To ask how often you change a nappy?!

[LittleBeansMum]

I should totally probably know this...probably shouldn't get to a year and still be asking nappy questions haha!

But...I change my LO's (12 months) nappy at the same points day by habit.

1. When she wakes at 7am
2. Before her morning nap at around 9:15am
3. Before her lunchtime nap at around 12:15pm
4. After afternoon snack (around 3:30pm)
5. Before bed (around 7pm)
6. Plus any time she pooes

And thought this was fair enough. Then 2 things happened within 24 hours

1. In the Christmas madness my DD slept slightly longer in the morning than usual and took her sweet time at breakfast, so her nappy was changed closer to 8am. Then DD fell.asleep in her pushchair before she'd even had her lunch and slept for ages, and I changed her nappy AFTER lunch nap, and my husband then said he didn't change her nappy before her morning nap because it had only been an hour since it had been changed for thr morning and wasn't poorly. So she was in one nappy from 8am to 130pm. I said I hoped she hadn't been uncomfortable, and DH said "well, these things are so absorbent and she's in just one all night and she didn't seem uncomfortable " so don't worry about it!" ....and I didn't!

Until...

2..The following day, I'm with a friend whose DD is a little older (2yo) and she makes.a throwaway remark about expensive nappies and how she has at least 10-12 a day x however many days etc. And she kept on going about how some people "only change nappies every couple of hours" and wrinkled her nose up. Then said how she never lets her DD go more than 1 hour to an hour and a half without changing it because it's " SO MANKY"

Anyway I'm mumbling something non-committal and thinking "how did she find out about my weird day yesterday??!! (although it was just a coincidence) and now like a muppet I'm wondering which way you guys go....if in doubt, change it more often, or "nah if it's not pooey, don't stress"

Sorry for strange and boring question!

Aim for every 3 hours though he does like to poo in a fresh nappy so usually do double changes in a space of ten minutes

It's changed depending on his age, but for my 10 month old basically when he poos and when it's full, which without a poo is about 3-4 hours. We had an unusual day yesterday and he ended up in the same nappy for about 6 hours due to a long nap - not ideal but no bother, I just changed him once he woke. He doesn't seem to notice when he needs changing, and he goes 12 hours overnight.

He fights nappy changes and tries to spin and escape, so I'm not doing them more often than I have to!

If you weren't doing it often enough you'd get lots of leaks so you're fine if not. Maybe her child poos a lot?

At nursery it has to be done every 4hrs. In reality it’ll be done more often for smaller children as they will poo or get full nappies before this time. It’s more a way of keeping track that nobody has been missed. They will have a clean nappy before a nap time too.

Older children might go the 4 hrs as they are starting to have better bladder control. Also depends how sensitive the child is to nappy rash etc.

At home with your own child you’re more likely to fit a pattern that works for your child. Don’t think you did anything to worry about, was just the way it worked that day. I think changing hourly is probably a bit too much unless they have super sensitive skin.

Morning
Lunchtime
Bedtime
Unless there is a need in between.

My daughter is 16 months. I put a clean nappy when she goes to bed. Then clean in the morning, she poos around twice during the morning. Then I change her again when we get back home from nursery which coincides with her night change. Basically four times plus any accidents, which are becoming rarer and rarer.

I normally change her:
When she wales up
Rest of day is When she has done a poo/nappy looks full of wee.
New nappy on for bed (unless previous nappy change (above) wasn't long ago.

Maybe 3 or 4 nappy changes a day max

Is your friend therefore changing nappies even when they're clean and dry? I think I'd ask her whether she changes her pants that often.

Same as you here pretty much. Nearly one year and we normally change:

8/half 8ish when waking
12.30pm after lunch before nap
3.30pm when waking after nap
6.30pm after bath/before bed

We use cloth nappies and sometimes he will do a poo in between these times, but half the time I just change the liner because the nappy isn't very wet at all. The only time we were changing 10-12 times a day was when he was about a week old!!

It really depends on the child. I have twins, now 3. One gets changed 4-5 times a day depending how much he sleeps. The other drinks obscene amounts and easily gets through 12+ nappies a day.

As babies they had eczema and very sensitive skin so they were changed very often

One morning
One afternoon
One overnight

(Obviously change if poo’d)

I take it she uses disposables, I’d bet she wouldn’t change so often if she had to wash them.

I don't and never had a schedule as it depends on wee and poo.

Probably gets changed 5 times on average with minimum of 4 and maximum of about 8.

Did anyone find that wet nappies smell of sugar puffs when wet? As my children got older and did bigger wees that was a useful indicator

I got through a box of 30 nappies in the first 3 days home from hospital but only 20 the next 3 days.

For an older baby, it was:

Up time
Lunch time
Tea time
Bed time

With the occasional extra if a nappy was soiled shortly after a change . If it was near the next change, I’d just adjust the times accordingly. So a pack of 60 would last a fortnight.

Your friend sounds crazy and a bit of an environmental disaster.

I feel so much better now haha!! The way she spoke it was a really obvious thing and I was thinking l might have been getting it wrong lol! I've never done a schedule thing so much as just general times of day which occur each day (like "around lunchtime") and I only see her once a week at a mums group so suddenly doubted myself. Thanks for mumsnet sanity injection!!

i used reusables/washables so either after every poo or when it looked a bit heavy

I have a 12 month old.

I change him when he wakes, at lunch time and before bed.

He doesn't need changing more often than that unless he does a poo.

If your friend is changing that often then her kids got bowel or bladder issues.

I work in a nursery and we do them
Every 3 hrs plus poos or heavily wet of course, sounds totally normal how you’re doing it tbh.

Sorry missed the bit about your friend, don’t let that bother you, you’re doing fine!

DD is 2 and luckily she’s never had nappy rash so we change her when needed, sometimes it will be 3 nappy’s in 24 hours other times it’s 6. I can’t really see the point of doing it to a schedule.

14 month old: 3 times in 24 hours plus poos.
His skin is usually perfect but when he did get bad nappy rash from iron supplements the paediatrician told me to change every hour during the day, which I did.

About 5 x a day plus any poos for DD (2 y 9 m)
DS2 - 5 m- about 6-7 times a day.

We do,
After breakfast, after lunch, after tea, then bedtime.
Unless poop.

Just when it seems like they need it, which varies depending on how much water he's necked. On average I reckon we use 4 a day. Like you say, he wears it for 12 hours overnight. Nappies are very good these days and he's never got a rash.