<sob> Nappies are becoming a nightmare - HELP ME!!!!

[FlameBat]

He kicks and screams and fights.

Anything front fastening he undoes (shoves his hand down his jeans).

I have 2 side fastening pockets - one swaddlebees which I don't trust 100%, and one weenotions which is too big. I can't put them on him as pull ups because he kicks like hell and undoes them with his struggling as I'm trying to pull them up, he fights so much trying to get them on him laying down it is a nightmare too.

2 parters are hell - if I can fight the nappy on (a battle to the death in itself), then he fights so hard I can't get a wrap on. I'm not a big fan of longies for everyday wear (mainly because I am too self concious of non-clothies looking at my baby like he's a fraek )

I have one pair of felted longies that look like "normal" trousers, but he can't wear them every day

I don't wanna put him in disposable pull ups, they are expensive and smell weird.

In tears over all this now, I can't take the battles much longer.

He doesn't seem to know when he will wee/poo (occasionally notices after he poos, last night grabbed himself (naked) before weeing) but I don't think anywhere near potty training.

At the moment my only hope for sanity is being housebound and just keeping him in pants to catch poo! (and just mop up wee), but it won't help my sanity having stir crazy children.

HELP ME!!!

(minki yoyos far too bulky for daytime)

Aw flame, have no advice but you can have my empathy, ds1 is going through a phase of this at the moment! I have totsbots, mostly non-aplix but a couple of aplix ones. The non-aplix are a nightmare to get on him when he is fighting me, the aplix are easy to get on him but just as easy for him to take off before I get the wrap on

I even tried potty training him to see if that helps but like your ds he is nowhere near ready yet!

The only thing I have found that helps (aside from distraction techniques which sometimes help!), if he is in full tantrum mode, is to lie him on the mat, grip his knees between my knees, then pull the nappy up between his legs with one hand whilst laying my other arm across his hips to stop him arching his back. After that though, it's a case of holding on for grim death until he gets tired - seriously!!

All I can say is that I don't think it has anything to do with washable nappies per se, but to do with wearing nappies, full stop. If he didn't object to this, then it would be something else (ds1 seems to alternate between throwing wobblies over nappy changes and wobblies over having his top on!).

If all else fails I repeat the MN mantra - "it is a phase, it will pass, it is a phase, it will pass..."

'snot fun is it?

He's in pants now, happy, I decided to play the optimist and said "Tell me if you need a wee?" "Yeh!"

(He says "Yeh" or "What?" to most things )

This was the stage that I bought 2nd hand Hempresto nappies for - because they're better than my bamboo nappies & ME wraps for containment and go on far easier than 2 parters!

dd4 was the worst of mine ever to do nappy changes on and it latest about 6 months!

Hmmm... that is tempting. Its the whole thing of finding money for them though, and then them not being any better after all

What about pocket bots? We have some of them and I'm sort of using them as a reusable pull up while ds2 is training atm. They take a fair bit of stuffing if needed. She also makes a slimmer version as a proper training pant.

Have you tried properly with the potty training? I didn't think ds2 was ready but after a couple of days we are now at the stage where he is almost dry by day and nearly clean too - he certainly knows what to do .

Putting the hempresto on is just 4 poppers - I never did try them as a pull up but potentially you could. Certainly bomb proof - just bulky compared to bamboo - perhaps so bulky he won't be able to get his hands down his trousers to undo them - lol!

I'm going to try a few days with the pants/bare bum I think (just at home) and turn out the potty. I seem to recall that DD gave no signs of knowing she was going to go, but a few days with bare bum and soggy feet, catching wees under the potty, she soon caught on to the sensations.

What would I do with no baby to nappy though??

Hi Flamebat - don't know if this will help with an older baby but my 14 month old ds has been a complete nightmare to change for a couple of months and it was becoming THE biggest stress in my life as he rolled and wriggled off the changing mat and screamed, dragging poo all over the bathroom - even if I could get a nappy on, getting the wrap on top was impossible but I didn't want to resort to disposables or pull-ups, hate them!

