they're good diapers and they're cost effective. Before Dry 24/7s got off of Amazon Prime (for my area at least), the Dry 24/7 was my daily diaper.

I'm happy to report that the BetterDrys are excellent diapers and compare well to the Dry 24/7s. They have a thin profile but quickly swell up to contain a huge amount of liquid and poo. They contain poo pretty well and hold a lot. Their tapes haven't failed on me and I'm on the fluffier end of the weight spectrum. They leak like any other disposable diaper out there so that's nothing new but you can get a long range out of them.

And the reason why I mention them is because they're German made, so right smack in the middle of Europe. Hope that helps. Good luck!

Well that's good news. That's great to hear buddy! My friend @ghostie really likes these diapies and now I understand why.? They definitely sound top quality!? She's very lucky. I actually think this type of diaper would make a great diaper for actual little babies if there was a smaller version. And I think the same would happen with the super dry kids, which is my favorite diaper.? I wonder how that would turn out.? But one thing's for sure, it would definitely make a lot of babies happy!?????

[Kif]

Past week has been interesting, so updates!

One BIG positive thing is that I've for-sure decided I want to become incontinent and fully untrain.

"Pardon?!" You might ask, "Wasn't that already decided?"

Well, I didn't talk about it much, but I've been haunted by some doubts on-and-off the past several weeks. I hadn't quite pinned it down in a way I could articulate (either to myself, or others) until recently, so I didn't write about it. 

The short of it was that I realized whenever these doubts came up it was always about social fears, e.g. people judging me for wearing diapers in the first place. Judging me for having a bulge. Judging me for briefly having a smell while I run off to the restroom. Judging me if I accidentally leak despite reasonable efforts. Judging the size of my purse. Etc.

While I do know the chance of being confronted about it is very very very verrrry low, it's not zero...and psychologically, it's not enough for me to stick my head in the sand and simply pretend folks will never confront me about it because the fantasy/intrusive-thoughts would still run wild in my head. I explained it a bit in BaronBrook's thread on hypnosis (as I started that, this week), but I realized that any judgements people could make were either null (from trolls) or ones I agreed with and took realistic actions to minimize (e.g., wearing enough protection is better than thin inadequate protection when it comes to protecting furniture of friends, colleagues, etc).

So, articulated! (and progressively less of a problem!)

Once I came to that realization, I thought "okay, in an ideal world, how would my body work? How would this all work?" and I came up with something like this:

• my bladder goes on its own. I don't notice it happening, and if I find myself kinked long enough to notice then no matter how much I struggle I cannot stop myself from peeing
• my bowels give me very little notice, and sometimes surprise me entirely. I can't hold for more than a few minutes, after which I find they'll quickly empty

Reading over this, I realized "hey! this sounds like double incontinence?" and that's when it clicked with me! I'd felt this feeling of uncertainty with my untraining, caught between my social fears and what I wanted my body to work like...I had interpreted this as uncertainty about wanting incontinence when really it was just my social fears clouding my feelings. With those fears removed, I didn't feel that doubt anymore! 

Yay! So, that was a BIG load off my shoulders this past week. ?

After that I was much more comfortable really focusing on my untraining...Which, I found a few things by the way: 

• I'm holding because I think I absolutely cannot under any circumstances strain or push...but that happens naturally, especially in some movements! It's okay to strain sometimes! The important thing is to step out of the way and not exercise control, even if that means what my body wants to naturally do is strain sometimes...so, off with that silly behavior.
• I need to actually practice laying down and peeing in my bed, in my sleeping position. I've struggled a bit with this because when I relax nothing happens unless I "push". Kali talked about this a bit, and the TL;DR is that when lying down your detrusor has to engage to push pee up against gravity due to how the plumbing is routed, and that this is true for both male and female anatomy...so in other words, this is normal too! With that in mind, once I got into a rhythm practicing (I'd watch something on my laptop and do this for an hour or so), peeing while lying down came naturally and with very little effort.  
• Simply chugging a few glasses of water before bed will wake me up, but won't necessarily result in wetting in my sleep...so I'd not been super consistent about it. But what does seem to work is pushing fluids an hour or two before bed so that I go to bed dribbling constantly. Both times I woke up wet this week were when I did this before bed (with days between when I didn't), so I'm certain there's some pattern there!

