Remember when babies wore cloth diapers and rubber pants?

I remember!

Old-fashioned cloth diapers needed to be folded to fit babies, and to hold them on, they were fastened with safety pins, which were called "diaper pins", and to help keep the wet in, rubber pants were worn over the diapers.

When baby pooped, diapers were dunked up and down in the toilet (with water swirling) to rinse them out, and with a quick wring by hand, wet and dirty diapers were dropped into a plastic diaper pail until wash day.

On laundry day, diaper pail was emptied into the washing machine, a quick spin cycle was done to extract any excess wetness in the diapers, then the hottest wash cycle was selected, detergent was added, a little bleach when needs, and the washing machine did the rest.

When wash cycle was complete, diapers were removed from the washing machine and hung to dry on the clothesline. When diapers were dry, diapers were unpinned from the line, brought inside, folded and stacked, and the process of changing, rinsing, and washing, started again.

I always hung the rubber pants on the clothesline with the diapers.

 

Is it possible to return to this to save the ocean?

 

I was one of those babies.

 

My sentiment to a T!

Oh yes, me, too, and my baby siblings had the same.

 

When our diaper pail was full they were emptied into plastic bags. We didn't have a washing machine. The laundromat was a twice weekly visit. At least we didn't have to hang them out to dry. Although sometimes we ran short and sink washed a load. That was, not only a pain in the ass, when we hung diapers out to dry.

One visit from my parents where dad went with wife to the laundromat was all it took. Two days later there was a brand new washer and dryer at our duplex.

Then disposables came out. But only for the rich and famous they were so expensive. But the other innovative thing was the Playtex Baby Bottles with the bag inserts. Fill the bag with milk, squeeze out the excess and feed. The kid got a lot less air in the tummy and quit belching up half a bottle of milk. .

The cloth diaper was also used as a burp towel for over the shoulder. Plus you kept one in the baby's lap to use as a dribble wipe when feeding. Nursing mothers draped a diaper over their breast when nursing in public. It could also be pinned around the neck and used as a bib. The cloth diaper had many uses. After the kids were out of diapers we used them as dust rags or passed the better ones on to the next new baby family.

 

OMG, no washing machine at home, I am so grateful my kids grew up in the era of the electric automatic washing machine. I had two in diapers at a time, and my washing machine was my saving grace.

When my kids were done with diapers, I stuffed them into a bag and used them for dusting and wiping up clean messes in the house. Youngest was born in the early 90's, and I'm still using old diapers from his baby days for such.

Always loved the convenience of reusable cloth diapers, being able to pluck a fresh diaper from the folded stack at change-time made diapering extra-convenient and fuss-free. No emergency trips to the store for Pampers, and always a nice clean fresh supply of diapers ready to go and on-hand around the clock, no matter what time of day or night.

Another blessing was those old-fashioned rubber pants. Loved the rubber pants/cloth diaper combo, couldn't have gotten by without them, best invention I could have ever asked for as a busy mom. I used them all the time, and I double diapered day and night for added absorbency, and boy, did that make for bulky little bottoms. I still remember the plastic rustling sound the rubber pants made when changing a diaper, and when my kids toddled around the house in their diapers.

Saved us a bundle of money, and as far as I'm concerned, much more healthy and comfy for tender little bottoms.

 

the garbage explosion began with disposable everything. and that sort of began with diapers. single use only makes sense for sanitation in hospitals.
what it makes for everyplace else, is garbage garbage everywhere. remember dishes? before there were drive-troughs?
never flipped burgers but ran plenty of commercial dw machines. disposable diapers didn't exist when i was an infant.

 

Sure do. My little girl always had cloth diapers. Always. We used a diaper service - no plastic diapers purchased from a store.

 

That's all we used on our kids. 5 gallon bucket in the shower with water and bleach, heavy matter shaken into the toilet, toilet flushed, hands and diaper into toilet to clean as much as possible, then into the bucket. Couple days worth and then into the washer. Damn---Oregon water is cold!!!

 

My father did that for the five of us!! I remember as a kid watching him kneel over the toilet. Whew