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Why We Chose Cloth Diapers, Part 4

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010

This is part four in a series in which I discuss why my family uses cloth rather than disposable diapers. In part one I looked at the environmental impact of both diapering systems. I presented research on the health concerns of each system in part two. Part three included information on the cost of each system. Today’s article is about the convenience of cloth vs. disposable diapers.

red haired toddler in cloth diaper runs through grass and flowersConvenience1

Regardless of whether cloth diapers may be healthier for children, better for the environment, and significantly more affordable than disposables, some parents may be wondering more about the relative convenience of each diapering system.

Disposable diaper advocates usually cite convenience as a major reason to use single use diapers. Once the diaper is soiled, you simply drop it in the diaper pail or trash can. That assessment is not entirely true, though, since parents should flush all solid waste whether they use cloth or disposable.2 Realistically, few parents take time to shake the solids into the toilet from disposables.

So why do cloth diapers have the stigma of being less convenient? The primary reasons are laundry, travel away from home, and ease of use.

Laundry

Personally, I had the most difficult time with laundry immediately after our son was born. Learning how to be a mother isn’t always easy, and finding time to run downstairs to start the pre-wash or hot wash cycle was rarely convenient with round the clock breastfeeding or marathon bouncing/burping/walking sessions. But as soon as we got into the swing of parenthood, the extra two to three loads of diaper laundry each week has been barely noticeable. And in the warmer months, I actually enjoy going outside to hang the laundry to dry on the line.

For parents who do not have the time or energy to wash extra laundry, diaper services provide incredible convenience. Every week a little gnome comes to pick up your bag of dirty diapers and leave you a bag of fresh ones. Truly magical and no less inconvenient than sorting recycling.3

The “burden” of laundry or sending your diapers off to a diaper service is balanced somewhat by never having to remember to run to the store for diapers, not to mention having to haul them to the car and then into the house. Cloth diapering parents also save on garbage bags and trips to the trash can outside.

Travel

As far as travel, day trips are no problem with cloth. Today’s cloth diapering parents are equipped with waterproof “wet bags” to store wet diapers in, and many cloth diapers are no more bulky than a large disposable. We use a regular backpack instead of a diaper bag. It comfortably holds at least five diapers, wipes, our personal items, snacks/water, and a few toys. I am no worse off carrying cloth than I would be with disposables.

For longer trips I may switch to disposables if we will not have easy access to laundry facilities, but we still use cloth during weekends at my parents’ house – it’s no big deal for me to do a load there if I need to.

Ease of Use

Most people may be accustomed to disposable diapers, but the plastic and tape are no easier to use than the snaps, Velcro, or Snappis that adorn today’s cloth. Diapering with cloth is easy.

The most popular cloth diapers are fastened with either snaps or Velcro tabs. Parents can choose to buy diapers in different sizes as their baby grows, or they can purchase “one size” diapers that grow with the child. A one size diaper has more snaps that enable it to fit a six month old as well as it does a sixteen month old.

And forget pins – if you use prefolds and covers, don’t worry about sticking your baby. One of the greatest inventions for cloth diapers is a small plastic piece called a Snappi. It has teeth that grip the diaper and keep it from falling off.

One More Potential Benefit of Using Cloth

Cloth diaper advocates assert that children who wear cloth are diaper free earlier on average than their peers in disposables.4 This might be because children in cloth can feel when they are wet, whereas disposables tend to hide the wet feeling. If this is true, it would be a great convenience to cloth-diapering parents to have their child out of diapers up to a year earlier than if the child wore disposables.

Conclusion

My husband and I chose cloth based on all of the factors I’ve looked at in this series. I knew that we would take care to launder the diapers in the most environmentally friendly way available to us, we were willing to invest a little extra time in return for the reduced health risks and lower cost of cloth, and we have also been happy with the convenience of using cloth diapers (nor are we so hard core that we refuse to be flexible when the situation warrants using disposables).

Another bonus for me? Cloth diapered baby bottoms are adorable. No matter what type of cloth diaper you buy, there can be little argument that cloth is cuter than the character-laden plastic. You can spice up any kind of cloth with dye or appliqués, or you can find adorable prints and patterns new or used.

Ultimately, the choice between diapering systems is a very individual decision for each family. Hopefully, one of the primary considerations is the health and well-being of the child, which is what I had in mind when writing this series. I would be happy to answer any cloth diapering questions you have, or at least refer you to someone who can.

