The Death Of The Plastic Diaper?

[PowderWhite]

I would guess a lot of people who wear for need and don't especially enjoy wearing diapers prefer the cloth covering, along the lines of what Julia said. So if it comes down to what makes incontinent people comfortable vs. what makes me feel good, I'd rather they be given precedence.

[baby-dandan]

I have been concerned about that myself. I think now that the Bambino diapers are out, the plastic backed diaper may be around for a little while longer. If they want it to be apeeling to the adult baby community they would keep it that way. I believe our community prefers plastic over cloth, don't we? I myself love the plastic backing, it just feels better too me!

[lildiaperboy]

I don't think necessarily the death of plastic diapers. Many brands have both a cloth backed and a plastic backed although we are defiantly going to be seeing more cloth backed they are becoming more popular with PRIMARY consumers.

[Nappied Dan]

Hi,

Remember that most people that wear adult diapers or nappies actually need them. They are actually expensive and I hear the biggest consumers of diapers are care facilities. I am certain that most care facilities do not care for the more expenice cloth styles so I think plastic covered diapers are here to stay.

Just my opinion and not backed by fact.

[Kal-El]

I personally think you will probably see the more common kinds like depends start going to all cloth outer covers, Depends only has 1 plastic covered diaper. I think though that the more difficult to get kinds and heavier duty kinds will keep with the plastic outer covering.

[diaperedperson]

what I dont understand is why the cloth lined one is "better?" I mean if you wet to much the cloth leaks. (at least it does in my opinion) I still think the plastic lined one is so much better! In all the ways that we like!!!!!!

[Diapers4Me]

Looks like Paper Pak has finally bitten the bullet and decided to streamline their product line!

http://www.attends.us/custom_products.aspx?id=6

They are also coming out with an "Extended Wear" brief....but it looks like it will have a cloth covering! That might not work well for those of us that like the plastic outer shell, and don't like the problems with chaffing and wicking one gets with cloth covered diapers!

Oh well....looks like they haven't messed with their waistband style briefs any more.....

So yes....Paper Pak just discontinued perhaps 4-6 of their styles of diapers that had plastic coverings! I had been partial to their Attends 10 Easy Fit tapes.....but they are no more!

If you want a plastic covered diaper....looks like their time is running out (at least on the premium end of things)

[aussie_baby]

im all for the plastic diaper..........thats the whole reason im into it, the whole plastic feel. before i buy my supply i make sure they are plastic coated.

i only got done once when i clicked on the wrong molicare nappies, and got there "breathable" range, i was gutted when i open the pack.

in closing....PLASTIC IS FANTASTIC!!

[WallaWalla]

I don't think necessarily the death of plastic diapers. Many brands have both a cloth backed and a plastic backed although we are defiantly going to be seeing more cloth backed they are becoming more popular with PRIMARY consumers.

You're actually right, the thing is that there are actually two diaper markets. Commercial/Institutional and retail. The retail market will probably phase more into cloth-like covers as time passes and technology gets better, but that does come at a cost like you say. Institutions are going to need something more cost effective given that they already generate quite a bit of overhead as is.

I won't lie, I find plastic backed diapers as arousing as the next person, but after a recent stint of wearing full-time for a couple of weeks mixing both plastic backed and cloth backed diapers. The cloth is really the only thing I'd ever use if it came down to a legitimate need.

[Tinkles123]

Actually, I have yet to be convinced that the "cloth-like" covered diapers are a better choice for us incontinents. I've tried them in several brands, and always go back to good 'ol Depends. Of course, I add a cloth pull on and plastic pants to Depends to make them more secure, but I've done the same with any disposable I've worn.

The plastic covered diapers aren't any less comfortable for me (of course, I'm protected from the plastic by the pull on diaper). The cloth-like MAY be more environmentally friendly, but I'm not even sure of that.

[Diapers4Me]

Actually, I have yet to be convinced that the "cloth-like" covered diapers are a better choice for us incontinents.

I agree, especially the diapers that claim they are breathable....these cloth covered briefs are actually designed to allow more air flow, but all that does is allow the odor to escape....who needs that? Also, I find cloth diapers chafe more....

[soggy]

I've been in disposables almost my whole life. As a kid due to need. As an adult due to desire.

