WARNING: This blog post contains pictures of POOP! None of the pictures are of my children or their POOP. They are ones that (believe it or not) I found online...GROSS!
Diapers come in a myriad of sizes so finding a brand and size that work (for the moment) for your child can be a challenge. It isn't as simple as "covering their ass" and having two babies that are different sizes makes the task twice as challenging! The diaper manufacturers try to make it easier for parents to match the right size to their baby by printing a weight range on each package. Weight isn't always an accurate measurement to go by when dealing with diapers. Some babies, like Abby have more girth, and others, like Tanner, are skin and bones.
Tanner and Abigail began wearing Pampers Newborn diapers and are now wearing Pampers Cruisers (size 4) diapers. There were times during the first year when Tanner and Abigail had to wear different sizes and as a new mom I was never sure when to transition them to a larger size. Lucky for me Tanner and Abigail had their own (non-verbal) way to tell me it was time to move to the next size...it was called the BLOWOUT!
In my brief experiences as a mother I have come across three kinds of blowouts: Up and Out the Back, Up and Out the Front, and (my personal favorite) OH MY GOD, YOU NEED A BATH! In the early months with Tanner and Abigail we experienced many of these blowouts...it seemed like we had to changed their clothes several times a day. At first we scrubbed onesies in the kitchen sink with soap and a brush, but the thought of poop being in the same sink that we wash our dishes grossed me out so we moved the operation to the bathroom (the room built for poop). I bought a bottle of soap and a new brush to keep under the sink in the bathroom for these incidents...it is still there and we use it on occasion to this day.
This kind of blowout is common from 0-9 months. Since they spend most of their time at this age lying on their backs, the poop (if there is a lot of it) really has no where else to go. Luckily this type of blowout is easily detected by the visible brown spot forming on the front of the baby's clothing, unless they are wearing layers, in which case it may come as a bit of a surprise to you later...SURPRISE! The parent or caregiver usually carries the baby at arms length all the way to the changing area where they lay them down and mentally decide how best to proceed. The most challenging part of this situation is getting the poop covered onesie off without smearing poop all over the top of their (most likely recently washed) head. There are a few ways to accomplish this...none of which I am going to share with you at this time. You will just have to figure that one out on your own like I did (I am SO mean, I know).
This kind of blowout is also common during the first 0-9 months. At this age if they aren't lying on their backs then they are "enjoying" Tummy Time or being held by an unsuspecting relative or friend. So when nature calls, if it can't go up the front then it will surely erupt up and out the back. The Up and Out the Back blowout goes undetected until you either smell the odor or you pick up your prince or princess and feel the moist spot on their back brush against your arm or hand (GROSS!). Cleaning up this type of blowout is a challenge because you want to clean the baby but you are also doing everything in your power to keep the changing pad from becoming contaminated. This usually involves half a roll of paper towels, 20+ baby wipes, and sacrificing one or two diapers.
Although this type of blowout is the most disturbing and difficult to deal with you will be happy to know that it doesn't happen that often. During the first 0-9 months, Matt and I had three of these incidents (total) with the Twinkies and one of them began as an Up and Out the Front blowout that was botched with the removal of the onesie (I quickly learned to wrong way to do it).
This week Tanner introduced me to a fourth kind of blowout:
This blowout is more common later in your child's first year of life, between 9-12+ months of age. At this point your child is sitting up by themselves, crawling, walking, rolling around, climbing, etc. Although diapers are designed to keep pee and poop contained, like us, they can only do so much. When you child is in a constant state of motion the diaper is too and no matter how hard it tries to keep itself together sometimes the barriers it has just can't get the job done. The Leaking Leg Blowout can be detected in several ways, by smell, the visible spot forming on the shorts, bloomers, or pants where your child's leg meets the butt, or (my favorite) when you pick up your bundle of joy up and feel something moist (i.e. POOP) smearing across your arm. Luckily these blowouts aren't too difficult to clean up. Just treat it like a normal "non-blowout" diaper change with a possible outfit change in the end. BEWARE: At this age babies like to reach for dirty diapers and poop covered boy/girl parts...the dirtier it is the longer their arms can reach (I am not kidding). I recommend giving them a toy (something easily cleaned) to play with while you change them to keep their hands busy.
ALL babies do it...it is the circle of POOP! We did it when we were babies and our parents had to clean up the mess. Just remember that your baby didn't do it on purpose, although sometimes it may feel like they did. As you wipe their butt and suppress the nauseous feeling in your stomach, think to yourself how one day they will have to clean up after an OH MY GOD, YOU NEED A BATH! blowout and smile.
