is this overkill?

hopeby2015

My dh thinks I'm a bit insane but this is our first baby and I've never used CD and I'm nervous to screw everything up and get pee on myself (from baby - not me ). I wanna borrow a doll from my SIL and practice putting on and taking off a CD. First, we'll see what we like and how it works on a more practical level. I also wanna pour water into the CD to see how much water it'll hold and how to tell when it's wet and also, will we be needing to put additional inserts into diaper. Is this a bit over kill? Or do u think its a good idea? Do you have any advice or additional things I should do as well? TIA!

sarenu1

Take a deep breath.

Practicing on a doll is fine and probably a good idea, especially if you're talking flats and prefolds.

Testing the diaper is over kill.  Microfiber absorbs through compression, so water will just roll off of it.  That's also why you want to get a good snug fit with pockets.

I'd hold off on additional inserts until you know what you need.

TJ1979

Definitely practice putting diapers on a doll.  Especially if you are using prefolds or flats.  They take a little practice.  But don't worry, you will get plenty of practice the first few weeks with your newborn.

Pouring water on a diaper isn't an accurate measure of how much liquid it will hold.  Most diapers require compression to actually absorb.  So likely the water will just pour off.  What you will want to do is plan to change LO at least every 2 hours, and more than that if you hear LO poo.  And you will most likely hear it.  NB poo is quite explosive and liquidy.  Sorry, that's gross, but true.  If it's been less than 2 hours, but LO is super fussy, just peek in through a leg-hole and see if you see poo.  I never got the hang of telling by feel if CDs are wet.  And my toddler is over 2.

sarenu1

stringy813 said:

1. You will get peed on no matter what type of diaper you use. Poop too. Just accept it.

2. What kind of diapers are you planning to use?

1. is so true.  Although I think my son has peed on himself more than me.

Brandiewine11

It's perfectly fine to practice on a doll/teddy bear/whatever first! I taught my husband how to put diapers on using our dog's favorite teddy bear toy. 

Pouring water on a diaper isn't going to tell you anything. Many need some sort of compression to absorb properly. It also won't tell you if you're going to need extra absorbency, etc. You'll be able to figure all that out when baby arrives without a problem.

Newborns need to be changed at a minimum every 2 hours, but often more because they poop so much. We just routinely changed when he woke up from a nap and often after feeding too.

Getting baby pee on you should be the least of your worries. It's much less offensive than poop or spit up, which happens too!

CLLDLL

Trying diapers on a doll?  Not overkill.  Kind of fun and cute. 

Pouring water on diapers to see how much they hold...sort of overkill, but also useless.  Most diapers need pressure to absorb.  So just pouring water on top won't do anything but make a mess. 

As far as knowing when baby is wet, you'll figure it out pretty quickly.  In the NB stage I just changed every time I nursed baby plus any time I knew there was poop.  Later I stuck with an every 1.5 - 2 hours schedule unless he was napping.  The great thing about CDs is that even if you change when they are barely wet it's NBD.  You didn't throw away a $0.20 diaper.  You just washed a barely wet diaper that you get to reuse again when it's clean.  

Don't stress about adding doublers/inserts yet.  In the NB days you'll change so often it's unlikely you'll need doublers.  Every baby is so different, that you really can't say which diapers will need doublers for your baby and which won't.  Just have some small doublers or even baby washcloths on hand just in case.  You'll know if you need them.  You'll have a leak one day, and when you take off the diaper it will be completely saturated. 

TJ1979

AFwifelife said:

First off, you will get pee and poop on yourself.  It's inevitable.  Practicing is good.  I would fold prefolds on a stuffed animal to get comfortable.  I know some have testes absorbency just to see how much it will hold but it really won't tell you if you need more inserts or not.  You just don't know right now how much your LO will pee.  I never wet a diaper beforehand to feel if it's wet.  At the beginning, they poop all the time so you are automatically changing every 1.5-2 hours tops just because you hear poop.  As they get older, I just change every 2 hours.  It's easy to feel if a prefold or flat is wet but a little harder in pockets.

Tee hee @afwifelife.

kassidybl

You will get peed on. You will get pooped on. Even your husband will. If it can come out of your child, you will get it on you.

Do not feel bad if you start laughing when your son pees on his face. I couldn't stop laughing because of his look of shock and surprise that it happened.

Personally, I love pockets. It de-stresses me to stuff them (weird, I know). Glow Bug diapers for short trips and home use, BumGenius for long trips and night time.

Honestly, I have a harder time putting on 'sposies than cloth. When DH wanted to use sposies because of LO's circ, I was so lost. So I gave up and just used gauze around the vasaline to protect the cloth.

Kelly11235

I have a harder time putting disposables on too.

I never practiced on dolls or stuffed animals (they throw you out of Cabela's if you try).

My LO pooped on me twice within the first 5 minutes of his life (literally).

bumpuser9353653

Yes, breathe.

It's fine to practice on a doll/stuffed animal, but just be conscious that the shape of your practice dummy is not going to be the same as your real baby. I remember practicing on a baby doll and on Elmo and got frustrated because it wasn't perfect. So don't get worried if the prefolds just don't look right on the baby doll - they are made to fit humans, so all will be well once baby is here ;-)

countrycotton

I have a sure fire way to tell if my kiddo is wet. I stick my finger in the leg hole and feel if it's wet. other than that I think the pat n the area that gets wet is more of a thud if it's fully saturated, it kind of has a more solid less mushy feel to it.

You will get peed and pooped on. 

sasq09

I think I changed my clothes at least three times a day in the beginning because of all the pee, poop and spit up. And i changed L's clothes even more! I should mention that I used sposies in the beginning, so the blow outs and leaking were constant.

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hopeby2015

@theultimatesak‌ - That's pretty amazing!

Guess I'm just a bit too nervous .. I don't know anyone who's done this and I had to convince my mom (who will watch the kid when I go back to work) and of course dh - who's still not 100% on board (he's maybe 95%). Thanks for the advice! I will now slowly climb off the edge.

sarenu1

theultimatesak said:

My bro and sil who had planned to cloth but didn't follow through once the baby came practiced putting a prefold on their cat. I was impressed.

If anyone can get a prefold on their cat, they must be able to diaper a toddler with their eyes closed.

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candlequeen

theultimatesak said:

sarenu1 said:

theultimatesak said:

My bro and sil who had planned to cloth but didn't follow through once the baby came practiced putting a prefold on their cat. I was impressed.

If anyone can get a prefold on their cat, they must be able to diaper a toddler with their eyes closed.

You would think, but they gave up on cding within two days. They didn't even do it full-time those two days.

What a bunch of morons! Sorry i just insulted your family but how did they realize they didn't like it in such a short period of time?