  1. This post was originally published on Go Green Street. Since we are almost completely out of diapers now, I wanted to share it with my own readers before I wrote a couple of posts on potty learning. ↩
  2. Even with Disposable Diapers, Poop in the Potty ↩
  3. The Joy of Cloth Diapers ↩
  4. I have not seen a scientific study that establishes this assertion. Cloth Diapers Made Simple; Why Use Cloth ↩

Posted in Diapering, Going Green, My Guest Posts Elsewhere | 8 Comments »

Why We Chose Cloth Diapers, Part 3

Wednesday, August 25th, 2010

This is part three in a series in which I discuss why my family uses cloth rather than disposable diapers. In part one I looked at the environmental impact of both diapering systems. I presented research on the health concerns of each system in part two. Today I will give you some information on the cost of each system. The final post in this series will look at the convenience of cloth versus disposables.

toddler looking at blue fuzzi bunz cloth diaperCost: A Comparison1

If the decision between disposable and cloth diapers hinged solely on money, the choice would be easy: cloth diapers are more affordable than disposables.

When comparing cost, the first thing to consider is the number of diaper changes the average child will need. Because urine, bacteria, and ammonia (released when urine breaks down) are all right next to baby’s skin in both cloth and disposable diapers, children should be changed immediately regardless of the diapering system.2

There are many estimates available online for the cost of diapering your child with disposable diapers. These estimates run anywhere from $1500 to $4,150 for only two years of disposable diapers.3 Realistically, many children will be in diapers for longer than two years.

The estimates for cloth diapering are much lower. On the conservative end, estimates run as low as $300 – that figure, however, may not include the cost of laundering.4 On the high end, cloth diapers can cost $1800 or more, but that will depend on the type of diapers you buy and whether you launder them at home or use a diaper service.5

Keeping the Cost of Cloth Down

With their rise in popularity, cloth diapers have gone designer. You could easily spend hundreds on a small supply, but that isn’t necessary. The three most popular options for diapers on the cheap are:

1) Prefolds: You can buy prefold cloth diapers new for less than $20 a dozen. Prefolds are probably the diapers most people think about when they think of cloth: flat, white rectangles that need to be covered with a waterproof outer layer.6

2) “Seconds”: If the idea of flat diapers turns you off, but you still cannot afford to buy diapers at $15-$25 dollars a pop, look into “seconds.” Seconds are new diapers with slight defects that are offered at deeply discounted prices. The defects will be aesthetic, rather than functional. If you receive a second that does not work (the snap is broken, etc.), the manufacturer will exchange it for one that does work properly (of course you should verify this policy before purchasing seconds). We have gotten several Fuzzi Bunz Seconds, and I have never noticed the defects on a cursory inspection, nor have the defects affected functionality.7

3) Used Diapers: The idea of putting my son in a used cloth diaper was kind of repulsive at first, but it’s really not as bad as it sounds. There are entire online communities dedicated to buying, selling and trading used cloth diapers. What worked for me was to look for diapers in “new,” “like new,” or “excellent” condition. I get barely used (or brand new) diapers at significant discounts, wash them thoroughly several times and dry them in the sun, and no one notices a difference. There are ways to naturally disinfect and clean used diapers, see the linked articles in the footnote below for more details.8

Conclusion

Cloth diapers may seem like a bigger investment at the beginning, but the money needed to start cloth diapering is small compared to the thousands of disposables you could buy in the long run. Additionally, cloth diapers can be re-used with subsequent children or resold to recoup even more of the investment. The cost factor comes down solidly on the side of cloth.

  1. This post was originally published on Go Green Street. Since we are almost completely out of diapers now, I wanted to share it with my own readers before I wrote a couple of posts on potty learning. ↩
  2. “Some may argue that single-use diapers don’t need to be changed as often as cloth, which justifies their higher cost per diaper. We strongly disagree. Leaving a baby in a soiled diaper, whether it is cloth or single-use, is an open invitation for diaper rash and other problems. A baby’s diaper is not meant to be used as a septic tank.” Why Use Cloth ↩
  3. Diaper Facts; Cloth vs. Disposable Diapers; Why Use Cloth ↩
  4. Diapers Go Green The article does not specify what type of cloth they referred to in coming up with the $300 figure. I assume this calculation was made either using flat diapers and covers, “seconds,” or used diapers. ↩
  5. Why Use Cloth ↩
  6. Affordable Cloth Diapers ↩
  7. Fuzzi Bunz Seconds and Clearance; see also Green Mountain Diapers Sales & Seconds. There are even sites that exclusively sell seconds and discontinued diapers. See Dapa Discount Diapers (I have not used this company or Green Mountain Seconds, so I cannot vouch for their service or products. We have used many Fuzzi Bunz seconds, and we’ve never had any problems with them. ↩
  8. My favorite used cloth diaper site is Diaper Swappers. These articles contain information on cleaning diapers: How to Disinfect Cloth Diapers Without Bleach; How Should I Wash and Care for my New Diapers; Washing Cloth Diapers; Detergent Choices ↩

