How Often?

How often do you need to change your baby's cloth diaper?

Well isn't that the question of the century? I think the best answer you can get it just depends.
It depends on baby's age, on how, what and how often they are eating. I depends on how they are sleeping and the condition of their skin.

You can see that the answer to this question is one that every family has to work out for themselves. If your baby is soaking through his clothes, change him more often. If your baby isn't even wet yet, wait a while. That doesn't happen often but it does happen, I promise!

I would love to give you some times as guides but they are sure to not fit half the babies out there and someone is certain to say I am not changing my baby often enough and someone else will say, "Oh forget it, I am not going to do it that often!" No matter what you do, someone will find a way to disapprove. But I heard once that in Victorian times babies were changed every three DAYS or so. Please do change your baby's diaper more often than THAT.

Babies under 3 months old will wet their diapers very frequently. Very Frequently. They will probably still need diaper changes before or after at least one nighttime feeding. Oh, what a delight when the nighttime diaper changes stop!

Babies tend to wet more frequently in the mornings and less often in the afternoon. (So say those who practice Elimination Communication.) Some will even have predictable wetting times, like after nursing, after being removed from the sling, or upon waking up. Changing your baby at those times can help you to maximize the dry diaper time.

So watch your baby and the two of you will work out the right times for changing.

The Wrestling Match

About the time baby learns how to flip from back to front, the trouble begins. Babies like to practice their skill and when do you want them on their backs more than during a diaper change? Overnight diaper changes go from being a pleasant time to talk and play to an all-out battle with a wet cat or a fish out of water.

When they learn how to crawl it gets even worse. Now, not only can they turn over, but they have the potential to actually escape as well. Fun times!

This is about the time my diaper changes move off the changing table and onto the floor. Those little buggers are just too good at getting away!

Here are a couple of tips for keeping diaper changes smooth and happy times:

1. Have your diapers ready - have your bumGenius already stuffed or your prefold already in the cover. It just means that baby doesn't have to lie still and wait while you prepared your supplies. It also avoids having the baby escape while you are doing this. Have any wipes or washcloths or diaper cream at the ready as well. (Why do I always forget this one myself?)

2. Try creative diaper changing positions - If baby just has pee, maybe a standing diaper change will work. I know people who can do it but I am not good at that one. I personally use the "Leg as a Seatbelt" position a lot at this age. Sit on the floor and lay baby in front of you with his head to one side. Instead of his feet being towards you, his side will be nearest your body. Put one of your legs across his upper body and lightly pin him down. Another little trick is to keep their feet held up high and over their body, as if they were playing with their feet. It is harder for them to roll like this and this comes in handy when a floor change is not possible.

3. Special diaper changing toys - Keep something that baby can play with only during diaper changes. If you are using a changing table, hanging a mirror over it is fascinating to the baby! Even letting them play with a diaper or a tube of ointment sometimes works, of course you are right there supervising this because you are changing the diaper. (Do NOT give a baby a bottle of liquid medicine to play with, even if it has a child proof cap. They can actually suck the liquid around the seal of the cap. Go ahead, ask me how I know this.) But the be all and end all of diaper changing toys is (Drum roll, please!) masking tape. No, do NOT tape your baby down with it! Tear off about a foot and hand it to baby. Watch to make sure he isn't sticking it in his mouth, but let him play with it and wad it up and before he knows it his diaper change is DONE.

I am not a Bag Lady!

I don't even like purses. In high school I would find the smallest one that would still hold the bare minimum of things I needed to carry around. It was basically just a wallet with straps. So you can understand how I hate carrying a diaper bag.

I am picky about my diapers bags. If I have to carry around a ball and chain, then it should do its job and make my job easier. But I have never, until now, found a bag that truly does that.

For Christmas this past year my mom got me the Skip Hop Duo and I fell pretty instantly in love. This is a bag that had to be designed by a mom. It has the absolute right amount of pockets for a bag hater like me.

This one has a nice large main pocket for baby things that has elastic pockets inside it to organize diapers. The inside is so well organized that I can reach into it without looking and find just what I need. Because when you are changing a diaper on a precarious public restroom changing table, you can't really dig with both hands.

There are two zipper pockets along the top edge of the bag. One is big enough for my stuff, and I use one to hold a change of pants for my potty training child. You see, I refuse to carry a purse AND a diaper bag. So any diaper bag has to have a pocket big enough for me to carry my purse items in: wallet, lip gloss, some paper and a pen, and of course my cell phone.

There is a water bottle/sippy holder on one side and a cell phone pocket on the other, and two pockets along the front of the bag that I use for quick access items like keys and my planner. There is a big flat pocket across the back for the changing pad - no trying to shove that down inside the main bag. The main pocket and front two pockets are closed by strong magnets, which means my arms aren't getting scratched up by velcro and it is silent to open and close.

A lovely surprise for me was the introduction to stroller clips; specially designed clips on either side of the bag that allow you to attach the bag to your stroller without having to take off the main strap. That means no digging around in the under-stroller basket to drag out the one item you need. It is all right there at your fingertips!

After spending a few months with this bag I had the opportunity to carry a certain high end diaper bag and realized that I may have been spoiled for life, I hated the other bag. The Skip Hop reads my mind. It works with what I have in it and makes it all easy to access. (Have you ever had one of those big bottomless bags that you stop even using anything in it because stuff is too hard to find? This is NOT one of those.)

I really hate to gush over a mere diaper bag like this. But this bag is so far above anything that I have ever used, I just can't help myself.