Anyway, I've practice all these things and have felt a lot more success dribbling more during the day and waking up wet in the morning. Ngl, I do legit find myself saying "whoops!" out loud to myself sometimes...trying not to make that a habit haha!

Related, I'm feeling alright about the Tenas -- enough so that I might continue using them for now. They're not perfect for bowel stuff, but they're not inadequate and I don't have any intention to heavily focus on bowel untraining for several more months anyway. Plus, they are hecking better for keeping me dry and leak-free for longer. Finally, there's a supplier I can use that does home delivery and subscriptions which lowers the cost and increases the convenience factor. So, I'll switch over to those for now once I've consumed my remaining supply of Senis...and if I need it longer-term, I'll bite the bullet and use the BetterDrys. 

Overall, feeling good about my progress as I approach the middle of my third month!

Farthest I've been untraining, too. So, it's ALL uncharted territory for me! ??

[Kif]

I've updated the title to simplify it, and I don't want to put pressure on myself; I think at this point while I've shown capacity to "spiral", given how things have been panning out with all these other life events I don't see spiraling a thing that'll happen anyway. Just gonna' take it as it is.

[Little Sherri]

On 10/8/2021 at 8:10 PM, oznl said:

Over time, my body changed.  I drip and dribble slowly and my nappies began to leak less and last longer.  Leaks still happen but they are MUCH rarer.

For me (wet only), I consistently use only two high capacity nappies per day and have been doing it that way for the last 18 months or so.

I concur with this entirely. When I started out wearing diapers all the time, I was really conservative about what I thought I could wear during the day, away from the house, preferring cloth-backed, slimmer diapers, often low-end "medical" products that only gave me a few hours of service at the most, and that often failed with little notice, sometimes on the first wetting. As I came to realize that I was in this for the long haul, I decided that I would have to move to wearing better diapers, both for cost reasons, and for security. I up-sized my wardrobe by one pant size, and I found some "medium-duty" plastic diapers that worked well for me during the day - they were slim enough to be concealed, but robust enough to give me a cruising range of 8 - 10 hours. Right now, I typically wear two diapers a day - the first one is typically a "heavy duty" product that I wear overnight and into the mid-next-day, for about 16 hours or so (I don't wet a lot overnight) - something like a Megamax, BetterDry or a Rearz Elite. Then, for the afternoon/evening part of the day where I might be running errands or taking the kids to their activities, I'll switch to a medium-duty diaper, like a Rearz Lil' Monster or Splash. 

I may need to change this up a bit if I start going into work again, instead of working from home primarily, because I won't be able to sleep in a Rearz Barnyard and then pull dress pants over it and go to a meeting like that, whereas in a Lil' Splash, I could. That might push me to 3 diapers a day. I also tend to wear 3 on days when I go to the gym, because my gym diapers are really slim, and only last a few hours. 

[Kif]

I've noticed during changes the past several days that my dribble has gone from "oh haha, okay whoops" minor drips to full-on "HEY,,," level accidental dribbles.

Like, okay I'm used to knowing the cold wipe will make me clench my tummy by accident and that results in a little spurt that I can anticipate ya' know?

But now it's like...I move around a bit and OH SHI-- now my floor and clothes are wet. And I'm feeling legit confused and surprised where it came from.

I would bother with a clamp or something on my dingus while changing, but it'll get lopped off in a few months so I'm kinda just...squatting over my nappy? 

I'd hope this gets easier after SRS but...I suspect it won't. Gah, how to do standing changes.

Maybe I should pack a rag or wipe with me and hold it between my legs until I can put a new diaper on.

[Old_PA]

When using a stent, I drip constantly. When changing, I wrap a piece of cloth around it held in place with an elastic band whilst wiping the remaining exposed skin with a baby wipe. Works well.

[Kif]

So things have been pretty routine in Month #4, pretty much as the 12-month program describes it really. 

Diapers feel pretty normal now, and I've been gradually shifting away focus from DD etc. to focus on more generic self-improvement stuffs like more focus on my diet, exercise, and decreasing my stress at work. 

One of the things I did was setup my office with a standing desk and to my surprise it has helped with my untraining in a few ways! One way is that it decreases my stress; standing a lot forces me to take more-frequent (but short) breaks because my feet tire out. The other way is that standing simply is the easiest way to keep my pelvic floor relaxed so I end up dribbling (and drinking) more.