Posted in Diapering, Going Green, My Guest Posts Elsewhere | 3 Comments »

Why We Chose Cloth Diapers, Part 2

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

This is part two in a series in which I discuss why my family uses cloth rather than disposable diapers. Like many parents, Tom and I discussed our options and factored in the environmental impact, health concerns, safety, and convenience of each diapering system. This article will focus on various health concerns associated with diapering.

Cloth Makes Healthy Babies1

The most obvious health concern with disposable diapers is the chemicals the diapers contain. There are three chemicals that have sparked intense criticism: dioxin, sodium polyacrylate, and tributyltin.

Dioxin

Dioxin can actually be a by-product in both cloth and disposable diaper manufacture. When chlorine bleaching is used to whiten the cotton found in cloth diapers or the paper used in disposables, dioxin is created.2 Dioxin is a carcinogenic toxin; research has shown that it causes cancer, birth defects, liver damage, immune system suppression, and skin diseases. Trace quantities of dioxin remain in the diapers after the bleaching process, which can directly affect the health of the children wearing them.3 The dioxin in disposables becomes a hazard to the general population once the diapers are dumped in landfills.4

Sodium Polyacrylate

Superabsorbent diapers contain another controversial chemical: sodium polyacrylate. Sodium polyacrylate is a powder inserted into the inner compartment of disposable diapers. It is the substance that allows disposable diapers to hold up to 7 lbs of liquid; it is also the “substance that was removed from tampons in 1985 because of its link to toxic shock syndrome.”5 When the sodium polyacrylate powder is wet, it turns into a gel. If you have ever seen gel-like crystals oozing out of a wet disposable diaper, you’ve seen sodium polyacrylate.6

There have been no studies performed to determine what the long-term effects are of having this chemical in constant contact with babies’ reproductive organs.7 We do know, however, that in the short term it can cause allergic reactions, severe skin irritations, oozing blood from the perineum and scrotum, fever, vomiting, and staph infections. Sodium polyacrylate has killed children who ingested as little as five grams of the chemical, and it causes health issues in the workers who manufacture it. 8

Tributyl-tin

“According to a 2000 study by Greenpeace International, most brands of disposable diapers contain Tributyl-tin (TBT).”9 TBT is a toxic environmental pollutant. It is proven to “harm[] the immune system and impair[] the hormonal system.” There is also some speculation that it can cause male sterility.10

One disposable diaper company has claimed that its diapers are free of dioxin and TBT, and against all of the medical evidence, the company denies that sodium polyacrylate has negative health benefits. Another company official argues that the link between sodium polyacrylate and toxic shock syndrome is irrelevant to disposable diapers, because “toxic shock syndrome is caused by having a tampon inserted into the vagina over a long period of time . . . .”11

My (unscientific, untested) thoughts? If a woman can get toxic shock syndrome from a sodium polyacrylate-filled tampon after a matter of hours (days at the most), why would it surprise anyone to know that children can also be harmed by sitting in sodium polyacrylate-filled diapers for 2.5 years or more? It’s really not much of a leap.

