Do we really "need" diapers that can hold several liters?

[scaifester]

I wear premium diapers day and night so I marvel at the absorbency of some of the diapers available to us. I change 2-3 times a day. At night I wear a cloth pull-on to prevent leaks because I sleep on my side.
I am glad that today's diapers can be so absorbent because it means I can miss a change if I have to and still be ok.
However, sometimes I pause and think about whether such highly absorbent diapers are overkill.

Thoughts?

 

[Silversnell]

For the most part the ultra premium diapers hold more than they need to, as in, they can last you all day and maybe even through the night. I enjoy them because I like the feeling of a full diaper and nothing gets more full than a maximum absorbency diaper!

 

[Trevor]

I can't imagine there's too much need for such high capacity diapers in a medical sense. I see them more like a performance car or similar. Not to say that no one has a medical need for that much diaper but I doubt the need would be common enough without ABDL enthusiasts.

 

[leftydiaperboy]

I wear premium diapers day and night so I marvel at the absorbency of some of the diapers available to us. I change 2-3 times a day. At night I wear a cloth pull-on to prevent leaks because I sleep on my side.
I am glad that today's diapers can be so absorbent because it means I can miss a change if I have to and still be ok.
However, sometimes I pause and think about whether such highly absorbent diapers are overkill.

Thoughts?

That is why I love the Abena M4. Thick for high capacity at a good price. A lot less than the fancy ab diapers. I do use a stuffed for extra night time absorption.

 

[heatherreynolds]

I think that we really need these high performance diapers, as I often experience times when I can change for a few hours. If I wear anything less than a rearz or dry 247, I will have the wet cheeks look going on. I am grateful that these high performance diapers exist for such circumstance. I don't wear them all the time because they are expensive and I like to get my use out of everything, so I don't always want to wear something that weighs five pounds. I hate having a mess after having just put one on because I make myself keep it on until I have saturated it.

 

[ltaluv]

I can't imagine there's too much need for such high capacity diapers in a medical sense. I see them more like a performance car or similar. Not to say that no one has a medical need for that much diaper but I doubt the need would be common enough without ABDL enthusiasts.

There are plenty of people who do indeed need the very high capacities of ultrapremium diapers. I don't know the relative numbers of the ones sold for incontinence versus ABDL interests, but I'd hazard a bet that the incontinence market account for a sizeable majority.

For one thing, many people find themselves regularly in situations where it's impractical to change. At work with no private restroom or no breaks? Flying and unwilling to change in a coffin-sized lavatory? On an overnight IV drip that's running wife open and don't want to wake up every two hours? High capacity is your friend.

Then there are the people who flood heavily and need a while lot of absorbency quickly. My accidents can exceed 800 ml on occasion - a thin, light diaper simply can't absorb that much in one area, and there's no time for it to wick around the diaper since it happens quickly. Wearing something with 2 liters of capacity world seem fine for that, up until it leaks while most of the passing is still dry.

Finally, the ultrapremium diapers are the least likely to have the padding clump and disintegrate during daily wear. It's not uncommon that I don't have an accident all day, and in the evening I take off the same dry diaper I put on in the morning. That simply doesn't work without something ultrapremium, and leads to the inconvenience of changing and ultimately higher costs.

 

[NotTheAverageMan]

I cannot see we need so extreme diapers. I can only imagine when such a diaper is full. Forget being discreet in such a diaper when it's close to max capacity. And the smell of it. Because it has been on for a whole day.
I do appreciate high capacity diapers which can last 8-9 hours, but these extreme ones.... I'm never going to buy them, ridiculous expensive and not what I need.
Maybe one day the less expensive diapers may begin to utilize some of the same material and construction as these super premium diapers, then we ordinary people can benefit from them, as well, without being ruined

 

[mickdl]

Hi Scaifester,

I think this is a really good thought. I‘m sure there is often a big difference between what you like to wear and what you need to wear. From a economical and often also from a medical point of view these 4 liter diapers are often not the first choice. I think it‘s up to everybody himself to decide what he/she wear, but I can say for me, that since my UIC started I‘m really happy, that can meanwhile use pads or even no protection if I’m at home over the daytime. For the nightime I‘m happy that a Attends 10 work fine for me...

 

[winterheart01]

I cannot see we need so extreme diapers. I can only imagine when such a diaper is full. Forget being discreet in such a diaper when it's close to max capacity. And the smell of it. Because it has been on for a whole day.
I do appreciate high capacity diapers which can last 8-9 hours, but these extreme ones.... I'm never going to buy them, ridiculous expensive and not what I need.
Maybe one day the less expensive diapers may begin to utilize some of the same material and construction as these super premium diapers, then we ordinary people can benefit from them, as well, without being ruined

The main problem is that the more common brands with less capacity are not exactly cheap either, one needs to change 2 - 3 times more compared to when wearing premium diapers. The cost and convenience diference is huge.
15 years ago this was different however, common brands like tena and molicare were affordable and premium , hence there was no need for ultrapremium diapers yet.
I am aware the discreetness is reduced, but I'd prefer to wear a thicker diaper for 6h than having to change twice during the same time period.

