Learning to change a baby's diaper is rather tricky. They seem to be determined to stick their feet right in the middle of the mess, and then they pee everywhere. Cleaning your little chickadee's undercarriage can be frustrating to say the least. Here are a few tricks that I have learned over the years that have made the dirty job a little cleaner.
1. Always use a changing pad, even on the changing table.
Even when your baby is only wet, having a changing pad is a great idea. A baby who is getting changed often feels inspired by all of the commotion down there to add a little more excitement to the party. This can mean a big mess, and a lot of laundry, unless you were prepared with a changing pad. Often when mid-diapering accidents happen an changing pad will catch all of the extra goop. This will save you from having to own three or four changing table covers, and needing to constantly launder them.
2. Hold both of your baby's feet in one hand to lift her bottom up.
This maneuver sounds more tricky than it is. if you can hold one ankle with your pointer finger and thumb, then wrap your other three fingers around the second ankle, you can do it. Then when both ankles are secure, bring your baby's feet up near her face. This should gently and naturally lift your baby's bottom an inch or two off of the diaper and make it easier to reach. Babies are very flexible, and though this position may look uncomfortable, it is not for most babies. One exception is, if you baby spits up every time you try to do this, she probably has reflux, and this position will not be ideal for her. If this is the case, try rolling your baby away from you onto her side to expose her booty for washing.
3. Use the clean front of the diaper for the first wipe of dirty diapers.
Sometimes our babies make quite large sticky messes in their fluffy little butt covers. These can use up a huge amount of wipes, which don't come cheap. To save a little elbow grease and a little extra change, when you first open your little food processor's diaper, take a hold of the front of the diaper and wipe from front to back. One big wipe is all that this move is good for. It doesn't clean the whole mess, it just takes off the top layer, so that what is left is easier to deal with. When you reach the back of your baby's rear end with the front of the diaper, just leave it there. This keeps your baby from re-dipping into the mess while you begin cleaning the rest of his hiney. You can also take the diaper away, if you have a handy place to stash it until you can deal with it by itself. The reason I leave the diaper there, is it is one more thing between my changing pad and changing table, so that even if I can't keep both completely clean, I can often reduce the mess.
4. Drape a baby washcloth over your boy's little fire hose.
This can apply to girls who spray when they are being changed too. For some reason, the cool air maybe, babies love to go wee-wee when they are naked. Since getting urine squirted all over the room is probably not one of the things you want to deal with, simply draping a bit of cloth, or a baby-wipe over the front section of your little fire-fighter during a diaper change can save you a major headache.
5. Have a squirt bottle with your cleanser in it handy.
If you have read my tips for natural remedies for diaper rash, you know that I prefer to have natural ingredients with which to wash my little ones buns. I got a great tip from JJ Keith (@jj_keith on twitter, a great person to follow) to keep my natural cleansers in a squirt bottle, and it is SO much easier! Make sure to always clean in the folds. It can be awkward, but it is very important to remove all of the waste. I also recommend keeping any powders (like cornstarch) in old spice bottles (It is much easier to sprinkle if the lid has holes than if it is just open), and oils (like olive oil) work great in old hand-soap pump style bottles. Always be sure to clean any recycled containers thoroughly before using them for your baby's rear-end care kit.
Changing diapers is not fun, not easy and not tidy, but it can be a little less work with a few handy techniques, and a little practice. If you have found these tips helpful, please forward them to any new or expecting parents you might know. Questions, Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Happy parenting!
Showing posts with label disposable. Show all posts
Showing posts with label disposable. Show all posts
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Friday, May 22, 2009
5 tips for effective use of cloth diapers.
Alright, yesterday I wrote about disposable diapers, so in the interest of being fair and P.C. Today I want to write about cloth diapers! Many of the positions I have worked in as a Nanny and as a child care professional have required that I be familiar with the cloth diaper and it's benefits. What my employers didn't always know was that in the 80's my mother practiced cloth diapering with my siblings, and as the oldest daughter of 10 siblings, I had my fair share of first hand exposure to the topic. I have quite a few tips and tricks to pass on to new mothers who choose cloth diapering. First of all, let me say, I admire you. I respect your choice, and I hope that my tips can help make it an easier one for you. Now for the tips...
1. Know the fold.
There is a certain fold that is the best for cloth diapering. Most cloth diapering sites will show you how it is done, but let me describe it loosely here. Lay the diaper flat with the thick part running from your left hand to your right hand horizontally. With your right hand fold in the thinner corners of the cloth diaper so that they overlap in the middle on the right side, making the diaper look like a blunted arrow with the wide end on your left and the blunt but pointier end on the right. Now take about 1 inch of the diapers edge on each of the 2 ends and fold them in towards one another. This is the diaper fold that will be best for preventing leaks for you and your baby. The large end goes across your babies behind, and the blunted point goes just under your babies belly button.
2. Change often.
One of the basic drawbacks of the cloth diaper is that they cannot hold very much liquid before they need to be changed. They do breath better than any other kind of diaper, but if you don't remove every wet diaper immediately, they will start to chafe your baby's bottom, and that chaffing is hard to get rid of. So do a load of diapers every night, or have the diaper service pick up the diapers as often as the y will, and be liberal with the changing of the nappy.
