Cloth diapers vs disposable diapers

A

Aunt Marg

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- What did everyone use in their homes?

- Anyone here use a combination of the two (both cloth and disposable)?

- What was the deciding factor in your home regarding using one type of diaper over another? i.e. Economics, health, etc.
 

Aunt Marg said:
- What did everyone use in their homes?

- Anyone here use a combination of the two (both cloth and disposable)?

- What was the deciding factor in your home regarding using one type of diaper over another? i.e. Economics, health, etc.
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I don't have any children myself Aunt Marg, but I was very active in helping my oldest sister with her two young boys back in the early '60s, she used only cloth diapers, not sure if disposables were available back then. I think if I had a baby and disposable were available, I'd likely have used those for convenience.
 
So nice hearing from you, SeaBreeze. :)

There sure is no taking away from the convenience that disposables afford, that's for sure. I can't help but think had I not experienced helping my mom with the care of baby siblings growing up, would I still have opted to use cloth diapers.

My other topic related to the days of the diaper pin, was more of a personal ramble for me, tied to the video of the mom breaking down out of frustration over there being no disposables available for her child, however, in introducing this topic and naming it what I did, I felt it better suited a more specific conversation geared towards the reasons behind why members chose to use what we did.

If there is any problems whatsoever with this started thread, SeaBreeze (conflicting with the other, etc), please let me know, otherwise, a big thank you to you for taking the time to drop-by and cast your experience related to!
 
@Aunt Marg, I didn't see your pin thread, but I do remember having to be extra careful all the time that the diaper pins were closed properly and safely. Thinking about it now, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea these days to have a couple of cloth diapers on hand for emergencies. No problem at all with your thread, folks can always pass by any thread if they're not interested. ;)
 
SeaBreeze said:
@Aunt Marg, I didn't see your pin thread, but I do remember having to be extra careful all the time that the diaper pins were closed properly and safely. Thinking about it now, it probably wouldn't be a bad idea these days to have a couple of cloth diapers on hand for emergencies. No problem at all with your thread, folks can always pass by any thread if they're not interested. ;)
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Oh my word, yes, me, too. For reasons you mentioned, I loved using the metal-capped pins, where the safety-cap snapped down over the head of the pin, securing the pin from springing open accidentally, or due to a toddlers curious fingers.

As for your idea on having an emergency supply of cloth diapers on-hand, I couldn't agree more. Definitely would have the case for me had I used disposables!
 
Aunt Marg said:
For reasons you mentioned, I loved using the metal-capped pins, where the safety-cap snapped down over the head of the pin, securing the pin from springing open accidentally, or due to a toddlers curious fingers.
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The only ones my sister ever used were the ones with the big plastic head, usually colored either pink or blue. :D
 
SeaBreeze said:
The only ones my sister ever used were the ones with the big plastic head, usually colored either pink or blue. :D
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I know exactly the ones you're talking about! I had a supply of those as well (and used them), but thinking back to my old babysitting days, the big plastic head pins are the ones I most often encountered.

You've got a great memory, SeaBreeze! 🧷
 
I started out with cloth diapers for my son. It was a lot of extra work and I wasn't getting enough sleep anyway, so I was exhausted all of the time. When he was 10 months old we took the camper RV out west for an extended vacation. I switched to disposables and never looked back. We had to bypass Oregon because they had banned the sale of disposable diapers for environmental purposes. I never did get to Oregon.
 
Both... mostly cloth, disposables on occasion while traveling.
As a young broke couple, the Wife had a choice, Cloth Diapers and a wash machine, or disposable.

Got to tell my favorite diaper story,30+ years ago and the ladies still talk about it
Our son was in the nursery at church, and afterwards I go to get him...
The ladies ask where the wife was...he needed changed... So I proceed to grab the diaper bag
The one lady stops me and says " you need to go get Dawn because its a messy diaper"
I laughed and proceeded to clean him up and put a new cloth diaper on him...
The 3 ladies stood there staring with their jaws hanging...
I dont think I could have surprised them any more growing a 3rd eye.....
 
well it has been about fifty odd years but.... we used the two nappy system, the terry towel outer nappy and the softer linen thin inner nappy, but my ex was a nurse and lined the inner one with toilet tissue [clever girl] so my son filled the toilet paper and the nappies were easily washed...lol... allegedly
 
Duster said:
I started out with cloth diapers for my son. It was a lot of extra work and I wasn't getting enough sleep anyway, so I was exhausted all of the time. When he was 10 months old we took the camper RV out west for an extended vacation. I switched to disposables and never looked back. We had to bypass Oregon because they had banned the sale of disposable diapers for environmental purposes. I never did get to Oregon.
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For a busy mom, a family... I can definitely see where disposables would rise above the alternative.
 
old medic said:
Both... mostly cloth, disposables on occasion while traveling.
As a young broke couple, the Wife had a choice, Cloth Diapers and a wash machine, or disposable.

Got to tell my favorite diaper story,30+ years ago and the ladies still talk about it
Our son was in the nursery at church, and afterwards I go to get him...
The ladies ask where the wife was...he needed changed... So I proceed to grab the diaper bag
The one lady stops me and says " you need to go get Dawn because its a messy diaper"
I laughed and proceeded to clean him up and put a new cloth diaper on him...
The 3 ladies stood there staring with their jaws hanging...
I dont think I could have surprised them any more growing a 3rd eye.....
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I put in three summers in my later teens, helping my mom at our church nursery, but all of the women were well-experienced with using cloth. That was back in the 70's, when cloth diaper use was still really popular.
 
Mahatma said:
well it has been about fifty odd years but.... we used the two nappy system, the terry towel outer nappy and the softer linen thin inner nappy, but my ex was a nurse and lined the inner one with toilet tissue [clever girl] so my son filled the toilet paper and the nappies were easily washed...lol... allegedly
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I used liners in my home, too.

I would have guessed that toilet paper would make for a mess and not be overly reliable.
 
gennie said:
Disposables are easy and quick but our landfills have really suffered. Mother nature favors cloth and early potty training.
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One argument I don't buy into is the waste argument with cloth, and the notion that cloth diapers use up so much water to launder. At least with cloth diapers, they're emptied into the toilet, so the waste goes where it belongs, unlike disposables that get tossed full of waste.
 
Aunt Marg said:
One argument I don't buy into is the waste argument with cloth, and the notion that cloth diapers use up so much water to launder. At least with cloth diapers, they're emptied into the toilet, so the waste goes where it belongs, unlike disposables that get tossed full of waste.
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and the disposables take centuries to break down, it seems
 

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