Chemicals are not the only aspects of disposables that harm babies. Studies have shown that disposables’ airflow restrictions, dyes, fragrances, and bacteria problems all pose health hazards as well. A 2000 study correlated disposable diapers with higher scrotal temperatures than in cloth; these higher temperatures can impair fertility.12

Dyes and Fragrances

There are dyes found in disposable diapers that are known to cause damage to the central nervous system, kidneys, and liver, and they may be linked to cancer according to the Environmental Protection Agency.13

Fumes from both the chemicals and the fragrances contained in disposable diapers have been proven to cause asthma-like symptoms in both children and adults. Fragrances in disposables have also been linked to headaches, dizziness, rashes, and chemical burns according to the Food & Drug Administration. Chemicals released from diapers include tolune, xylene, ethylbenzene, styrene, and isopropylbenzene. With asthma rates increasing in the United States, parents – especially parents with a history of asthma – may wish to reconsider whether disposables are the better choice for their children.14

Bacteria and Diaper Rash

Disposable diaper companies spend a lot of advertising money trying to convince us that disposables keep babies dry. Unfortunately, their idea of “dry” does not translate into healthy baby bottoms. Because disposable diapers appear to be dry (even after babies urinate in them), parents tend to go longer between changes than parents who use cloth. But the urine is still there, along with the bacteria in the urine. The bacteria (and the ammonia that is released when urine breaks down) is trapped in the plastic of the disposable, right against babies’ skin. The result? More diaper rash.15

Amusingly, Procter & Gamble (manufacturers of two disposable diaper brands) released a study that established “the incidence of diaper rash increases from 7.1% to 61% with increased use of their diapers!”16 Ouch. Not only do parents tend to change cloth diapers more often, keeping their children free of urine, bacteria, and ammonia, but cloth diapers are breathable, which keeps babies’ skin healthier.

Cloth Makes Healthy Communities

We cannot have a discussion of the health concerns surrounding disposable diapers without a nod to the environmental impact as well. Depending on what source you read, the average child will add anywhere from 4,000 to 10,000 disposable diapers to our landfills.17 The Clean Air Council calculates that in the United States alone, 570 disposable diapers are thrown in the trash every second.

570 disposable diapers per second, 49 million disposable diapers per day, 18 billion disposable diapers per year. And we have to pay $350 million each year to deal with all of that diaper trash.

Additionally, disposal is a misnomer; they’re still here. And they will still be in our landfills 300 years after we throw them in the trash can.

So what does 18 billion diapers each year add to our environment? Besides approximately 100,000 tons of plastic and 800,000 tons of tree pulp, feces.18 And along with feces, viruses. “There are an estimated 100 intestinal viruses living on the feces in landfills . . . .”19 These viruses “(including live vaccines from routine childhood immunizations) can leak into the earth and pollute underground water supplies.” Our groundwater is not the only contamination to contend with, insects can spread airborne viruses that they pick up from feces including Hepatitus A, Norwalk and Rota Virus.20 “So far, there has been no evidence of contamination.”21 Perhaps no one has commissioned the right study.

Finally, the manufacture of disposable diapers can impact our health through the environment. “[W]aste water from the pulp, paper and plastics industries can contain solvents, sludge, heavy metals, unreacted polymers, dioxins and furans.”22 This has direct ties with the chemicals discussed above. Not only are these substances hugging our children’s reproductive organs, they are leaking into our soil and drinking water.

Conclusion

Based on scientific studies of harm to babies and adults from the chemicals and other substances found in diapers, my husband and I decided that we wanted to minimize our son’s exposure to them. While we can’t keep Kieran in a plastic bubble, we can make small efforts to protect his health. Cloth diapering is one of those efforts.

Photo credit: National Media Museum

(15) The Diaper Drama
  1. This post was originally published on Go Green Street. Since we are almost completely out of diapers now, I wanted to share it with my own readers before I wrote a couple of posts on potty learning. And yes, this subtitle is a play on the old Huggies slogan, which claimed “Huggies makes happy babies” ↩
  2. Priesnitz, Wendy, Which are Greener: Cloth or Single-Use Diapers? ↩
  3. McConnell, Jane, The Joy of Cloth Diapers, (citing EPA, “Integrated Risk Assessment for Dioxins and Furans from Chlorine Bleaching in Pulp and Paper Mills.”); Sanders, Heather, The Diaper Drama, (citations in original) ↩
  4. Which are Greener: Cloth or Single-Use Diapers? ↩
  5. The Diaper Drama; The Joy of Cloth Diapers (citing Judy Braiman-Lipson, Empire State Consumer Association, Rochester, NY.) ↩
  6. The Diaper Drama ↩
  7. The Joy of Cloth Diapers ↩
  8. The Diaper Drama (citations in original). ↩
  9. Which are Greener: Cloth or Single-Use Diapers? ↩
  10. The Diaper Drama (citations in original) ↩
  11. Diffin, Elizabeth, Cloth Diapers Benefit Baby Health and the Environment ↩
  12. Onion, Amanda, The Diaper Debate ↩
  13. Diapers, Diapers, and More Diapers (citation in original) ↩
  14. Diapers, Diapers, and More Diapers; Why Use Cloth? ↩
  15. The Joy of Cloth Diapers ↩
  16. The Diaper Drama ↩
  17. An updated lifecycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies, (“Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study”) at 16; Waste Facts and Figures ↩
  18. Waste Facts and Figures ↩
  19. The Diaper Drama (citation in original) ↩
  20. Lehrburger, Carl & Snyder, Rachel, The Disposable Diaper Myth (citation in original) ↩
  21. The Joy of Cloth Diapers ↩
  22. Which are Greener: Cloth or Single-Use Diapers? ↩

