We had our first baby in 1970, the time of the transition. Lots of pediatricians were ambivalent about disposables and the Earth Movement made it tough on us Wannabee Enviormentalists. But Pampers made it possible for moms to work, at least part time, so they were a necessity for clumsy fingered dads. I don't think the rise of the Dual Income household would have been possible otherwise.
In Iowa, disposable diapers really didn't become a go-to till the late '80's. At the Iowa State Fair in 1985, we used the free diaper changing stations of Pampers and Huggies for our baby son, plus we were able to take a bunch home with us, no cost. Still used regular diapers after that.
By 1988 when our daughter was born, we were at 50-50 between regular and disposable, and at the State Fair diaper stations you were given one per child.
In 1993, our youngest son only had disposables, and there were no more free diapers at the State Fair.
Couldn't imagine using regular diapers today for our grandkids!
I was in cloth nappies in the UK in 1988. I remember my now-husband, when we were courting as teenagers, asking my mum if he could help with the drying up. Fetch a tea towel from that cupboard, he was told. He emerged with a fluffy square. "Oh no that's one of E's old nappies" says my mother. He dropped it like it was made of polonium
I was in cloth diapers as late as 1986, and we kept them around the house for at least another decade as burping cloths and cleaning rags (while my younger siblings got disposable diapers). Fantastic piece thanks Virginia!
We were not well off so for my first seven children, born between 1972 and 1985, we used cotton nappies and a pail of water with detergent in it. For the eight baby, born 1990, I gave up and surrendered to Pampas.
Great article, Virginia! With grandfatherhood, my interest is rekindled.
It's a neat story because of the variety of technical change. First, cloth diapers are better if you have plumbing-- and this became universal. Second, there were diaper services to help with cloth diapers. I'm not sure of their trajectory. Third, with the baby boom the market size was fluctuating. And as you mention the technical change in diapers was continual.
As a crunchy-hippie sort of person, I had aspirations of cloth diapering my own offspring (this was in the early 2000s). However, my husband had grown up with numerous younger siblings and parents who cloth-diapered out of economic necessity; he had rather vivid memories of the stinky diaper pail and put the kibosh on my plan immediately.
However, I noticed immediately that Pull-Ups were a terrible idea for potty training. They felt much too diaper-ish. My daughter did not progress with potty training until I put her in cloth underpants. Once I did that, it took her about three days to become reliably potty-trained.
It turned out that the feeling of peepee trickling down her leg and wet underpants was sufficiently unpleasant to force her to pay more attention to noticing when she had to go. With my subsequent children, I just went straight from diapers to underpants and all of them trained quickly.
When my kids were little, the typical age for a child to be reliably potty-trained was around 3 to 3-1/2. My mother found this shocking; she reported that the typical age was more like 2 to 2-1/2 when my brother and I were little (1960s). I suspect the fact that we were both cloth-diapered had an impact - parents and toddlers were both much more motivated to master the potty in those days.
At my last employer, part of my job was to do post-construction evaluations of recently built school buildings. I noticed that most kindergarten classrooms now include large-sized changing tables in addition to the child-sized restroom, as it is increasingly common for 5-year-olds to not be fully potty trained. I suspect Pull-Ups being available in ever-larger sizes is one of the reasons why.
We used cloth diapers on our kid in 2017. Cloth has changed a lot, and I’m thankful we never had to worry about running out of diapers or keeping them in our budget. Also, wet diaper pails are a think of the past, I can’t imagine fishing dirty diapers out of cold water at the end of the day.
My husband changed many a cloth diaper, more than I did right after we brought her home for sure. Now you can get cloth that looks and works like a disposable, no pins needed.
We are long out of cloth, but my diapers have been on the bums of several other babies. Glad to have minimized my contribution to the diaper trash.
We used a diaper service with our first child in 1992! I loved it. Made her look bulkier, though. I’m sure cloth diapers had a lot to do with babies being potty trained much earlier. By the time they are one, they pee a lot more!
Glad you brought that up, I'm sure disposable diapers brought us to the present situation of kids not being potty trained until kindergarten or even school sometimes. Just too easy for parents, and kids don't notice a wet diaper, while a wet cloth diaper is disagreeable.
Yes. On the other hand, disposables now are very expensive for young families. My daughter and friends’ kids are potty training their kids earlier than we did.
There were such incredible inventions in the 20th century that traded toil and filth for ease and health. The Machine Age delivered on many of its promises.
The Software Age mimics its promises on what laundry, the automotive, the consumer goods revolution delivered to the nation.
I don’t think that software can create material value that humanity broadly appreciates, in the way that the Mass Production revolution did.
This is great! the disposable diapers I use for my children are so much better than the re-usable ones my mom used with me - particularly when my mom said she frequently stabbed me with a safety pin.
Now, if only someone could perfect the diaper pail. Diaper Genie keeps changing their designs and yet their bags routinely split open and require me to dig through smelly old diapers 🤮. I don't have a lot of hope for AI and robotics making parenting easier, but a little robot that grabs dirty diapers and whisks them to a garbage can outside would be fantastic.
We had our first baby in 1970, the time of the transition. Lots of pediatricians were ambivalent about disposables and the Earth Movement made it tough on us Wannabee Enviormentalists. But Pampers made it possible for moms to work, at least part time, so they were a necessity for clumsy fingered dads. I don't think the rise of the Dual Income household would have been possible otherwise.
Dads are entirely capable of changing cloth diapers!
