Diaper Changing Hacks You Won’t Find In Any Parenting Book
There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it, (though there are actual butts) changing diapers is one of the least fun parts of parenting. Whether you use cloth diapers or disposable, unless you’re one of those strange folks who thinks baby poop smells like buttered popcorn, when that smell hits your nose it’s a combination of panic and fear. There’s plenty of reasons to dread what lies beneath the onesie, but these simple diaper hacks can help you survive until it’s potty training time.
Use your pinkie or ring finger to apply butt paste. Even if you wash your hands diligently after every diaper change, diaper rash cream is very water resistant. You only have to experience the unpleasant taste of rash cream while eating chips once to know it’s not good eats. By using your ring or pinkie finger you can lower your odds of accidental Boudreaux’s ingestion.
Long nails are the enemy. Not only will you worry about scratching the baby, long nails make it really difficult to undo the sticky tabs and get them positioned correctly on a wriggling baby. Unless you have the hand washing habits of a surgeon, you’ll never be certain that there isn’t a particle of poop lurking under your nails.
A travel-sized hairspray bottle will make changing diapers easier. Some of the hardest diaper changes are the ones where the poop is stuck to your baby’s bottom. But there’s a way to clean him without irritating his skin by scrubbing or using a ton of wipes. Get a small travel hairspray bottle from the dollar store and fill it with water and a squirt of baby oil. Keep handy during diaper changes and use it to moisten stuck on poop for easier clean up.
Make the onesie work with you, not against you. You know how when your child has a blow out all the way up their back and you peel the onesie off them, making the mess far worse by getting poop all the way up their back and into their hair? You’ll feel foolish for not realizing it sooner, but those little flaps at the top of the shoulders are for more than putting failing baby arms into sleeves easily.Those flaps help expand the neck hole so you can pull the onesie off your baby from the shoulder down, minimizing the yuck factor of a messy diaper.
Save on diaper genie refills. Diaper Genies are great, especially if you live in a walk up without easy access to a dumpster, but the refills are costly. This video shows you how to use a regular old garbage bag instead.
(image: David Pereiras/shutterstock.com)
