Remember when diapers were CLOTH?

Chocolatelovinggran

The new design of towelling nappies were very much used by my young family and friends, but all commented on how it impacted on clothes buying for their children.
Modern baby and toddler clothes are often made slim fitted around the waist and bottom, and there's no room for a nappy that isn't disposable.

Yes, 100% true.

JamesandJon33

First baby in 1965, so Terry towelling nappies. Bucket of Milton beneath the sink for soaking and a Baby Burco, boiler to boil them in . Different fold for boys to girls. Though I doubt I could remember that now. And plastic over knickers, that went crinkly after a few washes. ….what joy, but a line of nappies drying in the wind ….well .

Hand-washing and line-drying were two measures that increased the lifespan of rubber pants considerably, not to mention it helped keep the pants soft and pliable.

When pants went stiff and crunchy and started developing rips and tears, it was out with the old and in with the new in our house.

Squiffy

Oh, the smell of nappies soaking in Napisan! 🤢🤢🤢 I can smell it now that it’s come to mind! 🤦‍♀️😆

I used Diaper Pure, and can still smell the freshness to this day, and I still remember the smell of the rubber pants!

First thing in the morning when diapers were soaking wet after putting in a nightshift, the strong ammonia odour used to pour out of the rubber pants when I'd pull them off to change the diapers! Pee-ew!

Into the diaper pail both rubber pants and diapers would go!

Yes Grannypanties I had a daughter first. Her over pants had lace and frills.

JamesandJon33

Yes Grannypanties I had a daughter first. Her over pants had lace and frills.

Yep, I remember those old rhumba panties!

I never used them with my daughters, but remember them from my old babysitting days!

Usedtobeblonde

I’ve just remembered Marathon nappy liners, they were like dish cloth material and were supposed to keep baby dry overnight as they soaked the wetness away.
I don’t think they “caught on” as they didn’t stay around for long.
Also Napisan for soaking.

Yes I used those for a while. I also used the ordinary nappy liners. My sister in law got me an enormous box from somewhere. I think they were seconds from a factory. Some of them were odd shapes but they lasted for my eldest three DC.
I bought three dozen Harringtons Terry nappies. By the time baby number three used them they were a bit thin so I used to double them up, and I bought a dozen more.
When baby number four arrived my sister bought the shaped nappies from Mothercare. They still needed pins and plastic pants. I did my share of soaking, nappy buckets, washing and line drying.
For babies 5 & 6 I switched to disposables. I still have several nappy pins.

Mamardoit

Usedtobeblonde

I’ve just remembered Marathon nappy liners, they were like dish cloth material and were supposed to keep baby dry overnight as they soaked the wetness away.
I don’t think they “caught on” as they didn’t stay around for long.
Also Napisan for soaking.

Yes I used those for a while. I also used the ordinary nappy liners. My sister in law got me an enormous box from somewhere. I think they were seconds from a factory. Some of them were odd shapes but they lasted for my eldest three DC.
I bought three dozen Harringtons Terry nappies. By the time baby number three used them they were a bit thin so I used to double them up, and I bought a dozen more.
When baby number four arrived my sister bought the shaped nappies from Mothercare. They still needed pins and plastic pants. I did my share of soaking, nappy buckets, washing and line drying.
For babies 5 & 6 I switched to disposables. I still have several nappy pins.

Oh, how I remember double diapering!

Running the diaper pins through my hair before fastening made the pins go through the diapers super quick and easy!

Double diapers (daytime and nighttime) until the early toddler stage... then triple diapers after, and sometimes even a double-double at nighttime!

Rubber pants over the diapers always. I can still see the red elastic rings my kids wore around the tops of their legs and around their waists from the rubber pants.

As well as the terry nappies my daughter also bought soft terry baby wipes that just went in the wash with the nappies. Not only was it better for the environment, but a wet terry wipe cleaned bottoms far more efficiently.

Deedaa

As well as the terry nappies my daughter also bought soft terry baby wipes that just went in the wash with the nappies. Not only was it better for the environment, but a wet terry wipe cleaned bottoms far more efficiently.

OMG, yes!

100% baby washcloths went hand-in-hand with cloth diapers. All through my babysitting years it was baby washcloths, that's all I remember, and same with my own children.

Diapers, rubber pants, soakers (training pants), and baby washcloths... into the diaper pail all went till laundry day, and yes, I agree, nothing tidied-up a soiled bottom more efficiently than a good old-fashioned baby washcloth at change-time

Squiffy

Oh, the smell of nappies soaking in Napisan! 🤢🤢🤢 I can smell it now that it’s come to mind! 🤦‍♀️😆

What a stink it was

Nightsky2

Squiffy

Oh, the smell of nappies soaking in Napisan! 🤢🤢🤢 I can smell it now that it’s come to mind! 🤦‍♀️😆

What a stink it was

Yes!

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202512/medium-974rbd-1000042194.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202512/medium-36fkud-1000042193.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202512/medium-tn0tr-1000042191.jpg

My US born baby wore both nappies and diapers.
UK nappies being, highly absorbent terry towelling fabric finished into a large square, (maybe 24"x 24"). These were folded (in my case) into variations of trangles of kites.
I really only used them as nappies and not as a burping cloth for example as they are bulky.

My US diapers were also cotton but not terry toweling, and not square. They were very soft and useful - a bit like a huge table-napkin.

Most diapers that we had were cotton birdseye which is a weave with a little (very low) texture that's pretty absorbent. They were bigger than UK nappies and rectangular and so were folded into various rectangles before pinning. They gave a slimmer shape to the baby as not so bulky on.