Let's see...Some other notable stuff with cloth diapers and with messing, too? 

I experimented a bit with cloth diapers, to see if I could arrive at a combo that works well for me at night. I started with 2 lbs of diapering, and it worked but was so bulky that it was uncomfortable. And frankly, hilarious! I literally pissed myself laughing about it, for a good half-hour ?! Anyway, eventually I settled on 1.5 lbs. A half-pound makes more difference than you'd expect on comfort, and it held up just fine for volume. Unfortunately my plastic pants really aren't that great so I'm going to wait until I get my babykins/garywear orders to continue with that experiment. 

In the meantime, I'll stick with my combo of Seni Quattro + booster + cloth cover + plastic pants at night. I did switch to Tena Ultima nappies for daytime this month (they work WAY better) but at night they're worse haha. 

On the messy side, I think the big change (heh) was just...becoming more comfortable with it?

Like, a month ago I was super hesitant to go at all and when I did I ran off to the bathroom right away to go change. Now, I'm like super lazy about it...In the mornings especially, I'll just hang out in them for up to a half-hour while I finish chores, eat breakfast, etc. My nighttime diapering combo (cloth cover + plastic pants over a disposable) just works really well at smell containment...I have had zero comments or complaints from my hubby. Plus I'm pretty good with general hygiene anyway so I've had no problems with rashes. Also -- not sure it makes a big difference on smell -- I have them now in smaller amounts more frequently throughout the day (generally after each meal); with one near-blowout exception, they've become pretty predictable when I make good diet choices and stay hydrated. 

Bedwetting has been hit-and-miss. First week of November was dry, but the two after that were wet 2-3 times per week. I've not really changed anything about my nighttime habits...I'm more hydrated from standing -> dribbling -> drinking more often, but I don't force a big glass of water before bed anymore. Just enough to quench my thirst normally. I might be more wet than I give myself credit for though, because I'm only counting nights where I have absolutely zero doubt I wet while asleep...But I've increasingly been waking to myself mid-wet or waking and then falling asleep while wetting, kinda like in the very beginning of this whole journey.

So...thanks for reading! Will see you again in December or whenever, if something interesting happens.

[toddwr250r]

Three nights in a row now, I've changed right before bed and went to sleep dry, and woke up wet with no recollection of it. Not even the half waking "come on just pee already" thing. I feel like I've leveled!

[Baby Foo Foo]

2 hours ago, toddwr250r said:

Three nights in a row now, I've changed right before bed and went to sleep dry, and woke up wet with no recollection of it. Not even the half waking "come on just pee already" thing. I feel like I've leveled!

Congratulations!!!!  Not only the feeling of waking up in a wet diaper feels wonderful, but also getting a great nights sleep without waking to pee is wonderful.

I am incontinent due to a rare medical neurological disorder so I have been experiencing that feeling for quite some time now and it is incredible. 

[Kif]

8 hours ago, toddwr250r said:

Three nights in a row now, I've changed right before bed and went to sleep dry, and woke up wet with no recollection of it. Not even the half waking "come on just pee already" thing. I feel like I've leveled!

That's fantastic!!

Hope you have more of those, it feels great to sleep all the way through the night without waking and then wake up warm and comfy ?

6 hours ago, Baby Foo Foo said:

Congratulations!!!!  Not only the feeling of waking up in a wet diaper feels wonderful, but also getting a great nights sleep without waking to pee is wonderful.

I am incontinent due to a rare medical neurological disorder so I have been experiencing that feeling for quite some time now and it is incredible. 

Sorry to hear about your neurological disorder! But happy to hear you're finding some peace/happiness with nappies at least! ?

[Baby Foo Foo]

5 minutes ago, Kif said:

That's fantastic!!

Hope you have more of those, it feels great to sleep all the way through the night without waking and then wake up warm and comfy ?

Sorry to hear about your neurological disorder! But happy to hear you're finding some peace/happiness with nappies at least! ?

It is definitely much comfort and security in wearing the diapers. I love the feeling. 

[Little Cub Pants]

13 minutes ago, Baby Foo Foo said:

It is definitely much comfort and security in wearing the diapers. I love the feeling. 

