Diaper Changing!!

Okay here's another one of those practical baby posts.

So you thought diaper changes were self explanatory: you take a dirty diaper off, wipe, and replace with a clean one, right? WRONG! Okay, that's technically right, but there are challenges! Challenges I have had, and tips I can share from my experience.

Don't you wish your diaper changes looked like this?

                                            

Your baby will most likely look more like this, at least at first (but this is even glamorizing the crying!):

                                                            

Here's a scenario to get you started:

You have to change your baby's diaper, so you lay them on the contoured changing pad. Baby is not thrilled about getting their diaper changed, so he/she starts crying. You take the diaper off and wipe the yuckies away and remove the dirty diaper. Oh look, when your back was turned for two seconds while you were throwing the dirty diaper away your baby pees all over the table and themselves! You have to take all their clothes off, wipe them down, and either change the pad underneath them or put them on some kind of clean surface. By this time your baby goes from whining to wailing! You're frustrated, they're frustrated, and you haven't even gotten a new diaper on them yet. You stick a new diaper on them, and this time they poop all over before you can get it secured. YAY! You have to throw that diaper away, grab a new one, wipe them down again (which includes flipping them over to get their back), and secure the diaper before they defecate on themselves again, and you loose your mind.

That was a long story, but this is a very real scenario, and fortunately I've only had to experience it a few times, and I didn't even mention diaper rashes!

Here's what I've observed and what's helped me:

1. First thing's first. When to change your baby: I like to change baby AFTER she has finished eating on one side. Sometimes I'm tempted to change her before she eats, because she really needs to be changed, but she's always grumpier (and by grumpier I mean screaming and flailing her extremities). So do yourself a favor and feed your baby first, then change the diaper of a somewhat sleepy, content baby, and feed her on the other side. This solves two problems: the grumpy baby during a diaper change, and it also wakes them up so they are ready to eat on the other side! WIN WIN WIN!

2. Nobody told me when to use diaper rash ointment. I thought it was when the baby developed a rash. WRONG! The ointment is to Prevent rashes! As a result (and using wipes?) my baby got a super crazy huge rash that made me want to cry. In fact, whenever my girl pooped she screamed because it was so painful.  It got so bad that the wound started weeping, and that is really awful because then the ointment wouldn't stick!! What I ended up doing was cutting little strips of cotton fabric from a generic white onsie, applying neosporin, then sticking it to the affected areas (like a band-aid), and covering the rest of the skin with desitin. That way the fabric and ointments reduced friction on her little bum, and it healed! Now I use ointment EVERY time I change her diaper, and that makes for a happy bum.

3. What kind of ointment to use? My mom swears by zinc oxide.
                                                  
I would get it plain, but can't find it in stores, so I'll either ask a pharmacist or get some online eventually. For now I'm using Maximum Strength Desitin (or the generic kind) which has 40% zinc oxide, which is the most I've seen in any diaper rash ointment. I also use other ointments, like Dr. Smith's ointment, and Bordeaux's Butt Paste, but only as a preventative measure when she doesn't have a rash.

                          

Also, if baby has a rash that won't go away it might be a yeast infection. (I thought my girl had one for a while, so I looked up tons of info on it.)
                                               
Here's the lo-down: If your baby has a yeast infection use LOTROMIN, or any generic "athlete's foot"/anti fungal ointment with the active ingredient Clotrimazole. 
                                                                      
Also, do not use cornstarch to help with a diaper rash (if you have heard of that), because it can make yeast infections worse. Look at the ingredient list on ointments for cornstarch, also. (For example, Triple Paste is popular, but it has cornstarch in it). Again, this is only for yeast infection. If you're not worried about that I've read that corn starch really helps rashes. 

4. Have you heard that you're not supposed to use wipes during the first month or so? When baby G had her super bad rash we only used damp cotton balls. This presents somewhat of a problem. Baby wipes dry quickly on the bum, but when you use straight up water with cotton balls, it takes longer to dry, and as the scenario above showed, you really want that diaper change to be as fast as possible. And you REALLY want their bum to be DRY when you put ointment on, otherwise it could make the rash worse. This is when we started using a blow dryer!!! We wedged it between the changing table and the wall, that way you could turn it on (medium heat) and point it on them so you can do what'choo gotta do. This helps them stay warm, which helps them to stay happy, and blessedly reduces the number of times they pee during diaper changes!! (Seriously though, my daughter used to pee during EVERY change!!! Now she only pees occasionally.) This trick has been awesome!

4. One more thing. I highly Highly suggest getting an absorbent waterproof pad, or five, to put under them during the diaper change. That way when (not if) they pee or poop, your contoured changing pad, or whatever surface you're using, doesn't get nasty. Honestly, I got these nice fluffy pads:
                                                             
and a friend gave me these dingy looking flannel hand-me-downs:
                                                        
and I actually like the flannel ones better. They are crazy absorbent, and wash/dry fine.
The fluffy pads worked great right out of the package, but after a wash and dry they're not the same. They continue to be waterproof, but now pee just kinda pools on the fabric before it is Slowly absorbed in. Not so great.

There you have it; all of my tips and tricks for diaper changing. Hope you learned something useful!