How often do you change a nappy?

[August24Mama]

So my baby is almost 8 months old, and I've changed her nappy everytime she wees since birth. Never had a rash, I use Mamia nappys so they're cheap and a pack will still last a few days. Only time I don't is when nighttime as baby sleeps through the night. Unless she poops, poop obviously needs to be changed straightaway. Not a problem.

I was scrolling tiktok and I seen a video saying no one actually does this. The comments were filled with mums saying they change wee nappies every 2-4 hours. I had no idea this was a thing, I thought it was normal to change every pee. The thought of my baby sitting in acidic pee just rubs me the wrong way. I saw people saying if they did change every pee then nothing else would be done, but it only takes two seconds to change a nappy? I definitely don't spend all my time changing nappies haha.

Out of curiosity, what do you mums do? I had no idea this was a thing until today.

We changed every pee. There were occasional exceptions if we were in the middle of checking out at a store or driving and just about to arrive. I would delay for just a bit for convenience and calm.

we used cloth so frequent changing remains standard practice. I still can’t imagine “filling” a diaper. Everyone in our family has sensitive skin. I just cringe at the thought of leaving a used diaper on for longer than absolutely necessary.

Every 2-4hrs.
All the nursery’s I’ve worked in the rule is every 2hrs for a nappy change unless a child does a poo.

Nursery change wees every 3 hours and that is what we do at home too. Never had any issues with rashes.

Ah interesting to see how other mums do it!

Every wee for me x

You really don’t need to change it every time she wees. They aren’t sat in wee - that’s the point of the nappy, they’re designed to absorb it. Current nappies are unbelievably effective at doing so. Also struggling with the logic you don’t change overnight but do in the day? Every 3 hours or so is fine, unless she’s poo’d as you say.

Every 3 hours for wee. Immediately for a poo

How do you know they’ve done a wee?!

That's far more nappies being sent to landfill that you really need to.

I used disposables too when min were that age, but changed them only every 3 or 4 hours generally unless for poo, which had to be done immediately. I never changed them during the night unless they happened to poo, which almost never happened.

I'm wondering this too - I'd have to check it constantly to know.

I honestly didn't know people did this! I thought every wee would be a lot? My DS wees so often, I'd have to constantly check. How often do you check? If I change him and then by some chance he poos 20 mins later there's already a wee there. I definitely wouldn't have changed the wee after 20 mins. Poos are changed immediately.

How many nappies would you go through a day? The idea of disposable nappies is that they wick the urine away from the skin so they're not sat in it. DS never had nappy rash except for one time during a tummy bug with 8-10 bouts of diarrhoea a day, the poo was so acidic it caused a rash the instant it came out. But in normal circumstances never had a rash. We change every 3-4 hours unless his nappy feels any way fuller, in that case as needed. Not overnight unless unsettled.

My first baby was in Nicu and they changed the nappy every 6 hours so that’s what we have continued at home. Obviously poo changed immediately.

How do you know every time they do they wee? I know some nappies have that blue indicator line thing, but are you constantly checking it?

We used to change every few hours. DD1 used to get bad nappy rash but we realised that got worse the more we changed her so realised that was actually the wipes rather than the nappy, so we switched wipes and changed every few hours and the rash disappeared. No issues at all with rashes for DD2.

This. How on earth would you know they'd had a wee and that you were changing it straight away. It's also completely illogical to say you change after every pee except for over night. It's fine to leave her in the daytime too.

You really don't need to change any less than every 3-4 hours unless they have done a poo. Nappies don't leave them sat in acidic urine they are designed to absorb which is why she's fine when you don't change her for hours over night.

Some days he gets changed in the morning and again at bedtime. Usually there’s a poo. But 3 nappies a day wouldn’t be unusual. I suppose that works out as around every hours for a child who wakes at 6 and goes to bed at 7.

How would you even know if they did a wee unless you are constantly checking? Every 2-3 hours seems fine. Would change sooner if the nappy feels full or we are going out or
before nap time.

I thought babies normally weed tiny bits at a time rather then big wees as they don’t have bladder control

How do you know they’ve weed though, in order to change every wee? Constantly peeking in their trousers to check and only buying nappies with the indicator?

We used cloth nappies so changed every couple of hours at that age but no idea how many wees that would have been!

How do you know she’s done a wee? We just checked frequently.

Every poo, obviously.

Otherwise either every few hours or when it looks like it’s hanging off him because it’s full.

He is 8, so maybe easier to see that, he ends up with bumblebee bum 😂

2-4 hours for wee
Asap for poo.

Every wee?! My 4 month old has especially sensitive skin (eczema, everything sets him off with a rash atm), and I still don’t change every five mins because even the cheapest Aldi nappies are so effective at wicking urine away from his skin. Poo asap but wee? No way! It’s really unnecessary and wasteful imo to change after every wee unless you have some medical reason for doing so. We alternate between disposable and reusable. It makes me so anxious to think about all those barely used nappies going to landfill. 😔

I totally agree, we use a mix of both. I wish I could keep up with reusables better.
I’m not too concerned about acidic wee more all the chemicals that are in disposables and the plastics.

Have to agree with most PPs here - all poos immediately, before my DC started solids I would aim to leave no longer than 4 hrs - depending on the day would sometimes shorter and other times longer. Now she’s eating solids her nappy probably gets changed more frequently in the day anyway as lots more 💩 . Also don’t change overnight. I’ve only really used metanium for a rash once or twice in 10 months. As others have said the urine is absorbed in the super absorbent nappy so doesn’t cause harm. I do try and give a few mins of nappy off time daily although less now they’re on the move as they quickly run scoot away and then it’s a fight to get nappy back on 🤣

We did cloth nappies and changed every 1.5-2.5h.
if it was only slightly damp I'd leave it on and check it again in half an hour or so