Baby basics: Changing the diaper

Before being a dad I didn’t know too much about changing a diaper. In the parenting class at the hospital they ran through it a couple times, but it’s all a blur now. As with things to come regarding parenting, I look at Baby Mojo now and I wonder how that 8 pound little dude became this 26 pound of crawling, eating, curious toddler we have now.

Of course I had heard the disaster diaper stories that fathers tell. They are very funny, but when I was a new parent I just wanted the straight skinny about what to expect regarding one of the more unpleasant duties about being a dad.
Is the diaper dirty?

 
Feel the front of the diaper. Does it feel tight, heavy or solid? If that’s the case, then change it out. Sometimes it’ll be a little wet, in those cases you’ll establish your own guidelines as to when to change and when not to.
The diaper cycle in the first year has two categories, birth to 6 months and 6-one year.

Birth to 6 months

 
When you’re in the hospital the nurse will go over how to change the diaper. If you pay attention you’ll be fine and can stop reading now.
However, if you’re like us then you were too nervous, scared, awestruck, gobsmacked and wide eyed to remember anything they told you in the hospital. The first couple weeks after you take the baby home their diaper may contain what looks like leftover movie special effects. Its color and texture will be different than anything you’ve seen before, but it’s all normal.

It’s important to put the clean diaper under the baby. With one hand just grab their ankles, pull up and switch out the dirty one. This way you can remove the dirty one and then immediately slip the clean one over the private area. This is important, especially for boys, because it will deter any accidents. Sometimes when Baby Mojo was squirmy or it was a late changing I’d hum the theme to Rawhide as it made me happy.

You will want to have a small trash can that you can open with your foot. That way it seals most of the odor and can be opened without moving the diaper too much. Some of our friends do have those airtight locking diaper cans, they are cool, but we got along just fine without it.

6 months to 1 year

Changing diapers during this time frame is essentially the same, except the baby weighs more. This could make grabbing the ankles a bit more difficult, especially more so because their hands and arms will be moving.

You want to avoid their arms getting in the way of your work so have a toy handy to keep them occupied. Baby Mojo has gone through phases of different toys to keep him occupied while we change the diapers. Currently his favorite toy is a Little People person who looks like Cartman from South Park.

Usually when he has the “little Redman” he’s distracted for a minute or two. Sometimes though, they won’t be, and in those cases you need to use are to control his arms while using the other one to put the diaper on. If you lean over your child and use your torso a bit when they squirm that will help as well.

During this time period you’ll have fewer solid diapers and more wet ones. Personally, he diaper was my most dreaded thing about being a father. After a while though it’s no big deal and I realized that it’s a small price to pay for having a happy, dry baby.