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Diaper

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Nappy redirects here. This article is about the garment. See Nappy (disambiguation)
For other uses, see the garment.
Baby cloth diaper filled with extra cloth.

A diaper (in North America) or nappy (in the British Isles and many Commonwealth countries) is an absorbent garment worn by individuals who are incontinent, that is, lack control over bladder or bowel movements, or who are unable to reach the toilet when needed. This group primarily includes infants and young children, as well as some elderly people, some with a physical or mental disability, and people working in extreme conditions, eg NASA astronauts[1].

History

Diapering, or clothing infants not yet trained to go to the commode by themselves without help from an adult, is as old as humankind. Mothers were challenged every day by their babies’ necessities and composed diapering solutions such as old blankets filled with moss, home-spun clothing wraps and swaddling bands. Thanks to the industrial revolution in the mid 19th century, cheap manufactured cotton fabrics helped mothers diaper their babies and with the invention of the safety pin in the 1840s, the diaper began to take its form.

The revolution came in the 1930s. Perhaps in anticipation of wartime supply disruptions, the Germans were seeking alternatives to imported cotton for medical purposes and developed a technique to fabricate a soft cellulose tissue (“Zellstoff”) from wood pulp.

This technique caught the attention of the Swedish paper company Pauliström Bruk, which in the late 1930s brought about a brand new concept whereby a special type of soft tissue sheets, cut into pieces and wrapped into a parcel, was placed in the baby’s pants. This represented the first step toward the disposable diaper.

First disposable diapers

  • 1941: First reference to a “disposable diaper” at Pauliström: a 2-piece product consisting of a disposable pad of cellulose wadding with gauze or knitted mesh cover and a reusable panty.
  • 1946: American housewife Marion Donovan patents the “Boater” (waterproof cover with snaps for cloth diaper or disposable insert).
  • 1947: British mother Valerie Hunter Gordon develops a two-piece disposable diaper for her own baby and sells more than 400 to local women. Two years later, Robinson & Sons commercializes a two-piece Paddi Pad diaper based on this concept.

Many parents believe that the disposable diaper is one of the great inventions of the 20th Century – a revolutionary product which has brought huge benefits to society in terms of health, hygiene and convenience. Parents, babies and toddlers around the world have been enjoying the freedom and comfort of disposable diapers for over 50 years.

Word origin

The word diaper originally referred to the type of cloth rather than its use. Diaper cloth was originally linen. The first known reference is in Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew : "Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper". This usage stuck in the United States and Canada, but in Britain the word nappy (short for baby napkin) took its place.

In addition, disposable diapers are often referred to as "pampers" at least in the US, Poland and Russia, from the popular brand.

Replacing a soiled diaper is commonly referred to as "diaper changing." Not being a pleasant task, it is often the topic of humorous conversation.

Adult usage

Diapers are occasionally worn by older children, youth or adults who are unable or not allowed to reach a toilet for longer than their bladders can hold out. They may be referred to as incontinence pads. Examples include:

Medical

Other examples

File:DiaperMan.jpg
Planetes, an anime noted for realistic depictions of space flight, explicitly shows astronauts wearing diapers.
  • Astronauts wear diapers or "maximum absorbency garments" during liftoff and landing. The super-absorbent fabric used in disposable diapers, which can hold up to 400 times its weight, was developed so Apollo astronauts could stay on spacewalks and extra-vehicular activity for at least six hours.[5]
  • People diving in diving suits (in former times often standard diving dresses) continuously for several hours.[6]
  • Guards who must stay on duty; this is sometimes called the "watchman's urinal".[7]
  • Some Death Row inmates who are about to be executed wear "execution diapers" to collect body fluids expelled during the execution and after their death.[8]
  • Pilots of Gliders, during long flights.[9]
  • Some competitive weightlifters wear diapers when they first get started because the pressure makes them urinate.[10]
  • It has long been suggested that legislators don a diaper before an extended filibuster, so often that it has been jokingly called "taking to the diaper." There has certainly been at least one such instance, in which Strom Thurmond gave a record holding 24 hours and 18 minute speech, a duration for which it would be physically impossible not to urinate.[11][12]

Types

Diapers may be made of absorbent layers of suitable cloth such as terry toweling fabric, or of disposable absorbent materials, such as wood pulp or sphagnum moss. The choice to use either cloth or disposable diapers is controversial.

