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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

#131

Post by prismatix »

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

If one of you is a stay at home parent, then it's worth trying. But don't stress yourself out trying to make it happen.

I have 2 kids. The first I was able to stay home with for 1 year. We did what I'd call "light EC" which worked well and she was using the potty for BMs most of the time by 1 year old. She was fully potty trained by 2.

Second child: both parents are working full time, which means childcare is split between nanny & daycare. The nanny is pretty good about encouraging the potty, but EC went pretty much out the window. Daycare facility doesn't even have potties until the 2 year old room. She isn't 2 yet, but is just starting to understand the connection between the sensation and actually going.

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

#132

Post by ThePowerOfFuet »

dd8601fn wrote: post #109
xivzgrev wrote: post #46

Parent of 2 kids. Parents receive enough judgement. Do whatever works for you! -cloth diapers? Awesome -train early? Awesome -train later? Awesome There's trade offs for each, and you are going to figure out what works best for you. If you want to train later and the diaper companies make more money, that's how a market is supposed to work. They're providing a product you value. So all good!

I mean... they're pushing diapers for 6-9 year olds, now? What I took away is, by the early 2040s, "potty trained" is going to appear on peoples resumes.

>I mean... they're pushing diapers for 6-9 year olds, now?

[citation needed]

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

#133

Post by mizzao »

80% trained by age 1 in 1944 vs barely started by age 2 in 2026... now that seems like a regression in learning rate!

Both our kids were poop-trained before pee-trained, which made cloth diapers a lot more manageable (just rinse and toss in laundry). The first one was poop-trained around 5-6 months.

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

#134

Post by rustyhancock »

wizzwizz4 wrote: post #66
rustyhancock wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vast majority of advertising is laser focused to push women's buttons it's alarming. Interestingly, I was at the cinema and saw back to back adverts for monitoring where a woman is all the time is coercive control and abuse. Then an app for a mum to monitor where their adult daughter is at all times as a positive.[1] Both are abuse AFAIC and that helicopter parenting is encroaching on adulthood is alarming. In su…

Speaking of monitoring, your YouTube link has a tracking identifier in it… although it's ?is=, for some reason. Did you type that out manually, or has YouTube changed?

Id not noticed but can't edit it now!

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

#135

Post by apexalpha »

gus_massa wrote: post #84
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…

That's like $3 per day (a coffee). Most diapers only get pee, but cloth diaper are more difficult to use, let's add 2 extra minutes, 4 or 5 times per day. No solids means "not hard rock solids", they still make a nasty stinky brown paste. Hopefully only once per day. But that diaper MUST be partialy hand-washed, don't put it as is in the washing machine. At least a partial hand wash and then go with the rest to the w…

Ours come with a roll of cotton 'paper' sheets to put in. You throw this away which catches pretty much all solids. The rest we throw in the washing machine on 90 as is. Worked fine.

My eldest stopped using diapers during day at 2 and night at 2,5 years old.

Hopefully the youngest, too. She's only 1,5 but she already dislikes the cotton cloth being wet for too long, which is great. Modern diapers are so good they barely notice. You're essentially training them to just let it go because there's 0 feedback.

That is the real advantage for me as I hate diapers with a passion. No way I'm doing that for a year more than I have to, even with easier diapers.

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

#136

Post by mizzao »

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

We did this with both our kids; the first one stopped pooping in diaper by 5 months. This made cloth diapers much more feasible as you just have to rinse. A local daycare was willing to do it as well and so she was fully potty trained well before starting preschool at 2 years.

As others have said though, YMMV so don't beat yourself up if your kid won't do it. 80% by age 1 in 1944 is a great data point for what's possible though.

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

#137

Post by lukas099 »

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.

Exclusive breastfeeding (not bottle feeding breastmilk) is less labor than formula. The problem is potential discomfort, and inability for both parents to split the labor more equally.

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

#138

Post by jswelker »

I did the math meticulously when I had my first kid years ago, comparing store brand diapers vs cloth. Once you factor in the up front cost of the cloth diapers plus the cost of water and energy and detergent running the wash, the costs are virtually identical. The math looks better for cloth if you use them for years or multiple kids, but that's not super hygienic.

That's not even factoring in time and convenience.

I am convinced cloth diapers are some kind of performative environmentalialsm or performative motherhood akin to the trad wife phenomenon.

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

#139

Post by lukas099 »

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #112
xivzgrev wrote: post #46

Parent of 2 kids. Parents receive enough judgement. Do whatever works for you! -cloth diapers? Awesome -train early? Awesome -train later? Awesome There's trade offs for each, and you are going to figure out what works best for you. If you want to train later and the diaper companies make more money, that's how a market is supposed to work. They're providing a product you value. So all good!

Parent of three teens headed to college/trades in the next year. While I completely understand your positivity nihilism, this kind of parent as victim mentality needs to stop altogether. I’m looking around where I live and literally zero of these people have to raise their children because they didn’t have the access to abortion, contraception or public services.* 99% of parents decided to keep and raise a child. It…

Ok but we were talking about marginal differences in potty training methods, not neglecting kids and feeding them garbage.

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

#140

Post by tasuki »

xivzgrev wrote: post #46

Parent of 2 kids. Parents receive enough judgement. Do whatever works for you! -cloth diapers? Awesome -train early? Awesome -train later? Awesome There's trade offs for each, and you are going to figure out what works best for you. If you want to train later and the diaper companies make more money, that's how a market is supposed to work. They're providing a product you value. So all good!

> that's how a market is supposed to work.

What about the negative externalities?

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