I have just bought the most wonderful thing, a Rabbitts safety changing mat, off eBay, he still screams! but is strapped securely to the mat so I can actually change him, and it's removed a lot of my stress, if not his. Actually once he has protested he calms down once he works out he can't escape. I was never co-ordinated enough to manage to change him and hold him down at the same time ... Wouldn't help with the taking them off once they're on problem but might help the changing process?

oh no - do i have this to come? my dd used to just lay there - my ds is turning over and crawling off and screaming but not to the extent of your boy - how old is he now? i can get away with handing him something he shouldnt have - like a mug or a packets of wipes/ important letter/ keys to crinkle. good luck with the bare botty time - maybe he will get fed up of being cold and sucumbe or maybe it is just a horid phase - repeat the mantra as per previous. You can laugh about it with him when his own children become evil nappy changers. Good luck - how did the bedtime nappy go on? eeek?

omg. i never knew there was such a thing as that rabbitts mat!!!! just bought one off ebay, and seriously can't wait for it!

ds is 9 months, will NOT keep still for a nappy change, and to top it all he has eczema so needs to be washed, creamed etc. all while he is arching his back, crawling off etc.

quick ebay person - post it NOW!

Hope it does the trick for you too bunnyhunny, has transformed our lives here! My ds has eczema too and needs creaming at each nappy change, and I wondered whether that was partly why he was getting so fed up as it all took so long ...

Hmmm, I've just googled it - I get the feeling he will still be able to push his bum up with his legs and wriggle the nappy out as I try to do it up

No chance of him getting cold NZ - he looooooooooooooves being naked

You may not have this to come, I don't recall it with DD

Hi Flame, how old is your DS?
I went through a ghastly nappy refusal thing with my ds and found the only thing I could get on him were side-fastening nappies. The main reason they worked was I could just about persuade him to lift up his feet as I put first one then the other foot through the legholes, or actually fastened the nappy whilst he was standing.
I think the most successful locations were either in the bathroom, when he was playing with toys or when he was standing watching tellytubbies. Basically, as long as he wasn't really paying attention to what I was doing. To be honest he didn't really have much on his bottom half indoors, I only put his breeks on to go out. He would run about with a nappy and babylegs. Often no wrap at all or a pull-up woolly soaker.
Also, at 14 months, I started sitting him on the potty a few times a day - whilst he was reading, playing or watching Cbeebies, just to catch the odd poop or peepee, one less for the floor.
I do feel for you, it is a messy business when this happens.

It's weird - even trying to put the swaddlebees on as pants (1 popper undone and pull on iyswim) he kicks and screams and fights - put pants on him and he is happy.

Pants allow him to play with himself any time he likes... I think I may have answered my own question

He's nearly 20 months now. DD started with the potty about 22 months but we kept putting her off until after the wedding (week after her 2nd birthday).

So it turns out... fairy hammocks fit his pants.

That is the next plan - will only hold one wee, but gotta be worth a shot!

pmsl - oh yeah!! you could design your own training pants! - when potty trained simply dismantle and use for mum....

Flame, you should give the bright bots ones a go, I'm really impressed with them. BTW, need to ask you, should I give ours a pre-wash?

But bright bots crinkle, and you've gotta change em with each wee (I'm promoting my stock so well here ), this way if I catch it quick enough I just have to whip out the hammock and put in a new one - and he can wear the pants as pants once he is sussed.

I think pre-washing is just for manufacturing residue for the bright bots.

@ mum n baby training pants! I was hassling the weeladies to see if they could create a pant sized one, when they pointed out that the measurements I had given were standard size anyway

He's got it on now and seems happy enough... now just to see what happens with a wee

LOL Flame, your experiments are always so interesting .

I had many a nappy battle with DD. Don't know if you've tried this approach, but one day I gave up the struggle and said "ok, you tell me when you're ready to put the nappy on". She'd turn round after 30 seconds and say "nappy mummy"
Also went through the phase ofputting nappyon the teddy bear, the puppy, the duck etc.
At least they stayed on once they were on, can't heelp there

What about PeeWees? I've never used them but seen them advertised and they look like they are half way between pull up s and a cloth nappy? I think I saw them in the Spririt of Nature catalogue (they also have a website).
Or have you tried bribery? I always found Smarties a great help with my LOs!! The only way I could get my DS on the potty was the promise of 1 Smartie for a wee and 2 for a poo.

~this way if I catch it quick enough I just have to whip out the hammock and put in a new one - and he can wear the pants as pants once he is sussed.~

Interesting, we use bright bots outside the house and naked or in real pants at home...so I am interested in your experiment. I take it you just have the hamomocks folded into a pad and are just placing it between the childs skin and the pants ?

Assuming that as if you have to clip and unclip it to the pants...it would be far more hassel than changing the pants.