Incontinence 100 Years Ago!! Yikes!!

Connor92 · 14-08-2008

I was just thinking the other day, what on earth did people back in the good ole' days do if they were incontinent? I am sure it wasnt to widely common, to say the least, but some had to be? Anyone got any thoughts? I think it would be awful, and extremely messy and uncomfortable. I wonder what they did for protection? Those are just my thoughts, would love to hear everyone elses!

Connor

Chillhouse · 15-08-2008

Homemade cloth diapers.

Pojo · 15-08-2008

Yeah, probably cloth diapers of some sort...

Connor92 · 15-08-2008

Yeah, but that would REALLY suck. No air conditioning (obviously), so it would be hard to stay cool, and many of us know what thats like... Plus just the general mess and having to hand wash the diapers would suck big time.

babyemo · 15-08-2008

tried to find a pic, ive seen one somewhere of an ad from the 40s announcing finally! a diaper for adults! its a young woman smiling holding up a big cloth diaper

Error404 · 15-08-2008

Cloth diapers, and for the more rich, cloth diapers with RUBBER pants.

That's what the Victorians used at least, and as controversial as it is, they were used as a punishment quite often for children (Though not to the extensiveness we imagine 'diaper discipline'), it was 95% used for the embarrassment factor.

Hospitals used them for surgery patients too as the anaesthetic used wasn't as well controlled as it used to be and patients coming too often felt worse than they do now, sometimes leading to accidents. They sometimes also used them for stubborn patients who wouldn't use the bed pans, thus where the whole 'Matron is evil' Victorian stereotype came from, because it was such person who authorized the use of such items.

DannyTheNinja · 15-08-2008

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyemo

tried to find a pic, ive seen one somewhere of an ad from the 40s announcing finally! a diaper for adults! its a young woman smiling holding up a big cloth diaper

You mean this one? :P

--Danny

spacemanBEN · 15-08-2008

Well being incontinent 100 years ago would probably not have been fun at all. On a somewhat different note, what do you think infantilism would have looked like back then? I assume its been around for a long time, but it probably would not have been so obvious back in the day.

**Peachy** · 15-08-2008

- Moved to Incontinence section...for obvious reasons -

Peachy

Darkfinn · 15-08-2008

Actually... from what I've been lead to understand through some light research and various articles online... clothes wetting was especially common among women in the victorian era.

The outfits were very elaborate with layer upon layer of petticoats and skirts... and dinner parties would often last very late into the night. Most well-to-do women had servants to help them dress and undress... this would often take an hour or more. I can't imagine the lady of the house doing a pee-pee dance and squirming around for an hour after a 7 course dinner party where the wine flowed freely.

The few things I have seen point out that it was apparently the accepted thing for ladies of the time to "answer the call of nature" and urinate directly into their clothes. Of course this was never openly discussed or documented so finding direct evidence of it is very difficult. I imagine the many layers of clothing would do a fine job of absorbing the urine... and people did not bathe regularly during those times... so B.O. was covered by very strong perfumes. Everyone stunk to high heavens anyways... so noone really noticed.

Also... you have to figure that in the days before modern medical diagnoses and techniques, any women that had been through childbirth would suffer from some form of incontinence... as it is still fairly common for mothers today to experience the occasional leakage as a result of damage done during childbirth. Many of the women of the victorian age had a large number of children... so I imagine that the urinary side-effects of such were just accepted at some point.

14-08-2008	#1 (permalink)
Connor92 Regular Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Missouri Age: 16 Posts: 392 Threads: 16 Gallery Uploads: 9	Incontinence 100 Years Ago!! Yikes!! I was just thinking the other day, what on earth did people back in the good ole' days do if they were incontinent? I am sure it wasnt to widely common, to say the least, but some had to be? Anyone got any thoughts? I think it would be awful, and extremely messy and uncomfortable. I wonder what they did for protection? Those are just my thoughts, would love to hear everyone elses! Connor

15-08-2008	#9 (permalink)
Peachy Naughty or nice?! Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Bremen, Germany Age: 31 Posts: 2,510 Threads: 57 Gallery Uploads: 43 Wiki Edits: 11 Blog Entries: 9	- Moved to Incontinence section...for obvious reasons - Peachy __________________ A is like an apple with extra carpeting! Adopted users and furs : Magicstar, Christhefur, Kenshin Himura, baseball4life, Yumi, Rakai, Fullmetal, Little Ollie, mzkkbprmt (as a 2yo), EpicPie; to my kindergarten Award winning fruit

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15-08-2008	#2 (permalink)
Chillhouse Robot Chicken Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Here Age: 17 Posts: 805 Threads: 38	Homemade cloth diapers.