Disposable diapers are a highly processed product, and they can remain intact in landfills for many years (some sources quote upwards of 100 years). Disposable diapers contain a layer of absorbent wood pulp (usually from managed forests), and chemicals specifically included to improve absorbency and wick wetness away from the skin. While this system works well in keeping the skin dry, it can also be a potential skin irritant. Disposable diapers contain chemicals banned in the 80's in women's tampons, but continue to be used today to improve absorbency in children's diapers.

Cloth diapers are reusable and often made with environmentally friendly or sustainable biodegradable material such as hemp. These place much less stress on landfills, however, they may also require laundering and high-temperature water to be properly cleaned.

A life cycle analysis is one way to choose between disposable diapers and reusable cloth diapers. This analysis attempts to take into account all the environmental factors, including raw material and energy usage, air and water pollution emissions, and waste management issues. Several such analyses have concluded that when all factors are taken into account, both types of diapers have roughly the same environmental effect. Others have come to opposing conclusions, depending on the biases of the investigators and the assumptions they made.

Cloth

Cloth diapers can be made of industrial cotton. The fabric may be bleached white or now more commonly left a natural colour. Alternative materials which are becoming much more popular and more common are grown without pesticides, such as bamboo, unbleached hemp and organic cotton.

Cloth diapers have become more user friendly in recent years. Pre-formed cloth diapers with snaps or hook and loop fasteners (similar to Velcro) and all-in-one diapers with waterproof exteriors are now available, in addition to the older pre-fold and pin variety. Increasingly popular are "pocket" or "stuffable" diapers, which consist of a water-resistant outer shell sewn with an opening in the back for insertion of absorbent material. There are also specialty cloth diapers for use in swimming pools. Many public swimming pools will not allow babies or persons with incontinent issues to wear disposables in the pool.

Some cities offer a cloth diapering service that delivers clean diapers and picks up soiled ones for a fee. Cloth diapers may be used in conjunction with elimination communication as a back up in case of an accident.

Cloth diapers are washable and reusable and place less stress on landfills. To clean them, people use laundry detergent and water or send the soiled diapers to a cleaner. This can cause problem where water availability concerns exists. Cloth diaper-wearing children tend to toilet train earlier, because the cloth retains moisture, which allows the child to feel when he or she is wet and/or dirty and associate the feeling with elimination. This also increases the number of changes per day (approximately 9.7 per day) versus 5.4 to 7.0 per day (disposables).

Cloth diaper-wearing children go through about 6,000 diaper changes. If thrown into a landfill, cotton diapers decompose within six months.[13] Incontinent persons and their caregivers often find that cloth diapers are more cost effective and comfortable when in the home however they are difficult to locate in retail stores. One usually has to either visit an online service that sells them, or obtain them from stores that specialize in medical supplies.

Disposable

Modern disposable diapers are generally made of a cloth-like waterproof exterior, a moisture wicking inside layer, and an absorbent inner core (in modern diapers usually a dried hydrogel). The first mention of the disposable diaper was made by Pauli Ström in Sweden, in 1942. The early disposable diapers had an inner of many layers of tissue paper, and were able to hold 100cc of urine, which is approximately one wetting. In the 1960's, a pulp byproduct from paper mills was used for the absorbent core, and the disposable diaper became much more popular for the families who could afford them.

Disposable diapers have overtaken the cloth diaper market and put many diaper services out of business due to their convenience and relatively small bulk on the baby. Approximately 18 billion units of disposable diapers were sold in the USA in 2004.

Disposable diapers take a great deal of processing and their materials remain intact in landfills for many years. Because disposable diapers wick moisture away from the child's body, children tend not to realize they are wet, which may be the reason that disposable diaper-wearing children may toilet train later than children who wear cloth diapers. As a result, these children may require more disposable diapers before they are toilet trained. The result is that, while the initial per unit cost of cloth diapers is higher, over the same period of time , disposable diapers cost more to use since cloth diapers can be laundered and re-used.