Posted in Diapering, Going Green, My Guest Posts Elsewhere | 4 Comments »

Why We Chose Cloth Diapers, Part 1

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Cloth v. Disposable Diapers1

With the comeback of cloth diapers in recent years, more parents are asking themselves which diapering system is right for them: cloth or disposables.2 The factors parents often consider fall into four general categories: environmental impact, health concerns, safety, and convenience.

In this series of posts I will examine each of those four categories and explain why Tom and I chose cloth. I will also share what has worked for our family, and I will link to a few of the many blogs and websites dedicated to cloth that helped me in our cloth diapering journey.

Environmental Impact

When I first started researching cloth diapers, my biggest motivator was environmental. I knew that we would go through a lot of diapers, and I didn’t want my child’s bum to leave an unnecessarily large footprint. Did you know that every child in disposables will add an average of 3,796 diapers to our landfills in roughly 2.5 years?3 That translates to 3.4 million tons of diaper waste that is dumped in landfills each year in the United States alone.4 Gross.

I was surprised to discover that the there are arguably fewer clear-cut environmental advantages to cloth diapers than I had anticipated. I assumed cloth would be the obvious green choice: cloth diapers are reusable (not only from day to day, but also from child to child), they are biodegradable, and they are safer (no pesky cancer-causing toxins hanging out next to your child’s skin – more on that later).

But depending on what article you read (and who funded the study behind it), the greener choice can be made murky. According to a 2008 study by the British Environment Agency, disposables have a smaller carbon footprint (by a hair) than that left by their predetermined baseline (or “average”) cloth diaper user. According to the researchers, the average user owns a B-rated washing machine (not a high efficiency one) and machine dries more often than not. Additionally, the average user does not reuse the cloth diapers on a second child.5

While the study snagged headlines by proclaiming that disposables were the environmental winner, many people ignored the rest of the story. The researchers concluded that cloth diaper users had the potential to leave a much smaller footprint. The greenest way to cloth diaper is to do fuller loads of diapers in a high-efficiency washing machine, line dry the diapers, and reuse them on a second child. These steps will lower the average user’s global warming impact by 40%; that’s approximately half the impact of using disposables.6

The British study has been criticized for flaws that favor the disposable diaper industry. For example, of the parents surveyed for the study, less than 6% use cloth diapers. While this is a reflection of the percentage of parents who choose cloth over disposables, it is a poor representation of the vast differences among cloth diapering families. Critics also disapprove of the study’s “baseline” user, noting that even simply switching to an energy-efficient machine will decrease the baseline footprint by 24%.7

And while the study purportedly took into account the environmental impact of manufacturing processes, transportation, and disposal for each diapering system, I saw no mention of the dangerous consequences of the chemicals used in disposable diapers on either our children or the environment. I will discuss the potential health effects of some of those chemicals in the next post in this series.

Conclusion

If only a fraction of the 95% of American parents who currently choose disposable diapers would convert to cloth, we could reduce the detrimental environmental effects of disposables.8 As it stands, disposable diapers make up two percent of the garbage in our nation’s landfills.9

As with many things, diapering – even cloth diapering – can be done in a way that is friendly or detrimental to our Earth. It is up to each of us to minimize our impact. To me, the greener choice is obvious: cloth diapering in an environmentally responsible way is the ideal.

