Thoughts on wearing to class?

I understand that this has been discussed before, but the last time a thread like this was posted seems to be 3 years ago and I'd like some input on my specific situation.

The CS department at my university is a fan of having night classes because the department is under-funded and our professors are not morning people (I have yet to take a CS class that started before noon and I've been here for four years). These classes typically last 3 hours and I usually have to use the restroom at least once and the stares I get from leaving the room make me a bit anxious. I'd like to start wearing to these classes, but I fidget in my chair a lot and am concerned that the acoustics of the room will lead to very audible crinkling, which I'd love to avoid at all costs. The smell is also of slight concern, but to a lesser degree because half of the students in the department don't bathe. I currently have Abena M4s and have worn them in public before and it wasn't noticeable, but I'm concerned that in a closed space it would be different.

Does anyone have experience on this? I'm open to trying a different diaper for this purpose, but since I'm rather new to all of this I'm not sure where to start.

I'm actually somewhat curious at the comment about you getting looks to use the restroom in a 3 hour class. While lots of people can hold it 3 hours, my experience is that lots of people (especially women) can't always do that and anyway going 3 hours straight for a class without a 5 minute rest and potty break isn't particularly effective teaching either. People can't focus that long. If there's a legitimate expectation that you keep your butt in the seat for 3 hours straight and you can't do that, I think diapers would be a great solution to that problem.

As far as wearing for pleasure goes, I'd ask you how much you care about people suspecting or finding out. If even one person in these classes happens to notice a diaper waistband sticking out one day or catches on to a crinkle in a quiet room, would you be totally devastated? If so, you probably shouldn't wear to class. But you've worn out before and I get the sense that it might not be that big a deal for you other than some nerves the first couple times you do it. Probably nobody will notice and it will be fine, perhaps even an improvement over your previous classes.

One other consideration is how distracting diapers are for you. If you can't focus on your classes because you're thinking about how much you crinkle and how the diaper feels on you, don't wear it. You're there to learn. But if you can work and pay attention diapered, then this isn't an issue.

ArchieRoni said:

While lots of people can hold it 3 hours, my experience is that lots of people (especially women) can't always do that.

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This class in particular has 4 women taking it. It actually kind of saddens me that there are so few

ArchieRoni said:

As far as wearing for pleasure goes, I'd ask you how much you care about people suspecting or finding out. If even one person in these classes happens to notice a diaper waistband sticking out one day or catches on to a crinkle in a quiet room, would you be totally devastated?

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I don't think I'd be totally devastated unless it was particular people in the class. I know there are about 2-3 people in the class who are constantly on 4chan and I'd be concerned about being the butt of some lame troll's joke, but there are about 60 of us in the lecture. I think it is more of just the nerves to be honest. I just started wearing a few weeks ago, even though I've known I've been a DL for at least 6 years. It took me finding out that one of my close friends is a DL to actually embrace it. For me taking first steps is always difficult.

ArchieRoni said:

One other consideration is how distracting diapers are for you.

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I don't think they'd be all that distracting. Yes they are fun to wear, but I feel like for me they act as more of just a background comfort than anything else.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I don't have the class for another week as it's once a week and the lecture was today, so that will give me more time to get used to the idea and think it over.

Archie pretty much covered everything I've considered about it. If you can wear something to cover yourself and the noise (even a pair of underwear over it) and it won't overly distract you during class ... why not? Especially for 3 hours straight that could be pretty beneficial.

ArchieRoni said:

While lots of people can hold it 3 hours, my experience is that lots of people (especially women) can't always do that and anyway going 3 hours straight for a class without a 5 minute rest and potty break isn't particularly effective teaching either.

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First, being a CS class, there's probably under 15% women. That's not prejudice, that's just fact. The last nursing class I stopped in on had a room of ~30 students, ONE guy. That's just the normal mix. So most in the CS class have "man-bladders"

but second, yes, I don't recall ever taking a class longer than 1.5 hrs that didn't get at least one, if not two breaks. a 3 hr class I would expect at least two breaks, maybe three. (talk to your instructor about this?!)

As for diapers, wear something good. Wetting while sitting is always higher risk. I'd recommend a Confidry. They're somewhat quiet, high capacity, good fitting with front/back elastic and tall leak guards, pretty good wicking, and I think will VERY safely hold one very large or two medium wettings while seated. (their capacity is much higher, I'm just talking what you should have 100% confidence in) Try to avoid flooding though. Don't hold it until you're desperate - go when you feel your bladder let you know it's getting time to go. At that level, you will probably have to go 2-3 times during a 3 hr class, and I think the CD will do well for you because that will give it time to wick and prepare to safely handle the next event. Avoid fidgeting and moving around in a wet diaper, which veltillates your diaper and will increase odor. Odor will be a bigger problem than noise.

Make sure you have time to change after class before your next class. Have a bathroom scoped out to do so. Our administrative building has a higher class of bathrooms. They have the regular "public restrooms" downstairs, but upstairs there is another set of them "tucked away in the back" that are single occupancy and are all VERY large. (8ft x 10ft, with locking hall doors with Occupancy indicating latches) A men's room, a Women's room, a koala care changing room with table, AND a "family room". The family room doesn't even have a toilet or a sink. I'm betting it's there for things like changing clothes, with tables, chairs, a cleaner floor etc. In retrospect, it's not surprising that the president and higher-up admin faculty want better bathroom facilities and can make it happen in their building, these are by far the best on campus.

