nappy changing tantrums

[patkica]

MY 18 month DS goes crazy when we need to chnage his nappy. He screams blue murder adn no distraction seems to work. It's a messy and stressful time for all. Any advice?

[alicatsg]

DS was same - it was a phase with him so my only advice is to hang in there and/or try pull up nappy things. Its vile but it passes.

[lunarx]

ds goes thru this from time to time, he's 11 months old, and sometimes he just wiggles from side to side, cries, all of it.. i just keep at it and have recently tried the pull up pants which seem to help some!
hang in there =)

[patkica]

Thanks. I really hope it is a phase as it is disgusting. To make it worse, they tell me at nursery that he happily laughs and chats through every nappy change there!

[lunarx]

ds cried thru two nappy changes this morning and thru his crying and carrying on and wiggling about, i just sang whatever came to mind loudly... and shook my head about like it was more of a game than something 'functional', he stopped whinging and laughed at me.
good luck!

[TracyK]

I've started letting ds stand up while I change him -it is a bit of russian routlette - but he stands still long enough if I give him my car keys to play with.

[LottieG]

patkica, I am going through the same with dd, and it's a nightmare, poo everywhere!
AND she lies there like an angel when dh changes her (v. rarelY!!!)
She rolls over and tries to crawl off the changing table....

No advice, just wanted to say I'm there too. Hope she grows out of it soon. She's only 13 months.

[PiccadillyCircus]

I also have an 18 month old DS who does not like having his nappy changed. I am perfecting the art of changing nappies while he is in a variety of positions . But with the messy nappies I do have to make him lie down and there is a lot of noise. I just get on with it as quickly as possible.

He also is happy to have his nappy changed at nursery as I asked them once what he was like.

[patkica]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one. It is foul: poo everywhere, as you say and no ammount of singing, toys or anything else works. And he cries and screams really bitterly. But as you say, you just have to do it, whether they like it or not. Even Gina Ford and Tracey Hogg admit it can be a nightmare.

[Rockydog]

we have had this since dd was 1 (she is 2 next month) - we went on to pull-ups as she refused to lie down completely.

she also thinks its very funny to jump on her bed with no nappy on!

anyway, what is working well for us at the moment (hopefully starting potty training soon!) is distraction. dd has lots of duplo lego and she has some in her room and every time she has done a poo I say 'oh your lego looks like it needs a clean' and i give her a baby wipe and she stands up against her bedside drawers with the lego on top and happily 'cleans' the lego while i clean her bum. she knows all her colours so i say ' oh can you clean the purple one' or 'what colour is that one' and she is very happy. so far!!!

and then when i've finished she says 'bag' and puts the 'dirty' wipe in the nappy sack and then says 'bin'!

this is working AT THE MOMENT! good luck - I'm afraid it is a very long 'phase'!!!

[mears]

Does anyone change nappies on their knees? I always did that and never really had a problem because I could pin them down

[PiccadillyCircus]

I change nappies in lots of ways . I can't always manage to keep DS pinned down though - sometimes he escapes....

[mears]

Toddlers are better on your knee because their escape path is blocked with your elbow

[PiccadillyCircus]

Will try that one some time (but DS could give Houdini a run for his money )

[patkica]

How do you change a nappy on your knee? Sounds like something I should try, but I think I'll aslo resort to bribery (raisins in our case - he loves them. But I love the idea of getting him to clean something while I clean his bum: will try that tonight

[TracyK]

My prob is - soon as ds nappy comes off - his hand goes straight to his willy - so if its covered in poo - his hand gets it too - yuk! so I can't bribe with food/raisins - otehrwise he'd get poo and then put them in his mouth.
I've seen him getting changed at nursery - and he lies like a little angel!!

[patkica]

Oh, god, we have that too. The weekend was an absolute nightmare as far as nappied were concerned. I don't know what to say, expect that all we can do is get it over with as quickly as poss ... not easy when he runs and screams, and leaves a trail of poo all over the room.

[Alannah]

I don't really have any advice here but I do sympathise as I go through the same with my 16 mth old dd.
When I find things really stressfull and poo gets everywhere, I just think of my mum who had three children in cloth nappies at the same time and no washing machine and how much poo she must have had to deal with!