Baby HATES diaper changes

[ps4624]

DD is 9 months old. Ever since she has learned to roll, diaper changes have been a challenge. Now that she knows how to stand, they are a full on battle. She basically rolls over on her side, sits up and tries to stand.
Sometimes it takes both of us to get her diapered! I've tried distracting her with toys, making a game out of it, speed diapering - everything I can think of.

I don't want to spend the next 3 years battling with her 8 times a day. Any suggestions?

[peacefulT]

Yup know what you are going through .. that's just about the age my dd started the dreaded diaper change !! Ohh its a hard one .. and only gets harder as they get older! Still now at 11 mos my dd *HATES* it. So half the time she is naked!
What I do that usually works is give her something she normally can't play with and loves ... ie. cellphone, keys, etc .. or I have become really good at changing her while she is standing .. takes a bit of practice but after you got it down its not soo bad! Don't really have any other advice, as we go through the same thing on a daily basis here. Another thing I do if I am home and its a poo and I know she will be antsy is take the diaper off in the shower, and clean her up in there .. naked. Much easier and takes away the battle to wipe her without getting everything else dirty.
Good Luck

[prothyraia]

My older son often took two people to manage his diaper changes.

This is going to sound terrible, but at some point we realized that part of why he resisted so much was how we were approaching it. You know, making the stink face, arguing over who was going to have to change him, saying "yaauugh!" when we got the diaper off, etc. He had definitely caught on to the fact that we though changing diapers was yucky, and I don't blame him for wanting to avoid that situation.

So we made a point of acting like diaper changes were the best thing ever and that his poo smelled like roses, and he became much more cooperative.

[Peony]

Change her standing up! I put some toys on a coffee table and change them while they are playing with the toys.

[Just1More]

You could also try some sort of activity gym/mobile that hangs above her. We get a lot of mileage out of annoying singing things, too. (RARE around here...we don't even usually watch TV). Anyway, if she rolls, and the toys are attached above her, she looses them. If it's just something in her hand then she can take it with her...

eta: wanted to be clear I wasn't saying to TAKE a toy from a baby for rolling over. I was saying that since the toys are above her, if she rolls over, naturally she can't play with them anymore.

[lifeguard]

Ds fights diaper changes unless I do it on the change table & while he still may not be happy about it he does lie relatively still up there.

[nudhistbudhist]

Perhaps you might like to try EC When you think about it, would you like to wear a diaper all day and night? Babies are very aware of their bodily functions. Perhaps dd is asking you to change it up a little... maybe give her some nakey butt time, like just after she's soiled a diaper, then it might not be as hard to put a diaper on after Just an idea!

[KatW]

We're having the same problem here. What I'm doing right now is handing him a box of tissues to play with as I change him. He loves trying to pull them out and it keeps him relatively still and his hands busy. How much longer this will work for who knows, but it's working this week.

[amberskyfire]

Toys didn't work with my daughter, but what DID work was to give her something she wasn't supposed to have. I wouldn't give her anything that was imminently dangerous to her, but if it was something she could have right there while I was watching her, I'd give it to her.

Usually, what worked was a nice sturdy piece of jewelry like a necklace with a thick chain or a big dangly earring (of course I had to watch to make sure it didn't go in her mouth). Other things that worked were an electric toothbrush (turned on), a bottle of gummy vitamins, and Daddy's wallet.

[honeyhaze]

Distraction works sometimes with my eight month old son. I keep one of his favorite toys (a timer with lots of buttons and lights on it) near his changing area and I only let him play with it when I'm changing him. If I say enthusiastically, "Buttons!" and turn the lights on the timer, that'll sometimes help. He also likes to hold onto his hairbrush, but that's lost some appeal over time

Floor changing or changing him while he's standing up also works. We EC during diaper changes, so putting him on his potty sometimes helps avoid a blowout.

I'd say your best bet is mastering speed, though, and dressing your LO in easy quick-change garments. I run into the most problems with my boy becoming upset when I'm too slow, distracted, etc... if I'm extremely quick and keep it upbeat he doesn't seem to struggle with it as much.

[LROM]

DD is almost 1 yr and has been like this for 3 months or so. My first concern was why is she suddenly hating them? She's in daycare so I worried about it at first. But once I figured out that she actually seems to not REALLY hate it or to be in real distress, she's just more annoyed by it, I relaxed those concerns.

Also I found out here how common this is.

So now what works is what others have said (distracting her, special toys) but I also find that talking to her "Diaper changes are funny, not upsetting!" and then I make faces or make noises, she usually stops fussing right away and either makes faces back or distracts herself.

[tcmama100]

You're not alone!

You're not alone Mama! My one-year-old will surely be a professional wrestler! Hang in there

[Peppermint Poppies]

That's about the age that my son was when I decided it was easier to clean pees from the floor than it was to change his nappy

It will pass though .... nappy changes became a non-drama about 15mo for us. You won't be doing this forever.