15-08-2008	#3 (permalink)
Pojo I rape your post count Historical Donor Staff Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Cow-Land, VA Age: 18 Posts: 3,881 Threads: 62 Gallery Uploads: 6 Wiki Edits: 98 Blog Entries: 19	Yeah, probably cloth diapers of some sort...

15-08-2008	#4 (permalink)
Connor92 Regular Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Missouri Age: 16 Posts: 392 Threads: 16 Gallery Uploads: 9	Yeah, but that would REALLY suck. No air conditioning (obviously), so it would be hard to stay cool, and many of us know what thats like... Plus just the general mess and having to hand wash the diapers would suck big time.

15-08-2008	#5 (permalink)
babyemo Regular Historical Donor Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: minnesota Age: 20 Posts: 245 Threads: 10 Gallery Uploads: 1 Wiki Edits: 2	tried to find a pic, ive seen one somewhere of an ad from the 40s announcing finally! a diaper for adults! its a young woman smiling holding up a big cloth diaper

15-08-2008	#6 (permalink)
Error404 Regular Join Date: May 2008 Location: England. Age: 19 Posts: 778 Threads: 35 Wiki Edits: 8	Cloth diapers, and for the more rich, cloth diapers with RUBBER pants. That's what the Victorians used at least, and as controversial as it is, they were used as a punishment quite often for children (Though not to the extensiveness we imagine 'diaper discipline'), it was 95% used for the embarrassment factor. Hospitals used them for surgery patients too as the anaesthetic used wasn't as well controlled as it used to be and patients coming too often felt worse than they do now, sometimes leading to accidents. They sometimes also used them for stubborn patients who wouldn't use the bed pans, thus where the whole 'Matron is evil' Victorian stereotype came from, because it was such person who authorized the use of such items.

15-08-2008	#8 (permalink)
spacemanBEN Regular Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: British Columbia, Canada Age: 17 Posts: 543 Threads: 20 Reputation: 7	Well being incontinent 100 years ago would probably not have been fun at all. On a somewhat different note, what do you think infantilism would have looked like back then? I assume its been around for a long time, but it probably would not have been so obvious back in the day.

15-08-2008	#10 (permalink)
Darkfinn Regular Historical Donor Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Charlotte, NC Age: 24 Posts: 2,720 Threads: 68 Gallery Uploads: 16 Wiki Edits: 4 Blog Entries: 17	Actually... from what I've been lead to understand through some light research and various articles online... clothes wetting was especially common among women in the victorian era. The outfits were very elaborate with layer upon layer of petticoats and skirts... and dinner parties would often last very late into the night. Most well-to-do women had servants to help them dress and undress... this would often take an hour or more. I can't imagine the lady of the house doing a pee-pee dance and squirming around for an hour after a 7 course dinner party where the wine flowed freely. The few things I have seen point out that it was apparently the accepted thing for ladies of the time to "answer the call of nature" and urinate directly into their clothes. Of course this was never openly discussed or documented so finding direct evidence of it is very difficult. I imagine the many layers of clothing would do a fine job of absorbing the urine... and people did not bathe regularly during those times... so B.O. was covered by very strong perfumes. Everyone stunk to high heavens anyways... so noone really noticed. Also... you have to figure that in the days before modern medical diagnoses and techniques, any women that had been through childbirth would suffer from some form of incontinence... as it is still fairly common for mothers today to experience the occasional leakage as a result of damage done during childbirth. Many of the women of the victorian age had a large number of children... so I imagine that the urinary side-effects of such were just accepted at some point.