Changing nappies these days feels like a full-on wrestling match. Our little sunshine refuses to stay in one spot. Most of the time, my husband and I have to team up — one person just isn’t enough anymore. As soon as we lay him down, he flips over in a flash and crawls off at lightning speed, looking back with the biggest, cheekiest grin, like he’s saying, “Catch me if you can, losers!”
My husband joked the other day that it’s like he’s possessed. And honestly, it does feel that way sometimes.
If we actually manage to get the nappy on, he screams like we’re torturing him. When the bedroom window is open, I worry what the neighbours must think — probably that I’m doing something awful to my child. I half expect social workers to knock on the door any minute. All this drama… just for a nappy change.
So what’s the best way to handle this? I know some parents switch to standing nappy changes at this stage, but our little guy isn’t quite stable enough yet. Plus, we use cloth nappies at home, which makes things trickier.
Some of my seasoned mum friends have shared their old-school tricks — like holding the baby down with their hands, or even their legs. But I can’t help wondering if, 20 years from now, he’ll be lying on a therapist’s couch blaming his failed career on traumatic nappy changes.
Maybe it’s time to try potty training? But even then, what happens when we’re out and about? The challenge doesn’t exactly disappear.
Fellow parents — how did you survive this stage? Any genius hacks for cloth nappies on a baby who thinks he’s auditioning for Cirque du Soleil? Or is this just one of those phases we white-knuckle our way through until it magically gets easier?
Photo by @pixelshot via Canva
