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.

I dont change overnight because baby sleeps through so we're all asleep. During the day I can do it so I'd rather do it every wee

I can tell by the feel of the nappy if she's done one. Or if I can't tell I do a little sniff test 😂

Definitely not checking constantly, plus it only takes 2 seconds to check.

Every wee is extremely excessive IMO and if you’re using disposables it creates so much extra waste, it’s pretty crappy behaviour to be chucking away barely used nappies multiple times a day. Every 2-4 hours is fine and obviously right away for poo.

I've never really thought about it but probably about every 2 to 3 hours. If they visibly needed changing I'd do it, but not for every single wee. Their nappy change times usually fell around feeding times in the early days.

Every wee is insane. I've got no idea when she wees. It's every poo and if it seems full or it's been a few hours

Is she your first child op? I certainly don’t change every wee but I don’t think I go quite as long as 2-3 hours, probably more like 1-2.

Nappies do not need changing every hour. A baby does not normally produce that much urine within an hour to wet a nappy to the point of changing. When I worked in the baby room in a daycare we changed nappies round a 4 hour schedule, unless obviously they had done a poo.

Wow you must get through a lot of nappies! We change poos immediately (although interestingly my SIL's midwife said to leave them if they poo when asleep as waking them is more harmful!). Wees honestly get changed when the nappy feels full-ish or if we're going out to hopefully avoid changing while out. I couldn't tell you how many wees are in there.

And I'd argue it doesn't take two seconds to change a nappy. All the rolling and occasional weeing on themselves and disposal and hand-washing, it takes a good few minutes. Which isn't a big deal but I've definitely been made late to things by last-minutes changes!

It's mainly the combination of wee and poo together that cause nappy rash, so if you just change every poo immediately you're fine. We use cloth nappies and still don't change every time the nappy feels slightly damp. We do change more frequently than most people would change disposables, probably every 2-3 hours. In disposables, they don't feel the wetness and the wee isn't sitting next to their skin, so it's wasteful to change so frequently and probably not that much fun for the baby either.

Nappy rash is also partly just down to luck - DS1 never had it (except in disposables, weirdly); DS2 had sensitive skin and used to get really bad nappy rash, especially when teething.

Is the nappy full, or getting there? If not, it’s fine. Is the baby happy? If yes, also fine. Is there a rash? If no, fine again. Don’t throw more nappies into landfill than you need to!

How do you know when they've weed? I just used to change it if they had done a poo or it looked like it was getting full. I didn't really notice when they had done a single wee.

It's probably good in terms of potty training if you don't get them used to sitting in a wet nappy but I do think with disposables they don't feel wet.

You make it out that I throw away nappies with dribbles in it. My baby always does decent sized pees.

I'm not shaming you for what you're doing, I'd appreciate the same back! Calling it "crappy behavior" is a bit rude.

Wasn't here to change anyones mind, and I'm not going to change my mind. Was just curious on how other people do it. Have a good friday!

Edit- this was a reply but it got messed up somehow haha

I'm really curious now @August24Mama how many nappies you'd use in a day? And genuinely is it every wee because I think I said in my last post there could be wee every 15-20 mins in a nappy? Not meaning any disrespect hope it doesn't come across that way I've just found this thread really interesting and you've sparked my curiosity😊

Every disposable nappy ever used still exists in landfill today. You don’t need to change every wee, the whole point of the absorbent layer is to draw the urine away from your baby.

If you use disposable nappies then you don’t change every wee, the nappy absorbs it so they’re not sitting in wee, and it’s very wasteful to be changing them so much. We change immediately for a poo but every 2-3 hours for wee unless it really needs changing before then.

I think twice a day @PurBal isn’t quite enough. Surely they stink of old wee by bedtime? I know you said usually there’s a poo so another change in the day, but on the days there isn’t….?

Also, changing at every pee is far too much and very wasteful.

Nappies are absorbent for a reason.

i worked in a school for children with additional needs, and our kids were changed twice within the school day, at around 10.30-11 and then again between 1.30-2 (unless poo, in which case straight away). They would have been changed first thing in the morning and then will be changed again a couple of times before bed. That’s how I did it with my kids, too.

It didn't come across disrespectful at all! Thank you for being kind about it. To be honest I never count, it's not a ton. I may count today because now that you've mentioned it I'm curious myself haha. If I had to roughly estimate, I'd guess between 5-10.

I never even considered doing it any other way no one told me, very interesting to see other ways. Honestly I do agree with the landfill aspect, I may look into cloth diapering as waste is a very real aspect.

@August24Mama 5-10 is less than I thought. Thanks for sharing😊 We average about 5 a day. Could be more when there's more poos. This thread has made me think more about the landfill issue too. I feel a day of researching cloth nappies is ahead of me!

DD was every wee, even a wee too small to show on the indicator line because she hated slightest hint of wet. Once DS got mobile it was far less frequent for him as he wasn't bothered by a went nappy and was annoyed to be interrupted in what he was doing, so the change was quicker and easier if left a little bit longer...

Depends on the individual child tbh.

I'm a childminder - I usually do routine changes in the morning, after lunch and around 4 before home time.
So roughly every 3 hours.

10 nappies a day is 70 a week, 3650 a year!!

I did a mix of cloth and disposable with my youngest. I loved the cloth but sadly wasn’t organised enough to keep up with washing them to use them full time, but nonetheless every one I used saved a disposable from landfill.

The thing is, cloth feels wet to the baby more than disposable, so need changing more frequently anyway. Every 2 hours as a maximum I’d say, unless you’ve properly padded them up for bedtime! Aaah, that fat little bedtime bum 🥰

Cloth nappies are ace, especially if you are likely to have more than one baby. Occasionally we've used disposables, e.g. on holiday, and I always hate it when you change a wet one then they do a poo 5 minutes later. It feels like such a waste.

In my experience, they like a nice fresh one to poop in! 😆

It was 3-4 hourly except for poo here.

Interestingly (or not) my eldest would prefer every 20 minutes when a baby. My youngest every 2-3 hours. I found this out through nappy free time et .

So often with my second I was changing it after 1 wee because they were more substantial, and spaced out so much. It would have been ridiculous to change after each hamster sized wee for my first.

Every 3hrs (same as nursery) or sooner if 💩