29.03.2024

How to change diapers

Today, caring for a baby is difficult to imagine without the use of disposable diapers. These hygiene products have greatly facilitated the daily work of modern young parents. But for an inexperienced mother, the use of diapers does not immediately seem an easy task.

For example, already in the hospital, young mothers ask how to change a diaper for a newborn and what is needed for this procedure?

Many women who have given birth to the first-born often find themselves prepared to care for the baby no worse than experienced mothers. But the lack of practice takes its toll; a woman with the birth of her first child has to learn a lot, including how to properly change the diaper of a newborn. After all, the well-being and health of the baby will depend on this.

Baby’s skin is highly sensitive and vulnerable. The illiterate use of diapers is harmful to her. Redness, rash and diaper rash can be complicated by the addition of a secondary infection, and even the discontent of the baby will not know the boundaries. To avoid all these troubles, every young mother should know how to properly change the diaper.

How often should a diaper be changed?

There are no strict indications regarding the replacement of disposable diapers, but there are a number of general recommendations that should be followed:

  1. It is necessary to change the diaper every time after the baby has poked, since the stool can not be fully absorbed by the inside of the diaper and begin to irritate the delicate skin of the baby.
  2. You need to change the diaper at any time of the day, including at night, especially if it has shifted and is leaking.
  3. Be sure to change the diaper before visiting a doctor, walking or traveling somewhere.
  4. Despite the fullness of the diaper, it is necessary to change it at least every 4 hours to avoid discomfort in the baby caused by overheating of the skin.
  5. If the integrity of the diaper is violated, it must be replaced immediately.
  6. Newborns stain diapers after each feeding, and at first they are consumed a lot – up to 20 pieces per day. There is no need to worry about this, because as the child grows up, the diaper consumption and, accordingly, their frequency of change will decrease.

How to choose a diaper?

Disposable diapers for babies have a certain marking on which the weight of the baby is indicated. For example, diapers for newborns are designed for babies weighing from 2 to 5 kg. You should not buy baby diapers smaller in size or, conversely, for growth. Size must be matched correctly. In this case, the diaper will sit well on the child, do not interfere or leak.

When choosing a diaper model, you should pay attention to absorbency, the presence of reusable fasteners, adjustable elastic bands and cuffs on the legs that protect the baby’s skin from leaking. Interesting models with indicator strips telling young parents how many hours to change the diaper of a newborn. Then, based on her own experience, the young mother will already know how quickly the diaper of her baby is filled and how often it needs to be changed.

All babies are individual, and the same diaper models are not equally suitable for everyone. If the child has even a slight irritation on the skin, and the diapers change in a timely manner and correctly, most likely they are not suitable for the baby. It is recommended to try a different model of diapers.

Diaper Change Procedure

How to change diapers for a newborn is not the only question of young parents. In addition to replacing the diaper, you need to properly clean the skin of the baby and take care of them, preventing possible irritations.

For such a responsible procedure you will need:

  • flat surface, ideally – changing table;
  • new diaper;
  • wet wipes or prepared water and soap for washing the baby;
  • towel;
  • baby cream or talcum powder.

Before replacing the diaper, the mother should wash her hands, and then perform the following steps:

  • to unfasten a fastener on an old diaper, but not to remove it completely;
  • remove bowel movements from the skin of the child with the front area of ​​the diaper;
  • to take the baby by the ankles and slightly raise his ass over the used diaper;
  • pull the diaper out from under the child and immediately throw it into a pre-prepared bag or container (continue to hold the baby at this time, do not leave it alone, sometimes a few seconds are enough for the crumb to slide off the changing table or bed to the floor);
  • wash the baby or clean the skin with wet wipes;
  • dry the skin;
  • apply a baby cream or powder to the genital area;
  • again take the child by the ankles and raise his ass above the surface of the table, quickly slipping a clean diaper under it;
  • the back side of the diaper is distributed under the booty of the baby, the front is straightened between the legs, fasteners are fixed.
Features of changing the diaper

If the baby is not already 1 month old, then when replacing the diaper, it is important to prevent any possible diaper friction on the umbilical wound. Special diapers designed for newborns with a cutout for the navel area can help.

Do I need to change diapers at night? It all depends on the frequency and nature of the stool of the baby, the features of its feeding, the duration of night sleep, the age of the child and much more.

However, recommendations on whether to change the diaper at night still exist:

  • crowded diapers must be changed without waiting for the baby to wake up;
  • if the baby wakes up several times a night for feeding, then the diaper is replaced with a new one during these awakenings;
  • if the diaper is not full and the baby did not go to the toilet, it is not recommended to wake him up just for the sake of changing the diaper.

And how often do you need to change diapers for a child during the day? In the daytime, the diaper change procedure is imperceptibly more frequent, since most babies feel comfortable in one diaper for 3 hours. It is undesirable to pull further, in order to avoid the “greenhouse effect”, the used diaper should be removed and replaced with a new one. The older the child, the less often he needs a change of diapers.

Newborn Skin Care

How often to change the diaper of a newborn and after how long so that there is no diaper rash and irritation? Even the correct and timely replacement of the diaper cannot protect the baby’s delicate skin from redness, it is important to use additional care products. It can be baby powder (talcum powder) or baby cream, baby soap or bath foam.

A correctly selected product should not provoke irritation on the skin and cause allergies. If the care products cause even slight local redness, you should immediately discard them – most likely, one of the components of the powder or cream is an allergen for the child.

For children prone to prickly heat, a powder is best. Babies with dry and flaky skin need to abandon the use of soap, replacing it with softer bathing gels and foams, and use a baby cream to treat skin, including in the genital area.

The delicate skin of the child is easily irritated after contact with urine and feces, which is fraught with the appearance of irritation, rash and painful rashes in the diaper area. How many times do you need to change the diaper for a newborn, how often do you need to change diapers for older children – the answers to these questions come to every young mother with personal experience. And no matter how abused the older generation of disposable diapers, modern parents can appreciate this innovation.

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