Disposable diapers are laced with chemicals obtained unintentionally in production as well as intentionally in order to improve absorbency and pull wetness away from the skin. While this system works well in keeping skin dry, it also provides a potential skin irritant and ongoing studies have shown that the chemicals have entered landfills and have contaminated ground water. Many of these chemicals will stay in the soil and ground water for decades without breaking down.

The inherent convenience factor of being able to simply throw away a soiled diaper, rather than undertake the necessary chore of washing it, has led to disposable diapers dominating the international diaper marketplace for both children and adults. Disposable diapers for youth and adults can be purchased in many stores (drugstores, superstores and local grocery stores), giving them an additional marketing edge over cloth diapers.

Other

A recent development is a hybrid reusable / flushable system, with an outer fashionable pant which is re-used, and an interior absorbent part which is disposed and is fully flushable and compost friendly.

In former times in some areas, a wad of sphagnum moss was often used as a disposable diaper.

Traditional baby care practices similar to elimination communication are used instead of diapering in most developing countries. In industrialized countries, elimination communication is sometimes used to reduce dependence on diapers for infant care.

Length of use

While awake, most children no longer need diapers when past two to four years of age (sometimes younger), depending on culture, diaper type, parental habits, and the child's personality. However, some children have problems with daytime or more commonly nocturnal bladder control until eight years or older. This may occur for a variety of reasons, the most common being the as yet insufficient production of ADH in the young child's body. Other reasons include the difficulty of managing a small bladder and emotional issues (but emotional issues are a less common reason than generally believed). Some older children also need diapers while traveling. These children may use standard or special but extra large size diapers and training pants which mimic underwear and do not require complex fastening or adult assistance. The more common products are: GoodNites, Nikky from Japan, Babykins from Canada and Gabby's pool diapers from Canada.

Recent studies show that an increasing number of Japanese children are wetting their beds and even wearing diapers full time, well into elementary school.[14][15] Because of this trend, progressively larger diapers are appearing on the Japanese market. One example includes the "Goon Refreshing Bigger than Big Size Diapers," intended for seven-year-old children.[16]

Frequency of changing

When to change a diaper is the decision of the caregiver. Some people believe that diapers should be changed at fixed times of the day for a routine, such as after naps and after meals. Other people believe that diapers should be changed when they feel a change is needed regardless of timing. Still others people believe a diaper should be changed immediately upon wetting or soiling. And, some believe that a diaper should be changed only when the wearer is uncomfortable, the diaper is full, the diaper is leaking, or the wearer has a bowel movement.

To avoid skin irritation, commonly referred to as diaper rash, the diaper of those prone to it should be changed as soon as possible after it is soiled (especially by fecal matter). The combination of urine and feces creates ammonia. Ammonia irritates skin and can cause painful redness. During the change, after the buttocks are cleaned and dried, some people use baby oil, barrier creme or baby powder to reduce the possibility of irritation. The most effective means to prevent and treat diaper rash is to expose the buttocks to air and sunshine as often as possible. There are also drying creams based on such ingredients as zinc oxide which can be used to treat diaper rash. Before disposing of a diaper, either in a diaper pail for washing or the garbage, fecal matter should be removed as much as possible and placed in a toilet to avoid landfill and ground water contamination.

Diapers and nonhuman species

Diapers and diaper-like products are sometimes used on animals (mostly pets, but also sometimes laboratory and working animals). This is often due to the animal not being housebroken. Though, it may also be for older, sick, or injured pets who have become incontinent. In some cases, these are simply baby diapers with holes cut for the tails to fit through. In other cases, they are diaper-like waste collection devices.

Animals that are sometimes diapered include :

  • Horses (often so their manure can be used for fertilizer or so the horses can be used in public settings without leaving droppings on the ground). If the horse is hauling, sometimes the diaper is a piece of strong cloth or plastic slung between the horse's hauling harness and the front of the cart or carriage. Some mares are kept specifically for the production of urine, collected for premarin, a hormonal drug.
  • Dogs (often when a female is ovulating and thus bleeding).
  • Monkeys and apes (most monkeys are physically unable to learn control of excretions, which is not a useful ability for tree-dwelling animals. Diapers are most often seen on trained animals who appear on TV shows, in movies, or for live entertainment or educational appearances).
  • Birds (for birds that are allowed to fly freely around their owners' homes).

See also

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