The day your baby learns to flip, diaper changing will never be the same again.

Gone are the days when your darling son would lie flat on his back, gazing serenely up at you while you wet-wiped his soiled butt. No more adorable cooing from your daughter as she lies peacefully while you hunt for that elusive diaper in your bag. Regardless of whatever personality your baby is blessed with, diaper changing definitely gets way more tricky when the baby has mastered the roll.

It gets even trickier when the baby is learning to crawl. And I am sure you can already begin to imagine the circus act that diaper changing becomes once the baby has moved on to standing. Little tykes have no fear (none!) and will think nothing of crawling off the diaper changing table or standing upright at the edge. As parents, we need to be vigilant in preventing unnecessary accidents, amidst our struggle to get those dirty bottoms cleaned up.

⇒ Related Read: 10 Things No One Tells You As A First Time Mum

Here are some tips shared by fellow mums on how they keep their active babies and toddlers somewhat manageable during diaper change times. Some of them made us laugh! Seeing in the humour in the situation is always a good thing, and helps keep our perspective in check.

Diaper Changing Tricks from mummies, by mummies!

“I will sing ‘Twinkle Twinkle Little Star’ very fast. That gets him giggly – and still enough to slap on a diaper!” – Melanie

“I let him play with a wet wipes pack to keep him occupied. It usually works.” – Liling

“I smack her bottom if she wriggles too much! Oops, is that ok?” – Candy

“At home, Scout is his (MY) best friend. Who’s Scout? He’s a musical doggy toy that we scored from Mothercare some months back. In between swiped of wet wipe or tissue, I press Scout’s paw, and his cute little tunes keep my 1yo happy and relatively still. Outside, it’s not so easy. I often find myself singing Scout’s songs to keep his face up, looking at me!” – Jingmei

“Just before taking off his diaper, I do raspberries on his tummy! That gets him in a cheerful mood, and generally more interested to gurgle at me.” – Sharon

“I try to pass him something to distract him first, but Sam is not easily distracted on diaper changing mats. What usually works: I ‘lock down’ his thighs with my left hand. And then with my right hand, I get the diaper, cream and wipes, and change him.” – Yvonne

“Manhandle him. No, seriously. The gentler method is to sing to him and then dab some baby lotion in his hands. He will stay still enough for us to change and then apply the lotion to his own face.” – Li Yann

“Give him something small to play with, like my phone, the aircon controls or my EZ-link card.” – Joyce

“At home, I will stuff lots of different toys or just random things that he’s never played with to him for him to fiddle with.” – Wei Yee

“Ask the husband to do it…” – SK

“When he was younger, I’d pass him a toy and tell him that he must cooperate with Mummy. The two times that he didn’t, I lightly smacked his butt which made him more upset and wriggly but other than those two times, he’s been really cooperative! Now that he can stand, I change him standing up. It makes him too busy holding my shoulders and keeping his feet apart to wriggle.” – Hillary

“I try to change her when she’s drinking her milk. That’s when she’s quietly lying there and not moving else, we distract her with toys. If it’s poop we usually hose her down in a toilet.” – Kai Li

“The challenge is not when you are at home, but out at a busy mall with smelly baby rooms! Let baby have something to hold in his hands. It can be an extra piece of diaper or a pack of wet wipes. Something to keep him occupied.” – Janet

By Dorothea Chow.

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What are some of the tricks you use? Share them with us!

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