Difference Between AB and DL

[Toddler Pampers]

What, according to you, distinguishes DL from AB.  I lean on the word lover to suggest that wearing is a kink.  Adult baby is a complete contradiction, which, to me, implies fantasy and make believe.  Diaper lover also sounds like it could be a complete contradiction.  How could anyone love diapers?!  Well, if diapers are about kink, involved with sex, that contradiction disappears.

 

I’ve always ‘recreated’ in diapers, never really worn them for therapeutic reasons.  I’d say, for an AB, diapers are an essential prop, but not their focus, a means to an end, baby pretend.  Diapers would be a means to an end, sex, too, for the diaper lover, one could say.  I just don’t know.  Your thoughts?

[Babypants]

This question gets kicked around a lot, both on and off site.  You've phrased how I see it quite precisely: DL is a fetish, which may involve role playing.  AB is a lifestyle, within which role playing is the center of gravity, and diapers just one of the props essential to its success.  The role playing dynamic in AB is obvious when there is a safe word in play, but as long as you have an adult brain fully functioning in the AB's brain, it is role playing.  But, it should be emphasized, there is nothing wrong with role playing.  It can be therapeutic, hence inter alia the term "regression therapy."

[Apache Raccoon]

Adult Babies like to role play as babies and some age-regress

Diaper lovers have a fetish or at least an interest in wearing diapers but don’t necessarily do age-regression or dress up as a baby or whatever.

That’s the difference as I see it in a nutshell

There is nuance to it of course, not everyone lumped into the ABDL acronym roleplays as a baby, some like me are Adult Kids or another variation ETC.

[Toddler Pampers]

2 hours ago, Babypants said:

This question gets kicked around a lot, both on and off site.  You've phrased how I see it quite precisely: DL is a fetish, which may involve role playing.  AB is a lifestyle, within which role playing is the center of gravity, and diapers just one of the props essential to its success.  The role playing dynamic in AB is obvious when there is a safe word in play, but as long as you have an adult brain fully functioning in the AB's brain, it is role playing.  But, it should be emphasized, there is nothing wrong with role playing.  It can be therapeutic, hence inter alia the term "regression therapy."

Thanks for the reply.  I’m definitely a DL, because I fetishize baby diapers.  I’m also on the BDSM spectrum, and not an AB, because I don’t pretend to be a baby; rather I enjoy what it feels like to be diapered like a baby.  That feeling is sexual for me, which equates with diaper fetishism.  When I’m diapered, I have a mommy, but she’s also a sex partner for featuring in my fantasy.  That is the thought of her putting plastic pants over my diaper because she plans on not changing diapers regularly.  The fantasy is that she hopes I will hate being completely soaked, and that will train me.  The plastic pants, she thinks, will take up the slack.  It’s news to her, of course, but the wetter my diaper gets, the more I like it and enjoy the finale.

 

Inter alia?  Are you a lawyer?

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

For an AB/AK, the diaper is PAFT of the story; albeit a big part. For a DL, the diaper IS the story. The two are probably unrelated in that a person can be one and not the other, although many DL's acquire an AB side since diapers are predominantly associated with babies and littles. Observe how man DL's have a "play age".. Just look at the About Me's of the two. If you look at my ABLG CV in my About Me, you see that I have done other things here and elsewhere. If you go to the bottom of that page, you see other thins of interest, and look at my siggy and my albums. Also, I have created and promote activities other than diapers but with which diapers fit. I did bring a new kind of diaper to DD. Diapers areoften part of a Little's world to the point that Sesame Street addressed them and as I have explained here, more a part of a little girl's world than that of a boy

Consider "ABLG" and "VLG [Very Little Girl]" synonymous.

[bbtwin]

And now lets hear from our editorial director. take it away Brian.

 

[ValentinesStuff]

11 hours ago, Toddler Pampers said:

What, according to you, distinguishes DL from AB.  I lean on the word lover to suggest that wearing is a kink.  Adult baby is a complete contradiction, which, to me, implies fantasy and make believe.  Diaper lover also sounds like it could be a complete contradiction.  How could anyone love diapers?!  Well, if diapers are about kink, involved with sex, that contradiction disappears.

