When the Diaper Pin reined supreme...

StarSong said:
My kids wore disposable diapers exclusively. For nearly a year (1985) I had three in diapers at the same time. That was madness!

A friend had her daughter in cloth diapers and I have to say that her kid had waaaaay more diaper rash issues than mine. (Disposable diapers wick the moisture away from the baby's skin.)

My mother encouraged me to use disposables even though all six of us were in cloth. Mom said cloth and rubber pants were leaky and messy, and that houses with babies always vaguely stank of urine during cold weather. (Yuk!)

My mother was so meticulous that she IRONED the diapers. So if cloth were too gross and too much work for her, I knew for sure that this was an adventure I could happily miss out on. No regrets on the disposables for me.

I do have a couple of cloth diapers in my house that I use as rags, and have always had diaper pins around.
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OMG, Star, I've experienced three in diapers at the same time (once) with my own gang, and twice more related to my babysitting days, and you are right, madness it was, and all three occasions cloth applied.

My kids got occasional diaper rash, too, but overall they did well, but I was always anal about changing them the instant they wet or soiled. I was always checking them.

It was cloth diapers for me and my siblings, too, and as for my own kids, I never had a problem with leaky messes with cloth diapers. I double diapered (always), and I used rubber pants fulltime (same as what my mom and I always did with my baby siblings). I do think it boils down to the diaper fold one uses, and how well the fold actually fits the child. I really only ever relied on two folds with my kids, and both got all 6 of my kids through their diaper years well.

I was told by an aunt that ironing diapers reduced their absorbency, not that I would have, because there was just too many diapers. LOL! I at times forewent folding, because I was too busy with so many other things, so I'd just leave the diapers right in the laundry basket fresh off the line, slide the basket under the crib, and pluck and fold diapers from the basket as I needed them.

Like yourself, I still have leftover diapers (and pins) from back in the day, and nothing IMO works better as household dusters, general purpose wipers, and window washers than old cloth diapers.
 

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jujube said:
Remember "diaper services"? I went that route briefly when we first came back to the U.S. You just left the pail out on the porch filled with dirty diapers and the driver took it and left you a clean pail and a stack of clean diapers. It was fairly expensive, though, so I went back to washing my own.
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Sure do remember diaper service. I used to be a mother's helper for a neighbour that did foster-care, and when her kid-count was low, she laundered her own diapers and hung them on the line to dry (standard for the day), but when she was saddled with a handful of babies in diapers, she'd order diaper service.

The diaper pail was kept in her back porch, and twice weekly the service would drop-by and pick up the old diapers (pail and all), and drop-off a fresh clean diaper pail with however many diapers the foster-mom needed. Exact same method of diapering with the diaper service diapers as it was with home-laundered diapers, we used two diapers at a time for absorbency, fastened the diapers with a pin on each side, and used rubber pants over the diapers.

At the time I remember the cost to be comparable to that of disposables, so definitely more expensive than old-fashioned home-laundered cloth diapers, but for those too busy to contend with all of the washing, folding, etc, diaper service was a nice alternative.
 
I had 2 older sisters, so it fell to them to do diaper changes when Mom wasn't home. I was 7 when my brother was born. Don't know if I would have been trusted with diaper pins.
 
Pinky said:
I had 2 older sisters, so it fell to them to do diaper changes when Mom wasn't home. I was 7 when my brother was born. Don't know if I would have been trusted with diaper pins.
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I was age 8, when I started, and I remember mom stand next to the crib and supervising for the first little while until I had the process down-pat.
 
Pinky said:
I had 2 older sisters, so it fell to them to do diaper changes when Mom wasn't home. I was 7 when my brother was born. Don't know if I would have been trusted with diaper pins.
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Pinky. What about babysitting outside the home (teen years), did you have to contend with cloth diapers and pins?
 
Aunt Marg said:
Did you have to help with the changing of baby siblings cloth diapers, StarSong? Or did you manage to escape any/all changing duties?
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I did not. My grandmother lived with us and mostly managed baby care. When babysitting for families who had a kid in diapers I used to team-sit with my sister. She'd do the baby stuff and I'd handle the older kids.

The first diaper I ever changed was my own daughter's - and I was over 30. Babies never intrigued me until I had my own.
 
Aunt Marg said:
And how about the unsightly pinkish/purple stains that would happen around the elastic leg holes of rubber pants and on the seat, after a bout of diarrhea made it's rounds?
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Haha -- and the elastic in those little leg holes were all that separated one from total disaster. Our 4 kids were born between 1957 and '62. We used cloth diapers with all of them and I changed, washed, and hung out my share.🙂
 
StarSong said:
I did not. My grandmother lived with us and mostly managed baby care. When babysitting for families who had a kid in diapers I used to team-sit with my sister. She'd do the baby stuff and I'd handle the older kids.

The first diaper I ever changed was my own daughter's - and I was over 30. Babies never intrigued me until I had my own.
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Oh, StarSong, now that's what I call cheating, you sitting back and allowing your sister to handle all of the dirty work! LOL! :)
 
DaveA said:
Haha -- and the elastic in those little leg holes were all that separated one from total disaster. Our 4 kids were born between 1957 and '62. We used cloth diapers with all of them and I changed, washed, and hung out my share.🙂
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Yes, LOL! What great safety-guards they were. When diapers failed to contain all, the pants were there. Was like having an added measure of safety.

