Diaper Changing Tips and Baby Care Ideas

These are just a few tips for parents of wee ones still in diapers. Two ideas relate directly to the diaper changing process. Some of the other ideas, however, can apply in babyhood through big-kid-hood.

One: if you live in a multi-story home, have a changing area on every floor. If you have a stretched-out ranch home arrangement, have a changing capacity in each end. This does not mean purchasing (or begging, borrowing, or stealing) the entire changing table set-up. It means having a place with fresh diapers, wipes or washcloth, any other ointments or powder you use and a bag or pail for the used diapers. The "table" feature can be as simple as a towel on the floor. I particularly like floors for babies. They can't fall off a floor. But, I will also tell you that I did not have any pets to contend with, curiously poking through the supplies.

Why do this? Because you are already exhausted. Save your running around strength for purposes more important than getting to the clean diapers.

Two: when your baby has become a toddler who is able to stand very securely and walk, teach him or her how to plié. The plié in ballet is similar to a half- or full- knee bend. When your toddler is still in diapers, but very active and playing like crazy you will both appreciate this "trick." For a diaper that you are fairly confident has only urine and no difficult mess, you just need to get it off, do some wiping, and get a new one on. By teaching your child to do a plié after you have pulled down the pants and maybe removed one pant leg, you can accomplish a diaper change without worrying about the cleanliness of the restroom changing table, or the floor of wherever you are.

Hopefully, you will never need this tip. A fellow mom with children slightly older than mine gave me this unsolicited advice, which I gladly pass on to you.

If your child gets a facial cut needing stitches, call for a plastic surgeon.

I don't know why I tucked that bit of parental flotsam into my mental Rolodex, but I did. So when my younger son fell from his bike at age seven and got a gash on his chin that rivalled the best jack-o-lantern grimace anyone could carve, I requested a plastic surgeon. Wow. One of the best decisions I've made. In the diagram below, number one is what the injury looked like and how a scar could have developed. Number two is the picture of the laceration after the surgeon cut off all the pointy bits of skin. How brilliant! He created two straight edges to be stitched together. Number three is how my son's chin looks today. (It isn't an error: there is NOTHING to be seen.)

So, that is my tip that we hope you will never need.

Really - you and your family may be very proud and excited, but is anyone doing the child a favor by having twenty guests over? I will keep this short and sweet.

Go with the rule of thumb that you have the child's siblings and then guests in the number of the age of the child plus one. Just have appropriate food and play opportunities for the children. An hour or ninety minutes is plenty of time for a toddler's party. If other families in your crowd buy into the insanity of paid entertainment, catering for hundreds, and other baloney, just smile and pat yourself on the back for being a sensible parent.

I found these four ideas extremely useful. I hope that you will also.

Maren Morgan would go back and relive her diaper-changing days, even with the lack of sleep!

Images and text copyright 2008 Maren E. Morgan