 

I’ve always ‘recreated’ in diapers, never really worn them for therapeutic reasons.  I’d say, for an AB, diapers are an essential prop, but not their focus, a means to an end, baby pretend.  Diapers would be a means to an end, sex, too, for the diaper lover, one could say.  I just don’t know.  Your thoughts?

My first thought? Your post is pretty insulting to both ABs and DLs.

 

It's not always about sex.

 

Diaper Lovers, like to wear diapers. It might be for sexual excitement, it might be for relaxation or stress relief, they may have no idea why they love them. But it generally ends with diapers, anything else would be for practical purposes, onesies to conceal or support the diaper for example.

 

Adult Babies want more of the full early childhood experience, it may or may not include diapers, baby bottles, baby styled clothes, toys, entertainment, food, treatment, restrictions, or anything else to do with being a baby. Again this is done for many reasons, just like above.

 

 

[oznl]

13 hours ago, Toddler Pampers said:

What, according to you, distinguishes DL from AB.  I lean on the word lover to suggest that wearing is a kink.  Adult baby is a complete contradiction, which, to me, implies fantasy and make believe.  Diaper lover also sounds like it could be a complete contradiction.  How could anyone love diapers?!  Well, if diapers are about kink, involved with sex, that contradiction disappears.

I’ve heard the “If you are not an AB you must be a DL and therefore just a sexual fetishist” theory before and frankly, it certainly does NOT describe my situation and nor does it a fair number of my cohort.  I'm sure that there are just plenty of diaper fetishists around and that's just fine but I think that simple categorisation rule to describe non-overtly-AB behaviours within population who electively wear diapers just plain wrong.

2 hours ago, ValentinesStuff said:

Diaper Lovers, like to wear diapers. It might be for sexual excitement, it might be for relaxation or stress relief, they may have no idea why they love them. But it generally ends with diapers, anything else would be for practical purposes, onesies to conceal or support the diaper for example.

Yep.  In my case, that would be "relaxation or stress relief".  I am calmer and happier diapered and so I wear them 24/7 and have done for years.  I'm not sure that too many kinks would remain exciting in the face of years of unrelenting fulfillment.  I'm also well aware that my predilections here dramatically pre-dated puberty and survived age-related decline in sexual interest.

2 hours ago, ValentinesStuff said:

Adult Babies want more of the full early childhood experience, it may or may not include diapers, baby bottles, baby styled clothes, toys, entertainment, food, treatment, restrictions, or anything else to do with being a baby. Again this is done for many reasons, just like above.

It's hard not to agree with that either.

I do suspect that this constellation of behaviours are at some level related and there can be considerable overlapping.  People aren't necessarily one or the other (AB or DL) and I suspect that attempting to view the demographic through such a simple categorisation lens probably causes more confusion than enlightenment.

The key thing to recall here is that wherever we are on the map, we've far more in common than we have differences.

[Dartplayerinwvc]

BASICS:

One wants all the baby style toys, baby style clothing WITH wearing diapers (regardless of actually using them ) being with a roleplay adult ... and the other just wears them, wets them sometimes  (regardless of actually using them )

[Rachael-Little]

For me being an AB means I need a diaper cause a baby can’t stay dry, do my diapers become sexual yes sometimes so at that point I guess I’m a DL 

Yes I enjoy regressing and being a baby and the diaper is definitely a trigger for my regressing 

[Dubious]

I'm a PDL, Plastic Diaper Lover. 

I have no interest in being or behaving like a baby.

[Kawaharu]

For me being an adult baby means I can't stay dry. I poop and pee alot in my diapers. It's why I need diapers and I know I belong in diapers. It's why I know I am not an adult because I can't stay dry or be potty trained. Since I am not potty trained, I can not call myself an adult and Instead I call myself an adult baby. Being a full time permanent adult baby, I know I can never grow up into adulthood because I can't pass potty training at all. I know being an adult baby, let's me be young, babied, kept in diapers without a care in the world. It allows me to have an adulthood in my own way, which is adult babyhood because I can still be an adult around other adults but I know I am always an adult baby because of my diapers.