3. Baking soda satchel between diaper and cover.
This is a little trick that my grandmother used. she took a small cotton sack and filled it half way with baking soda, and slipped it in between the cover (in those days a cover was a heavy plastic thing with tight elastic at the legs) and the cloth diaper. It worked wonders for absorbing smells, and didn't run the risk of caking onto the baby's bottom or irritating the skin. If you have a sewing machine you can turn one of these out pretty quick.
4. Double up for over-nights.
Changing often is all fine and good until you try to get your baby to sleep through the night. Doubling the cloth diaper is the usual remedy for lasting 6 to 8 hours. However, I have a trick, (surprised?) Take some batting, used for padding quilts, and sew a strip of it to the underside of a regular cloth diaper's thicker inner strip, covered with a bit of breathable cotton. Next time you diaper your baby for the night still use two diapers, but have the batting sandwiched between the two. This will capture overflows just long enough to let them absorb into one of the diapers instead of running out the leg opening. If you still experience leaks you can flip the reinforced diaper over so the batting will start to slow the flow of fluid faster, but there is an increased risk of diaper rash.
5. Keep burp-cloths and diapers separate.
Never confuse the nappy's that you are using for your baby's behind, and those that you may use for your baby's face. Though there is very little chance that bacteria would survive washing and be able to cause your baby an eye infection or worse, there is still that small chance. Not to mention the chance that the sugars in your baby's spit up could VERY easily survive washing to give your baby a yeast infection. Simply devise a system (putting a small mark by a permanent marker in the corner of the diapers meant for the baby behind) that you can maintain simply and easily.
Over all, there is not that huge a difference between changing one diaper or another. The challenges you will face with cloth diapering will without question be worth the returns, and with a few tricky tips up your sleeve, those challenges might prove to be nothing more than a momentary distraction from the overall joy of being a mother. If you find these tips helpful, please pass them on to any new mothers or soon-to-be mothers that you might know. I relish questions and comments, so please don't hesitate to leave it if you have one. Happy parenting!
1. Know the fold.
There is a certain fold that is the best for cloth diapering. Most cloth diapering sites will show you how it is done, but let me describe it loosely here. Lay the diaper flat with the thick part running from your left hand to your right hand horizontally. With your right hand fold in the thinner corners of the cloth diaper so that they overlap in the middle on the right side, making the diaper look like a blunted arrow with the wide end on your left and the blunt but pointier end on the right. Now take about 1 inch of the diapers edge on each of the 2 ends and fold them in towards one another. This is the diaper fold that will be best for preventing leaks for you and your baby. The large end goes across your babies behind, and the blunted point goes just under your babies belly button.
2. Change often.
One of the basic drawbacks of the cloth diaper is that they cannot hold very much liquid before they need to be changed. They do breath better than any other kind of diaper, but if you don't remove every wet diaper immediately, they will start to chafe your baby's bottom, and that chaffing is hard to get rid of. So do a load of diapers every night, or have the diaper service pick up the diapers as often as the y will, and be liberal with the changing of the nappy.
3. Baking soda satchel between diaper and cover.
This is a little trick that my grandmother used. she took a small cotton sack and filled it half way with baking soda, and slipped it in between the cover (in those days a cover was a heavy plastic thing with tight elastic at the legs) and the cloth diaper. It worked wonders for absorbing smells, and didn't run the risk of caking onto the baby's bottom or irritating the skin. If you have a sewing machine you can turn one of these out pretty quick.
4. Double up for over-nights.
Changing often is all fine and good until you try to get your baby to sleep through the night. Doubling the cloth diaper is the usual remedy for lasting 6 to 8 hours. However, I have a trick, (surprised?) Take some batting, used for padding quilts, and sew a strip of it to the underside of a regular cloth diaper's thicker inner strip, covered with a bit of breathable cotton. Next time you diaper your baby for the night still use two diapers, but have the batting sandwiched between the two. This will capture overflows just long enough to let them absorb into one of the diapers instead of running out the leg opening. If you still experience leaks you can flip the reinforced diaper over so the batting will start to slow the flow of fluid faster, but there is an increased risk of diaper rash.
5. Keep burp-cloths and diapers separate.
Never confuse the nappy's that you are using for your baby's behind, and those that you may use for your baby's face. Though there is very little chance that bacteria would survive washing and be able to cause your baby an eye infection or worse, there is still that small chance. Not to mention the chance that the sugars in your baby's spit up could VERY easily survive washing to give your baby a yeast infection. Simply devise a system (putting a small mark by a permanent marker in the corner of the diapers meant for the baby behind) that you can maintain simply and easily.
Over all, there is not that huge a difference between changing one diaper or another. The challenges you will face with cloth diapering will without question be worth the returns, and with a few tricky tips up your sleeve, those challenges might prove to be nothing more than a momentary distraction from the overall joy of being a mother. If you find these tips helpful, please pass them on to any new mothers or soon-to-be mothers that you might know. I relish questions and comments, so please don't hesitate to leave it if you have one. Happy parenting!
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