Squirming baby blues, and so overwhelmed that I'm not using cloth anymore

[hollianna]

I used to see posts about moms who struggle to keep their baby from squirming away during diaper changes, and I just thought - hold the baby tight. Done, moving on.

How wrong I was!!! My boy was a dream to change up until about 7 months. He would just lie there while I changed him. Now? He's almost 9 months old and he twists, turns, starts crawling away (while on a changing table!), and screams and cries.

I can't change him on the changing table anymore because of this issue. And I have stopped doing cloth diapers with him as well. It's just such a struggle to keep him still, the quicker the change happens, the better. Especially during a nighttime change. I used prefolds and a cover, which takes double the time that a disposable does, so I just switched to disposables.

I hate that I'm not using cloth anymore. But the problems during changing, combined with the fact that I'm overwhelmed with other things (messy house, doing most of the care of baby while my husband is in school, etc.) is really getting me down.

Any thoughts? Suggestions? You ladies are always so helpful. I hope you have some words of wisdom...

[confustication]

My little guy has hit the squirmy stage as well. I always change him on the floor, hand him something 'forbidden'to play with (an old cell phone with the battery removed is a favorite) and make it fun. We use prefolds and covers as well, and I do occasionally trifold in a wrap, but lately when we're around the house, I toss the prefold on alone with a snappi. I don't use a cover all the time, and I rarely put pants on him unless it's really cold or we're going out, so a change is as simple as taking the prefold off and popping on another.

The added bonus here is that I know right away when he's wet and we have NO rash issues.

[Altair]

how about velcro pockets, like happy heinys, with a microfiber insert? They are just as easy as a disposible and if you buy used you will spend so much less.

[la79al]

DD is a squirmer too. She went through a very brief period of being impossible to change on the changing table and all our changings were on the floor. Now I have found that if I try a floor changing, she rolls this way and then that way and there is absolutely no way we can do floor changes. So we have moved back to the changing table. I have a drawer of toys right next to the changing table that are diaper change only toys and that is the only time she gets to play with them (her favorite is actually a nose sucky out thingy, we got 3). I take her pants off (and try to get the onesie unsnapped) before we get to the table and them take her off the table before I put them back on so that really lessens the amount of time she is stuck laying there. I'll admit that I stopped using prefolds when DD got to this stage and use mostly pockets and AIOs, but the other day I tried a snappied prefold and I tried to interact with her more during the change, in addition to her toy and it worked out amazingly well. I've also found that putting the diaper on, letting her move a bit and then doing the cover has helped. Good luck. They do seem to get less squirmy as they get older. Of course, then I am told we get to look forward to them taking their diapers off, so I guess it's a lose-lose situation....

[KiwiMama]

My dd always rolls over as soon as I put her down on the floor. I had been using flats and prefolds recently, since she was inbetween sizes. I was having a hard time changing her and would sometimes grab a disposable or one of her pocket diapers (even though those particular ones were prone to leaking) for the very same reason as you. I would get very exasperated trying to change her diapers!

I just pulled out a bunch of fitteds in the next size up (again) and she almost fits into them. At least they are not any looser than my attempts at getting a prefold or flat on a squirmy baby are

My point is that my fitted diapers are so much easier to put on.

I would recommend trying a few fitted, AIO or pocket diapers to see if that works any better for you.

And if you do go back to cloth, it doesn't have to be 100% either. You can always have a sposie handy for middle of the night changes or when out and about or even have one handy as backup for when he's too uncooperative while trying to change a cloth diaper.

Also, is your ds standing yet? Sorry, I can't remember at what age that starts and my dd is not there yet. When my ds was little, I remember doing almost all diaper changes standing up, because he would stand still in one spot as long as he had something to keep busy with (toy, puzzle on a chair, etc). Of course, that's kind of tricky with prefolds, but is fairly quick with fitted diapers.

[Equuskia]

Also, if he's standing, you can get side snapping diapers and just slip them up and down to change, like underwear. If he's pooped, then you can open the snaps, but peed diapers would be a lot easier to change like standing.

[Ifluffedthree]

squirmy stage only lasts a short time.

I hope you can find a solution so that you don't give up on your cloth.

For me, I mostly prefolded until the end. I always had the diaper prepared and ready to slide and pin before even approaching baby.

When they hit this stage I started changing on the floor. That way noone ever got hurt or if I turn for a split second there was no chance of falling. It takes a few seconds to get used to, but it just took the focus off injury and made things less stressful until the phase shifted to another challange (which WILL happen - LOL)

Good luck.

[Michigan Mama]

I was thinking the same thing as PP - the squirmy stage really didn't last long for us. For now, you can trifold your prefold in teh wrap if you don't want to buy new, or try fitteds (can still use your covers) or pockets or something...but you'll get past it, baby will stop squirming, and it will all be a distant memory. I wouldn't let it stress you out. Figure out what will work for now. If it's sposies or fitteds for a while, that's ok. It will probably get easier in a few months or less...

[bea3]

My solution for squirmy ragamuffins? Put them in "The Trap" (lots of smiles and silly chit chat about how nice it is to be clean and dry while diaper changing on the floor with one leg straddling the wee one's belly!)! I usually sit (being right handed) with my left leg straight out, or bent (a half pretzel sit), my daughter (she was the squirmiest by far) laying down with head and torso on the right side of my bent right leg and her bottom half right in front of me for easy access. I do trap her with my right leg so she can't wiggle away, but it never feels like fighting her the way it did with other efforts!

Good luck. And I agree with the previous posts. Do what works for you now! It is important to be a happy momma.

[brookie514]

Originally Posted by bea3

My solution for squirmy ragamuffins? Put them in "The Trap" (lots of smiles and silly chit chat about how nice it is to be clean and dry while diaper changing on the floor with one leg straddling the wee one's belly!)! I usually sit (being right handed) with my left leg straight out, or bent (a half pretzel sit), my daughter (she was the squirmiest by far) laying down with head and torso on the right side of my bent right leg and her bottom half right in front of me for easy access. I do trap her with my right leg so she can't wiggle away, but it never feels like fighting her the way it did with other efforts!

Good luck. And I agree with the previous posts. Do what works for you now! It is important to be a happy momma.

That's what we do!!! Works like a charm. ANd for this stage pockets or AIO/AI2s are so much faster. GL mama!!

[celestialdreamer]

My 1 yo is still going through this stage after 3 months. He actually would scream at the top of his lungs and sob when I changed his diaper, no matter what kind it was. Finally, I actually found that prefolds are the *easiest* for us to put on, even easier than a disposable or something with velcro. The trick for us is that I put the prefold down and lay him tummy down on top of it, then I pull it through his legs and fasten the snappi on the back. It is actually pretty bulletproof for leaks, goes on really fast and doesn't bother him to crawl on his tummy. He doesn't seem to mind being changed tummy down, vs on his back. I usually put a pull on wool longies on him with him in my arms and he holds still for that. The only time I even bother with a fitted is for naptime and then I just hold him down and do it really, really fast.

[bluey]

for the squirmy stage I just used a prefold (or a flat, whatever I had handy) trifolded in a snug cover. I had those ready to go so when change time came it was whip one off whip one on We never did go back to a change table, the floor became the spot. At least they couldn't roll off!

I've also done the backwords prefold (with the snappi in the back) as pp mentioned. I would have a book open for her to look at which kept her occupied for about a nanosecond. Long enough to snappi her up anyway before she runs away.

[Galatea]

Change on the floor.

Trifold ahead of time.

Get some velcro all-in-ones.

[Proudmomoftwinsplusone]

i do changes on floor and give him something to play with.