All hell breaking loose at nappy change

[bubblybrit]

Over the last week my 18 month old has had a tantrum each time I go to change her nappy.

She cries, punches, kicks and will only settle if you leave her to wander around her nursery. She seems to think it’s some kind of game. She’s also a nightmare when I’m
trying to get her dressed. The combination of both makes getting her ready for nursery a complete nightmare!

I’ve just bought nappy pants as at least I can pull those on whilst holding her but it’s not pleasant when she’s had a dirty nappy and fights with you when you are trying to clean her. She doesn’t seem to do this at nursery so frustrating that she has now started this routine at home.

I’ve tried the following:

1. I’ve let her wander around her nursery for 10 mins before attempting to change her nappy/dress her. Thought this would give her time to explore and then she’d be more settled when changing her....evidently not!

2. tried to distract her with music, toys or singing. Throws the toys away in complete frustration.

3. my husband has tried to change/dress her in the morning. Thought a change of routine might knock the tantrum out of her (I usually look after her before nursery as my husband works from 5am) but she still reacts the same way

4. brought her downstairs in her pjs and overnight nappy to give her some breakfast and/or milk before attempting to change/dress her. This doesn’t make any difference.

What else can I try? I dread the mornings this now as it’s so full on! I’m in a complete rush from 6am until I return home around 8.30am. I then have 15 mins to make a cup of tea before I start work in a fairly stressful job so would like mornings to be as stress free as possible 😀

If she's like my DD she will just grow out of it. Mine was like this from 9 months til about 20 months and then stopped it. She was no problem at nursery at all only bad for me, DH, and her DGM who also provides care for her. I actually found nappies easier than nappy pants to put on with her laying down. Easier to lay it underneath her and fasten it rather than faffing about getting legs in. I would use a leg to pin her down if I had to. You have my sympathy, I was in tears sometimes after particularly horrendous soiled nappy changes, it's fucking stressful! And especially so if you're out somewhere and it takes twice as long because your baby is screaming and rolling around precariously on the changing table and the whole place can hear it for miles.

Your DD will grow out of it.

I found changing her on the floor with a pillow behind her head in front of the telly whilst she had her dummy usually helped a bit.

You could also think about potty training - she's not likely to be ready at 18m but some rare kids are. My DD is 26m and we are just potty training now but I think I probably could have done it a couple of months ago tbh as she has been showing readiness signs for a few months.

Following with interest as I'm in the exact same situation!! Nappy pants whilst walking around at the minute... I'm praying for no accidents! Think its just a phase they all go through (or so I have been told)

I think they all go through a phase of this but something I found helps was giving them a job to do. So I'd lie them down and hand them a packet of baby wipes and ask them to get the wipes out for me. I think it's because they want to be independent and don't want you doing it to them! X

I save very exciting things to my daughter to hold for this situation. Things that work are my wallet slightly unzipped so she can pull stuff out, car keys, house keys, my phone, a peg! Basically anything that they normally don’t get to hold that you wouldn’t normally let them hold. Make it seem exciting!

Dd2 is 20 months but went through a phase of doing this. It is a bit of a nightmare so you have my sympathy! Dd2 is largely better now so hopefully it’ll pass for you soon!

I had this problem with dd but it started when she was around 7 months. I dreaded nappy changes, especially in public toilets. I gave her youtube on my phone whilst I changed her. It was the only way.

Exactly same as my boy who is nearly 18 months. And tonight he’s turned into a banshee before bed! I think it’s just the age... they’ll calm down one day 🤞🏼

It sounds odd, and might be too late at that age, but it's actually easier to change nappies on your knee than on a mat. Both my ds were massive arseholes when it came to changing nappies. I used to watch in awe as my mum changed them with no issues on her knee, so I got the knack myself. It's easier to get a hold on them.

My friends would have watched completely mystified at my magic skills.

Yep my 23 month old DS is exactly the same for DH and I. However, he is an absolute dream to change if someone else does it. It's very frustrating!

Give her s telling off!

