It's a good thing my daughter doesn't poop often. One day, she'll be mortified that I wrote about her regularity on this blog, but for now, she's blissfully unaware. Despite the introduction of solid foods, Madeline is still not regular in a normal sense. She is regular in her own way - every 2-3 days.
I've never been more grateful for her spaced out BMs because we are still in a diaper war over here. Cleaning her properly from a poopy diaper is impossible to do without getting her hands and feet and anything else in the vicinity slathered in poop. And when Madeline goes, she g-o-e-s. It's amazing to me how much she goes. (And no, she's not backed up. I've talked with the pediatrician about this many times and she really is fine.) Fortunately, I can tell when she's about to erupt because everything stops and she focuses intensely. I scoop her up and I've recently started putting her little bum on the toilet. It's so much easier to clean up and I think it helps her empty her bowels. (Seriously, she's gonna be mortified one day!)
Back to the diaper wars.
She. Will. Not. Stop. Moving. And. Throwing. A. Fit. During. Diaper. Changes.
She is all over the place and in an attempt to use this time wisely and to not get frustrated, I've had to get extremely creative. I can't physically hold her down because I know I can hurt her. Her tantrums are really something to behold and I figure it's because she wants her freedom. Being face up on the changing table limits her movement. She'd much rather sit in her urine-soaked diaper than be changed. Since we're in cloth, I know she feels wet, but she really doesn't care.
For a while, her straw cup was fascinating to her and I could change a diaper relatively easy. It was new! It gave her water! Once she figured out how to suck the water out, she was happy as a clam playing with it while I changed her diaper.
The novelty has since worn off.
I sing to her, make funny faces and voices. She quickly smiles and then tries to roll off the table.
So, I collected an arsenal of things to hand her while she is being changed. She has an affinity for tags or tag-like things and, really, anything new to her. I'll hand her virtually anything to keep her momentarily occupied. The top drawer, that formerly held the plethora of burp cloths we don't regularly need anymore, is now full of new things to entertain her. Things that I wouldn't ordinarily let her play with. I went around the house and plunked a bunch of odds and ends into the drawer: textured fabric, an empty water bottle, a patch, plastic hanger, empty, cleaned out (and recalled) Tylenol bottle, some toys, different types of pacifiers she previously rejected...you get the idea. When we're finished with the diaper change, I give her a very happy "Thank you!", sometimes make the American Sign Language sign for thank you, and take the object from her and put it back in the drawer.
This process has been working like a charm!
She's happy.
I'm happy.
And her bum is clean.
3 comments:
Sometimes Henry gets a little fussy if I change his diaper when he's more than a little tired. I throw a towel over his face and play peek a boo with him. But those are wet diapers. He has dirty diapers even less often than Madeline, and they're usually first thing in the morning, so no worries there.
Try putting something inside the tylenol bottle that will rattle and is colorful. After tightening the cap so that Superman would be challenged to remove it, see if this fascinates her.
We went through periods where each one of you just threw fits while changing diapers. Eventually, and with a lot of explanation from me, you each settled down.
You are doing good!
I like you mom's idea of putting something in the tylenol bottle. Or make a rattle from the larger water bottle. Or a kitchen spoon or spatula?
It will get better. Eventually. Or she will start potty training. I know using cloth doesn't make it any easier (except for the velcro AIOs and pockets)...I went through that with Josh. We also stopped changing both kids on the changing pad/dresser a lot sooner than we thought we would, and somehow changing them on the floor was a bit easier for me to just get things done quickly and not deal with them trying to climb off the changing pad. (But maybe we did this when they were older/bigger than M? not sure...)
Do you put her on the "big" potty or a small one? Couldn't hurt to get her used to sitting on either one. We're in the middle of potty training Josh and it's not going as well as I'd like...especially since he's the one who wore cloth and was "supposed" to train easier. lol Ben just wanted to be a big boy, I guess....
Hang in there!!
Post a Comment