Sleeping On A Rubber Sheet

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

In the 1950's and '60's, it was not uncommon for a bedwetter to have to sleep right on the rubber sheet. Some parents thought that  this would save having to wash sheets and that if the wetter slept right on the rubber sheet, smelling it and feeling it on her body, it would speed up nighttime training or even if the wetter could not help it, it would save time, work and money not having to xlean a bottom sheet since any pee could simply be wiped away with a damp cloth or sponge and that spot would air dry quickly

[Diapered Dave]

My mom had a fitted plastic mattress cover over my mattress, then a regular cloth sheet over that. I never slept directly on the plastic sheet. 

I was a bedwetter until I was 15, so I went thru several plastic sheets. By the time my mom replaced them, they had gotten brittle and started to crack, so there was still a pee stain on my mattress. By the time I stopped bedwetting, the plastic sheet served more to seal in the pee smell of the mattress than to protect it !!! 

As an adult, I've had a mattress protector on my bed for most of my adulthood. As an every-night-bedwetter once again, it's required equipment!! 

[WBxx]

Sleep right on it, heavens no, growing up in the 50’s mom wanted things “proper”.

A flannel faced rubber sheet was placed atop the mattress.  Over that was cotton mattress pad, and lastly a bottom sheet.  Despite the separation crawling into bed I could smell and feel the rubber sheet below, sensations I secretly enjoyed.

Once again wetting the bed, I now have a vinyl mattress protector directly under the bottom sheet.

[rusty pins]

My mom had a plastic mattress cover over my mattress, then a regular cloth sheet over that. I never slept directly on the plastic mattress protector. I'm not sure if the mattress came with a plastic zippered cover or if she bought it from the place that she got the mattress and bed from.  Child's twin bed in the early 1960's, I'm sure places that sold beds and mattresses had a good supply of plastic mattress covers.  I believe the idea was not to protect the sheets but to protect the mattress from getting ruined.  Always had a regular fitted sheet over the mattress and never slept on the plastic cover.  Yes, over time the plastic mattress protector did become brittal and cracked, but I was no longer a bedwetter after age 5-1/2 and didn't need a mattress protector, even though it was kept on the mattress until I was probably 11 or 12 years old.

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

Iam talking about rubber sheets and mostly the early 1950's and sometimes into the early 1960's so most of the children to wom this applies were born before 1950 and only some as late as 1957 (mostly cousins). Also,from stories I read going back to DPF, this was not that uncommon

[skizics]

I always had a rubber sheet on my bed, growing up, but it was to Protect my Mattress. My mother used diapers to protect my bedding.

[WBxx]

On 2/10/2022 at 9:29 PM, Little Christine said:

In the 1950's and '60's, it was not uncommon for a bedwetter to have to sleep right on the rubber sheet. Some parents thought that  this would save having to wash sheets and that if the wetter slept right on the rubber sheet, smelling it and feeling it on her body, it would speed up nighttime training or even if the wetter could not help it, it would save time, work and money not having to xlean a bottom sheet since any pee could simply be wiped away with a damp cloth or sponge and that spot would air dry quickly

“Sleep right on the rubber sheet” - I’m not suggesting it didn’t happen, but with nothing to absorb where did the pee go?  If not before wouldn’t it run off the edge when she got up?

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

8 hours ago, WBxx said:

“Sleep right on the rubber sheet” - I’m not suggesting it didn’t happen, but with nothing to absorb where did the pee go?  If not before wouldn’t it run off the edge when she got up?

Since one was in diapers and rubber panties. There would only be a small amount actually getting on the rubber sheet, which would be damp-wiped off

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

9 hours ago, skizics said:

I always had a rubber sheet on my bed, growing up, but it was to Protect my Mattress. My mother used diapers to protect my bedding.