I've seen a lot of design changes over the past 27 years or so while wearing my diapers out of desire. Proctor & Gamble did at least three redesigns before selling out to PaperPak. Not long after that, PaperPak did at least two more redesigns of the attends diaper. I voiced my opinion with them also. This commentary has to do with plastic backed diapers and the thickness factor.

So I decided to quit buying attends. Told PaperPak it was their loss until they did a thicker, better design of their diapers. I went elsewhere with my business. I went to Walgreens. They had cheap disposables with a plastic backing. I had to double or triple them up to get decent thickness.

About 8 months ago or so, Walgreens decided to go with the cloth backing. I once again voiced my opinion. They sent me two bags of......guess what? Cloth backed diapers. I'm appreciative of their effort to keep me as a customer, but I made it clear that I wanted plastic backed diapers.

They lost a customer.

I finally went online to buy diapers once again. I found XPMedical, based out of California.

They not only had plastic backed diapers, but the diapers were also thicker. (Based on European

designs). I felt as if I had hit paydirt. I'd found gold at last! Only two tabs instead of the three tabs I'd prefer, but no matter. I usually double or triple my diapers up anyway. I'm spending the same amount of money for the better diaper as I was spending for the cheap ones.

I'm spoiled on plastic backed diapers, and I'll always buy them as long as they are available.

As with anything, I've done my homework to get my answers about disposable diapers. Looks like it will be a few lifetimes away before I can afford one of those million dollar diaper machines of my own! Keep in mind fellow ab/dl's, if a company gets enough complaints, they'll do something. So if you prefer to stay in plastic backed diapers, just keep sending them emails. Not just one or two emails either. Lots of them.

I recently bought a case of diapers from some obscure company out of St. Louis, MO. Either I didn't pay attention to what I was buying or it wasn't clearly shown, as I ended up with............

Cloth backed diapers. I put them in the closet along with about 5 other bags of cloth backed diapers that I won't use.

soggy

[rusty pins]

This is interesting and I feel that the cloth backed disposable diapers came about for 2 specific reasons. Cloth backed baby disposables and the fact that incontinence is way out in the open now. First, who's idea was it in the first place to decide that baby diapers like Pampers needed a cloth like cover instead of plastic? I sure have never seen any benifit of a cloth like backing over plastic from a practical standpoint! That leads me to believe that cloth backed baby disposables came about as either something different than the compitition in order to sell more diapers, or perhaps a diaper company is trying to either trade off on someone's concerns over the environment or perhaps appeal to people who remember using cloth diapers all the time. If you think about it, with parents working and grandparents baby sitting, many grandmothers may have a thing for good old cloth diapers. I sure can't imagine any baby needing a cloth like backing to be "discreet" when around other people so those other people won't find out they are wearing diapers, especially when those cloth like diapers have all kinds of baby designs printed on them! Maybe the baby manufacturers decided to go with cloth backing because they were making baby diapers in bigger and bigger sizes and they didn't want the crinckling of plastic disposables to be overheard by other first graders at school, thus embaressing the wearer. Maybe they also figured that since cloth backed disposables would leak or wick the wetness to the backing easier, parents would have to change their kids diapers more often to avoid wet clothes and therefore, have to buy more diapers and create more profits for the company!