Tanner and Abigail began wearing Pampers Newborn diapers and are now wearing Pampers Cruisers (size 4) diapers. There were times during the first year when Tanner and Abigail had to wear different sizes and as a new mom I was never sure when to transition them to a larger size. Lucky for me Tanner and Abigail had their own (non-verbal) way to tell me it was time to move to the next size...it was called the BLOWOUT!
In my brief experiences as a mother I have come across three kinds of blowouts: Up and Out the Back, Up and Out the Front, and (my personal favorite) OH MY GOD, YOU NEED A BATH! In the early months with Tanner and Abigail we experienced many of these blowouts...it seemed like we had to changed their clothes several times a day. At first we scrubbed onesies in the kitchen sink with soap and a brush, but the thought of poop being in the same sink that we wash our dishes grossed me out so we moved the operation to the bathroom (the room built for poop). I bought a bottle of soap and a new brush to keep under the sink in the bathroom for these incidents...it is still there and we use it on occasion to this day.
Up and Out the Front
Up and Out the Back
OH MY GOD, YOU NEED A BATH!
Although this type of blowout is the most disturbing and difficult to deal with you will be happy to know that it doesn't happen that often. During the first 0-9 months, Matt and I had three of these incidents (total) with the Twinkies and one of them began as an Up and Out the Front blowout that was botched with the removal of the onesie (I quickly learned to wrong way to do it).
This week Tanner introduced me to a fourth kind of blowout:
Leaking Leg Blowout
This blowout is more common later in your child's first year of life, between 9-12+ months of age. At this point your child is sitting up by themselves, crawling, walking, rolling around, climbing, etc. Although diapers are designed to keep pee and poop contained, like us, they can only do so much. When you child is in a constant state of motion the diaper is too and no matter how hard it tries to keep itself together sometimes the barriers it has just can't get the job done. The Leaking Leg Blowout can be detected in several ways, by smell, the visible spot forming on the shorts, bloomers, or pants where your child's leg meets the butt, or (my favorite) when you pick up your bundle of joy up and feel something moist (i.e. POOP) smearing across your arm. Luckily these blowouts aren't too difficult to clean up. Just treat it like a normal "non-blowout" diaper change with a possible outfit change in the end. BEWARE: At this age babies like to reach for dirty diapers and poop covered boy/girl parts...the dirtier it is the longer their arms can reach (I am not kidding). I recommend giving them a toy (something easily cleaned) to play with while you change them to keep their hands busy.
ALL babies do it...it is the circle of POOP! We did it when we were babies and our parents had to clean up the mess. Just remember that your baby didn't do it on purpose, although sometimes it may feel like they did. As you wipe their butt and suppress the nauseous feeling in your stomach, think to yourself how one day they will have to clean up after an OH MY GOD, YOU NEED A BATH! blowout and smile.
That is hysterical! I still remember (and don't miss) those days. There are several that Susan and I still talk about to this day. You didn't mention that these sometimes happen when you are NOWHERE near your bathroom, like the parking lot at Wal-Mart. My personal favorite went like this: I came home from work one day and asked my wife how the day went. She said her and the baby had a nice day, and that our son (somewhere in the 9-12 month age, I think) had eaten a lot of blueberries. I remember thinking that that probably wasn't a great idea. Oh, if I only knew. The next morning I got up to go to work. I showered, shaved, and got dressed in my professional shirt, tie, and pants. I went to kiss my son goodbye, and found that he needed a change. I figured I would do the good husband and dad thing and let my wife keep sleeping. No biggie, right? Remember the blueberries? Yup, my son had blown out just about every direction possible. My only choice was to plop him in the tub and strip him in there. As you noted, there's no great way to get a dirty onesie off, especially when it is covered in poo and blueberry skins. Somehow I managed to give him a quick bath and get him in fresh clothes without getting any blueberry poo on my clothes. Thank goodness my kids now know how to take care of themselves, most of the time...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing that lovely POOP story Ed! I would love to hear more stories, like yours from other readers too.
ReplyDeleteToday Abigail taught me something NEW about Leaking Leg Blowouts:
ReplyDeleteOnce you discover, change, and clean up a baby with a Leaking Leg Blowout it is recommended to check the spot where said baby was playing for cleaning and disinfecting.
Abby's Real Life Example:
Abigail was discovered (by scent) to have a dirty diaper. Matt brought her to the changing area and discovered that she had a Leaking Leg Blowout. Two hours later I went to get Tanner (who was playing with the pink car) to put his socks and shoes on before going for a walk. I noticed he had a smell so I did the "butt-sniff check"...he was clean. Five seconds later I noticed that he had POOP on his hands, arms, legs, and feet! I cleaned him up and returned to the living room to find the POOP source which turned out to be the pink car that Abby was removed from with her Leaking Leg Blowout. Lesson learned, thanks to Abigail!