Remember when diapers were CLOTH?

Of course we did Travelsofar none of this walking around at 3 or even going to school in nappies
Dreadful lazy parenting in my eyes
And yes they are nappies over here

I'm sure we potty trained earlier due to fabric nappies. All that boiling, soaking, trying to get them dry in wet weather. It was an incentive to get our babies clean and dry as soon as possible.

Calendargirl

Where is all this ‘diaper’ talk coming from?

It’s nappies, whether cloth, towelling or disposable.

👶

Seemed odd to me too, but the OP is presumably in the US - talk of cents, diapers, etc.

Where is all this ‘diaper’ talk coming from?

It’s nappies, whether cloth, towelling or disposable.

👶

My mother used cloth diapers with all of us kids. (For context I'm in my early 40s. We are six kids and my youngest brother was born when I was nine.) I developed severe diaper rash from disposables. I well remember the stacks of diapers on the dresser, the rubber pants, the diaper pail for the dirty diapers, and the diaper pins.

When Mum was teaching me how to wash laundry, I remember her telling me the only thing she washed on hot was diapers because that's gross. (She meant the diaper mess was gross, not washing things on hot.)

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.

pably15

remember the lovely white nappies hanging on the clothes line, blowing in the wind

Oh yes, what a wonderful sight that was and no wonder the children were potty trained so quickly. Disposables today are far too comfortable, as well as adding to a massive disposable mountain of dirty used nappies

Nappies for me too….never diaper.

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 .

I hate the American word diaper they re nappies and certainly were then
Mine were all in terry towelling nappies and were all early trained as soon as they were walking… my son and one daughter 10 months and my eldest daughter just over a year all three trained fairly easily I used to take a potty with me on the bottom of the pram when we were out walking in those early months
My eldest was born in HK and we were in trouble with China so for a few weeks they with held the water and would only turn it on for four hours every fourth day You had to fill everything you could find bath, buckets, bowls it went on for a few weeks and I had a young baby !! Nightmare
I didn’t have a washing machine until much later then it was a twin tub
My grandkids all had terries too

I think the disposable nappies are a massive blight for the world and for conservation and also allow children to be much later trained you can see 3 years old pottering around in heavy, smelly nappies
Not a fan

I have just one terry nappy left from my five children. It's in the "rags" cupboard now but still nearly white - however I had some American diapers too as our second baby was born there.
I liked them a lot when he was small but they certainly leaked rather more as he grew and UK style nappies were better then.

Like Grammaretto's babies, all my little ones were out of them ASAP!

My daughters both used washable nappies for their little ones. The oldest grandchild had a mix of terry squares and then the more "modern" sort - but with wool outers.

keepingquiet

Never had diapers, only terry nappies. Until recently some of them were still being used as dusters!

I still have a dozen and a half leftover diapers in service that I use for dusting, window washing, and wiping up kitchen spills! They date back to the mid 90's!

Grandma70s

Disposable nappies were hardly ever used when I had my babies (now in their 50s!), so the routine of bucket soak, machine wash and dry was automatic. Nappy liners, which were flushable, dealt with the worst of the mess. The pants were plastic, not rubber.

Wasn't until the late 70's, that I changed disposable diapers for the first time (babysitting). Other than that one home, proper diapers (cloth) and plastic pants were still the order of the day in all the other homes where I babysat.

Couldn't agree with you more, Butter. Proper diaper folding made for not only a more comfy fit, but for a more reliable fit as well.

A dry crib and pyjama bottoms in the morning stood as testament to a proper folded and pin-fastened diaper.

Grandma70s

Disposable nappies were hardly ever used when I had my babies (now in their 50s!), so the routine of bucket soak, machine wash and dry was automatic. Nappy liners, which were flushable, dealt with the worst of the mess. The pants were plastic, not rubber.

Same here. If the liners were just wet, they got sterilised an re-used. I used a nappy steriliser solution in the soaking bucket, then put the nappies in the automatic washing machine and pushed the button. Easy peasy. I had a tumble dryer, essential in winter , but often put them out on the line to blow in the sun. Pristine snowy white nappies out on the line first thing on a summer morning was a little silent *one-upmanship" thing between neighbouring mums.

We had four under five, and the first two were only 11 months apart so for a while we had two in nappies. H is a Virgo and a design engineer, and became an absolute master at the perfectly tailored made to measure kite fold. A well-fitted cotton nappy is comfier than disposables IMHO, and better for the skin.

Grammaretto. In 1992, my youngest two (13 months apart) were both in diapers, and I remember seeing Velcro cloth diapers for the first time on the next door neighbours clothesline.

They were hourglass shaped and rubber pants were still required with them. As for myself I was still perfectly right at home with carrying on using diaper pins.

I always used pull-on rubber pants with my babies and never had a problem with wetness/accidents.

Terry towelling nappies with muslin linings were the order of the day for our bairns.
There were disposables but they were inclined to disintegrate. They came on tear-off roll and tucked into a pocket in plastic pants.

Later Mothercare sold pads with tie plastic pants which were better but there was a lot of leakage! I potty trained my 4 toddlers as soon as possible - well before their 2nd birthday.

The pampers style of all-in -one fancy nappies only appeared in the 1980s.

Some of our DGC used real, washable nappies shaped and fastened with velcro. So it went full circle.

Is this an American thread?

I forgot about the disposable/flushable diaper liners!

Yup, I used the liners for a handful of weeks after the birth of each of my kids. Boy, did they ever work well in helping keep the diapers cleaner after a soiling! Little to no rinsing!

When my son was born, I didn’t have a washing machine. I had a little baby Burco that I boiled his nappies in. ( Rest of the washing was a weekly trip to the launderette. ) I did use the disposable nappy liners though.

Yes, I'm with you 100% on that, Lady!

I remember how the diapers would sway, bounce, flap, and dance in the breeze!

So old-timey!

I agree it was lovely seeing a line full of snow white terry nappies blowing in the wind.

Yep, me, too, still have my children's old diaper pins stowed away in my notions basket. They come in extra-handy for this and that.

My first baby wore only terry towelling nappies, but by the time his younger brother was born disposables were available so mum bought me a month's supply, then it was back to towelling nappies again and the enamel bucket with a lid.
I've still got several nappy pins.

Absolutely splendid solution putting a few tea towels to use!

I had three late trainers that took forever to make it through the night dry, and good old-fashioned, no-nonsense, proper diapers were the best.

Doubled and even tripled, crib sheets and pyjama bottoms were always dry in the morning!