“Diapering little tiny babies is not something I had done for a long time,” recalls Sharla Feldscher, 62, of Voorhees, N.J., who is grandmother to a 10-month-old girl and the author of six books on activities for young children. But when she made her return to the changing table with her granddaughter, she was pleasantly surprised. “It’s so much easier now!”
Will you be ready for diaper duty when your new grandchild arrives? There's no reason you shouldn't be. “Everything has changed,” says Laura Hunter, a pediatric nurse in Atlanta and coauthor of The Moms on Call Guide to Basic Baby Care: The First 6 Months (Revell, 2007). "But then some things have stayed the same.”
The biggest change is in the diapers themselves. Some grandparents may remember the days when cloth diapers were a mom's or dad's primary option, and disposables were bulky and balky. Today's disposables have come a long way, particularly in their absorbency and easier-than-ever fastening systems. (For a fascinating look at the technology behind today's ultrathin, superabsorbent diapers, see this article by Malcolm Gladwell from The New Yorker magazine.)
But even with nearly foolproof disposable diapers, there is still a right way, and some wrong ways, to diaper a baby. Here’s what you need to know to keep grandchildren (and yourself) dry and happy:
- Get familiar with your tools. Diapers may look small, Hunter says, but "understand that there is a lot of elastic." They are designed to go on in a specific fashion. Once you put a new diaper on, use your fingers to flare it out around the legs and ensure a snug fit all around.
- Be prepared. Before you put your grandchild on a changing table or pad, line up new diapers, wipes, and any necessary powders or creams. This way, you'll be able to focus your full attention on making sure the baby stays secure on the pad, instead of searching for wipes while he or she squirms about. Follow the parents' guidelines for using powders or lotions when you change diapers, and lay in a supply of their preferred diaper-rash treatment in case you see that the baby's behind has become red.
- Work on your tab technique. Before fastening the Velcro tabs on a diaper, pull on them and give them a good stretch. The extra slack will help make the diaper more snug around the baby’s waist, “and that helps to keep from having leaks,” Hunter says. By the way, if you're putting on a diaper and it seems like you need to fasten the tabs on the baby's behind, you've put it on backward. Since the diaper's front is more absorbent, this could be a major problem in a few hours. Take it off and try again.
- Location, location, location. Are you at all concerned about the baby falling off a changing table, or worried about your ability to keep a little squirmer secure on a table during a change? Kevin Osborn, coauthor of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Bringing Up Baby (Alpha, 2007), has a simple solution: “Don’t use one.” Instead, lay a changing pad on the floor, or on the center of a bed.
- Watch where he points that thing. This just in: Boys are different from girls. All infants love to pee when their diapers are off. But while girls usually pee down onto their changing pads, little guys pee in whatever direction they're pointed. When you're watching a boy, you may want to make sure you don't have any priceless paintings or family photos hanging on the wall above your favorite changing spot. And to help make sure you don't get sprayed yourself while changing a boy, Hunter says, remember two words: “Penis down.”
- Timing is everything. It’s a good rule of thumb to put a fresh diaper on a baby before a nap, after the child wakes up, and just before an outing — in addition to the more obvious times when your nose knows it's time for a change. And always change a diaper right before bedtime at night to help ensure a (mostly) undisturbed rest.
- Distract and conquer. As babies get more mobile, they’re less likely to love the idea of lying on their backs, patiently waiting for their diapering to be completed. Feldscher has discovered that for her granddaughter, musical toys provide an effective distraction, and buy her a few extra moments to finish the job. Anything you can put in the child's hand helps as well.
The bottom line is that even if you have to hold your nose a bit at first, once you start helping to take care of your new grandchild, you'll quickly get back to diapering like the expert you once were. “It’s just like getting back on a bike,” Feldscher says. “I got back in the saddle again!”
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