I remember 30+ years ago when incontinence was still taboo, or still in the closet. If you were lucky you might find an independent drug store that had some adult waterproof pants tucked away on a dusty shelf somewhere for people who had an incontinence problem, otherwise you had to order them through the old Sears catalog. Try finding adult size disposable diapers 30 or 40 years ago. The closest you might find were bed pads or a super thin and cheap 2 tape disposable diaper that was almost useless. Good luck finding anything anywhere other than a remote drug store somewhere! Then, all of a sudden there were Depends! Remember when they first came out they were not tape on diapers but a diaper panel that fit between the legs and was held on with a reusable elastic strap that buttoned to the diaper on each side, front and back? Very close to a diaper but not an actual diaper in the sence that we know of. Then you got Attends and some other brands as people with incontinence came more and more out of the closet. Back then incontinence products were made for people who really needed them but who didn't go around doing Fung Shu excercizes every day in the park. Companies were content to just make a product that they could sell and profit from and people with incontinence were happy that they could have convienence with a throw away product and not have to deal with cloth and waterproof pants all the time. Unfortunatly, when more and more people started coming out about their incontinence and buying more and more products, it increased compitition and a race to come up with "better" products. Soon you could find adult disposable diapers everywhere, including at almost every grocery store. You now see how adult diapers have branched off into adult pads and adult disposable pull on underwear. The big thing, at least as far as manufacturers believe, is discreetness amoung adults who have incontinence problems. Face it, right from the very beginning they never called them "diapers". They were always "disposable adult briefs", even though they looked nothing like a brief and everything like a diaper! I'm sure that is why now manufacturers are taking the discreetness lead with adult products and using the same technology that they came up with for baby diapers, going with cloth like backing. Even the incontinence commercials on TV (which you never saw 30 years ago) are all about descreetness. They show the woman in the light blue streach pants doing her excersizes in the park and they focus on her butt to show that you can't tell she has on "protection" even through her tight shaply pants. Now, I agree that people who have minor bladder leakage and use those pull on disposable underpants would want to be as disreet as possible, but there are others who don't just leak a little when they excersize or work out. There are still adults who have a total loss of bladder or bowel control where those thin pull on cloth backed disposable underpants will be about as useful as a winter coat on the equater! Therefore, manufacturers should give people more choices! Leave those cloth disposable underpants and thin cloth backed disposable diapers for people with mild bladder problems who want to be more discreet about needing to wear some "protection", but also continue with plastic backed adult disposable diapers which are thicker and fit well for those who still go out in public but need the heavy protection and security of a thicker plastic backed diaper. Don't force your cloth backed diapers on the incontinent public, give them a choice of cloth or plastic!

[pctrasher]

Exactly how much better is the cloth-like outer covered diapers for our environment? If you have ever torn the cloth off, it's all plastic underneath, it's just a bit thinner. So, they are close to the exact same thing, except for the fact that the cloth-like one's leak fluid though the cover over time, and the cloth-like one's probably cost the company more. I really only see the need for discression when it comes to the cloth-like ones, other than that, it's plastic all the way. And back to the environmental issue... from what I hear it's just the polymers inside the diaper (diaper gel) that kills the environment since they don't break down and are harmful if swallowed by wildlife, then there is the plastic, but I'm quite sure that since even the cloth-like outercover diapers have plastic in them in the same quantities, it should have the same effect on the environment. So personally I'd like to see both types stay.

[Diapers4Me]

I think the success of the cloth backed baby (and now adult) diapers has nothing to do with comfort or the environmental factors, it is simply a case of ease of use. With cloth backed diapers comes hook and loop (velcro) fasteners which are much easier to deal with. They can be refastened as often as you like, and don't care about lotions and powders. I know from my use of cloth backed adult diapers like the Attends Breathables the fasteners are much better than the traditional tapes. Although Tena's tapes and taping panel is a very close 2nd!

[AutieAB]

Although Tena's tapes and taping panel is a very close 2nd!

I think that the tapes on the Secure X-Plus (and by virtue, Bambino) are better than any velcro/cloth tapes that I've ever used. They show quite clearly that it's perfectly possible to design excellent tapes that do not stretch off the wings or peel off under pressure, no matter what you do to them

[Manchesterlad]

Would a cloth back nappy be more breathable than a plastic one thus allowing more air to teh skin thus reduceing iratation to the skin thus makeing teh user more comfortable.

[Nappied Dan]

Hi,

Cloth backed nappies/diapers are all about marketing. I am convinced there are two markets for diapers. One is the private consumer that will value the comfort of cloth backed diapers and one is the industrial market that is more concerned with cost. The consumer market will definatetly prefer the cloth backed products. They are not better fot the environment but are more comfortable for the end user. Cost in this market is not as much of a concern. The japanese market has clearly gone down this route. The diapers there are readily available but are cloth backed with dreat velcro fastening mechanisms.

The institutional market will be less concerned with the issues of the consumer market. They are the ones that have the higher care patients where cost is a significant factor and cloth covers will be far less important.

In short I think for the time being it will be possible to get plenty of plastic backed diapers.