My 9 month old DD hates nappy changes too. Sometimes a 'special' new object like PP suggested works but she saves the best tantrums for the really awful pooey nappies hoping she might grow out of it before 18 months as wrestling a poo covered baby is no fun!

As your DD is a bit older could you get her involved in choosing her outfits when you dress her? Have a selection maybe of tops and bottoms and she chooses what she'd like to wear. Might make her feel a bit more like it's something she's doing with you rather than something you're forcing. Nappy changing I'm not sure, sounds like you've tried a lot of options. Other than collecting some very interesting distractions that only come out at changing time you may just have to pin her as best you can and grin and bear it 🥴

DS did not grow out of this. After he stood naked in the bath throwing poo at me we decided to potty train him.

Thank you for all the advice. I’m going to make a list of a few suggestions and work my way through them tomorrow.

It’s completely soul destroying as feel completely frazzled before I even start work.

Feel awful this evening as she was so badly behaved after she arrived home from nursery that she had dinner and then bed (she only slept for 20 mins at nursery). She usually has a nice bath and then fresh nappy and pjs. Tonight she has been put to bed in a nappy that was fresh at 4pm and the same outfit (top and leggings) that she had on at nursery.

I suspect that she’ll wake overnight for a nappy change but she was hysterical earlier and it seemed the lesser of two evils 😬

My two were the same. They were better if I changed the standing up (using nappy pants you can rip off on the sides). Got them to bend over when wiping but etc. Think it has something g to do with lack of control for them if you try to make them lay down. This might not work for everyone though.

@CountFosco. Oh no! I’m going to have nightmares tonight...😂

My daughter as I say is 26m and she still frequently screams all morning before nursery and then all evening once she's home. But is a dream there it's just cos she's tired and she feels safe at home to let rip!

Nappy changes standing up.
Tell her watch tv/phone. She won’t be in nappy for much longer so it’s a short term solution to a short term problem.

My son went through an awkward age like this so I used to put him to bed in his clothes for the next day. I can’t remember what I did about nappy changes (he was a morning pooer), which does go to show that one day you will be out the other side!

My nearly 13 month dd is getting like this! She keeps wriggling away and running off mid nappy change. Had a particularly heavy soiled nappy this evening and ended up chasing her down the corridor with the wipes trying to clean her before she smeared poo on everything.... real "how is this my life?" moment!

My DD went through this too. We just tried different things to distract her. We'd ask her to find a certain animal on a page of a book and then what noise does it make etc. We also asked her things like where are your eyebrows and where is your chin etc. We also found a nursery rhyme on YouTube usually worked when all else failed.

We have just had another nappy nightmare similar to @PopcornAndWine! Clearly couldn’t leave her with a dirty nappy but it’s taken 30 mins to do something that took 3 minutes last week 😬! She has mild nappy rash so also had to try and apply cream. Think there is more on me/the carpet than there is on her!

We did try giving her my house keys, car keys, phone etc but not successful so far. Will try again tomorrow....onwards and upwards!

My DS almost 17 months has always been like this and still is. I normally take a interesting item with me before lying him down so I can give it to him to occupy him, he hates it otherwise! The items tend to be random stuff like a calculator, calpol suspension, hair comb and make up pallet.

As a PP said, on your knee.

My nappy changing is well finished. My kids are more than likely older than you and were babies when towelling squares (and large pins) were more or less the only option. Disposables were just starting to come in but it was before the absorbing gel, so they were bulky and messy and usually led to soreness unless only used for occasional outings.

On your knee you can hold them still with an arm across them - not ideal but it's quicker so less traumatic overall.

Sympathy from here - DS (12 months) is very similar. DH and I have taken to changing his nappy together so one of us can pin him down. Unfortunately DH was busy this evening so DS scrambled to his feet midway through and did a massive wee over me.

One of my sons is like this (first born) didn’t know what a luxury it was when the other one came along and just lay there, same with changing clothes.
All depends on his mood how much he fights me off but I’ve found speed and asking him to point things out in the room help me out