The Perfect Diaper

[sbmccue]

I'm a lifelong AB, and I've been through my share of 'perfect' diapers. Some of those infatuations have lasted for years, like my still-current preference for cloth pocket diapers and ABU Space 'sposies, and others have waxed and waned with steady usage.

Like most children of the early 1960s, I never experienced Pampers until I saw them on another baby. That was 1969, and the Pampers were the original pin-on variety, but I fell in love with the colorful boxes and the utter simplicity of disposables. Until then, all I'd known were Curity (and other manufacturers) cloth flats and prefolds, and the dwindling stack in the hall closet had been used for my sibling and I. I remember watching my mother change a cousin in 1971; he was wearing a pin-on cloth prefold and plastic pants.

Fast forward a decade, and - miracle of miracles! - you could, with patient search, find adult disposables in a few drug stores. I made furtive use of them when and where I could, but they were leaky affairs without much in the way of leg gathers or tapes that actually stuck. I think my first few experiments with adult disposables disappointed me enough that I looked to cloth diapers for years afterward.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, I bought adult-sized cloth prefolds from Edley Enterprises and plastic pants from various sources. They were cumbersome to change and wash, even when I had my bride or a babysitter in charge. For a number of years, I liked to go out dressed in street clothes and very thin all-in-ones. Changed frequently enough, the convenience rivaled disposables and I felt better about the lack of environmental damage.

I bought Tena for many years, and enjoyed the original plastic-backed slips very much. They're all but unobtainable now, of course. ABU Space is probably the best disposable I've ever tried ... a far cry from the old wingfold Sure-Care adult diapers with a single tape on each side and no leg gathers! I put on a Bambino Classico yesterday and found myself wondering what all the fuss was about.

I have invested heavily - my nanny says too heavily - in pocket diapers and inserts from Snap-EZ. While my nanny complains about the cost, she does find them easy to change and launder. With more and more babies wearing pocket diapers, I don't find the Snap-EZ versions particularly unconventional. When I'm alone for hours at a time, which is rare these days, I wear ABU Space or Northshore Supreme Lites. My preference is the Space, because I don't have to change as often.

I've said all this as a sort of preamble to ask: What's your 'perfect' diaper? Flights of fancy aside, I don't imagine there's anything that's really 'perfect,' and if there is, it isn't 'perfect' for everyone. Nonetheless, I'd like to know how close you think you've gotten ... and with what!

 

[ArchtopK]

I find i like the solid mat feel of the Northshore supreme. My only concern with them is that if you flood pointed up, which is the way I like to do it, there is always some risk of the stream going over the leak guards and down the "gutter" they make with the outer part. And when that happens, I know that there will be pee on the floor. So, maybe just taller leak guards and have them attached higher up towards the top. I have some Crinklz now and while I can flood them to abandon without incident, it is hard to get used to how much the swell up.

 

[deerest]

I too am a big fan of pocket diapers! I get mine from teenadultdiaper.com and eBay, mostly. I'm into cute prints rather than solid colors

To make them better...hmm. They are one size fits all and while they do fit, I'm a big hipped lady and they don't fit exactly right. A change in the snap configuration would help a lot - right now I often snap the top snap as tight as I can, about the third snap in, and then the bottom snap at the very last outer snap, because it won't go much tighter without a lot of discomfort. I'm not really sure how that could be changed, though!

It would be really cool to get one with the standing leak guards and snaps and all in minky, on both the inside and outside. I love soft things! I guess that would be my ideal some kind of change to the snaps for better fit (I don't like Velcro, same fit issues but the Velcro just scratches me instead of me having the ability to position the snaps as I wish) and in minky!


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[forevernick]

I've never tried a cloth diaper. But having read this thread, it really intrigues me now.
Can anyone describe the feel of them, as versus that of a disposable?

 

[sbmccue]

For me, the biggest difference is in feel ... a cloth diaper has a certain heft to it, especially when wet, and you notice the wetness because there's no absorbent core to pull it away from your skin. Since I only had cloth diapers when I was a 'real' kid, that feeling was very familiar and comfortable for me.

Over the years, I've learned to gauge the effectiveness of a cloth diaper by how thick it is, what kind of material it's made from and the weave. At first, however, wearing a cloth diaper as an adult led to a series of disasters. You have to experiment a bit to find a system that works for you.

Many styles of cloth diapers today are as easy to put on or change as disposables. However, the investment in a supply of cloth diapers can be substantial. Start with one and see how you like it, then add more as time and finances allow.