Some of my diapers however were the newer "prefolds" these had a pre-sewn thick panel down the middle composed of several layers of this same soft cotton material.

Here's a traditional UK nappy, a birdseye cotton diaper and a prefold diaper. (See photos - found online..)

This explanation (above) was because Aveline asked.
Hope that helps!
🚼

NotSpaghetti

My US born baby wore both nappies and diapers.
UK nappies being, highly absorbent terry towelling fabric finished into a large square, (maybe 24"x 24"). These were folded (in my case) into variations of trangles of kites.
I really only used them as nappies and not as a burping cloth for example as they are bulky.

My US diapers were also cotton but not terry toweling, and not square. They were very soft and useful - a bit like a huge table-napkin.

Most diapers that we had were cotton birdseye which is a weave with a little (very low) texture that's pretty absorbent. They were bigger than UK nappies and rectangular and so were folded into various rectangles before pinning. They gave a slimmer shape to the baby as not so bulky on.

Some of my diapers however were the newer "prefolds" these had a pre-sewn thick panel down the middle composed of several layers of this same soft cotton material.

Here's a traditional UK nappy, a birdseye cotton diaper and a prefold diaper. (See photos - found online..)

The diapers I used were 100% cotton-flannelette.

Large sheet style, tightly woven, thick and super-absorbent, they fit from newborn to toddler, and required folding from scratch.

Like most other things, I'm sure there were different grades of cotton diapers, some thicker and more absorbent that others. The ones I used were what everyone I knew used.

Folded down for infants and smaller babies, folded down less for bigger babies and toddlers. I preferred following in my own mothers footsteps, so I always doubled the diapers for more absorbency.

A diaper pin on each side, rubber pants over top. Made for a bulky bottom, but boy, did they ever get the job done, and very well may I add!

A set of diapers 4-6 dozen would last through the diapering stage of two babies before starting to get threadbare and needing replaced, but the old threadbare ones didn't go to waste. They made for the best general all-purpose household cleaning and wiping cloths ever!

I remember prefolds from my babysitting days, though the old-fashioned fold-from-scratch version were the most popular and widely used, at least in the homes where I babysat.

NotSpaghetti

My US born baby wore both nappies and diapers.
UK nappies being, highly absorbent terry towelling fabric finished into a large square, (maybe 24"x 24"). These were folded (in my case) into variations of trangles of kites.
I really only used them as nappies and not as a burping cloth for example as they are bulky.

My US diapers were also cotton but not terry toweling, and not square. They were very soft and useful - a bit like a huge table-napkin.

Most diapers that we had were cotton birdseye which is a weave with a little (very low) texture that's pretty absorbent. They were bigger than UK nappies and rectangular and so were folded into various rectangles before pinning. They gave a slimmer shape to the baby as not so bulky on.

Some of my diapers however were the newer "prefolds" these had a pre-sewn thick panel down the middle composed of several layers of this same soft cotton material.

Here's a traditional UK nappy, a birdseye cotton diaper and a prefold diaper. (See photos - found online..)

Great post, NotSpaghetti!

I fear that one of the “7 Signs of Ageing” is the question which starts “Remember when….?”

With all respect I have no nostalgia about my girls’ toilet or otherwise habits of 40-50 years ago.
It was a stage on the way, but no fond memories here of nappies, nappy pails or any of the things that it seems characterised babyhood.
I don’t deny that those days existed, but I am astounded at getting on for three pages of misty-eyed reminiscences.
Yes, nappies used to be made of cloth.
Just as sanitary protection evolved from “rags” to pads to tampons. So what?
Are our lives not more meaningful than the pre-potty training days?
My memories of my daughters’ early years are, to me, much more varied, enjoyable and colourful.

Liaise

Back in 1967 I bought shaped nappies from Mothercare. I never saw anyone else with them though. Living in East Anglia at the time I put the nappy bucket outside the back door one day and the whole thing froze.
I wouldn’t like to have nappy buckets around now.

I bought some of those shaped ones from Mothercare before dd1 was born. I don’t know whether she was a particularly wet baby, but I found them utterly useless and very soon ditched them.

RosieandherMaw - given that this whole thread is really about nappies why are you bothering if you aren't interested?

When nappies (and/or diapers) were part of my everyday life they were the last thing I'd have wanted to discuss!

Now, many years on, it is vaguely interesting!

Also (just as an aside) if you don't want 3 pages of something you can probably alter your posts per page somewhere... (I am still on page 1 as it happens).

Oo-er, that’s me tellt!
Yes it is about nappies and I still wonder why anybody should want to reminisce abut them.

To me they are one of the least important or interesting memories of motherhood and hardly warrant the shouty capitals of CLOTH in the thread title.

Because it was part of our lives Rosiesmaw!
After all we talk about illnesses and sadnesses so why not about baby care?

It was good to see Karmalady's reminder that disposables are a scourge on the planet. I even read somewhere that not one disposable nappy had biodegraded since they were first made and sold 60 or more years ago.

My Danish SiL was even more environmentally and health conscious than any of us as she refused to put her babies in plastic pants so knitted soft wool 3 ply pilches for them.
She insisted they neither leaked nor smelled but I am not sure I believed her 😂🤣

One of my daughters had wool covers for her baby's nappies too Grammaretto

Take a look at this video, 'knitted pilcher nappy cover pattern 4 ply' share.google/2E5X43GYhFRuNApSu

NotSpaghetti. I can see you can buy them ready made but if anyone's looking for a knitting project......

Oh yes! Good idea.
My daughter's were 3rd/4th hand from a friend.

...they were a beautifully soft felt.