In Iowa, disposable diapers really didn't become a go-to till the late '80's. At the Iowa State Fair in 1985, we used the free diaper changing stations of Pampers and Huggies for our baby son, plus we were able to take a bunch home with us, no cost. Still used regular diapers after that.
By 1988 when our daughter was born, we were at 50-50 between regular and disposable, and at the State Fair diaper stations you were given one per child.
In 1993, our youngest son only had disposables, and there were no more free diapers at the State Fair.
Couldn't imagine using regular diapers today for our grandkids!
I was in cloth nappies in the UK in 1988. I remember my now-husband, when we were courting as teenagers, asking my mum if he could help with the drying up. Fetch a tea towel from that cupboard, he was told. He emerged with a fluffy square. "Oh no that's one of E's old nappies" says my mother. He dropped it like it was made of polonium
Clean diapers were often used to drape over your shoulder while burping a baby. And old ones made great cleaning rags.
Yes that's why it had been kept! I understood even then. Was just the boyfriend being all Man about it
I was in cloth diapers as late as 1986, and we kept them around the house for at least another decade as burping cloths and cleaning rags (while my younger siblings got disposable diapers). Fantastic piece thanks Virginia!
Ahhh. The memories!
We were not well off so for my first seven children, born between 1972 and 1985, we used cotton nappies and a pail of water with detergent in it. For the eight baby, born 1990, I gave up and surrendered to Pampas.
My wife and I really enjoyed this article!
Subscribed. Cloth diaper advice: nostalgia wrapped in a laundry pile!
Great article, Virginia! With grandfatherhood, my interest is rekindled.
It's a neat story because of the variety of technical change. First, cloth diapers are better if you have plumbing-- and this became universal. Second, there were diaper services to help with cloth diapers. I'm not sure of their trajectory. Third, with the baby boom the market size was fluctuating. And as you mention the technical change in diapers was continual.
I liked the technical aspects, too. It's not very often we think of the ingenuity that goes into building a production line.
It doesn’t help that the companies are super secretive and won’t let people (I.e., me) tour them.
I primarily used cloth. Cheaper and better! I bought all-in-one cloth for my daughter to use with her babies.
My parents were using cloth diapers in 1999!
As a crunchy-hippie sort of person, I had aspirations of cloth diapering my own offspring (this was in the early 2000s). However, my husband had grown up with numerous younger siblings and parents who cloth-diapered out of economic necessity; he had rather vivid memories of the stinky diaper pail and put the kibosh on my plan immediately.
However, I noticed immediately that Pull-Ups were a terrible idea for potty training. They felt much too diaper-ish. My daughter did not progress with potty training until I put her in cloth underpants. Once I did that, it took her about three days to become reliably potty-trained.
It turned out that the feeling of peepee trickling down her leg and wet underpants was sufficiently unpleasant to force her to pay more attention to noticing when she had to go. With my subsequent children, I just went straight from diapers to underpants and all of them trained quickly.
When my kids were little, the typical age for a child to be reliably potty-trained was around 3 to 3-1/2. My mother found this shocking; she reported that the typical age was more like 2 to 2-1/2 when my brother and I were little (1960s). I suspect the fact that we were both cloth-diapered had an impact - parents and toddlers were both much more motivated to master the potty in those days.
At my last employer, part of my job was to do post-construction evaluations of recently built school buildings. I noticed that most kindergarten classrooms now include large-sized changing tables in addition to the child-sized restroom, as it is increasingly common for 5-year-olds to not be fully potty trained. I suspect Pull-Ups being available in ever-larger sizes is one of the reasons why.
We used cloth diapers on our kid in 2017. Cloth has changed a lot, and I’m thankful we never had to worry about running out of diapers or keeping them in our budget. Also, wet diaper pails are a think of the past, I can’t imagine fishing dirty diapers out of cold water at the end of the day.
My husband changed many a cloth diaper, more than I did right after we brought her home for sure. Now you can get cloth that looks and works like a disposable, no pins needed.
We are long out of cloth, but my diapers have been on the bums of several other babies. Glad to have minimized my contribution to the diaper trash.
The smell of cloth diapers washing in the machine still lives pungently in my head 45 years after my kids diapering days!
We used a diaper service with our first child in 1992! I loved it. Made her look bulkier, though. I’m sure cloth diapers had a lot to do with babies being potty trained much earlier. By the time they are one, they pee a lot more!
Glad you brought that up, I'm sure disposable diapers brought us to the present situation of kids not being potty trained until kindergarten or even school sometimes. Just too easy for parents, and kids don't notice a wet diaper, while a wet cloth diaper is disagreeable.
Yes. On the other hand, disposables now are very expensive for young families. My daughter and friends’ kids are potty training their kids earlier than we did.
There were such incredible inventions in the 20th century that traded toil and filth for ease and health. The Machine Age delivered on many of its promises.
The Software Age mimics its promises on what laundry, the automotive, the consumer goods revolution delivered to the nation.
I don’t think that software can create material value that humanity broadly appreciates, in the way that the Mass Production revolution did.
This is great! the disposable diapers I use for my children are so much better than the re-usable ones my mom used with me - particularly when my mom said she frequently stabbed me with a safety pin.
Now, if only someone could perfect the diaper pail. Diaper Genie keeps changing their designs and yet their bags routinely split open and require me to dig through smelly old diapers 🤮. I don't have a lot of hope for AI and robotics making parenting easier, but a little robot that grabs dirty diapers and whisks them to a garbage can outside would be fantastic.