Congrats new Dad! Welcome to the exciting, crazy, inspiring, frustrating and wonderful world of fatherhood! Thinking of all the great times ahead, all those proud, broad smiled Dad and child moments to come? Are you thinking perhaps of how you will give your child everything they ever wanted, or how you’ll be there for their every need? Yea, of course you are! I’ll bet you hadn’t put much thought into changing diapers though, did ya?
It’s ok, be honest. You were thinking the wife and new Mom would be handling that small detail didn’t you? That’s alright, I’ll be honest and admit I thought that way at first too. Heck, I was even scared at the idea of doing it myself, as I bet some of you may be too. But, as you may have guessed, it’s reality check time.
Are you ready? Here it comes…
As a Dad you will be changing the baby’s diapers, and it is neither difficult or something to fear, and don’t think for one second your wife is going to let you get away with not doing it.
Reality check over, let’s work together and learn how to actually go about this diaper changing thing. First we’ll start with putting to rest some of those fears.
I’ll break the baby! No you won’t! Babies are made of pretty tough stuff, and as long as you are careful, which of course you will be, then you and the baby will be just fine.
I’m not going to do it right! Besides a few simple guidelines to follow, and a few simple goals to achieve with each diaper change, there really isn’t a right or wrong way to do this.
I’ll get it on me! This one is just silly. Ok, so no one wants to get peed on or poop on their fingers, but it’s going to happen. Yes it will, you had a child didn’t you? That goes with the territory. Best to just get over it now. Warm soapy water cleanup is all it takes.
So with our silly diaper changing fears put to rest, we can get onto the business of actually changing that diaper!
Now diapers come in two forms, pee diapers and poop diapers. You will find variations on each form but essentially they break down that way. As you may have guessed, pee diapers are the easier of the two, so let’s start there.
This stuff goes without saying, but just to cover all our bases, we start by gently placing the baby on their back down on the changing table or wherever it is you’ve designated for the task. You can stand either to their side or at their feet. Personally I prefer the side approach. Remove the baby’s pants or unbutton the onesie to get to the diaper.
There will be two sticky Velcro like tabs coming from each side at the waist. Undo these and gently pull the diaper down towards the baby’s feet and from under the butt. Take that diaper and roll it inside itself, and fold those tabs over to secure it in a ball and throw it away.
Now, take a baby wipe out and gently wipe the baby’s private area clean, being sure to get everywhere. Those little legs are gonna be kicking, so you may need to gently hold them out of the way. That’s not hard, right?
Now get a fresh diaper out and open it up. Slide the end with the sticky tabs up under the butt until it’s about waist level. Fold the other end up over the babies front, then take a tab from each side up onto the waist and stick it to the front of the diaper. Don’t cinch it too tight, we want secure but not uncomfortable.
That’s it for a pee diaper! Dress them again and it’s back to play time! Now we address the dreaded poopie diaper…
All the steps as with a pee diaper apply here to, except for cleaning up the baby. An important thing to remember here is that the rules for girls are different than boys. Boys are pretty easy, just wipe all the areas and parts clean, being gentle and thorough of course. With girls though, you must remember to wipe down and away from their girl parts, not up towards them. Take care to clean that area really well too. The reason we do it this way is because the poop can get inside there and cause an infection, and we certainly don’t want that!
Before you close up shop, it’s not a bad idea to dash a bit of baby powder down there to sort of freshen things up.
See Dad? That wasn’t hard, you can do this! Of course there will be easy diapers and diapers from hell, but in no time you’ll have this down. Take it all in stride, enjoy your baby and the bonding time changing a diaper giver you. Use it to talk to the baby, be silly and have fun together. Your baby will be happy, and so will your wife.
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dude,thats sick.