Bit of a dumb question, would old/vintage diapers actually WORK?

Hey all! I was just wondering, based on a interesting find I had in a family member's boat storage shed this past week, but...would a package of sealed vintage diapers actually be alright to USE for a kid? Specifically, overnight for an almost 4 year old?

I really, really, really don't want to harm the kid in any way if there's something at all dangerous about wearing a diaper that's over 20+ years old, but as far as I know they're right at his size, and they were in sealed and kept in a plastic bin thing...so, \_(')_/

I know stuff this old is typically sold to collectors, but since I'm not particularly interested in selling them--and by no means a collector myself-- this came to mind since I'll be watching him for the next week and a half.

I partially fell into a pit of old rotting garbage in my attempt to reach them, so I feel very justified in getting SOME kind of value out of the damn things. >.>

Well, open the pack and examine the diapers. If they look alright, don't have any mold or something like that on them and don't smell especially bad, I'd say there's nothing wrong in using them on a child. Probably the worst thing that could happen would be a diaper rash or some other skin irritation, but I don't think there would be anything dangerous in using them.
By the way, what diapers are they?

Nano said:

Well, open the pack and examine the diapers. If they look alright, don't have any mold or something like that on them and don't smell especially bad, I'd say there's nothing wrong in using them on a child. Probably the worst thing that could happen would be a diaper rash or some other skin irritation, but I don't think there would be anything dangerous in using them.
By the way, what diapers are they?

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Truthfully they were kept in a bit of a filthy environment. I actually found them while looking for something else entirely in a semi-outdoor (has a roof over it) boat storage shed-thing. But the diapers themselves were in a (airtight..?) plastic bin and were sealed. So I'm hoping for the best!

The brand I've actually never heard of before myself, but just double checked and it says "Fitti"?

Diapers do have an expiration date, after which their performance cannot be guaranteed. Fortunately, if what you said about them being still sealed in their bags is true (no rodents, no falling things with sharp/jagged edges/corners had fallen on them, fluids that attack plastics have not seeped into the bagging, etc...); then the outside conditions should be for all intents and purposes be considered irrelevant. A bag of diapers can be buried in a hole for years and the product still be seen as usable as long as the packaging has not been penetrated. Not to tell you to actually try that because that is an extreme situation for illustrative purposes; but many, have sought out some truly aged diapers and have found them to still be quite usable despite their extreme age. Now what you can expect from diapers that are long past their expiration date is that they will obviously not perform on the level of diapers that are available today. Diaper manufacturing has improved by leaps and bounds over the years to the point that old/vintage diapers will most certainly feel like they are sorely under-performing with respect to your expectations. They may not hold as much as current diapers, they certainly will not reduce smell like newer diapers would, and they will not hold together as well as if they were new.

TL;DR If they really are sealed, you're good to go. There's not much to worry about.

If there plastic backed the tapes probably won't hold.

Not to mention - you don't know why a family member was keeping them in the first place... leave them be, get new ones...

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After 20 years you stop looking for a motive. My guess is the former boat owner in question bought them in the event that a small child would be with them on a nautical outing and just never got around to needing them.

Things are forgotten sometimes.

If they were on someone else's property, I'd leave them be. If it was an abandoned building etc., I'd keep those suckers for myself. Get the kid a $6.97 pack of Luvs at Walmart, and save the collectibles...

Maxx said:

There's still a certain amount of osmosis (not sure that's the technically correct term?) into and out of plastic packaging so odors and possibly even some hydrocarbon type vapors could've leaked in over that amount of time. Ever go to the pantry after painting your house and find that some 'sealed' food tastes and smells like paint?

Also, plastics do break down over time, so both the packaging and the diapers themselves may be sketchy. I've discovered the hard way that bike innertubes more than a couple years old aren't all that reliable, even if they've just been sitting on a shelf.

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Not just that, people tend to forget how long things have been there. I've got countless t-shirts from past races.... so many that there are some in bins that I've never worn. Put one on the other day without really looking at it, then saw a 1992 date in the mirror....


Bottom line: I might use them myself, for fun, but I wouldn't trust them in public, or use them on a child.

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I'd say look to see how much a package like them might be selling for. You might even just be able to seel them for enough to get a whole case of premium adult diapers. Trying to wear them (when you already know they won't fit), in a dituation lkle that, would just be silly.

