POSITIVES:
1) The complete process of a change, as long as there isn't a particularly bad mess (huge poop, huge pee, sticky wipe job), is much quicker and easier than I feared. Until we had Benjamin, I had never changed a single diaper, or even practiced on a doll.
2) Modern, plastic diapers make everything SO much better. You don't have to wash them, they're easy to put on, and the main brands even have moisture indicators so you know without opening whether it's full of pee. You do usually still have to check for poop, though.
3) Baby poop and pee are not nearly as gross as you think...as long as it's YOUR baby. I had always thought babies (with all their burping, puking, peeing and pooping) were a little disgusting. Even the cutest ones. Of course, now that I have little Benjamin, I love everything about him. Even when he's at his worst with bodily functions, I feel nothing but sympathy and care for him.
4) You have a ton of options for products. If name brand diapers (Huggies and Pampers, mostly) don't work for you, try cloth or the more natural brands like Honest or 7th Generation. If standard wipes don't work for you, try natural brands or even gauze.
NEGATIVES:
1) Meconium is gross, and so difficult to wipe. Thankfully, it passes after the first few days.
2) In your baby's first couple months, the pee and poop are constant. While you try to complete a change, you'll often have more leaking/spraying out, and you have to start all over again.
3) As babies grow, they gain control over their bladder and bowels. This sounds like a positive, and in many ways it is. You certainly want your baby to develop properly. But as they learn to hold the pee in for a few hours, and the poop in for even longer than that, the results can be extremely problematic when the presents finally do arrive. I'm talking pee-soaked clothes and bedding, and poop that squeezes out the top of the diaper in the back. The liquid simply can't be contained. I'm already feeling impatient for potty training.
4) They often yell for a change at a bad time. And I don't just mean the obvious, inconvenient times when you're trying to eat or shower or get some work done. I mean when it's a bad time for THEM. Specifically, right after they eat. Putting them on their backs right after a meal means guaranteed spit-up. So sometimes you have to wait and keep burping them while they fuss, until you deem it safe to switch out the diaper.
5) As I've documented in a previous post, diaper rash can be SO difficult to treat.
SOME RECOMMENDATIONS:
1) For diaper rash, we've had some success with the following combination: moistened gauze instead of wipes, 7th Generation diapers, and Boudreaux's butt paste as a moisture barrier.
2) If you like to put your baby in a full-body onesie, like we do, do NOT get ones with buttons. Trust me, fumbling with buttons during a screaming mess is not fun. Get zippered onesies whenever you can.
3) Keep everything ready to go on your changing table. Our ideal setup is like this...an underpad (the ones typically used for incontinence) on top of the changing pad (it's always best to have extra protection against messes)...moistened stack of gauze at the ready (substitute wipes if you use those)...diapers stacked neatly on the shelf beneath the changing pad, pre-opened if you really want to be prepared...gloves and butt paste within reach.
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