Nappy changing battle!

[grandmakim]

Any advice greatly appreciated.
HELLO, my daughter has a wonderful 10 month baby girl but is in the middle of a war zone when it comes to changing baby's nappy! The moment little one realises she's being changed she arches her back and starts to scream & tries to get away which stresses mum out (especially with a full nappy) which stresses baby and so starts the battle! Does anyone have any advise on what she can do to calm things down as she's at her wits end. Thanks so much x

My dd was the same from about 7 or 8 months. In desperation I'd sometimes let her hold my phone with a YouTube video on. Sometimes a toy was enough to distract her with, but not often. When she started nursery at 9 months old I was wondering how they'd cope, but she complied better for them.

I remember finding it really stressful and dreading nappy changes in public toilets.

I had limited success with keeping a few small toys and books by his changing mat, that he only got at change time. That maybe bought me about 20 seconds 😬 I also change him on my lap quite often if it's only a wee, which he finds better than lying down.
We also switched to pull ups really young, so instead of having to faff with the tapes, I just stuck his legs through, stood him up, and pulled up - much easier.
He's two now and kindly lies there and says "kick mummy" whilst trying to kick me... so she may have to hang on in there for a while yet!

With both of ours the only thing that keeps/kept them still for a nappy change was giving them the pot of bum cream to play with. And never letting them have it at any other time.

From my experience, that's totally normal.
We sing the wheels on the bus, or wind the bobbin up, or give baby a toy to hold.
We Also get baby to stand and "hold on" to the wall.
Sometimes it works, often it doesn't. I think this is normal xx

Sing them a song, give them a small toy for each hand. Make it a fun experience, singing/laughing/talking. Distraction is key!

Honestly my daughter started being bad around 6 months and it got worse and worse and worse until she was about 18m. We tried absolutely every idea anyone could think of (relatives, friends, mumsnet, health visitor...) and nothing worked well. Around 18m it slowly improved a bit once we put away the changing table and changed her on the floor in front of the TV wherever possible and let her have her dummy for it too. It gradually improved and now she's 20months it so soooo much better. If it's a wet nappy she's a bit irritable but that's quick and not a big deal, if it's a poo she now does not like to have poo in her nappy and will voluntarily lay down to be changed, she will even go to get her mat etc. I think it's just been her maturing and realising that it's not nice having poo stuck to her that has been the main difference for us. Sorry to say that as if your child is anything like mine, you have a long time til it will get better. I really do understand, we would sometimes both end up in tears at a bad change, it was awful.

We changed to pull ups. We also just change DD sitting up on our knee if it’s just a wee. She wipes herself now then we just put new pull up on.

No advice I’m afraid, just following as I’m going through the same with DS. Came as a bit of a shock as my DD was (I now realise) a dream to change. I have to fill a mop bucket before changing a no2 as it will definitely end up everywhere!
I’ve tried toys/ food to distract but doesn’t help; I’m now resorting to using DC1 to pin his top half down 😕. He did an awful one today in a department store. We were in the loo for ages and the noise he made was terrible: I was half expecting the police and social services to be waiting when we came out!

Good luck!!!

Thanks so much for the advice and support. My daughter's got herself in a right state but feels so much better now she knows it's normal.

Toys and songs and pull-ups here too! Also I sometimes give DD a muslin so she can play peekaboo, or if she’s not responding I’ll pause the nappy change and act out “two little dickie birds” with sing and sign actions - that usually calms both of us down.

My DS who's 7 months old is like this too.
It's like trying to wrestle an alligator.
He throws his legs down too on his wooden changing unit so have had to move the mat to the floor.
I tried to entertain him with his soft toy and sometimes a nappy.