The SAP should be fine as long as they were in a sealed bag that no humidity got into. Humidity would be the big problem, also for mold. Over time the materials aren't likely to break down into anything too toxic. The biggest time factor is in the effectiveness of the adhesives and the decomposition of the plastics and rubbers. Adhesives include those that hold in the leg elastic, that attach the shell to the liner, the tapes to the back panel, and the tapes to the front panel. Adhesives that "set" over time could be a problem too, because you may find you can't get the tapes peeled off the backing, or when you do there's no stick left on them because it was left behind on the backing. The shell plastics may have hardened and/or become more brittle. and easily damaged. The rubber bands in the leg gathers and leak guards may have hardened up like you see with old rubber bands, just falling apart when you try to stretch them. So that's all of what I would expect to be a problem. I haven't experienced any of this myself with old diapers though.

I was just thinking I HAVE seen examples of aged adhesives. Anyone that's found an old roll of tape knows where I'm going with this. Duct tape that can't be peeled back, masking or electrical tape that when you peel it back the adhesive acts heat-melted and spreads out between the tapes like fine cotton candy and makes the back of the tape just as sticky as the front, rolls of tape that the adhesive just totally fails and they start slowly unwinding themselves. Peel-back stick tapes that peel back with a bit more effort than needed, but then when you try to stick them down there's just nothing sticky there anymore.

I was curious and searched EBay and found one. The seller wants 19,99$ for ONE diaper. Fitti size xl, from the early nineties.


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using the information provided, well the name anyway Fitti, Ebay has some running roughly 50 bucks and up. I am with the crew that says sell them, since I havent seen a photo of the ones you have I cannot compare the different ones, but one was selling for as low as $19.99 now I cannot verify age on them as the posing did not say, however id check out ebay more and see what a going price for yours are. Good Luck!

I would not recommend using them on a child. I doubt that the pack or plastic bin were truly sealed and in an uncontrolled environment it is quite likely that mold spores and other contaminants have got in. Whilst probably harmless, it is unethical to test that using a child who would be unaware of possible consequences. Had they been stored under good conditions, in a clean dry closet in an occupied house, I would be less concerned as the deterioration would be most likely confined to age-related failure of glues, rubbers and plastics as explained by Bambinod above.

FWIW The oldest all-in-one nappies I have are from the 1980s; they seem to be in pretty good shape visually although I have not tried stressing parts like the elastics that might have lost their elasticity. However, they have only ever been stored in closed boxes in a bedroom closet, never subjected to extremes of temperature or humidity. The oldest nappies I have of any kind are the insert-pad type from the 1960s. Nothing too technical about those and no plastics to age - just cellulose fluff in tissue in a gauze cover, not even a non-woven coverstock. They look, feel and smell more or less like I think they would have done when new (I wasn't around then!) but it would be interesting to know how the absorbency compares to when they were new, and the same with an aged SAP-based product. One would have to find test methods and results from the era they were made, and repeat those methods to make a valid comparison.

As for the differences due to technological advances since they were made, I think we would all be astounded to discover just how limited the performance of early disposables was until the introduction of SAP. Reading the results of testing by the likes of Consumer Reports in the late 1960s / early 1970s, when disposables really started to gain market share, many users considered they were no substitute for cloth nappies. Some said they were only worthwhile where a particular situation, such as travelling, made it difficult to use cloth. Others thought disposables were adequate if one was prepared to accept very frequent changing, or doubling, as necessary for a comfortable baby. Fast-wind to today's nearest equivalent, the pad-and-pant hybrids like gDiapers, and while the concept is the same the performance is in a totally different league. So I think vintage diapers are just for looks!

Personally, I would not use them on a baby. There are too many unknown variables when dealing with plastics and the chemicals used in making disposable diapers. Babies have minimal immune systems and anything foreign introduced will affect their developing bodies so much more than on an adult. Think about lead poisoning on a kid vs. adult and how that could affect development.
My opinion, have fun with them yourself as a stuffer or whatever you like. Spare the baby for the few dollars in savings for what "could be" potential issues if something were to have "changed" over time with a 20 year old diaper. Risk vs. reward in this case just not worth it.

Auction them at .99, no reserve, from Sunday to Sunday (you can schedule the time for free) around 10pm EST, so both the West and East Coast can buy them. If you take good photos, and you haven't seen something quite like them, they will have a novelty factor and people will fight to buy them.

I am sure you'll have a good run.