Academic literature on the topic 'History of cloth and disposable diapers'

Disposable diapers have become a prominent feature of solid waste dumped in landfills. It is estimated that disposable diapers take anywhere between 300 to 500 years to decompose. Despite the associated environmental challenges, a plethora of studies show that disposable diapers have become a popular choice for parents when compared with cloth diapers. Disposable diapers are argued to be more convenient for parents because of their once-off use and super-absorbent ability, of which they are able to absorb 200-300 times the weight as compared to the cloth diapers. This study investigates thermal devolatilisation profiles of disposable diapers as well as their iso-conventional kinetic parameters, elemental and fractional composition. In this study, the two most dominant disposable diaper brands were sampled and analysed qualitatively and quantitatively. It was observed that the exterior fraction of both diapers showed a single peak devolatilisation at a temperature of around 500°C, while the interior fraction showed two distinctive devolatilisation peaks observed below 400°C and above 500°C. However, the pyrolysis heating rate produced no effect on the pyro-char fraction. Furthermore, the devolatilisation pathways of different types of disposable diaper fractions showed that there is a potential for conducting stepwise pyrolysis to promote fractional recovery of valuable products. Disposable diapers waste conversion can be better handled by separating the outer fraction (mainly fossil-based plastics and rubbery materials) from the inner fraction (mainly bio-based fibers and absorbents). It is further illustrated that the kinetic parameters, Ea and k0 are different for each disposable diaper fraction.

This article describes briefly the history of creation of disposable diapers, the structure of modern diapers, and skincare during use of disposable diapers, first aid methods, if a baby develops diaper dermatitis, and answers to the main questions asked by parents about possible risks for babies’ health during constant use of disposable diapers. The article underlines the nurses’ role in advising parents on the newborn care.

Over the past several years, a number of articles and online posts have circulated on the Internet associating use of disposable and cloth diapers with chemical burns on babies’ skin. Because both mild chemical burns and diaper dermatitis (diaper rash) can cause skin redness and peeling, it is not surprising that some confusion has arisen regarding the association between these two conditions. However, diapers cannot cause chemical burns because they are made of inert materials. Diaper rash and chemical burns are distinct conditions that require different evaluation and treatment, which is why it is important for pediatricians to help parents understand the difference.

Our research project “Unworthy of History” focuses on discussing the historical narrative in Polishhistory textbooks that are used in teaching history at the middle school level. The aim is to analyze and describe ways of thinking about as well as presenting the role and place of women and men in history in schools. Research shows that women are portrayed in textbooks as playing a less important role than men – they are almost non-existent in public life. “(...) what is male is universal. What is female is accidental and secondary”. The few women that are mentioned in these textbooks are portrayed in traditional roles, usually family roles, and in those contexts and spheres of life that are culturally considered to be typically feminine. Women are not only under-represented in history textbooks; also, informationabout them is often distorted or simply untrue. The topic of the (in)equality between women and men as well as the history of women’s emancipation movements, which are related to the empowerment of half of humanity, is not considered worthy to be presented in Polish textbooks. Our presentation and study focused on the absence and stereotypical representations of women scientists in Polish history textbooks. The results reveal that although women could be as creative and hard working as men – not exclusively in the fields traditionally associated with women (e.g. Josephine Cochran invented the dishwasher in 1872, and Marion Donovan – disposable diapers in 1950) butalso in those associated with men (e.g. Mary Anderson created windshield wipers in 1903 and Grace Murray found the first computer bug in 1947) – their contribution to the development of societies is marginalised, trivialised or totally omitted by the authors Polish history textbooks. In every textbook analysed, men make up over 90% of characters introduced by name although they were not necessarily widely known. On the other hand, women who achieved professional success in science, art or social development get ignored.

Diaper is an option for most mothers because they are practical for the parents and make babies sleep better. Children who wear diapers often show late toileting development since they cannot feel a sense of damp when urinating. This study aimed to know the use of baby diapers on toilet training behavior of pre-school children in Early Childhood Education Programs (PAUD) and Kindergarten at Mersi village, Purwokerto. This was a non-experimental quantitative study with cross-sectional study design. The population was 217 children with history of diaper usage. The samples were 68 respondents who met the inclusion criteria. The data was analyzed using Chi Square. This research has already been conducted in 2013. The results showed that 85.4% respondents wore diapers, whereas 14.6% did not. 12.5% respondents had good toilet training behavior, 78% had sufficient behavior 78%, and 9.5% were lacking. There was a significant difference between history of diapers usage and toilet training behavior among pre-school children in Early Childhood Education Programs (PAUD) and Kindergarten at Mersi village (p=0,04). It can be concluded that there was a significant difference between the usage of baby diapers and toilet training behaviors in pre-school children.

In my thesis, I have covered interviews with ten women - mothers who have decided to use for their babies a changing system of modern cloth diapers. For the topic I have used a qualitative sociological research strategy. The purpose of the received data from the interviews was to answer questions about motivations and reasons for the usage of this type of nappies and decide what benefits they see in them. As our society is used to disposable baby diapers and looks at them as a norm, I was interested in people's reactions, which these mothers have faced and how they have coped with. Finally, I have tried to find out the role of the internet and the social media in this matter. The theoretical part is devoted to the history of cloth and disposable diapers. There I have put into the context the issue of cloth diapers with the principles of sustainable development and responsible consumption. In the practical part I have carried out an analysis of ten semi-structured interviews with mothers who have been using cloth diapers for babies, along with examples of expressions of activities associated with cloth diapers in social media on the internet.