How to end diaper change battles forever!
By Karen Braveheart
Sophia age 1.5 months (don’t tell her I used this pic! Haha)
In this blog, you’ll learn how to turn the most stressful situation into a loving moment by getting your toddler to work with you and not against you for their diaper changes.
As parents of littles, we’ve all been there. Your sweet baby that would smile and coo with you and stay still while changing their diaper woke up one day and suddenly turned into a precocious toddler overnight. Like a mini Hulk!
Now they refuse to sit still for even a second while you try to change their diaper and become totally resistant to your attempts to change them.
My sweet first baby girl, Sophia, was around 1 year old when she stopped sitting still and started resisting diaper changes. I had no idea this was a thing as a first time mom!
What happened to my sweet baby angel Sophia?
"Her brain changed in the best possible way, and when you understand as a parent the miracle of what’s occurring scientifically, then you’ll be able to react with love instead of anger"
To learn more about how to meet your child where their brain is at, read my blog entitled "The secret to successful discipline: Meet your child where their brain is at"
Sophia age 12 months
What’s really going on with your baby's brain?
They’re learning about their bodies and asserting their independence.
Once you understand it it will be so easy for you to connect with them on their level and this is the key to turning a stressful situation into a loving moment.
Realizing where their brain is at is
NOT
Your kid is being bad
Or being disrespectful
Or needs to listen to me because I’m the parent
Or I’m gonna hold them down (which is the worst thing you can do!)
The solution: Make it fun with my hat-sneeze trick!
There’s a much easier way to turn this stressful situation into a loving moment. Every single time!
Here’s how it works
Step 1- Place your wiggly baby in a safe area where they can’t fall.
Step 2- Open a clean diaper and place it horizontally on your head like a hat. Your kid will think you’re oh so silly and start giggling.
Step 3- Open your mouth wide and say ahhh ahhh ahhh choo and really exaggerate the sound of a sneeze. Tilt your head down and let the diaper fall onto their belly! They’ll love it. Change them now! They’ll be still bc they’re 💯 focused on the fun.
Step 4- If you need more time, hand them a clean diaper. They’ll try and copy you and make their own hat. Quickly change them before they even realize they just got changed!
Here’s where the self worth brain building happens
Your kid will ask you to do it again!
They'll want to mimic you and make their own hat
They’ll learn all kinds of things like gravity- how did that fall?
How did mom do that?
I repeated this 100s of times with my kids. It never gets old and you can continuously update the fun with different variations
Play peek a boo behind the clean diaper
Ask your kid what type of hat they want for their head
Ask them to say ahh ahhh ahhh choo!
Or say ahh ahh ahh then leave off the choo part. They won’t stop giggling. Ask them to say choo after you
Hand them a closed, clean diaper and have them try and open it
The possibilities to personalize this trick and make your own fun are endless
They’ll never tire of this fun trick. It will become your thing that they look forward to at diaper changes
The loving moments will keep on coming
3 more ways to have fun with diaper changes
- Change them standing up
- Hand them the Adi plate to use as a fun, leaning tool
- Ask your toddler for help
You’ll get used to wiping them clean in this position. I used to do it in my minivan on the go a lot.
Ask how many eyes does Adi have? What color are they? Shape? Do you see a fish? Teach them about penguins. They eat fish-Do you eat fish? Talk to them about fun penguin facts. They’ll be so into playing with Adi while u quickly change them.
Justin at age 3 with his Adi plate 🥰
This will redirect their focus to learning and exploring which they LOVE
Hand them wipes and ask your kid to get one out. You may have it open the top of the package for them and show them how to get one out
Thank them and tell them that you’re using the wipe in them that they helped get out!
They will love the sense of accomplishment, independence and praise (self worth building!)
If you didn’t have enough time to change them, then simply occupy them again. Close up the wipes package and ask them to open it and grab a wipe all by themselves
Then you’ll have enough time to quickly change them as they are concentrating on learning a new skill
You can still praise them for their help and their tenacity in working to open the wipes, whether they were actually able to open it or not. (self worth building)
I remember being at a friend’s house, with her wiggly daughter, and she was struggling to keep her down on her changing table with her right hand. As she reached over to grab a diaper with her left, I saw my friend getting mad and stressed out. She turned to me and was like- this is impossible!
She asked me how I handled it, and I told her I had figured out that if you put fun in it and occupy them, it’s super easy!
I shared my tips with her just as I’ve shared them with you. I played peek a boo with her daughter as she changed her and it was so easy!
From that day on, she put fun in the diaper changes, moved diaper changes to the floor, and never had a problem again. Whoo hoo!
Justin with his big bros pants on that are too long. I was clearly sleep deprived when I got him dressed that am
Note: I am in no way advocating for use of a sippy cup. My reference here is about my own kids who used them together with cups with a hard spout, cups with a straw, and regular cups. There’s recent literature that talks about how a sippy cup may impede proper speech development. Please make your own educated choice that’s best for you and your child.
Practical Tips
I put the diaper changing pad from their diaper changing station on the floor to change them there
No more on the changing table!
Sometimes, I would simply use the smaller, more portable one that you can purchase separately or that comes with your diaper bag
Resources
- To learn more about the Prodigi Kids Self Worth Parenting Paradigm, read our free eBook. You'll gain a deeper understanding of how to raise your child with core beliefs of self worth and the neuroscience behind it
- Read our blog "Discipline vs. Punishment," which does a deeper dive into exactly how our model built on love and discipline builds positive self worth. In it, I discuss how "teachable moments" and "love boundaries"- 2 terms I coined, when used daily with your child, lead to happier, healthier, and more connected relationships
- Bring our products into your home to encourage a more loving engagement with your children and support our mission to make our Self Worth Parenting Paradigm the norm!
About the Author Karen Braveheart, CEO
Karen Braveheart has dedicated her life to helping parents raise their kids with self worth. She’s a visionary and mom of three who deeply cares about making the world a happier place by raising kids to love themselves. My story
Karen is the author of the Prodigi Kids Self Worth Parenting Paradigm, backed by twenty years of study. Get your copy
She’s available for 1-1 parenting consultations. Find out more
To hire her for a speaking engagement, email speaking@prodigikids. Learn more