Some of the diaper problems that occur when your toddler becomes more active are difficulty changing your baby, leakage, poor fit and your baby's ability to remove his own diaper. Here are a few tips and suggestions for how to deal with these issues.
While many parents may look forward to the time when their toddler starts to become more active, this newfound activity can create a host of problems relating to diapering your baby. Whether you use cloth or disposable diapers on your baby you will experience similar problems as your child becomes more active. As your toddler becomes more active there are a series of diaper issues that emerge. Some of these issues include difficulty changing your baby, leakage due to movement and poor fit and your baby's new mobility skills that allow him to successfully remove his own diaper. With a little patience and perseverance, a diligent parent can overcome all of these obstacles.
Perhaps the most challenging issue that a parent faces as their toddler becomes more active is simply changing their child's diaper. While an infant who is unaware of the world around him may be content to lie still for a diaper change, a toddler who has already begun to explore the world will often be too interested in his surroundings to lie still for a diaper change. An active toddler will often be very wiggly on the changing table and will be constantly looking for a way to entertain himself. There are many tricks that a parent can use to make the task of changing the diaper of an active toddler much easier. Sometimes simply engaging your child in conversation can be helpful in keeping your child focused on you instead of squirming around to explore his surroundings. Even children who can't talk yet enjoy cooing and babbling at their parents and encouraging them to do so on the changing table can help make diaper changing a much simpler task. Singing to your child or reciting memorized lines from a favorite book are other ways to distract your child and keep his attention on you so that you can easily change his diaper. In general any activity that captures your child's attention will help to make changing his diaper a quick and easy process. A few other helpful tips include hanging a mobile or other object that will capture your child's attention above the changing area. Doing so will give your child a target to focus on and will keep them from twisting and turning to try to find a source of entertainment. Also, keeping all items out of your child's reach will not only prevent them from grabbing something that may be dangerous to them, but will also help to keep the changing area free of distractions. Maintaining your child's attention during diaper changes will make the whole process go much more smoothly.
As your toddler begins to walk and crawl, diaper leakage problems often begin to occur. Both movement and poor fit can contribute to leakage problems. While movement is not a problem that can be solved poor fit is. Leakage due to movement may still occur but you can minimize these episodes by ensuring that your child's diaper fits properly and is put on correctly. Most brands of diapers give size ranges that are based on your child's weight. Knowing your child's current weight will help you to choose a diaper that fits correctly. Also, different brands of diapers may fit differently so experiment with several brands to find one that works best for your child. There are also different commercial brands of diapers available for boys and girls that provide extra absorption in areas that your child needs it most so look for the appropriate diaper for your child's gender. There are many different types of diapers available so it may take some experimentation but once you find a diaper that fits well, your child's leakage problems will begin to occur less frequently.
Yet another problem that begins to occur as your toddler becomes more active is that your baby may be developing the motor skills that allow him to remove his own diaper. Once a curious toddler realizes that he can remove his own diaper he may choose to do so whenever he is given the opportunity. Mastering the skill of removing their own diaper makes many toddlers feel proud of themselves and they are anxious to show everyone what they have learned. In addition to this many toddlers receive either a negative or positive reaction to removing their own diaper. Your child is at an age where they are seeking approval so any reaction to them removing their diaper may encourage them to repeat this action in the future. There are a few tips for dealing with a toddler who has learned to remove his own diaper. The first is to not allow him access to remove his diaper. Allowing your child to wear only a diaper will make it easy for him to remove his diaper but if you dress your child in pants or a sleeper they will not be able to access their diaper as easily. Another tip for reducing the number of times your child removes his own diaper is to control your reactions when he does so. Instead of reacting with laughter or a reprimand, calmly retrieve your child's diaper and place it back on him. The lack of reaction will make the activity of removing his diaper less fun for your child and will not encourage him to continue this behavior. A curious and active toddler will soon realize that he can remove his own diaper but taking measures to prevent this from happening and withholding reaction when it does occur are two ways to prevent your child from making a habit of removing his own diaper.
An active toddler can be a joy for their parents but they may also present many diaper issues. Difficulty in changing diapers, leakage and a child that removes his diaper are some of the challenges that the parent of an active toddler face. There are many ways to alleviate and prevent all of these problems. Parents just need to take active measures to ensure that these problems are solved before they get out of hand.