[Guest]

Actually, I have yet to be convinced that the "cloth-like" covered diapers are a better choice for us incontinents. I've tried them in several brands, and always go back to good 'ol Depends. Of course, I add a cloth pull on and plastic pants to Depends to make them more secure, but I've done the same with any disposable I've worn.

The plastic covered diapers aren't any less comfortable for me (of course, I'm protected from the plastic by the pull on diaper). The cloth-like MAY be more environmentally friendly, but I'm not even sure of that.

The cloth like stuff really doesn't help the environment any. Also, if you look through landfills, diapers really aren't doing much. Look at all the OTHER plastic you throw away every day... wrappers, shopping bags, broken electronics, blister packs, disposable silverwear. I'm not worried about my diaper use, I focus more on lowering my use of other plastics

Now, I agree that people who have minor bladder leakage and use those pull on disposable underpants would want to be as disreet as possible, but there are others who don't just leak a little when they excersize or work out. There are still adults who have a total loss of bladder or bowel control where those thin pull on cloth backed disposable underpants will be about as useful as a winter coat on the equater! Therefore, manufacturers should give people more choices!

I'd love to see a commercial....

"Tired of discreet incontinence briefs that are only discreet until the moment you need them most? [show an embarassed adult grabbing a change of clothes]

Try {name of brand} Adult Diapers. You shouldn't wear them with spandex, but they'll keep your slacks dry!"

HAHAHAA!

I think that the tapes on the Secure X-Plus (and by virtue, Bambino) are better than any velcro/cloth tapes that I've ever used. They show quite clearly that it's perfectly possible to design excellent tapes that do not stretch off the wings or peel off under pressure, no matter what you do to them

Good GOD I love the X-Plus (and I'm hoping the Bambinos I got are similar enough in the tape and fit departments). For whatever reason, maybe I flop around too much in my sleep or something, I wake up with most diapers loose. X-Plus are still looser in the morning, but never untaped, and they stayed tight enough to keep everything dry.

Usually comfortable enough, even soaked in the morning, to get breakfast before changing my diaper.

That's been one of the nice things about wearing diapers when spending the night with a group... I'm one of the first people at the coffee pot cause I don't have to stop at the toilet. Only negative comment I got was one time somebody found out (I don't exactly hide it) and they're like "Hey! That's cheating!", and I was like "Think that's cheating? I get changed in my tent, I haven't set foot in that nasty port-a-potty".

[Guest]

This will put your minds at ease!

From Secure Personal Care

Jessie,

Thanks for your e-mail, not to worry we will always use a plastic backing and always will.

Secure Personal Care Customer Service

On 8/26/07, jessie@witchcast.com <jessie@witchcast.com> wrote:

Name: Jessie

Telephone:

Comments: I'm noticing more and more bands are switching to "cloth-like" covers. Please don't ever discontinue your plastic covered line of products, as I always have bad results with the cloth-like covers of any brand.

[Guest Craig]

Yea!!! Thanks for the update.

See ya.

[phogendpf]

I think alot more people wear the plastic backed diapers than you think. Not only are they known as the "maximum protection" but they also feel great. Baby's cant voice their opinion and therefore have to wear whatever their parents buy. Adults can buy what they prefer and personally I prefer and will always prefer plastic backed diapers, Attends especially.

[Repaid1]

I think alot more people wear the plastic backed diapers than you think. Not only are they known as the "maximum protection" but they also feel great. Baby's cant voice their opinion and therefore have to wear whatever their parents buy. Adults can buy what they prefer and personally I prefer and will always prefer plastic backed diapers, Attends especially.

The latest note from Paperpak (Attends) taken from the MagicMedical website:

As of November 2007 Attends will switch there Attends Classic Line to the cloth like outer cover. The Attends 10 with waistband will not be affected.

-------------------------------

But how long till the retool and the whole line goes to "Cloth", oh well another bites the dust.

P.S. Never had any kids huh, Baby's certainly can voice their opinion, usally at 3:00 a.m. in the morning

[phogendpf]

Good point but they cant tell you, "Ya know what, Ive worn these cloth diapers awile and just prefer the plastic backed ones instead".

[gmcman]

personaly myself I think Pampers should make a baby diaper that is a one size fits all diaper and make

it out of plactic NOT IMATION CLOTH and make them fit up to a let"s say 38" waist.

Don't know but just my thought.