If you do find a good bathroom on campus, keep looking for another one. There's a chance it will be in use or otherwise unavailable and you'll want to have an alternate already scoped out. School protip: if you're a guy and your campus has a nursing program, go to that building. The mens rooms in that building are the same size as the women's, but are almost always deserted. Women will find the CS and automotive building's womens bathrooms much less busy also.

Oh one more thing. You are NOT alone. I'd throw out odds that 1 in 30 women that are sitting in long classes like that with minimal breaks are wearing a diaper. It's a big enough problem at colleges to be a common response by women, some of which may have to go as often as once an hour.

bambinod said:

I don't recall ever taking a class longer than 1.5 hrs that didn't get at least one, if not two breaks. a 3 hr class I would expect at least two breaks, maybe three.

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It's a symptom of our quarter based schedule. Each of our quarters has only 10 weeks of instruction time. For many classes because of this exams are often given outside of class meeting time. I regularly have 1.5-2 hour classes and it's rare for us to get breaks. This particular class does have a break for about 5 minutes, but the professor typically doesn't get around to the break until after the 2 hour mark.

bambinod said:

Make sure you have time to change after class before your next class.

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Luckily for me, it is a night class so I don't have any classes afterwards.

bambinod said:

School protip: if you're a guy and your campus has a nursing program, go to that building.

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That would be great advice if the nursing classes weren't in another part of the city that is about 20 blocks away. Just a weird quirk of being at an urban university.

When I was in college I would wear to all of my night classes which were 3 hours. We did take a break part way through, but I usually have to pee about once per hour.

No one could ever tell that I was wearing a diaper.

Just as an update, I went ahead and wore to class today. It worked out pretty well, though it took a little bit before I got comfortable with using it. The half-mile walk to class, or should I say waddle, was a bit uncomfortable but I can fix that by not putting it on until after I get to the building.

Why does everyone think that crinkling from a diaper is audible?
I have worn diapers everyday for the last twenty years and never had a problem.
There are more "Incon's" out there that you don't even know about who never have a problem. You hear it because you are looking for it.in the normal audio spectrum of hearing this is a small sound that you will never notice 99 % of the time unless you remain hypervigilant for it.

Tetra said:

Why does everyone think that crinkling from a diaper is audible?
I have worn diapers everyday for the last twenty years and never had a problem.
There are more "Incon's" out there that you don't even know about who never have a problem. You hear it because you are looking for it.in the normal audio spectrum of hearing this is a small sound that you will never notice 99 % of the time unless you remain hypervigilant for it.

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Although I agree that we're generally oversensitive to our own crinkling sounds, I have once received a comment and know others who have as well in a variety of situations. If you wear a lot, that 1% (or whatever number) comes around.

I wore diapers to every college class I ever went to. They were (to my knowledge, anyway) never noticed, and saved me on numerous occasions. I think that diapers are a big part of why I did so well in college -- I was able to concentrate on the material and tests without having to worry about the bathroom. I absolutely recommend wearing diapers to class.

Once you start to wear more often you won't notice the diaper most of the time, When a I first started to wear 24/7 for my OAB is was berry aware of my diaper, now I wear a dry 24/7 or and Abena level 4 diaper and I hardly notice the diaper.

Since you are use to only wearing underwear you will notice the thickness of the diaper for a while, if you want to get use to them start to wear them 24/7 for a week or 2 by the end of the second week or sooner you won't even think about your diaper or how thick it is.

Rob110 said:

Since you are use to only wearing underwear you will notice the thickness of the diaper for a while, if you want to get use to them start to wear them 24/7 for a week or 2 by the end of the second week or sooner you won't even think about your diaper or how thick it is.

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Indeed! Actually, it'll start feeling "weird" when you're wearing normal underwear

I think after 20 years in diapers wearing regular underware would feel as unnatural as going "commando" .

bambinobaby said:

I wore diapers to every college class I ever went to. They were (to my knowledge, anyway) never noticed, and saved me on numerous occasions. I think that diapers are a big part of why I did so well in college -- I was able to concentrate on the material and tests without having to worry about the bathroom. I absolutely recommend wearing diapers to class.

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In college I sometimes woke up wet but no time to change and shower so I had to run to class still in my snap-on diaper and plastic underpants (and sweat pants over that). I was fortunate that rarely was I ever fully soaked; more like moderately wet in the front and some in the back. So my situation had some caveats but I do recall the first few weeks of wearing protection I was very self-conscience of others around me noticing, but no one said anything. And overall it definitely beat waking up in wet sheets in the middle of the night.

At least your choice is out of convenience and can be altered. My first time in college explaining to a girl that I started to date and how I had to wear protection at night was very apprehensive and at dinner she could see how nervous I was and finally coached me to tell her what was bothering me. To my relief it did not bother her and she understood my situation. We dated several more times and had some great times and she even wanted me to stayovernight with her while wearing my protection. We eventually went on to date other people but she told me it had nothing to do with my nightime challenges; we just had other interests. I eventually became quite use to wearing my protection and did not even think much about other people noticing if I had them on beneath my clothes because I raced from my bed to a class (which only happened a handful of times).