I can honestly say, as a mom, I appreciated those old rubber pants, and living up to the true, honest-to-goodness cloth diaper zealot that I was, I used them all the time... religiously... round-the-clock. My kids lived in those pants from birth to potty.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Oh, StarSong, now that's what I call cheating, you sitting back and allowing your sister to handle all of the dirty work! LOL! :)
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She loved babies. I was more attuned to the little kids. Parents were thrilled with the 2-for-the-price-of-one babysitting deal.
When I had babies of my own I figured out diapers. Not exactly a steep learning curve...

It worked out quite well all the way around.
 
StarSong said:
She loved babies. I was more attuned to the little kids. Parents were thrilled with the 2-for-the-price-of-one babysitting deal.
When I had babies of my own I figured out diapers. Not exactly a steep learning curve...

It worked out quite well all the way around.
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LOL! Love the way you put it, Star! :)
 
Used disposables for all three of my kids....but remember Mom using the cloth, pins and rubber pants for my younger brother....and ugh, the bleach bucket with the stinky dirty ones in it, pee ewe....I was only 8 or 9 and never had to change diapers, that I remember.
 
PopsnTuff said:
Used disposables for all three of my kids....but remember Mom using the cloth, pins and rubber pants for my younger brother....and ugh, the bleach bucket with the stinky dirty ones in it, pee ewe....I was only 8 or 9 and never had to change diapers, that I remember.
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So nice to see you back, Pops! I was worried about you.

Yes, I always found bleach added to the diaper pail made things smell even worse!
 
My memory is foggy as to way back when I changed my sister's diaper and those of my neighbors children. All I recall is always telling myself not to stick them with the pin and I never did..thank God!
 
Ruthanne said:
My memory is foggy as to way back when I changed my sister's diaper and those of my neighbors children. All I recall is always telling myself not to stick them with the pin and I never did..thank God!
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You did good, Ruthanne. :)

Never stuck a kid in all the years I babysat (baby siblings included), and I did a heap of diapering, but that all changed when I had little ones of my own.

Had two that learned the hard way, not my fault, their own, kicking, fretting, bucking... but boy, one pin-prick is all it took. Owie! They learned real quick after that to lay still when having their pants changed. Business end of the pin was no fun... no fun for baby, and no fun for mommy.

Still joke with people and tell them, I used old-fashioned cloth diapers, and have the battle scars to prove it! LOL!
 
My parents were very avant-garde when it came to home decor, and bought a glass dining room table back in 1948. My mother and grandmother often used it as a diapering station and changed 5 of her 6 children's diapers on that table. Sometimes one of us would grab a diaper pin and drag it along the table while she was in the process, so the table had a few permanent scratches.

When I was in my twenties, Mom talked about replacing the table top (the glass bases were still in perfect condition). I talked her out of it, saying that they were endearing battle scars that would bring a smile to anyone who asked about them.

Mom passed five years ago. Her table now belongs to my son. He is proud to own it, and loves knowing that his mother and aunts & uncle created the scratches on it when we were infants.

p.s. I likewise have a glass table. Although I didn't diaper my kids on it (preferred the floor), the 1994 earthquake dropped a lot of glassware on it so it has some scratches and a small chip on an edge (which we smoothed with fine sandpaper) from that event.

Like my mother's table, the battle scars of ours has become proof of a bit of family history. I have no interest in replacing the top.
 
StarSong said:
My parents were very avant-garde when it came to home decor, and bought a glass dining room table back in 1948. My mother and grandmother often used it as a diapering station and changed 5 of her 6 children's diapers on that table. Sometimes one of us would grab a diaper pin and drag it along the table while she was in the process, so the table had a few permanent scratches.

When I was in my twenties, Mom talked about replacing the table top (the glass bases were still in perfect condition). I talked her out of it, saying that they were endearing battle scars that would bring a smile to anyone who asked about them.

Mom passed five years ago. Her table now belongs to my son. He is proud to own it, and loves knowing that his mother and aunts & uncle created the scratches on it when we were infants.

p.s. I likewise have a glass table. Although I didn't diaper my kids on it (preferred the floor), the 1994 earthquake dropped a lot of glassware on it so it has some scratches and a small chip on an edge (which we smoothed with fine sandpaper) from that event.

Like my mother's table, the battle scars of ours has become proof of a bit of family history. I have no interest in replacing the top.
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Love your story, Star!

The table top stands as testament to days gone by, a time that cannot be repeated, and aside from being able to reflect on the memories associated with, how great it is to know that your son now owns it and actually appreciates it.

This is my warm story to start my day! :)
 
Five pages and growing!!!
I had no idea diapers were near & dear to so many, uh, hearts.

My siblings and I were born between 1945 and 1960, so there were no disposables at the time. I was 5 or 6 when the youngest was born...there was one other sibling younger than I. I have no memories of diapers.

It is a timely topic. There are predictions of a COVID Baby Boom on the horizon.
 


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