[Alyeskabird]

I do not think it is allways so simple as to lable folks with just one thing. I do not do a whole lot of baby play, but, thats more do to being alone, than anything else. Yet at the same time I do rather enjoy my diapers. Yet at the same time a lot of it is a comfort thing, sorta like a warm blanket, a shield? and other things. I do not look at them as a sexual thing, but, I can say honestly that its likely mostly cause I have allways been alone.

[Ady692010]

AB involves baby play and age regression by virtue of what it is.  DL doesn't and is simply an adult enjoyment of being diapered.  Whilst I'm very happy for AB friends to do and be what they are, it's not for me personally, and I'm strictly DL. 

[Little Sherri]

I've seen this kicked around a lot, conversationally. Personally, I don't subscribe to a "binary" set of definitions; one can be something other than an AB or DL and still be part of "this" universe, in my opinion. I definitely started out as a DL, if only because it was impossible for me to be an "A" anything (adult...) at the time, as my DL side developed when I was very young. But, back then, I don't recall wanting to be bottle fed or pushed around in a stroller. That was part of the dissonance for me: as a kid, I very much wanted to grow up and be seen as a "big boy" and be allowed to stay up later and enjoy all the benefits of "growing up". But, I also wanted to wear diapers. 

Much later in life, when I stumbled back into "this", I started out buying whatever low-end medical diapers I could get my hands on, which were almost universally white - the only thing with a print on it were the adolescent pull-ups I could barely squeeze into. However, when I discovered the ABDL macro-verse, at some point, I bought myself a bag of printed diapers, and even though the diapers I wore as a kid were white, I was intrigued by diapers emblazoned with teddy bears, blocks, cartoon characters, and what have you. Then, on a lark one day, back when Rearz had a store, I bought myself an adult-sized pacifier, and didn't mind it. However, that said, other than printed diapers and plastic pants, and pacifiers, I haven't embraced many of the AB accoutrements  - my onesies are all sober black t-shirt affairs that I wear to work, I don't own any juvenile furniture, no baby clothing, etc. And, at least half of the diapers I wear are white. So, I'm a DL who sometimes likes printed diapers, and who always sleeps with a pacifier. I'm sort of the Bud Lite of AB's. 

[Little Cub Pants]

Well for me AB is about trying to regress to that of an actual baby while still maintaining your intelligence and also trying to regress mentally as well, that's my dream! And that's why toys, diapers, wipes, powder, all help me get into that headspace so very well. For me it's about more than pretending to just be a baby, it's about trying to actually regress to that of a one-year-old. This is why I think the term age play doesn't really fit with me, because I don't want to just PLAY that age, I want to feel like I actually AM that age. As far as DL goes, I've never really thought of my love of diapers as a kink or a fetish but rather just a deeper extension of me. Although I am diapersexual, my love of diapers is not exclusively based on sex. Although that is a good part of it but I would say my love of diapers is more tied to being a baby and I love the convenience of not having to get up to go potty, and just being able to go in my pants whenever I want. That's what I really love about diapers. And every time I use them I feel like a baby. Which only adds to my goal, so it's all interconnected.😁♥️🚼🍼👶

[Mishadip]

Ok, I ve never thought of DL in the way some of you described it.

I thought of it as Diaper lover= one who loves diapers.  Much like a "cheese Lovers pizza "

And a AB = one wanting to regress to a infant or toddler state, using, wearing, acting, doing things associated with early childhood.

At least that's how I think of it.

I'm not totally sure where I stand or how to describe me.

I occasionally wear a diaper use it for it's intended purpose.

Some times it's a turn on sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's nice to just able to go pee anywhere and not need to find a bathroom.

I have toyed with the idea of idea of acting young (5 or 6) I have a pacifier, bib shortalls. It's difficult for me to attempt to get into that littles mindset.

 

I can't imagine trying to go younger than that. The thought of being fed or changed mortifies me. That's a big No.

 

Me? Little Boy occasionally needs diapers? With a little Fur streak?