  1. This post was originally published on Go Green Street. Since we are almost completely out of diapers now, I wanted to share it with my own readers before I wrote a couple of posts on potty learning. ↩
  2. Paul, Pamela, Diapers Go Green ↩
  3. An updated lifecycle assessment study for disposable and reusable nappies, (“Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study”) at 16. ↩
  4. Onion, Amanda, The Diaper Debate at 2 ↩
  5. Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study at 19-24, 29. ↩
  6. Updated Lifecycle Assessment Study at 35 ↩
  7. The Diaper Debate at 1, 3 ↩
  8. The Diaper Debate at 1 ↩
  9. Koerner, Brendan, Should My Baby Wear Huggies? ↩

Posted in Diapering, Going Green, My Guest Posts Elsewhere | 16 Comments »

Gentle Parenting Ideas: Toddlers and Diaper Changes

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

This post is the fifth in a series about gentle parenting through potential power struggles with your toddler. Each post will give you ideas and examples for using love and logic to work through some fairly common parent/toddler areas of concern: brushing teeth, getting into the car seat, meals/eating, shopping, diaper changes, and picking up toys. I welcome your gentle/respectful parenting ideas and feedback; thank you to everyone who has already contributed ideas.

toddler cloth diaperIdeas to Make Diaper Changes a Positive Experience

Let Your Toddler Choose the Location: since you probably aren’t using a changing table anymore, let your toddler pick the place. Remember that our toddlers are learning how to exercise their independence – so giving them some control is a theme that runs throughout this “gentle parenting ideas” series.

Songs/Rhymes/Fingerplays: occupy their hands by doing songs, rhymes, and fingerplays with (or without) hand motions: Itsy Bitsy Spider, Two Little Birds, Hickory Dickory Dock, etc.

Read a Book: some toddlers might want to hold a book and read to themselves, others might want to grab a favorite book that they can look at while you read (from memory).

Tell a Story: one of my biggest potty learning helps has been to ask Kieran to tell stories while he is using the potty chair. We have a notebook near the chair, and I actually write down his stories and read them back to him. If your little one doesn’t want to hold a book, this might be another way to occupy his attention while you change a diaper – you tell a story or help him make one up of his own.

Call for Reinforcement: there’s nothing wrong with asking for help, particularly if it will help everyone involved feel better about the outcome. Get someone else in there to entertain while you get down to the business end.

Practice Signing: if you are signing with your toddler, try practicing some sign language during diaper changes. If you aren’t doing sign language with your toddler, I whole-heartedly recommend that you start!

Let Them Help: trust your toddler with certain responsibilities: getting the wipe and new diaper ready; spreading out the changing mat; putting the used diaper in the pail; climbing up to the sink to wash hands; etc.

Presto, Chango: for easy changes, do it on the fly – standing up! Or on your lap. Or while your toddler is playing. Just do it fast!

Special Toys: save a few special toys/objects for diaper changing time only. Of course this will only work if you can then get the object back gently without causing a huge ruckus.

Consider Cloth: if you’ve never tried cloth diapers, consider making the switch. You can still save money and do your part to help the environment. More importantly, I know for a fact that many kids would choose cloth over plastic for the comfort factor alone. When I try to put plastic on Kieran, he pleads and begs with me, “cloth, mama, cloth!”

Nurse: there have been many occasions where I nurse while papa changes. It’s awkward, but it makes for a very peaceful change.

Naked Time: if you haven’t instituted some regular naked time in your household, now might be a good time to start. Toddlers love to be naked. I was worried that I would end up cleaning lots of accidents, but Kieran is surprisingly good about going on the potty chair when he doesn’t have a diaper on. Plus, sometimes it helps to just walk away from a stressful situation – as long as the bottom is clean and it is safe for your toddler to run around without a diaper, it might be easier for everyone to forgo the new diaper until you’ve had a chance to breathe and get into a more playful mood.

Warn Them First: it’s hard to be ripped away from a fun activity to go get a clean diaper. Instead of picking your toddler up like a piece of furniture, respect her feelings by asking her if she’s ready for a change. If she’s not ready, give her a warning. Some kids do well with a timer, others just want the verbal signal.

Try a Snack: grab a spoonful of peanut butter or a slice of apple and let your little one chow down.

Make a List: how many animals can your toddler name? How about animal sounds? Colors? Shapes? Make diaper time a fun recall activity time – but make sure it’s fun and not stressful for your little one. If they are uncomfortable being put on the spot about their recall abilities, it won’t make diaper changes any better.

What ideas do you have to help make diaper changes a good experience? Please share them in the comments.

Posted in Activities for Toddlers, Attachment Parenting, Diapering, Discipline, Parenting, Potty Learning | 8 Comments »