A study into advances in diapering, their effect on potty training, and its corollary to average age play ages

[PaddedWarriorPrince]

A tentative study into advances in diapering, their effect on potty training, and its corollary to average age play ages.

 

Let me be upfront that this will be largely scattered and stream of consciousness style as this was written in one draft more as a question posed than a true study, though the appended polls may be used to form one.

 

Recent research into the history of diapers in preparation for more historic based stories and flashback portions of modern stories led me to the information that my generation, early 90s, was the first generation to have the Pull-Ups products for potty training. Introduced in 89, but not really advertised until 91. Learning this triggered a memory of my mother explaining the products with excitement to my great-grandmother, my mind had just been glossing over the fact that prior generations did not have access to this 'amazing innovation in toilet training' a garment the child can take on and off on their own. As such ABDLs from before this time do not have deep formed early memories of these products, with the related Goodnites line for bedwetting being introduced in 94, around when those trained on the first Pull-Ups might begin needing them, further extending the time frame of these memories.

 

This progression shows in the ABDL media over time. These days it is almost as common to see photos, video, or drawing of Pull-Ups as diapers and creators freely swap between the 2, conversely Cloth is seldom seen, especially in 'live' media. Go back 10 years and Disposables dominate, with ABDL disposables coming onto the market around then as well, and there is much debate over whether Pull-Ups even counted as diapers. The children of the 90s had just entered a scene still dominated by the children of the 80s where disposables, though not new, had become much more affordable and effective, and the collective consciousness mirrored. 

 

Trends swiftly began to, not exactly change so much as expand. As a time dominated by the introduction of the internet and the massive proliferation of available entertainment old trends held on instead of fading into the background. Some of this is due to most of the old trends still being prevalent even to today's children, Strollers and Cribs aren't going anywhere soon for example, but many of the new trends were also those that, in their time, were the paraphernalia of older children. Light up shoes, vibrant cloths and designs, playgrounds and most especially Pull-Ups. Especially in drawn media the idealized Adult Baby appears to be shifting to Adult Toddler.

 

And I belive this shift can be lain at the feet of the pullup itself. This innovation in potty training allowed for easier and more comprehensive training, but also extended training. Parents felt less pressured to rush potty training to save themselves from extensive diaper changes and torn and wasted unused 'just in case' diapers, wasted money, during the late days of training. Looking at potty training suggestions and ages across the years lends credence to this theory. With a general suggestion of starting around 18 months up to the 90s to starting at 3 or later now. This also is shown in that the main advancement of diapers from the late 2000s on has been an increase in size. Some of this is down to an increase in size of children, but later potty training ages must also account for such a shift. Children grow quickly, especially at those ages, and where there is demand you will find supply. Why then though? Well, it's when the early 90s children, our Pull-Up generation, would have begun to have children of our own. Our skewed perspective and hazy remembrance of how long it is socially acceptable to still be padded and pissing ourselves led to more leniency in training of the next generation.

 

As for myself and the reflections that made me decide to write this paper, for the longest time I had thought myself purely DL, I had no desire for the AB side of images that were prevalent when I was first discovering this side of myself in the late 2000s, Cribs, Strollers, bottles, soft pastels and babyish prints held no appeal to me. But then my people came on the scene, and with them imagery that did resonate me. A far cry from those early days I now consider myself 50/50, but that little side isn't 1 or 2, but more around 4, based on an expansion of the brief relapse after being full trained for a while I had at late 3. My mother agreed to put me back in diapers for a few months if I promised to retrain by the time my youngest brother was born a month before I turned 4. 

 

The question now being do my experiences and extrapolation match reality, or am I seeing patterns where there are none. As much as I would like a comprehensive poll including decade of birth, padding preferences, and little age, putting such into 1 poll would make for far too many options to be feasible, while splitting it into 3 polls would lose out on easy checking of correlation. To that end I have the following poll.

 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWtecz3qPCFQJSdmEqcKA-gHP_9iKS3xKFqIZhg0lz30uPzg/viewform?usp=sf_link

[ValentinesStuff]

I as a child of the late '60s had cloth training pants. They were easily pulled up and down. They did require rubber pants to make them waterproof.

Gerber still makes them.

