I suspect my mother-in-law owns stock in a diaper company
When my in-laws visited a few weeks ago, every time Oliver whimpered, my mother-in-law changed his diaper.
“Oh, he was wet!” she’d exclaim. “That’s why he was crying.”
Well, yes. He’d probably squeezed out a few drops since his diaper was last changed, oh…about half an hour ago. But I doubted a little squirt of pee was making him that uncomfortable.
And really, I wouldn’t normally complain about someone else changing my baby’s diaper, but diapers cost about a quarter each, and my IRA’s taken quite a tumble lately.
So I reminded her that disposable diapers can absorb a lot of liquid and still feel quite dry to the baby wearing them.
She giggled and told me that she’d actually been part of a trial group for Pampers when Kyle was a baby. Considering that my parents used cloth diapers on my younger brother and me, all the way through the mid-1970s, I realized how cool it must have been for her to have the opportunity to dispense with the rubber pants and hourly changes for at least a couple months.
Not that I have anything against those who choose cloth diapering, but it’s just not for me. I have enough trouble keeping my act together with the help of Pampers; if I had to scrub shit stains out of cloth diapers several times a day, Kyle would’ve gotten snipped after Tacy was born.
Plus, it would be too much of an ordeal to take babies out of the house. Forget a quickie presto change-o on a restroom table or park bench with a diaper clutch in hand; the logistics of performing hourly diaper changes in public – not to mention storing the soiled diapers and washcloths for later laundering – would be enough to keep me at home.
Yeah, washcloths. None of those handy little baby wipes were around back then. I remember a picture that was taken of my mother in the hospital after my younger brother was born; she was holding a baby washcloth with “POOP” embroidered on it in blue – and that’s exactly what that washcloth was used for.
So while I may do complain about the fact that I’ve been changing diapers for nearly six and a half years straight (I had a three month respite between the time Tacy trained and CJ was born), I realize how easy I’ve got it by comparison.
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September 21st, 2008 at 5:49 am
Yeah, one of the reasons I’ve decided to stop at one kid (there are many) is that I don’t think I could muster the strength to cloth diaper again. I did it once and stuck to it (sometimes out of sheer spite), but if another fecal machine were so show up in my life, I might find the cash for the Pampers. I clearly only have enough moral fortitude for one offspring.
September 21st, 2008 at 6:25 am
I used cloth diapers on my 2 kids in the 70’s. They were born a year and a half apart and the diapers were about the easiest thing about having 2 little ones. Yes, you did have to dip the poopy ones in the toilet a couple times before putting them in the pail but no scrubbing was needed. You just spun out the magic blue solution they soaked in and washed them like any other load of laundry. And they came out all fresh and clean. It was so doable and satisfying compared with all the other things you had to accomplish, like getting any sleep at all.
September 21st, 2008 at 7:51 am
Well, I suppose one benefit of cloth diapering is that you don’t fret about the cost of a change and subsequently force your bub to sit in his own waste for any length of time. Just ’cause disposable diapers can hold a lot of crap, doesn’t mean they should.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:36 am
My mom tells us stories about how when she was a baby and the family was on a cross-country vacation, they’d wash the cloth diapers at the hotel and then hang them out the car windows to dry as they drove on the next day.
No thanks!!
September 21st, 2008 at 11:41 am
My parents lived in England for a year with two kids in (cloth) diapers. The story goes that anyone who visited from the USA had to bring a suitcase packed with disposables. The other story goes that my dad spent every night at the laundromat … and had just enough time for a pint at the pub during each cycle.
mayberrys last blog post..Corndog with cheese
September 21st, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I love me some Pampers. I briefly entertained the idea of cloth diapers, you know, cause I wanted to be “green” but then I realized that there is NO way I’m laundering poopie diapers. *shudder*
Caras last blog post..Baby Blogger
September 21st, 2008 at 5:43 pm
I just don’t “get” cloth diapers. We tried with baby #1 but we didn’t do it right and just got pee everywhere. Yep. Disposables for us.
Heathers last blog post..Don’t take it from me
September 21st, 2008 at 6:33 pm
We use cloth at home, but we have a service that comes and picks ‘em up and washes them and drops off a fresh, clean batch. I love it.
Ozs last blog post..Sleepless in Denver
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:20 am
I’ve done disposables with my boys and found gDiapers with my daughter. Loved the g’s. I even managed to use them on an airplane and at Disney World for a week.Only 1 gross incident which may have occurred with a disposable ANYway as it was that nasty, runny vacation poop… Ew.
traceys last blog post..A little sumpin sumpin to tide you over…
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 am
I’m impressed that more of your blog did not concentrate on the annoying little comment your Mother-in-law made to you. Unfortunately, it is those kinds of comments that get my goat everytime, and I end up stewing about it for hours on end.
I even ended up writing a book about it it save my sanity! It’s called, The Daughter-in-Law Rules: 101 Surefire Ways to Manage (and Make Friends with) Your Mother-in-Law!
I’m a pampers mommy all the way. And I do the same as you – wait until there’s a real reason to change – they are getting more and more expensive!!!
Sally
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:51 am
I love Pampers. They are my heros because I will not be dipping my hands in the toilet any time soon. The hubby gets to do any fishing required in that little pond. Hehe.
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:59 am
No cloth diapers here – yeah, you would think I own stock in a diaper company because I am constantly buying them but I do not have enough time to worry about cloth diapers, my life is crazy enough as it is.
Krystals last blog post..Bubbles & Volcanoes
September 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
I would love to have the energy and fortitude to use cloth diapers… but I just don’t. Disposable diapers are just so much easier to me.
But even better than simple disposable diapers? OVERNIGHT DIAPERS! How did people live without those???
caramamas last blog post..Why My Baby Was Worth It
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
yeeeeeah…not a chance in hell. talk to me about “going green” AFTER my kids are toilet trained. hell, i still have an almost-7-year-old who wears a pullup to bed every night (and soaks it almost as often). not only can i not imagine using a “diaper duck” and doing the toilet rinsing bit, i can’t imagine washing his damn sheets every day, either.
and yes, i recall the days of the horrible “disposable” diapers. they were covered in plastic, similar to the bags that eventually carried them to the landfills. my sister was particularly fond of eating this plastic, which caused more than one episode of projectile vomiting and got me into trouble for failing to properly supervise her stupid ass. and yes, washcloths–baby wipes were brand-new when my brother came in 1983, and they cost about as much as the baby, itself. and there were no “diaper genies” then, either–dirty diapers were kept in a plastic bucket with a poor-fitting lid that kept the whole house smelling like poo. is it any wonder our parents started potty training us on our second birthdays????