January 27

How to change a wriggly baby

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Our son has always been a very mobile child. At 4 months he loved standing. By 8 months he was crawling around everywhere (we decided to baby proof the whole house to give him more space to move around), and at 10 months decided he was going to walk. Every child hits these milestones at different times, and when they do, nappy changes become a whole new ball game.

 

The biggest challenge for us, when Austin started moving around, was to get the fresh nappy on quickly before any meltdowns happened. We found only two things helped make the process smoother and less stressful for everyone:

 

  1. Distractions, Distractions, Distractions!

 

  1. Pull up pant nappies

 

Here are 8 distraction ideas that might come in useful for you try next time you’re having a nappy changing battle:

Give them something to hold onto

A different toy each time; a book; or a household object that they might not have played with before (and you don’t mind them putting in their mouths). I’ve heard of some parents giving their child an electric toothbrush to hold whilst getting the nappy changed! I thought this was a clever idea actually – you might be able to kill two birds with one stone and have a clean bottom and clean teeth!

 

Singing and clapping

Having a few nursery rhymes in your back pocket is a great nappy changing secret. Their faces absolutely light up when you sing to them and a happy baby is definitely a lot easier to change! Any rhymes that elicit some audience participation (aka baby wants to clap along) mean fewer fingers covered in poo – parenting win.

 

Signing

We went to sing and sign classes from 6 months with Austin and he gradually paid more and more attention to the signs that I was signing with him. This offered a brief moment of distraction as quite often he looked at me very confused. Highly recommended distraction technique!

 

Blowing raspberries on their belly

A family favourite. Who can resist the delightful play that ensues when you blow raspberries? It’s a funny sound and it feels really weird on your body – a perfect distraction technique.

 

Do it standing up

Sometimes all they want to do is stand, and whilst it’s pretty hard to change a regular nappy standing up, pull up pants make the whole process a lot easier.

Watching their favourite programme

Whether that’s on your phone, iPad or you have to move to the living room to change them in front of the TV, sometimes it’s the only way to stop them from putting their fingers where they shouldn’t and lie still.

 

Changing under a play gym or hanging mobile

If you have a baby gym or anything that you can hang above them whilst they’re getting changed, will make for interesting viewing and the process a lot easier.

 

Eye contact and conversation

Often underrated and overlooked is the simple art of talking to them, narrating what you’re doing and making lots of eye contact. Not only will they find you and your face fascinating, but you’ll also be helping their language development as well. Double win.

 

As mentioned previously, pull up nappies are a life-saver at changing time when your child starts preferring movement over lying still. If you’re not sure which brands do nappy pants in your babies current size, or you’d like an easy, quick way to sample the different pants brands out there, then you can click below to see which brands we stock in our Nappy Pants Selection Boxes.

 

Size 4 and 4+ Nappy Pants Boxes (11 different brands)

 

Size 5 and 5+ Nappy Pants Boxes (11 different brands)

 

Size 6 and 6+ Nappy Pants Boxes (12 different brands)

 

Good luck and may all your nappy changes be happy!


Tags

distractions, nappy pants, pull up pants


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