The Myth of the "Daddy Diaper"

Sleeping against Daddy
in a Bummis SuperBrite and prefold

Around Toasty Baby, we don't say "Daddy diaper".

We'll say "Grandma diaper", "Daycare diaper" and "Babysitter diaper", but NOT "Daddy diaper". Why?

First, there's the philosophical reason. Dads are 100% parents, and we don't want downplay their 100% capability of caring for their children. Dads are just as smart as moms. There's no reason they can't use prefolds or snap closures just as well as Mom can. Diapering is a basic baby-care task, and to imply that Dad isn't capable or willing is kind of insulting.

Then there's our personal-experience reason. In the Toasty Baby household, for the first year of our baby's life, it was Dad who changed most the diapers. Josh stayed home as a full-time dad with Elliott while Joanna continues to work as a software engineer. In our house, there were no "Daddy diapers"!

When we first went through the Cloth Diaper 101 class, I (Joanna) had done lots of research about cloth diapers. I had talked to friends who used all sorts of diapering systems. I warned Josh- the prefolds and covers system is the most economical, but may be too hard to use, so it's up to you. You'll be changing the most diapers, so you get the final say. After the class, the first comment Josh made was, "Prefolds don't look that hard!" (and they aren't!) That was the last time I underestimated a father. The few pocket diapers we have are reserved for Grandmas and babysitters, who aren't full-time caregivers, so don't have the same motivation to deal with prefolds.

Daddies do diapers, too! Let's not insult them by downplaying their parenting abilities.

If you happen by the Fishers store on a weekday, you'll get to meet Josh, the Dad of Toasty Baby. He's a rare, heroic breed of stay-at-home, cloth-diapering dad. :) Ask him about it!