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How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

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Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#71

Post by trollbridge »

noemit wrote: post #30
kQq9oHeAz6wLLS wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> don't have the time to dedicate I hope it's worth it

I spend a lot of time with my kids because of my work. I've worked fully remote for almost 7 years now. After my son was born I was back to work 1.5 weeks later but I got to work with him in my lap for 1.5 years (after which he started going to grandmas) He was breastfed that entire time. Taking 2 weeks to potty train is something I've deprioritized because I'd rather focus on going on vacation/recharging and the dow…

As someone who grew up watching his dad build software for millions of people, some friendly advice is this may not be as “worth it” as you think it is.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#72

Post by cm2012 »

allturtles wrote: post #34
noemit wrote: post #15

My mom toilet trained me at 3 months. She had me on a schedule and she would hold me one toilet during the determined times and I would go. This was right after communism fell so she only had access to cloth diapers, and cleaning them was so annoying she did it as early as she could. She was shocked at how long my kids stayed in diapers. I asked her how, and well there is a slight difference between us. She had 2 yea…

> My mom toilet trained me at 3 months. Is this a typo? I don't see how it could be physically possible for a three-month-old to be toilet trained. Among other things, they can't sit up on a toilet seat or walk to the bathroom.

Some kids are very developmentally ahead of others, its quire uneven.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#73

Post by throwaway173738 »

allturtles wrote: post #55
noemit wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She had me on a schedule and would hold me up. Yep at 3 months babies can't even sit up. She said at the start she would hold me up until I went, even if it took hours, and if I went she would reward me. She Pavlov'ed me. I think she said I would cry or babble in a certain way, or if she even suspected I needed to go she would put me on the potty and hold me up.

Fascinating. I'm not sure what would drive someone to do this, since until the child can actually go to the toilet on their own, you haven't achieved the actual point (IMO) of the training.

The point would be to not clean diapers.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#74

Post by Forgeties79 »

jonhohle wrote: post #38
Forgeties79 wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking back my wife and I have said that we could probably have done cloth diapers during the breast-feeding phase but man… Definitely not with solid foods. I don’t know how people did it. Like yes of course if we didn’t have an option we would do it, but with disposable diapers right there… There’s no way I’m ever choosing cloth diapers and solid foods lol

I never thought solid was too bad, if it was solid. We had a sprayer on the toilet and typically everything would spray right off. There are worse kid messes that I’ve had to deal with (and >10 years later, still do). At least one of my kids would get bad diaper rash, though, in cloth. We had to make sure the were constantly checked and changed even when it wasn’t obvious.

> if it was solid

Big if lol but yes agreed otherwise!

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#75

Post by caminante »

abustamam wrote: post #5

We're using cloth diapers for our daughter (6m). She's still exclusively breastfed so no solid poops but so far I estimate we've saved over $100/mo by this decision. The story may change when she starts on solids but I recommend everyone to try out cloth diapers, just make sure you have a routine and system in place to make it less overwhelming (we have two diaper pails next to the changing table, one for disposable…

I submit the cost benefit is closer to neutral with extra washer cycles, setup costs, labor, friction while travelling...

This is probably better ROI than "breastfeeding saves money" when formula is so cheap and you avoid pumping, washing, and labor while exhausted.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#76

Post by rocmcd »

joenot443 wrote: post #33

Have any parents tried Elimination Communication? Basically teaching your baby to inform you that they’re ready to go, and taking them to the toilet immediately. This is something my partner wants to try when we eventually have kids. Something I’d never heard of until last week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

As a parent, this is a hilarious comment.

This is like saying "why don't you just teach your cat to use the toilet instead of using a litter box?". I mean, yeah, that sounds awesome. Given infinite time and energy, I'm sure it's possible. Best of luck to you, though.

And I don't say that to be rude or disparaging, it's just that parenting is a little like war: your plans never survive contact with the enemy. I had similar thoughts and ideas before I had kids, and they all went out the window when you deal with the real thing. Sleepless nights, a screaming infant, being scared out of your mind when they're sick... but then you will find a calmness unattainable anywhere else as you hold your sleeping child. All of your accomplishments will pale in comparison to the joys of parenthood, and you will unironically look back at those years as some of the best years of your life. You will see.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#77

Post by [deleted] »

caminante wrote: post #75
abustamam wrote: post #5

We're using cloth diapers for our daughter (6m). She's still exclusively breastfed so no solid poops but so far I estimate we've saved over $100/mo by this decision. The story may change when she starts on solids but I recommend everyone to try out cloth diapers, just make sure you have a routine and system in place to make it less overwhelming (we have two diaper pails next to the changing table, one for disposable…

I submit the cost benefit is closer to neutral with extra washer cycles, setup costs, labor, friction while travelling... This is probably better ROI than "breastfeeding saves money" when formula is so cheap and you avoid pumping, washing, and labor while exhausted.

[deleted]

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#78

Post by sumeno »

echelon wrote: post #49
sumeno wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We did okay for hundreds of thousands of years. Yeah, why don't we just go back to the "okay" times of 40%+ child mortality rates instead of the current You're a genius

Child mortality saw steep improvements in the 1900s - 1940s all over the world . I didn't think I had to clear myself of this argument. "Helicopter parents", the desire to call CPS for unattended children - these are new and novel phenomena that are symptoms of society's desire to raise the cost of parenting through marketing, social norms, and peer pressure.

"Helicopter parents" are because of the rise of national media amplifying relatively rare cases of things like child abductions, not a conspiracy by big diaper

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#79

Post by throwaway173738 »

db48x wrote: post #57
sumeno wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We did okay for hundreds of thousands of years. Yeah, why don't we just go back to the "okay" times of 40%+ child mortality rates instead of the current You're a genius

I’m no expert, but I suspect that going from disposable diapers to cloth diapers would not be quite that bad.

No, but if you have a kid with no support system you’re going to find it really hard to add just a few more hours per week to clean diapers out every other day on top of everything else. If it was easy for you congratulations you had an easy one.

Re: How Big Diaper absorbs billions of extra dollars from American parents

#80

Post by KaiserPro »

rocmcd wrote: post #76
joenot443 wrote: post #33

Have any parents tried Elimination Communication? Basically teaching your baby to inform you that they’re ready to go, and taking them to the toilet immediately. This is something my partner wants to try when we eventually have kids. Something I’d never heard of until last week. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

As a parent, this is a hilarious comment. This is like saying "why don't you just teach your cat to use the toilet instead of using a litter box?". I mean, yeah, that sounds awesome. Given infinite time and energy, I'm sure it's possible. Best of luck to you, though. And I don't say that to be rude or disparaging, it's just that parenting is a little like war: your plans never survive contact with the enemy. I had si…

Its possible to do, the problem is, it takes months cleaning piss and shit to get to there.

I think its fine if one of you is staying at home all the time doing child care.

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