Me too buddy!????❤️?❤️?????❤️?

[justforfun]

On 10/29/2021 at 6:10 AM, Kif said:

I'd hope this gets easier after SRS but...I suspect it won't. Gah, how to do standing changes.

I have a question that I ask from a position of ignorance, so I apologize if this is inappropriate, but... I'd assume that the SRS would result in some short term open cuts, wound healing, and other basic medical stuff common to many surgeries.  Do you expect your diaper use to continue during the healing time?  Might it be a good idea to hold off on the diaper dependency until the known, significant medical event is out of the way?  Not that one would need to completely stop wearing diapers, but I'd hate to have other plans disrupted because of healing or cleanliness issues/concerns?

To answer your standing changes question, though... I open the used diaper, but leave it between my legs, held in place between my legs at about my knees, sitting on top of my pants.  I then get the new diaper ready, and as I open my legs to pull the new one through the old one drops a little out of the way.  Tape up new.  Then pull out old and ball it up.  With practice it's quick and efficient, and any dribbling goes either on the old or new diaper, not clothes or the floor...

 

[Kif]

2 hours ago, justforfun said:

I have a question that I ask from a position of ignorance, so I apologize if this is inappropriate, but... I'd assume that the SRS would result in some short term open cuts, wound healing, and other basic medical stuff common to many surgeries.  Do you expect your diaper use to continue during the healing time?  Might it be a good idea to hold off on the diaper dependency until the known, significant medical event is out of the way?  Not that one would need to completely stop wearing diapers, but I'd hate to have other plans disrupted because of healing or cleanliness issues/concerns?

Generally, I don't plan to continue untraining at the same pace as before until done with healing. I know from where I'm at now that I do want to continue untraining as much as I can, so I really don't look forward to pausing it in any shape or form...But I may need to, if not at least for logistical/practical reasons.

Between dialations and general leaking of .. fluids .. post-op, I'll be constantly changing dressings/pads, cleaning, and airing out especially during the first several weeks. Another trans gal that went through SRS recommended staying in a bathrobe during the first several weeks because it'll save time dressing/undressing constantly to e.g. have a few hours to read a book or something...if that gives you an idea of how often.

The general consensus on folks talking about diapers after surgery on reddit (the one place I can find info on real experiences, if you can believe it) seems to be to just keep clean and dry, and to use pads instead of diapers especially for cost reasons...which makes sense when you consider how often one would be changing, cleaning, drying, etc. Proper diapers would be both annoying and expensive compared to pads, so I'll probably switch to pads and the potty during the day just purely for convenience when tired from recovery.

Only time I could picture staying in diapers is at night. The surgeon/team are aware of my (still occasional) bedwetting and haven't mentioned any problems w.r.t hygene. That said, I'll definitely stick with disposables (rather than cloth) since it keeps my skin drier. Also, no messing ofc.

But yeah as far as untraining goes...I doubt I'll have enough of a change in <6 months for there to be a problem stopping before surgery. I plan to keep wearing 24/7 for my emotional/mental sake, but will probably switch to pullups (or pads) to making toileting easier. I still hate it though, and wish I could just not care about it.

2 hours ago, justforfun said:

To answer your standing changes question, though... I open the used diaper, but leave it between my legs, held in place between my legs at about my knees, sitting on top of my pants.  I then get the new diaper ready, and as I open my legs to pull the new one through the old one drops a little out of the way.  Tape up new.  Then pull out old and ball it up.  With practice it's quick and efficient, and any dribbling goes either on the old or new diaper, not clothes or the floor...

Neat! This is pretty much what I've ended up with, aside from the pants part. 

[Kif]

Wanted to post here -- I think I found a great way to manage messes in nighttime cloth diapers! Plus I think I've realized I'm wetting more at night than I thought.

The problem I experience is that I need lots of diapering to support the amount of wetting I have at night -- which means that when I mess in the morning now I have X layers of cloth to wash off. Since I need quite a lot, this is very heavy and also messy so...ick.

I considered making an adult-size splash guard and installing a diaper sprayer, to physically support that amount of bulk and keep the mess contained. But that would be lots of work to make, and the splash guard would need to be quite large due to the size of adult nappies. I simply don't have the time nor space for it.

What I settled on was adjusting the diapering itself to make washing it off easier. 

