Diapering

Greetings and a Reminder:

I write this blog as we go through ET Mehta Casting with our daughter Olivia. The blog is intended to inform, possibly inspire, and raise awareness of Infantile Scoliosis and its treatment/cure. Please share our story. For more information please check out http://www.infantilescoliosis.org/ 

As promised in my last blog entry this post will be all about diapering. Before I begin, I would like to again thank all of our readers for their continuous support and encouragement. All the kind words we've received and the check-ins have been very touching and greatly appreciated. We are also close to 1500 page views! Big thumbs up. Please continue to share!

Ok, on to diapering! Let me start by saying these are mere suggestions and what may work for us may not work for others. There are many variables: age of baby, size of baby, shape of baby, shape of cast etc. In this post I will talk about a couple of different diapering suggestions; cloth, doubling up, night time, and just standard diapering. 

Cloth

We generally use cloth diapering for Olivia's nighttime diapers. Those of you that use cloth diapers know that every cloth diaper brand is different and will fit your baby differently. We own a large sampling of cloth diaper brands so we were able to sort through and decide what would fit with the cast and what wouldn't. Our best picks were the ones that were generally low rise fitted. A key is to have the diaper set to it's largest size (no snaps). 

Our picks that seem to be working well: Rumparooz, Blueberry/SwaddleBees, Trend Lab, Bumkins, Tiny Tushie, Bummis Tots Bots, and gDiapers (for day use only). I can't speak for Thirsties, because I generally wasn't a fan of their fit for Olivia originally, but these may work ok too. The ones to avoid are the Kawaii Baby. They are inexpensive, but you get what you pay for. They are also high rising and therefore not good for the cast. 

Flushable diaper liners are a huge must for those messy #2s. I also suggest you add some extra inserts for night time absorption. They will have a HUGE tush, but they're in bed so who cares?

Disposable Doubling

When we were at the hospital the nurses did what I like to call "disposable doubling."  They would place on her a diaper one size smaller than what she normally wears, tucking the tops up into the cast, but not securing it closed, and then putting a regular sized diaper on over the cast secured closed. We found that the top diaper worked as a shell and never actually got wet so we would use the same top diaper repeatedly. 

The nurses suggest this method as a preventative from poop going up the cast. The cons of course is that you're doing double the diapering. Again, use the top diaper as much as you can to reduce costs and waste. This would be a good method if you have a baby that tends to get messy in that department.  

Standard Diapering

What has been working for us just fine since we've come home from the hospital (knock on wood) is just diapering her the way we always have pre-cast. Olivia has been wearing her normal size disposable diapers. The cast has already loosened up a little bit and we are able to tuck the diaper right underneath. We have just been really diligent in checking her diaper every three hours to make sure it doesn't get too wet. 

Nighttime

We haven't tried this yet, but a suggestion that I have seen is placing two maxi pads back to back and sliding them just under the cast like a belt. This will prevent any nighttime leakage from getting up the cast. This, in addition to the duct tape, should work really well in preventing cast leaching.  

Well, that's all the diapering info I have at the moment. If you know of other suggestions please feel free to comment on this post with them :-)

Next post: Sponge Bathing Beauty! Until then....