 

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

I question the premise that the last  7 decades were an advancement

I define "advancement" in any area of human life, as, can be seen over the last 5,000 years, creating more individual autonomy. That was a two-way street. The individual has to be up to the task of being autonomous. One of the criticisms of the disposable diapers levelled by the parents of the early users was "You're leaving your shit around for someone else to take care of? What kind of pig did I raise?" Another was "You use them once then throw them out? You must think you're made of money". These represent convenience that has degenerated into sybariticism. This is a result of the prosperity that began in the mid '50's and which has not existed since the mid '70's. Our parents lived through the Great Depression. One of the things that that led to was nothers working outside the home by necessity. starting 55 years ago women entered the workforce en masse first single then mothers, having been told that it would "fulfill their souls". This led to other thngs, part of which was a rise in heart problems related to sodium as "TV dinners" became a staple rather than an occasion; see THE WOLFEPIT: "What are  We Eating". The rise of these problems has been wrongly attributed to salt though studies of that hypothesis have been inconclusive, varying from negative to slightly positive. The throw away diaper fitted right in with that lifestyle. Also, a good quality layette would serve more than one infant; up to 3. In 1988, I was talking to a 38 y/o home ec social worker and she was annoyed that the government was covering throw-awy diapers for her clience because of the enormous cost and consequent waste.  Beyond that, she thought that rubber panties should be required over disposables for sanitary reasons. The purpose of convenience was to free up time for the pursuit of skills and intellectual enrichment. It has degenerated into sitting in front of the boob tube as a drooling idiot or joining whacko grievance groups; finally culminating in the clown show choice between falling-apart Joe Biden and Cuckoo-for-Coco-Puffs Donald Trump for the highest office in the land. Also observe that as times get hard, there is, amongst us, a migration to clot; i.e. reusable, diapers

The throw-away diaper is prone to leaking and blowout which means a diminution in quality, which makes sense since this is made to be used once then disposed of, whith. "post consumer care" now being a thing with all kinds of expensive stuff proposed as solutions. But you are not going to use "the good stuff" for use-once items. And the quality lessesn over time as production costs go up: Observed how many of the more prized diapers have either vanished, like Comgidry or have deteriorated. and this has happened in the baby diaper world, which is FAR larger than the adult diaper. In one of the Infantae Press publications in the mid '80's there was an article that held that as paper diapers were becoming more the going thing. infants and cildren were having a more un-enjoyable diaper esperience and what would that lead to in the ABDL world. Disposables ALWAYS felt chintzy and creepy to me

Complexity.: Look at all the parts used to make a disposable SAP, fluff, gathers, tape and waterproof covering. A Murphy beacon if ever there was one. On the old days it was just cloth and rubber or plastic panties AND you did not have to have a cover for each diaper, you were supposed to clean the inside of the panty at each change. The general rule was for the first dizen diaper 4 panties and maybe one for each dozen thereafter. To keep track of what was used when, the 4-pack with white, blue, pink and yellow was devised. All you had to do was learn to fold and secure them, which  any girl in 1940 knew how to do by the time she was 8-1/2. The inaccurately named "pre-fold" was the start of the deterioratin since it took away most of the folding options. Now, in the world of cloth diapering, we are offered things with all kinds of snapes that are byzantien to use so that they can be micro-adjusted: i.e. micro-managed

Then there is the quiestion of having these things take up landvill space. Meanwhile we're waging war on plastic straws which do not take up half the space. and plastic bags, of which the Sargasso Seas that we see are from Asia and Africa: NOT the  US. To cure this we are offered "recycling" techniques that are expensive, impractical and who wnats to be involved with someone else's shitty diapers that have been Frankensteined in some Rube Goldberg process that is just a tractor beam for Murphy?: One mistake and you are in deep shit -- LITERALLY! And by the tens of thousands; what is done on a mass scale has mass consequences

I am not saying that pampers caused the deterioration. That was on our parents, who, having lived through the Great Depression wanted to save us that heartache and made the Baby-Bommers the first spoiled generation and it's been downhill since. But the throw-away diaper culture, as part of the sybraritic culture, certainly aids and abets the degeneration. So I question "advancements in diapering"

[kirababy]

One other root cause of later training is likely the diapers themselves.  Disposables don't feel wet and uncomfortable as quickly as cloth do, so there is less incentive from the child to want to be potty trained.  The benefits of disposables being pushed as baby-dry etc., have a unintended consequence of later potty training.  Though as I type it, perhaps it is not at all unintentional, as it would mean a lengthening of the revenue stream for every baby.   An extra year or so in diapers means a lot more sales for the diaper companies...

[Little BabyDoll Christine]

3 hours ago, kirababy said:

One other root cause of later training is likely the diapers themselves.  Disposables don't feel wet and uncomfortable as quickly as cloth do, so there is less incentive from the child to want to be potty trained.  The benefits of disposables being pushed as baby-dry etc., have a unintended consequence of later potty training.  Though as I type it, perhaps it is not at all unintentional, as it would mean a lengthening of the revenue stream for every baby.   An extra year or so in diapers means a lot more sales for the diaper companies...

That is why you are supposed to move to training panties. They do not hold as much as diapers, but do hold some so that you get the point without making a mess all over the place