My Favorite Inventions - II

A while ago, I reported on my very favorite innovations of the last half-century  -- including such wonders as the retractable vacuum cleaner cord, fitted sheets, duct tape, and the mute button.  I now realize that I was remiss in not celebrating the most revolutionary invention of recent decades -- the disposable diaper. 

I was knuckle-deep in the diaper business from 1965 to about 1973. Cloth was then the material of choice. In our family there were three infants and each one had, roughly speaking, 900 days of diaperhood. Suppose that there were nine changes of diaper a day (a conservative estimate) -- that's a total of 24,300 diaper-changes.  Let's say that I personally presided over one-third of those off-with-the-foul-on-with-the-clean exchanges. We're talking more than 8000 excretory experiences. So, dear reader, I know whereof I speak.

Post-cloth diaper parents live in a world of decadent ease. Here's what they're missing. A) cloth diapers had to be changed more frequently than the new ones -- they didn't wick away the liquid as the disposables do. Rashes and irritations were all too common. b) gagworthy solid material had to be carefully flushed away. c)  soiled diapers sat in a waste receptacle, where they generated an ammonia-based chemical one whiff of which could revive a morgueful of corpses. d) cloth diapers had to be washed, dried, and folded for next use. e) diapering with cloth and safety pins was a fine art. Badly-applied diapers hung to the ground to shame the diaperer; open pins and pin-sticks were a constant worry.

Nowadays, it's pop 'em off, throw it in the trash, pop on a new one. Piece of cake. Perhaps disposable diapers are not ecologically sound  -- I don't know. But frankly, I can't think of a better use for the vast Canadian forests.

But I shouldn't complain too much. We owned an automatic washer and dryer. My mom had the same number of diapers, but she scrubbed them on a washboard in the "laundry sink," put them through the wringer (first a hand-crank, later an electric), and hung them outside to dry. She was a true heroine of diaper labor. And I can't even bring myself to imagine the diaperworld of older generations.

Today's parents, wallowing in sybaritic luxury, cannot appreciate what it means to be "put through the wringer." And just as well. 

Comments

[Barb]

Oh I do remember the days of cloth diapers in our house. Before children I may have changed a half dozen diapers in total, so changing diapers was a fresh new experience for me once motherhood arrived.

I relied on the rubber pants to cover up my less than adequate folding and pinning job in the very beginning, and when change time came around I could bank on spending a good 10 minutes at the change table before all was said and done.

Walking from baby room with soiled/wet diapers in hand afterwards, down to the bathroom to dunk, rinse, and wring in the toilet, then back down the hallway again to the baby's room to deposit the changed diapers in the diaper pail.

Thanks for the memory.

[cknc]

The Chinese found their own solution -- open butted pants or more precisely, "crotchless pants". I kid not. I saw toddlers in China wearing them ... very cute. If "business is conducted," preferably outside the home, the parent whips the child up and hoses the child down.

I believe this "invention" brings the following benefits: reduction in skin irritations, savings from not having to purchase diapers, more free time from not having to wash soiled cloth diapers, and earlier commencement of toilet training.

And, the following costs: increase in unsanitary conditions akin to problem of the horse and buggy where streets were littered with horse dung, shock of innocent bystanders when toddler leaves behind a nice surprise, embarassment of seeing childhood photos of wearing such an outfit, and the greater energy expended from chasing after soiled toddler.