What I do is I apply/pin a single-layer cloth diaper first to myself. This layer is tight around the legs and is permeable to pee since it's just a cloth diaper, and I've installed elastic and snaps to help it both fit better and to make the diapering easier to do (fewer pins to manage). After snapping that on, then I'll lay down and pin on as much cloth diapering I need over that to get through the night, following the techniques described on the Incontinence Support cloth diapering guide (1.5-2.0 lbs cloth for me). And then, I'll just apply plastic pants like normal. 

Then in the morning, the inner diaper catches the mess really well! I simply remove the outer diapering layers and toss them into the laundry, and then I can carefully remove/rinse the inner diaper layer and toss it in the laundry. Since the messy layer is just one thin layer and the outer layers are largely untouched (or at least have no debris on them), it makes the cleanup SO MUCH easier and more manageable since I don't have to rinse 1.5-2.0 lbs of wet and messy cloth diapering...just the very thin (maybe 0.25 lbs) inner layer. 

So yay!

All THAT aside I've come to realize since being in cloth the past several nights that I may be wetting in my sleep more than I think. I've woken up definitively wet (leaking a little, actually...) for three days straight now. Before that, I was waking up in disposables thinking mayyyybe I was wet but I couldn't really tell and wasn't awake enough to really check...But there was at the very least doubt I was dry.

What I was using was using to judge if I was wet was if I felt wet and my bladder was largely empty. But the past few days I've been waking up far wetter than when I went to bed (part near the waistband is soaked all around, not just mildly damp), despite my bladder being partially or quite full. So, I wonder then if all these past nights where I've been "maybe wet" I've actually been "definitely wet".

And I may need to up my diapering a bit too, to compensate....1.5 lbs may not be enough for me, but how I'm going to comfortably manage 2.0 lbs I don't know; it's physically uncomfortable at that level with terry, so I may need to find birdseye diapers to cut down on the bulk.

[Enthusi]

Yay!  What is the reason  you prefer cloth over disposable?  

[Kif]

14 hours ago, Enthusi said:

Yay!  What is the reason  you prefer cloth over disposable?  

Or at least a small small amount lol

But, it also does *technically* help with side-sleeping at night. I can get by with a Seni Quattro and booster, but I like that I don't *have* to stock those for nighttime except as backup.

[~Brian~]

@Kif

I am actually glad that I have diapers on. Disposables are my go to’s, because I can’t deal with a cloth. It just doesn’t feel the same as what I’m used to when I was a little kid. I guess I just like the disposable type, and I like them nice and soft and able to handle whatever I can throw at it.

I also like the fact that I can go to sleep, and wear a diaper, and not really worry about whether I wake up or not. If I have to use the diaper, are use it. If I don’t have a diaper on, most of the time I am getting up in the middle of the night, and then sitting on the toilet for 2 to 3 hours, which makes me lose a lot of sleep, which doesn’t make any sense. Then I can’t get back to sleep, and then I have to sleep most of the morning to be able to get my eight hours. Sometimes it sucks to have this problem, so that is part of the reason why I am wearing diapers, because I can’t afford to lose sleep simply because my body doesn’t want to cooperate.

I don’t know how many of us actually have the same issue, but I can tell you from experience that if you get up at 11, and you end up staying in the bathroom until almost 1, and you get up at five, under normal circumstances, this can just about kill your whole night. Two hours out of the whole entire night while you’re sitting on the toilet, or you keep on going back to the toilet because you haven’t completed. This really sucks. When I went to see the doctor and ask him for diapers I basically told him everything that was going on, and the fact that I was not able to get halfway decent sleep, and this was bothering me.

If You are a baby or a toddler, you have a diaper on at night, so anything that comes out can be dealt with without too much difficulty, and you just go back to sleep. In my case a diaper is helpful because now I won’t have to wake up and worry about it, I just go and let it deal with itself. If for some reason I really feel that I need to go to the bathroom then I will use the diaper, because it doesn’t make sense for me to get up in the middle of the night just to go across the room to use the toilet. If I really have to go, that is one thing, and I will use the diaper, but I don’t feel that I should be losing sleep for hours on end because I can’t use the bathroom once I’m there. that is one of the main problems that I experience. I don’t know how many others have the same issue, but it can be a pain in the ass.

Brian