Hacker News Reader

Comment by Simulacra | Hacker News Reader

My husband and I are gearing up for our first pregnancy. We're at the point in our careers for we know we can actually afford this. That said, we are really liking the idea of washable diapers. I'm surprised this hasn't caught on. Instead of more diapers, what if the state paid for a service to collect and wash those?

View on HN

A big part of the reason this isn’t a thing right now is because modern water-saving eco-friendly washers are simply not capable of washing diapers. This is further compounded by the fact that modern laundry detergent is phosphate free. Basically, the average person no longer has access to the necessary equipment to properly do it.

If you are well off, you may be able to pay a diaper service with commercial equipment to do the washing for you. We had a relative cover this for our third child, and I can attest that it works out quite nicely.

Not the state, but major cities each have several good cloth-diaper-as-a-service (CDAAS?) companies. You pay a subscription fee and exchange dirty diapers for fresh ones every week. Makes the whole process convenient as using disposables.

You do realise that people, before disposable diapers, did just that?

Coming from a former Soviet state, we did not have disposable diapers when me and my siblings were growing up. Washable diapers were the only option, and it was horrible. Both for the kids as well as the parents having to wash them all the time.

Im actually amazed that there are people today who think this is a good idea and want to go back to it. Seriously what?

I remember old giant cooking pots where people would 'cook' those and then dry them later on.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com