Some mothers thought, that a cloth sheet over the rubber sheet would just have to be laundered if there was a leak, or having had a leak and having had to launder the cloth bottom sheet, decided that it was not worth the hassle since the rubber sheet could simply be damp-wiped clean an let to air dry

[Little Sherri]

My bed always had a plastic sheet on it, however there was a cotton sheet overtop of that - I'd imagine sleeping directly on the plastic sheet would get sweaty and uncomfortable. And, unless you also slept without a blanket, the odds were that some laundry would need to be done if there was more than a very minor wetting overnight, so, having a sheet on there didn't really create much additional work. I suppose if you had a plastic blanket, as well, you could just wipe everything down, but that sounds like something they'd do in foreign prisons. 

I wore diapers to bed as a kid in any case, so unexpected washing of the bedding was only necessitated by a diaper leak, which was not that common - it happened every couple of weeks, usually because I got "pointed" in the wrong direction (upwards) in the diaper while rolling around in my sleep, or, if I wet lying on my side, which was rarer, because I didn't (and don't) often sleep on my side. Oversized plastic panties probably would have reduced the incidence even more, but lucky for me, my parents never thought to put a cover over a disposable. They were only employed over cloth diapers, and I rarely wore cloth diapers - my mom says she hated dealing with them. 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

You are 40 years old, not 75.. The 1980's were not the 1940's/early 50's. In 1963, the World Book, a reputable entry leve encyclopedia recommended that in arranging a crib you first use a wterproof sheet over the mattress then a bottom sheet and another waterrpoof sheet on which the baby is laid directly. Where I remember sleeping directly on a rubber sheet was staying over with a mother and 4 girls, the youngest of which was a bedwetter. Due to the arrangement of the house, the bathroom was not easily gotten to. So, anyone under 10 who, the mother felt was unable to hold it all night and for who to go to the bathroom after bedtime would be a minor project, whould be in diapbers. Aside from the bedwetting girl, that meant me when I slept over, which was not often enough to make deeping a pot worthwhile. Now both the girl, Linda, and I were, in 1952, seven yours old. She was a nightly total bedwetter. Now, since going to the bathroom was out of the question for wetting from about 8:30 PM to about 9 AM I would be in diapers, so I slept with Linda since her bed was prepared for that. Now over the course of a month, wtting every night, you could expect from 2 to 4minor leaks a moth. Her mother had lived through something called "the Great Depression", wherein one learned to pinch the penny so hard that Lincoln screamed. So she, and other parents I knew of at that time, figured it was cheaper to not have to wash a sheet for a small pee spot by not using a bottom sheet so Linda, and I when I slept over there, slept right on the rubber sheet. Since I was being treated as a girl, we also both wore short nightgowns or babydolls, which if they got a spot, only needed to be nad rinsed in a small aluminum tub and hung out to dry in the back yard. Both Linda and I were born in 1945 and she was the youngest of 4 girls and a few months older than I

The point is, things were different then

[skizics]

On 5/12/2022 at 7:29 PM, Little Babydoll Christine said:

Some mothers thought, that a cloth sheet over the rubber sheet would just have to be laundered if there was a leak, or having had a leak and having had to launder the cloth bottom sheet, decided that it was not worth the hassle since the rubber sheet could simply be damp-wiped clean an let to air dry

I can remember "freaking out" if my diaper leaked and got the bed wet enough that I felt it. My mother had a way of folding my diapers that were mostly leak proof so leaks didn't happen very often. In many ways I was a Real Pain in the Ass growing up and my mother went Above and Beyond what most parents would have put up with. I recall that from personal experience with Nurses, my Aunts, and more baby sitters than I care to remember. The rubber sheet was there but I had a flannel sheet between me and the rubber. I should add that I really Liked the smell of my rubber sheets.   ☺️

[ken2988]

I clearly remember having a rubber sheet on my bed.  I finally was able to remove the rubber sheet and my diapers when I was 12.  I remember how many times I would be half asleep and feel myself peeing but couldn't get up in time to go to the bathroom.

Also from Nevada, and also incontinent!