Happy crinkl-tastic Big Diaper Friday babies!
How r chu? *babbles and coos* ^_^
If you felt yourself cringe a little reading that, congrats! This article is for you!
This is Ian River, check out my last article here, a padded skater and ABU’s social media bab, and former “never a baby!” crier!
Strap on the babiest diapers you have in your closet, cause we’re discussing embracing what some of us consider to be the ‘cringiest’ aspect of ABDL—Adult babies.
I Don’t Want to be Them 🙅♂️
When I first started exploring the community, I self-identified as a Diaper Lover (DL), or a diaper fetishist. To me, being an adult baby brought up images of toe-curling, gag-inducing, just cringe images used in the butt of jokes you see on social media or TV. The man-child who would look deadpan into the camera and say “I pooped myself…” in that baby mimicking voice.
Whenever discussing my fetishes with folks, I would declare myself “ABDL” but quickly follow up with “but I’m not into being a baby or anything!” Wanting to squash any suggestion in their mind that I wanted to be an adult baby. The idea that I might be compared to the lowest form of my kink (in my mind) was terrifying!
That human desire to belong and not be an outcast spurred that need in me to declare my innocence from ABs. The need to say “I’m weird, but not that weird” as I pointed towards the hypothetical man-child in a bonnet and overfilled diaper.
The first part of coming to accept the binky and a bottle of milk was changing my own perception of what an adult baby is.
Changing How I Perceived ABs 🤓
My first job at ABU was a part-time packer at the warehouse. It was a huge change for me, lifestyle-wise, as I went from indulging in a bit of crinkle fun once a weekend in my room to now being surrounded by stacks upon stacks of diapers!
I was frequently seen waddling through the warehouse, packing diapers, without pants (talk about cringe), and my manager at the time would frequently tease, “Look at the baby packing diapers!”, something I learned later was just his way of being fun towards fellow crinkle butts, pointing at them and exclaiming “baby!”, but I was quick to correct him “not a baby!”. To which he would chuckle at and correct himself to say “Oh, right, sorry, diaper boy.”
Working at ABU, my experiences broaden. Not just with your typical job growth, all jobs should provide. But my experience interacting with others in the community.
Suddenly, all these people I would see and sometimes message on the internet were talking to me in person, including some who happily accepted the baby moniker. Then my perceived image of the adult baby morphed. It wasn’t the cutaway, shocking, butt-of-the-joke, poorly groomed man-child. They were guys my age, women with incredible insight, critters of all kinds. Folks with professional jobs and impeccable charisma, who showed that the extreme wasn’t the default for ABs.
Suddenly, now, when that manager, or anyone else, would point to me and exclaim “baby!” I didn’t feel the need to correct them. However, I wasn’t quite ready to claim that role myself. That took time and self-love.
Embracing the Baby in Me 🚼
There isn’t a single point in my journey that I could blame for allowing myself to accept being an adult baby. No distinct moment of interaction or experience that finally flipped the switch to go “I’m Ian, and I love being a baby!”
There was a lot of slow acceptance of regression. Getting a pacifier at the Chicago Ageplayer Convention (CAP). Putting on an AlphaGatorZ and thinking how much like a baby diaper it looked like. Buying a water bottle retrofitted with a baby bottle nipple.
Suddenly, I just looked in my closet and went, “I got a lot of ‘baby stuff’ for someone not into being a baby…”
I was finding comfort in the physical aspect of regression. Drinking from a bottle, or suckling a pacifer didn’t make me feel embarrassed.
Then came the non-physical elements, not just wearing baby-ish clothes, or carrying a paci on me. It was opening myself to be vulnerable enough for others to care for me.
I am a strongly independent person, and I don’t like giving control to others. This had to be chipped away slowly by those I trusted, friends, and relationships.
Getting teased and told “You’re too little for that X toy” or “No, that Y thing isn’t for boys like you”, while being gently directed towards the perceived “age-appropriate” item or activity.
Every one of these moments, along with the reinterpretation of what an adult baby looked like, helped me to chip away at that “never a baby!”
I’m still growing in my crinkly experiences, meeting new people, experiencing new things! Perhaps in a few years, I’ll be someone’s perception of a cringe adult baby (I probably already am!).
Now It’s Your Turn! 🫵
That’s right, I’m aiming the regression canon at you and firing!
Do you have a similar mindset that I once had? Struggle to feel vulnerable? Or do you just find the idea of babbling and being fed by another too much to take? I am challenging you to open yourself to something new. Unless you’re too baby to try!
Go strap yourself in a Super Dry Kids or Little Kings, put on your favorite toddler-appropriate entertainment, or just try sitting on the floor and change your perspective of familiar rooms to that of a little one.
You got this, baby!
– Ian ‘Wi-ver”