 

[Frungie]

I am not incontinent and I wear diapers for pleasure. I am a DL, not AB. I like to wear diapers during the day and at night. Daytime diapers have to be discreet, especially if I decide to wear at work. I find the diapers advertised at 3500 and 4000ml absorbency to be the "Goldilocks" diaper for me; absorbent enough and discreet enough. Of course you can always make any diaper more absorbent by adding a soaker insert. There are many levels of absorbency for incontinent pads to choose from for this purpose. A baby cloth diaper or a micro-cloth type insert work well too.

 

[Inconinmiss]

I wear top-of-line diapers 24/7 to manage my urge incontinence, and I generally use three of them in 24 hours. My diaper is rarely fully saturated when I change it. So theoretically I could wear something less absorbent. However, with a high-capacity diaper, I very, very rarely have a leak either during the day or at night. So I think wearing an ultra high-capacity diaper is worth it.

 

[Trevor]

There are plenty of people who do indeed need the very high capacities of ultrapremium diapers. I don't know the relative numbers of the ones sold for incontinence versus ABDL interests, but I'd hazard a bet that the incontinence market account for a sizeable majority.

For one thing, many people find themselves regularly in situations where it's impractical to change. At work with no private restroom or no breaks? Flying and unwilling to change in a coffin-sized lavatory? On an overnight IV drip that's running wife open and don't want to wake up every two hours? High capacity is your friend.

Then there are the people who flood heavily and need a while lot of absorbency quickly. My accidents can exceed 800 ml on occasion - a thin, light diaper simply can't absorb that much in one area, and there's no time for it to wick around the diaper since it happens quickly. Wearing something with 2 liters of capacity world seem fine for that, up until it leaks while most of the passing is still dry.

Finally, the ultrapremium diapers are the least likely to have the padding clump and disintegrate during daily wear. It's not uncommon that I don't have an accident all day, and in the evening I take off the same dry diaper I put on in the morning. That simply doesn't work without something ultrapremium, and leads to the inconvenience of changing and ultimately higher costs.

Even now with the example of those high end diapers flying off the shelves, no major manufacturer has stepped up their game to offer a competing high end product. This tells me that while the market is real, it is likely not large enough to support their attention. That's what I mean by not that many actually need them. In straight numbers, I don't doubt your existence but there might not be enough of you to support the attention of a worldwide corporation.

 

[hex000f]

Firstly I will admit that I very much like the idea of a diaper that lasts a long time without the risk of leaking, both as a personal preference and for practical reasons. Having a diaper brand that needs to be changed after every wetting or risk it leaking would make me very nervous. I don't worry about random passerby noticing anything because I wear long shirts so my diapers aren't poking out.

I don't feel like there is absorbancy "overkill" unless its so much that no one wants to buy that brand of diaper and/or the company can't sell them at a profit. As others have said, different people have different needs and preferences for how much absorbancy they want. As an extreme example: I've heard that NASA made a "diaper" for astronauts to wear during space shuttle launches that's much much higher capacity then anything mass produced.

As for the comments about major manufacturers not going for the high capacity diaper market segment: My theory is that brands like depend dominate the market segment made up of newbie/clueless consumers who don't know how undependable (pun intended) their products are. They read the line "looks and feels like regular underwear" while in the denial stage and/or assume that the adult diapers on the shelves are equivalent to the baby diapers a few aisles down. (Admitedly I was once in this clueless category: when I bought a pack of depends I expected them to work about as well as scaled up baby diapers but they weren't even close). Each individual consumer might not be a customer for long but since no one ever wants to talk about needing adult diapers word never gets around enough to sabotage the makers of depend and its competitors and the cycle continues. Also since depends don't expire while still on the shelf and such a low quality product is rediculously cheap to produce they can still make a profit this way.

 

[tafkadl]

I use max 2200ml diapers overnight as it feels like a waste of money to go higher in capacity.

 

[SpAzpieSweeTot]

The ultra high capacity ones are good for people with attendants that show up only to start and end their days.

 

[diaperfooties]

Long answer yes.

 

[SpAzpieSweeTot]

Exactly

 

[rennecfox]

depends on what the needs are for, someone with heavy voiding of a full bladder may need a higher capacity say then someone who wears for urgency and bowel issues

 

[ltaluv]

Even now with the example of those high end diapers flying off the shelves, no major manufacturer has stepped up their game to offer a competing high end product. This tells me that while the market is real, it is likely not large enough to support their attention. That's what I mean by not that many actually need them.

Relative to the cheap mass-market diapers, the number of customers for premium diapers is indeed smaller. What I suspect had happened is that the high end of the market has grown at a much slower rate than the low end, partly driven by the choices of hospital and nursing home purchasing departments. Therefore, you see a much higher percentage of cheap diapers being sold, often by people who don't know that there's something better or can't afford something better. If we can get diapers covered by insurance in more places, I think we'll see very rapid growth in the premium adult diaper marketplace.

In straight numbers, I don't doubt your existence but there might not be enough of you to support the attention of a worldwide corporation.

I'm glad we've established that I do, in fact, exist.

Seriously, though, there are multiple major companies that produce, or have in the past produced, premium diapers. Most are located in Europe where the ability to get them covered is very different from the US. Again, if we can get them covered by US insurance plans, I think there's plenty of market available to support the main players in the adult diaper marketplace.