image credit: Joe Shlabotnik
One of the things I had to get used to when using cloth diapers was the fact that I had to change the diapers more often — sometimes every hour or two — or they would leak if I didn’t. However, as tedious as that seemed, I was kind of glad, because you see, knowing I’d missed my daughter peeing even once, and knowing she’d been sitting with urine on her skin for hours, kind of made me sad. Whether the diapers “absorbed” it or not, my kid was still sitting in her own pee.
So as you can imagine, the disposables coming out recently that make claims of ’12 Hours of Protection!’ or ‘Long-lasting absorbency’ I kind of want to cry.
Now, before anyone says it, yes, I understand that some kids are heavy wetters overnight — that’s different. There are companies with overnight diapers, and I totally understand the need. I used disposables overnight for awhile until I learned how to do two cloth inserts in a way that didn’t bow my daughter’s legs until she was old enough that she started holding her bladder overnight. So I get overnight needs… but that’s not what these diapers are advertised as, and that bothers me.
Look up reviews on many disposable diapers, and many mothers discuss a diaper’s ability to hold multiple bladderfuls of urine. On one diaper, a mother complains in a review that after her daughter would pee, it would hang down enough that she found herself changing more often and therefore spending more money on diapers because it “looked so uncomfortable.” Forgive me, but shouldn’t the concern there be changing your child after they’ve urinated, rather than just trying to keep diapers on them as long as possible to save cash?
Even worse, you can find parents who say they won’t change a diaper until it’s sagging too the knees or feels squishy to the touch. That just… bothers me. Isn’t that kind of gross?
One of my complaints about disposable diapers was that it was hard to tell when my daughter had peed just once — when I wanted to change her. For a mom who is trying to determine if her baby is breastfeeding enough, a disposable diaper that makes it impossible to tell if baby has peed at all can actually make the mom think baby’s not drinking enough, or could even disguise a color of urine that should be a source of concern.
I just can’t see a daytime situation in which a baby shouldn’t be changed for twelve hours, and if you figure they can pee 6-10 times in a day, they could be peeing three, four or five times in just one diaper which sure, saves you money, but in my opinion, is actually kind of sad. I also can’t help but worry about what chemical creations they’re mixing up to absorb so much liquid without expanding nearly as much as ‘traditional’ disposables.
Honestly, I kind of wish some moms would have to try cloth, so they would be forced to get in the habit of changing after each pee, and rather than be focused just on the financial cost of the diaper, actually think about the fact that they’re applauding leaving a baby in their own urine for literally half the day. It would make them more aware of their child’s normal peeing times as well, which then in turn can help them potty-learn sooner which saves a lot more time and money than super-absorbency diapers.
What do you all think about these ‘super absorbency’ diapers?
So while I certainly understand your point of view, I think that being repulsed by the idea of a kid peeing in a diaper twice is a bit of a stretch. You said yourself that you realize the urine is wicked away from the skin, so that it’s not exactly accurate to say the baby is “sitting in its own urine” after only one pee. More like sitting NEAR its own urine, which the diaper is specifically designed to keep from being a gross situation.
I DO agree with your concern over the chemicals used to make this kind of thing work, and your “Okay, that’s just lazy” reaction. Which I guess you never outright said, so I’m probably just projecting MY reaction onto you. Because yeah. That’s just lazy.
In the end, I agree that cloth diapers are what’s best for the baby. I just don’t think the common disposables (I don’t know enough about the 12-hours, so I’m talking about the regular ones) are quite as repulsive as you feel. But then, “repulsive” is a relative term, so I guess that’s just my opinion.
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Jess, the thing is, just “wicking away” urine still doesn’t clean it from their skin, provide air for their skin, or anything beneficial. They can only “wick away” so much, you know? It’d be like never wiping when you pee because you figure you’re not sitting in it, right? But you still wipe to remove the urine off your skin that didn’t go into the toilet.
