I'm joining Vintage Thingies Thursday over at ColoradoLady's (Suzanne) blog!
My brother in Tennessee called the other day to announce that he and Yami (Yamileth, from Panama) are expecting their second child! Their first, Esperanza is 8. She was worried that, at age 34, she might be too old to have another child. Ha! I had mine at 38 and 42, and I survived (barely)!
So, in keeping with that theme, I'm showing you two items that were "found" recently.
The Curity sachet, which is no longer scented, was found in a vintage book I have. Curity diapers were made by The Kendall Company (Walpole, Mass.). My parents met at Kendall Mills back in the late 40's; and I also worked there my first job out of high school - Steno Pool and Switchboard! A Steno Pool, for you youngsters out there, was a big room of typists who copied dictation, letters, reports, etc. in larger companies, like this:
The switchboard I worked at looked similar to this, but there were only three of us:
Now, back to the baby photo again. Mister found the little bottle in the barn a few days ago, filled with screws. He asked if I wanted it - duh! It says: "The original and largest diaper service in New England, Dy-Dee Service, See 'Yellow Pages' for local phone number". I have no idea what it held, maybe lotion or safety pins.Oh, you don't know what a diaper service is either? Well, back in the day (at least up through the 60's) this is how it worked: you collect your dirty (cloth) diapers, set them outside once a week, and receive a fresh stack of fluffy white diapers in their place. No messing with smelly diaper laundry.
I have no idea if there are any of these services still in business or not.
25 comments:
If there are moms using cloth diapers, I bet there is a diaper service. I would not wish to deal with stinky diapers!
They still had diaper service in the 1990's. I don't know about now though. Congratulations to your brother!!
I wonder with all the "green" lifestyles, if this would be a good business today?? Interesting...never thought of that until now! Have a great VTT!
Wow what memories. When my son was born in 1978 there were disposables, but when I started baby sitting cloth was the only thing and I still remember having to dispose of the poop in the toilet without dropping any on the floor!! Then putting the diaper in a pail with baking soda. Ok those were not such nice memories...:(
Tina xo
I enjoyed seeing and learning some of your great memories. I am sure there are probably a few that would still use the cloth diapers. I believe they still have diaper services just not for the cloth ones.
My kids are 12-20 and I do remember a couple of cloth diaper services being in existance. They were just starting up but I don't think either of them is still around.
Interesting and fun post!
I never used a diaper service, but while I was in college I had a bed sheet service!!! I had a little locker in which I would find the clean sheets each week and swap them out for my dirty ones! Yep - - - tis true.
That is such a great post. With my daughter there were no disposables, so I only used cloth. Loved hanging them out on a sunny day. When my twins came along, disposables had just come out and were pricey. I used cloth at home and disposables only when we went out. Thanks for sharing this iteresting post. Would do a lot for the landfills if ladies would go back to the cloth today!!!
I had three babies in 18 months- oldest then twins-& no disposables, so I washed a couple of hundred diapers a week, yuck! And went to work 40 hrs! well remember those sinks full of smelly things!
A lot of my friends are using cloth diapers and they clean them themselves... But I'm sure there's a service out there to help. It's just finding a family that can afford it.
What an interesting post!
I used a diaper service in the
'90's too!
I wouldn't have wanted to wash them myself.....!!! Glad I didn't have to.
I wonder how many people collect diaper thingies. Looks like you have the start of a collection.
Love your post! Small world! I was just in Walpole today.
What an interesting post! It was like going down memory lane....except for the diaper service which I wanted but couldn't afford. We lived in an attic apartment and I went down 3 flights of stairs to do the laundry, up one to go outside and hang them on the line and up 2 more after they were dry but to this day I hang my clothes out....I LOVE IT!
I remember my mom using a diaper service like that for awhile but it became too expensive and she went back to washing them out in the toilet.
I love fluffy, clean white cloth diapers but the the thought of dirty ones? Gag! My sister used a diaper service curtesy of my mom.
Actually, many of today's new moms are using cloth diapers once again. Not only are they using them, they are sewing them themselves with cute wool lined covers. You can find them on Etsy or a site called Hyena cart.
Loved your post!
We went overseas for a year when DD was 2 and DS was 6 months...disposables were very expensive so we used cloth at home and I used a diaper service. DD was not happy with the cloth diapers and toilet trained herself within 2 months of arriving...poor me, I couldn't see paying for diaper service for only 1 kid, so there I was...washing diapers.
What great finds. Congrats to your brother & his wife!!
Yep, there are still diaper services today, and instead of those plastic pants you used to put over the diapers, they now have fashionable and washable "wraps" But a diaper service is not cheep or affordable on a normal budget anymore. YOU have to make a good living to beable to be that nice to the environment.
Just thinking,,perhaps my grandma was in the bottom pic at the switchboard ;0)
Cool photos Sweet Cherry Pie
Blessings and Hugs Dena
My parents got a year's worth of diaper service as a baby gift when I was born. I think from Dad's congregation. Fun post - I had cousins who lived in Walpole or East Walpole at some point, but no one is there anymore.
Yes we have the nappy service still today in the UK Diapers to the US, never use the service i washed my own i soaked them in solution call Milton, first baby feeding bottles were curved with my first then the straight uprighr feeding bottles came in, i very long time ago Sue.
Super blog Sue thanks i like them all.
Doris
I used diaper service for 6 years straight from 1982-1986. It was the BEST thing ever! Contrary to popular belief at the time it was WAY cheaper than disposables. About $40.00 a month cheaper! You never had to do anything to them. Take it off the baby and drop it in the bucket. If you baby had a rash they would do a culture and tell you what to do about it. AWESOME! I put them out early in the morning and by afternoon I had sweet fresh cloth diapers for my baby.
Post a Comment