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Although I haven’t kept count, I can safely say that I have changed well over 100 diaper blowouts, and even that is probably a conservative estimate. You might think I’m blowing smoke, but I have four kids, and they all went through at least one diaper blowout stage where they were having at least one diaper blowout a day. Not to mention, two of those babies are twins, so there was a time where I literally felt like every other diaper I was changing was a blowout.
You might also be thinking to yourself, “Are you seriously writing a post about this? You’re essentially writing about poop.” And the answer is, yes, I absolutely am writing a post about this because I am passionate about finding ways to simplify life and then sharing with others. There’s not a single person on this planet who likes to deal with a diaper blowout, so if I can share even one new idea with a mom, rookie or veteran, then I’ll have accomplished my goal.
Before I get into the tips, I must also mention that I have seen a number of posts on how to prevent diaper blowouts. While those tips are certainly helpful, my experience has been that it’s not really something you can always prevent, so my focus is on how to survive the diaper blowout when it happens …in real life…with practical tips.
#1 Enlist help of any age.
Don’t be too proud to ask for help. If anyone is nearby and willing to help, take advantage! You’ll have plenty of blowouts that you’ll have to do on your own that you might as well ask for help any chance that you can. And helpers can even include older siblings. Since my twins have become incredibly hard to change lately, especially in the case of a poopy diaper or blowout, my two older kids (ages 4 and 8) will help by holding their sister’s hands in order to prevent them from reaching down to their diaper area or grabbing the poopy diaper. I mean, poop on baby’s hands is just epic. And I don’t mean that in a good way.
Other ways people can help include holding the baby vertically while you get to work cleaning, fetching things you forgot to gather before you started, being a designated bag holder, entertaining the baby if they are upset, or finishing the diaper change, so you can get started washing poop out of clothes.
#2 Contain other children in a safe location.
If you have twins or other small children around, make sure they are contained and in a safe location before you start the diaper change. The last thing you want to do is be in the middle of a blowout diaper change only to realize that your 4-year-old is running around with scissors or standing on top of a shelf or doing something naughty that you could have prevented.
#3 Make sure to grab a trash bag before you start the dirty business, especially when you’re not home.
I’m assuming you carry trash bags in your diaper bag or purse, but if you don’t, absolutely make sure you always keep at least a couple of them in there for when these situations unexpectedly arise. Plastic shopping bags from stores will suffice, however, I highly recommend the Pruven Waste Bag Dispenser and Refill rolls (doggy disposable bags.)
There are plenty of other options out there for diaper disposable bags, but we just happened to have a bunch of these on hand, and we realized how great they worked for diapers. I would imagine the other brands are fine too, but I’m recommending this particular brand because it’s what we have used for many years, and they are awesome. (I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but we once left one of these bags with a poopy diaper in it in the back of our car for at least a week. That’s how good they work in terms of containing the smell.)
If you’re at home, just make sure you have a trash bag or diaper pail within arms’ reach because diaper blowouts frequently require a large amount of wipes, and you’ll want to keep them contained in case baby starts wiggling around and puts his or her foot right in the pile of wipes. Not that it’s ever happened to me of course…
# 4 Use some paper towels to prevent the diaper changing pad/cover from getting soiled.
Grab a handful of paper towels, lay them down on the changing pad, and then lay your baby on top. That way, baby’s soiled clothes and diaper rub off on the paper towels and not the changing pad. That helps to simplify cleanup and minimize the amount of things that need to be washed.
#5 Take a peek inside the diaper before laying baby flat.
Before laying your baby down, stand them up on the changing table, and carefully take a peek inside the diaper by pulling it back at the lower back (if it’s not already seeping out). This is probably more of a preventive measure for the “almost-a-blowout-diaper,” but even if the blowout is coming out the bottom of the diaper, I still recommend doing this.
If you realize the poop is almost to the top of the diaper, or if you think it will seep out if you lay them down on it, this is your chance to minimize the damage by grabbing a paper towel and following tip #4 (above). Also, if you have someone helping you, they can hold the baby upright while you wipe and carefully remove the diaper while baby is in this position.
#6 Try giving your baby a small toy to play with if they are a wiggler.
If your baby has a tendency to reach down to their diaper area or if they writhe and wiggle around too much during a diaper change, try giving them a toy to hold onto.Granted, this can backfire as the toy and their hand can wind up with poop on them, but more often than not, the toy helps to distract the baby, so you can do what you need to do without any interference.
#7 Take advantage of expandable neck onesies.
So here’s something else I’m embarrassed to admit…I had no idea that most onesies were designed with an expandable neck, so they can be pulled down rather than go over baby’s head. Do you know how many diaper blowouts I changed before someone enlightened me?! I’m pretty sure I didn’t know about this until my oldest was out of the blowout phase and not wearing onesies anymore.
So just in case there is anyone else out there like me who somehow missed this important memo, allow me to greatly simplify diaper blowouts by letting you know about this simple, yet brilliant feature of most onesies! Side note – if you are in a diaper blowout phase where it seems to be happening frequently, definitely avoid any onesies that don’t have an expandable neck. I don’t care how cute it is, it’s not worth the risk!
#8 Keep a small bottle of detergent under your sink where you wash out the poopy clothes.
When it’s happening on a regular basis, you don’t want to have to get out your laundry detergent and lug it back and forth from your laundry room to the sink where you pre-wash clothes. If you’re fortunate enough to have a sink in your laundry room, then this isn’t an issue, but if you have to pre-wash the poopy clothes in a separate location, then I highly recommend keeping a separate bottle in that area for this purpose.
#9 Keep a bucket full of Oxi-Clean and water for soiled clothes.
Designate a soaking bucket, and keep it filled with a solution of Oxi-Clean and water. After you have rinsed the poop out of the clothes, throw it in the bucket to soak until you do your next load of laundry. The same bucket can also be used for massive spit-up on clothes or whatever else your kids manage to get on their clothes. When you’re ready to do a load of laundry, drain the bucket and start over. This accomplishes two things: 1) soiled clothes have a chance to soak before going through the wash, and 2) you don’t have wet clothes hanging all over your bathroom waiting to be washed.
#10 Remind yourself this is just a season, and you won’t be changing blowouts every day for the rest of your life.
I like to think of diaper blowouts as badges of honor in parenthood. Each time you change one you get another badge, and the worse the blowout is, the bigger the badge is that you get to add to your parenting sash. All joking aside, as frustrating (and disgusting) as it is, the task of changing diaper blowouts is one of those duties that comes with the job of parenting, but it won’t last forever. It’s the struggle for today, and you’re not going through it alone. Besides, those little munchkins are worth it!
Final Thoughts…
This list of tips is what has worked well for us in terms of surviving diaper blowouts over the years. I’m hopeful that you have found at least one new tip you can try that will make your life just a bit easier. I wish you the best, and let me know how it goes!
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