Plastic and Latex Free Diapering

[lwheelr]

There is a high chance that my baby will be allergic to plastic and latex. I can use cloth diapers for him, but what do you do for plastic pants if they can't wear them?

No velcro, no coated cloth shields, no disposable diapers at all.

Non-synthetic, non-wool fibers only.

 

[patandchickens]

Non wool makes it tough (the usual thing would be to use knitted wool soaker pants -- the wool would not be directly against *that* much of the baby's skin, it might be worth trying at least?). Or if polarfleece is ok (I don't know whether that counts as plastic for you?) you could try making a *thick*, probably multilayer polarfleece soaker pant, it should work reasonably ok.

If it were me, I either just plan on doing very frequent diaper changes and have the baby sitting on something waterproof when on surfaces you don't want leaked-upon; or trying a timing-and-signs based "diaperless" approach (google something like "elimination training baby" or "diaperless baby training" or such -- contrary to misconceptions, it is not so much about training the baby as training the PARENT to recognize the signs of something imminent so you can get the baby over top of a bucket in time).

Or any combination of the above.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[MsPony]

Hmm, we use some special waterproofing on blankets for horses, I'm not sure what its made of though. I am not on a laptop, so I'm sure you could google it

 

[lwheelr]

I saw the whole diaperless thing. I've raised 7 kids, and I know that babies DO give signs that they need to pee or poop. Problem is, that they do so AS they are going, or just SECONDS before. No time to whip ANYTHING off and put a baby over anything. I also know from observing and training kids, that it takes many many months to train an infant to anything. That time shortens with age, but it seems pretty logical that a baby would have no useful bowel control until they were close to a year or more old. Up to that time, they might be able to release their sphincter muscles to pass urine on demand (if they had a full enough bladder), but they would not have the control to restrain if they had to go, nor would they have the ability to void their bowels on command or to restrain it if they had to go.

So not only is it just training the parent, it is requiring the parent to keep up a VERY demanding task requirement.

Newborns pee every 5-10 minutes. It is about every half hour by 3-4 months. If you have ever had to do something every 5-10 minutes, which requires your full attention and monitoring, you'll know what it would involve to not use diapers with a newborn. Basically, you'd be holding the baby over the toilet 24-7. Otherwise, you would have to develop a VERY casual attitude about getting wet on.

Many of the parents doing this let the baby go half naked most of the time - no undies, just a shirt and legwarmers. They do that for just the reason of time - either you jump fast and plop that baby on the toilet immediately, or you don't catch it. No time to take off clothes. But not appropriate attire for public appearances either! Besides which, I don't think I want to train my child to be half naked because training a child to WEAR clothes can be just as hard as training them to use a toilet later!

I just don't see that as being a practical option for our life. I mean, you can't really take a baby to the pot every time they have to go when it takes half an hour to drive to the store (stopping the car, unbuckling the baby, undressing it and sticking a bowl under it would be too slow to do any good by the time you got it all done), when you are IN the store for an hour or more (impractical there, to say the least), when church is 3 hours long (can't you just see whipping out the potty in the middle of the invocation), and when the rest of the time you have to juggle childcare with a web business or farm. Just seems entirely unmanageable for me since I have other children and duties which also require my attention.

I did find this:

https://www.babybunz.com/Niji-Cotton.html

Big problem is they are SO expensive. And I don't see a way to make them myself, because they are a waterproofed cotton.

Some types of waterproofing will definitely be a problem, due to the chemicals used. Other types are less of a problem.

I thought perhaps the infant training pants that the diaperless people use might be useful as a diaper cover also, as an alternative to the old time soaker. What I don't like about that option is that I'd pretty much have to double diaper by the time the baby was a few months old, and that is just so bulky and HOT in a warm climate. Heat rash on the butt is no more fun than an allergic rash.

 

[DrakeMaiden]

This reminds me of something I saw that probably isn't going to be any help at all, but apparently if you feed the baby on a schedule you can hold a chamber pot for them on a schedule too. LOL That was from a Better Homes & Gardens baby book from the 1950's.

For a newborn you could maybe swaddle them in a towel? Multiple diapers when older. As long as there aren't plastic pants over the diapers, there should be enough air movement to keep a rash from forming, I would think, (but I haven't tried it). At least if it were summer you could give them regular diaperless breaks outside.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

This reminds me of something I saw that probably isn't going to be any help at all, but apparently if you feed the baby on a schedule you can hold a chamber pot for them on a schedule too. LOL That was from a Better Homes & Gardens baby book from the 1950's.

For a newborn you could maybe swaddle them in a towel? Multiple diapers when older. As long as there aren't plastic pants over the diapers, there should be enough air movement to keep a rash from forming, I would think, (but I haven't tried it). At least if it were summer you could give them regular diaperless breaks outside.

Ummm, scheduling a baby's feedings, is the number one cause of failure to thrive

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

So, can I ask why you are anticipating this allergy? And why no wool?

 

[DrakeMaiden]

Ummm, scheduling a baby's feedings, is the number one cause of failure to thrive

I wasn't recommending it, just saying that is how they used to do it back in the 50's.

ETA: Sorry, I should have stated more clearly why I mentioned this . . . I meant to imply that if you know what time you fed a baby you can expect what time they will eliminate.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Ummm, scheduling a baby's feedings, is the number one cause of failure to thrive

I wasn't recommending it, just saying that is how they used to do it back in the 50's.

ETA: Sorry, I should have stated more clearly why I mentioned this . . . I meant to imply that if you know what time you fed a baby you can expect what time they will eliminate.

Cool

 

[lwheelr]

Well, my children have varying degrees of sensitivities. And Crohn's brings its own set of chemical sensitivities. If a mother has Crohn's, and the auto-immune factors of the disease are badly out of control (as mine were when I got pregnant), then her body attacks the baby very early on - this leads to miscarriage very often, but if the baby survives, it can be damaged. It can cause a fairly severe form of Crohn's in the baby - is very likely to.

My current youngest son was born with Crohn's, and has sensitivities to many things. Since I had worse auto-immune disease when I got pregnant this time, it is logical to assume that there may be problems of this type from day one, and to plan accordingly.

Plastic is a major potential allergen (I have allergies to many plastics), and so is wool (wool allergies run in my family through many generations). If someone has those allergies, then the only "safe" fabrics are linen and cotton. Nylon, rayon, acrylic, etc, are all just forms of plastic.

So I'm looking at what I will need if this does end up being an issue, because my gut tells me it is highly likely.