I had an at home daycare for a brief period this year. My daughter is in cloth diapers, but when she was in disposables I was in the habit of changing her at a minimum of every two hours, and usually more often, as the chemical smell the diaper emitted when wet would cue me that it was time to change her. Well, when I started the daycare I kept it small. I had only two children in addition to my daughter. The parents provided me with diapers, about 32 or so at a time. The little girl, whom I will call Anna here, was in disposables. Around the tenth day I was watching her, I informed her dad that I would need more diapers in a day or so. He looked confused, but readily agreed. The next day when he came to drop her off, he looked steaming mad. “How often are you changing her diaper?” He demanded. I must have looked as bewildered as I felt. “Whenever she’s wet, of course. If she pees, I change her. I don’t want her to sit in it too long.” He looked angry, and hotly replied “I know you cloth diaper, but disposables don’t need to be changed as often” (he almost could have added, “you stupidface” at this point, as that’s what his tone implied) “Anna should only be going through about 3 diapers a day, you are using way too many. We just let her sit in it for a while, it doesn’t hurt her! Stop wasting diapers!” Then he left. I was very taken aback, then very angry. Anna was with me for around 10 hours a day. She was a frequent pooper, pooping a minimum of two times a day, often more, and I certainly wasn’t going to let a child sit in a dirty diaper. I ignored his admonishment and continued to change her when I felt she needed a change. Anna and her family went away on vacation to a town two hours away for about a week, and when she came back to me she had a peeling, raging, red-hot, bleeding sores diaper rash. After the first day back, I asked what happened when her dad came to pick her up (I rarely saw the mom). He insisted that I must have fed her something, as the rash appeared midweek and they hadn’t been able to get rid of it. I assured him that an allergy would show up sooner than 5 days later, but that I’d keep a close eye on what she ate (we had organic fruits, veggies, whole grains, and fresh meat, the same as I feed my daughter). For months, poor Anna bawled every time her diaper was changed. It was the same pattern every week. On Monday, her bum would be a full-out horrific rash, by Friday it was faded, still tender, but almost healed, and by Monday again, a full-out scream-inducing horrific rash. I tried to speak to the parents multiple times about the importance of changing the diaper as soon as the baby has wet it, especially with diaper rash, about chemical burns, about chafing, about everything and anything that could be causing it. Every week they came back with a new remedy. One week it was baking soda, another week a hydrocortisone cream they wanted me to put in between the folds of her vagina (on the mucous membranes!!!), another week it was a hazelwood necklace, then a special diaper cream, etc. Finally after two months of the same pattern, their dope of a doctor (who insisted I must be feeding her allergens), sent them to a dermatologist. The dad showed up the next day looking extremely sheepish and subdued. “We saw the specialist, and he wants us to ensure you are changing her diaper whenever she pees. He said it’s common for daycares to be neglectful in changing diapers, and we thought you should know that babies always need to be changed when they are wet.”
It was literally all I could do not to first punch him, and then throttle him. Needless to say, I read him a piece of my mind, and they were no longer clients after that. I am no longer doing daycare, having encountered far too many parents with the same mentalities as this jerk and his wife. These 12 hour diapers reminded me of them immediately. Ignorance, and far too horrible. Some of these new products, while they may be convenient for the parents, are borderline abusive for the child they love.
[...] way more, and I heard that cloth diapers leak a lot, don’t they? Oddly enough, I found this link today that brings me to a point I wanted to touch on. Yes, you do have to change cloth more [...]
First, these diapers disgust me and make me so very sad for the poor little babes that have to sit in their own body fluids. That is BRUTAL and these diapers are a crock. Shit, they’ll market ANYTHING to parents nowadays won’t they?
Second, Martha, your story makes me want to cry.
What. is. this. world. coming. to!??!!
Oh ya! Do you have a link to these super shitty diapers? Pardon my pun…
Twitter: RanaAurora
says:
Intentionally avoiding the specific name, but you can Google it to find it pretty quick.
This made me puke in my mouth a little bit. That is absolutely disgusting.
I use disposables but change every time he pees and as soon after he poops as possible. I am convinced that this why he has never had a rash. I don’t understand people who are more concerned about money than their child’s comfort.
I wouldn’t want to sit near my own pee no matter how “good” the absorbancy. If I was in a poise pad I’d change it after I peed in it.
If someone’s beloved grandparent was incontinent in a nursing home and the staff didn’t change his/her depends until after it had been peed in multiple times just to save money, people would be livid, heads would roll, lawyers would be called.