Diapering

Nappy directs here. See Nappy (disambiguation) and Diaper (disambiguation) more...

Home
Baby Gear
Baby Items
Baby Safety & Health
Baby Wholesale Lots
Bathing & Grooming
Bear Making Supplies
Bears
Car Safety Seats
Diapering
Baby Wipe Warmers
Baby Wipes
Changing Pads
Cloth Diapers
Diaper Bags
Diaper Cakes
Diaper Covers
Diaper Storage, Disposal
Disposable Diapers
Other Diapering
Swim Diapers
Dollhouse Miniatures
Dolls
Dolls & Bears
Dolls & Bears Wholesale Lots
Feeding
Keepsakes & Baby...
Nursery Bedding
Nursery Décor
Nursery Furniture
Other Baby Items
Paper Dolls
Potty Training
Strollers
Toys

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, people working in extreme conditions, e.g. NASA astronauts and people with Diaper fetishism.

History

Diapering, clothing infants not yet trained to go to the toilet 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.;

Read more at Wikipedia.org