Sphagnum moss served indigenous mothers as the first disposable diaper

Evidence

Babies were packed in their cradleboards in a comfy nest of dried moss. We know that Sphagnum moss can absorb twenty to forty times its weight in water. This rivals the performance of Pampers, making it the first disposable diaper. A pouch filled with mosses was probably as vital to those mothers as is the ubiquitous diaper bag today. The plentiful air spaces in dried Sphagnum would wick the urine away from the baby’s skin, just as it wicks up moisture in a bog. The acid astringency and mildly antiseptic properties even prevented diaper rash. Like the coltsfoot, the spongy mosses placed themselves near at hand, right at the edge of the shallow pools where mothers knelt to wash their babies. They came where they were needed. As a mother at the beginning of a new millennium, I feel a certain regret that my babies never felt the touch of soft moss against their skin, forging a bond with the world that Pampers can never provide. — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss, 432

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Grafts directly onto the trees-as-underused-worldbuilding thread: here a humble overlooked plant filling a fundamental human need — parallels bark cloth, silk, and other plant-gift utilities.
• XREF: Reinforces the Kimmerer bridge across the polyad — plants placing themselves where their gifts are needed, the web of reciprocity. — connects to: Wet moss layers steamed camas bulbs in traditional pit ovens — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural…, 438