Best time for Diaper Change?

jensou · September 2016

We're still establishing eating and sleeping cycles but if anyone has any tips to add to when to time / anticipate a diaper change that would be so helpful. My main problems are - fussy baby wants to eat, so i feed her, she gets sleepy and i finally have a chance to get something done - but diaper is wet / dirty and changing it wakes her up, which buys me 30 min (at least!) of rocking / holding / trying to calm fussy baby again.

If i change her before the feed and she's super fussy, she kicks and cries (sometimes screams) and it's nerve wracking. especially because those sweet little feet get in to the diaper mess despite me trying to wrangle her away from it. She also likes to pee and poop while she's in the middle of her change (sigh...). So if we do it before, its more work because she's tense and fussy. And if we do it after, it's more work because she's wide awake again.

Somehow I don't remember any of this with my older kids! Any thoughts on how to optimize this routine? It seems like such a simple thing that I should have figured out by now - but I definitely don't!

marikkita12 · September 2016

Can you feed her until she starts getting drowsy, then change her and then feed her again to calm her back down? Can one of your other kids or husband help by sticking a pinkie in baby's mouth or hold down the feet?

BabyBoyH92016 · September 2016

No tips but wanted to let you know I'm in the same boat. My little guy calms down and sleeps when I feed him, but he almost always either wets himself or poops during a feeding, so when I change him it wakes him up and he gets fussy again. We have started to change him right away (and don't let him finish eating first), and then let him continue eating after the change. This sometimes works, but there's a good chance he'll poop or wet himself again, so I end up changing him twice during a feeding.

Hang in there. My pediatrician told us that for the first 6-8 weeks you just do what baby needs/wants and you shouldn't worry about schedules/routines so much.

RedMar · September 2016

Last time I remember this being an issue. We had the best luck with changing him as soon as he woke. This would sometimes lead to him fire hosing all over so we needed a "pee blocker" aka paper towel. It was good to change him when he woke also because he was stimulated more and it was less likely that he'd fall asleep on me and short change the nursing session.

tinypikachu · September 2016

My LO is exactly the same. We have to supplement right now so I'll do one of two things: breastfeed her from one side and change her, then feed her from the other side or the formula. If it's night time, I then swaddle her, burp her and keep her upright for a few minutes with me because she spits up and put her down. If you're bottle/formula feeding her, maybe wait until she's drowsy, change her and then keep feeding her.

CindyR29 · September 2016

I agree with the split feeding mentioned! I've been going through the same thing with Sophia. I've been feeding for a bit until she starts slowing down, then changing her diaper, and continue feeding until she's done. I don't remember going through this with DS either, then again I was having to pump and feed with him and I have been able to breastfeed so far with her.
Hope it works for you

homebird · September 2016

I try to change halfway through a feeding. If he pees afterwards I don't change. If he poops I see how drowsy he is, lol. During the day I'd totally change it right away but if it's the middle of the night ... sometimes I let it go until the next feed. Especially if he's dead to the world, lol.

mom2adoodle · September 2016

We change as soon as he stirs (if he's waking up it's time to eat haha) so we beat the mad rush of "FEED ME NOW ROAR!!!"

jensou · September 2016

Appreciate all of the ideas. We tried out the split feeding (adding a diaper change) with good results thus far. Why didn't I think of that??! So grateful for this board. I'm also trying really hard to catch her as soon as she's acting hungry and before she Hulk's out.

bartonolivia · September 2016

We always do it before the feeding during the day. He's fussy but we just have to deal with it. In the night my husband feeds since I'm pumping and bottle feeding him and I change his diaper at the same time!