The difference

Well, moreso for my significant other whom I'm dating and will be reading this, this post is more for her benefit. What do you guys think the difference between an AB and a little is?

mercyswolf said:

Well, moreso for my significant other whom I'm dating and will be reading this, this post is more for her benefit. What do you guys think the difference between an AB and a little is?

Click to expand...

The terms can be synonymous and often are interchangeable. There are some who identify with slightly older ages. They may regress to the age of 4 or 5. You get the idea. They are still young children, but not babies or toddlers. Some will say that they regress or identify with an 8 year old who still wets his pants and may have to wear diapers, etc. There are all sorts of variations in age play or regression and there should be acceptance to all these variations. We are the same and yet different in the ways we identify with being younger than our biological age.

According to another thread about an AB that went to a littles get together announced on fetlife, apparently some little's don't even know AB's exist. It was a surprise to me to hear, but I guess this AB had to tell them all about the AB lifestyle.

So yeah, like dogboy said though, little's can be really anywhere from a baby age, to the age of a grown child around 8 +/-. Basically, saying AB is kinda just narrowing it down a bit more, to the group of us who like to be a younger age, or at least the babyish aspect of wearing diapers and being taken care of.

That's interesting, I always thought of littles as only inclusive of toddler ageplayers (walking and pull-up/childish undwear age). Is there a term for toddler-only littles, then, or is it just littles with an age-identity of over three?

The term "little" has different meanings depending on what setting it is used in. It can mean the sub in a dom/sub relationship, an AB that doesn't identify as a specific age, or a number of other things. An AB is specific to the ABDL community, and little is used in multiple settings.

Another thing that people who identify as little in the ABDL sense (such as myself) will tell you our little side is more a part of our personality on a daily basis than a standard AB's is. Littles can't compartmentalize our little side and our big side very well.

I'm going with the previous post on this. In our context, I think it tends to refer to the regressive part of our personalities more specifically than AB which can simply refer to role playing.

I identify as an AB but refer to myself in regression as 'when I'm little' the reason for this I think, is that regression for me at least is weird in that it's rarely static. It's constantly sliding around, fluctuating between toddler and baby. It depends how intense the regression gets.

I know that as others have said, little has a different context in other circles, but for most here I think it is a reflection of their younger nature....whatever that age may be.

ozbub said:

I'm going with the previous post on this. In our context, I think it tends to refer to the regressive part of our personalities more specifically than AB which can simply refer to role playing.

Click to expand...

I have to disagree with this. Both are terms describing childish and/or infantile behavior in older people with, as others have said, "little" having a more broader meaning. However, saying that AB's and littles are different because one is more into age play vs. regression is simply not true. We are talking about labels here not diagnostic terms. Neither is more prone to actual regression than the other. A little who identifies as a pre-pubescent child might have more opportunity to regress (because its more socially acceptable), but that doesn't mean there are inherent personality differences between someone who identifies as a toddler and has less.

I do think there is a clear difference between age playing and regression, but again there is no evidence that the difference lies in these terms. If anything, there are probably more age players who call themselves littles because they are into dominant/submissive sexual practices and not actual regression.

dogboy said:

The terms can be synonymous and often are interchangeable. There are some who identify with slightly older ages. They may regress to the age of 4 or 5 ... Some will say that they regress or identify with an 8 year old who still wets his pants and may have to wear diapers, etc.

Click to expand...

Dogboy has your best answer here.

I'm a little, but I'm not AB. I act childish from time to time intentionally as a 5-6 year old but still wearing diapers. I like playing with legos and video games, but have little-0 interest in classical nursery/toddler kind of play. I do the building block sort of thing, and diapers are part of it. This ends up being the non sexual interest I have in diapers, but AB isn't the right title for it.

Little is inclusive of adult babies but also includes people that play as older non diapered kids. And there are many people on the Internets that exclude ABs and males from the "little" category.

I'm just really confused right now again. I thought I understood a bit but I don't know what I am classified as cuz I' relate as a 2yr, 5yr, 8yr, 13yr, and 15/16yr... all trying to fit into a world that expects me to be a 'normal' 32yr... like my significant other says.. what's normal?? I just want to be me and figure out how to also let the little self out with control so it's not pure chaios.

This is just my opinion but for me,
AB = Baby, you know its right there in the name. So I feel like that covers baby up till maybe 2-3 maybe 4 years old.
A little = not baby. So from like 3 or 4 up till whatever you like, even up to early/middle teenagers, say 13-16.
17-18 year olds is the age when people start being seen as "young adults" by older people.
But hey I guess being a little could mean any age younger then you really are right?

Thank you so much mandybear... I really appreciate the kindness I've been shown on here.

Mouse2015 said:

Thank you so much mandybear... I really appreciate the kindness I've been shown on here.

Click to expand...

Awww. Thank You Mouse

What's important to know (in my opinion) is the terms mean something different to all of us. I identify as both ab/dl & little. When I was younger (biologically) I never heard the term little. I quickly adopted once I did though but my childhood was spent identifying as an abdl or tbdl. I think that's why I still keep the term. My ages range from 2-6 on most days but I can go to other ages too.. I think generally is what everyone says on this thread: abdl born-2ish.... Little 3-6... Middle 7-16

LilSamsara said:

What's important to know (in my opinion) is the terms mean something different to all of us.

Click to expand...

This.
Labels and drawers are not meant to be used on/for human beings.
Being little might range anywhere between 0 and 999 years, depending on how old the regressing person is. And as some other posters already wrote, the "age" of your state can fluctuate even within the same session at least for some people. So restricting yourself or any other person to one specific term wouldn't make much sense. Even a 'true' adult baby might be a little sometimes, or even all the time, behaving like a baby but also doing things only a toddler would. etc