For a new parent, getting your baby to fall asleep seems like one of the hardest tasks you’ve accomplished. You tried all the basics, but your baby just can’t fall asleep and when your baby actually does fall asleep. He or she wakes up after a few minutes or so or keeps waking up.
Suddenly, your baby actually got tired and fell asleep and hasn’t made a sound for an hour or so. Everything feels at peace, and you’re glad you helped your baby fall asleep, but you start to smell something bad, you look, and it’s coming from the baby’s diaper.
Your baby has made their diaper dirty, and now you’re thinking if you should wake up your baby to change the diaper or just let the baby sleep because it took such a long time to get your baby to sleep in the first place. If you’re wondering this question, then this article is for you. Read further on to know which decision will be better for your baby.
Should I wake my baby to change Diaper? No, you should not wake your baby to change his or her diaper. You can let your baby sleep as most diapers are incredibly absorbent. Babies wet their diapers a lot, and most diaper brands keep this in mind by making their diapers pee and poop-proof.
A little wetness or dirtiness in the diaper isn’t as much of a big deal. The wetness will be absorbed by the diaper itself if the diaper is good enough. If it’s a dirty diaper, you can change it as soon as the baby wakes up. A lot of exposure to wetness and dirtiness can cause rashes, but that doesn’t mean every time your baby poops or pees in the diaper, you wake them up to change. A little wetness and dirtiness is fine for your baby to bear till he or she wakes up from their slumber.
Diaper rashes don’t happen easily, but in case it happens, don’t worry. Just use wipes and clean the baby more frequently, and it will get better soon.
Is the diaper wet or dirty?
Babies get wet diapers a lot of times in the day, and it’s pretty common and perfectly natural for them to do so. Around six or ten times, your baby will possibly pee, usually after a couple of hours after feeding time. A lil contact of wetness on your baby’s skin is alright, but if the exposure is long enough, your baby could go through a pH change in their skin. When the pH levels in your baby’s skin change, it gets a little more alkaline, the longer the exposure, the more alkaline it could possibly get. A lot of types of fungus and bacteria can easily live on a more alkaline environment. Too much urine exposure can also cause skin dryness. The skin can get really sore as well and will lead to rashes. Too much poop exposure should be dealt with as soon as possible. As feces have a lot more bacteria and harmful microbes in them.
Urine exposure
As a little bit of wetness is fine your baby’s diaper to take care of by itself, it’s not a big issue, but as the exposure grows longer, the possibility of a rash increase as your baby’s skin becomes more alkaline and as it gets more alkaline, it gets vulnerable to bacteria, skin dryness, sores and the natural shield your baby’s skin has against all these things depletes significantly. If your feeding timetable only is of a two or three-hour routine, then there’s plenty of time the baby wet himself or herself sooner before you put them to bed. This way, you will not have to wake up your baby as your baby won’t wet themselves while sleeping in the first place. This urine problem will also deplete in time as your baby grows up.
Feces exposure
When it comes to poop, it is a different case as it should be dealt with as soon as the baby wakes up. No matter how late it is, if your baby has pooped themselves, you’ll have to wake them up as a prolonged exposure to feces has twice the number of dangerous bacteria urine has. Feces exposure, if long enough, makes your baby’s skin vulnerable to several kinds of rashes and skin infections. When your baby both wets themselves and also poops, the gross combo not only smells bad and looks dirty, but the dirty combination will make ammonia that can cause a moderate chemical burn on your baby’s skin, followed by several skin infections, rashes and conditions. Diarrhea is even more concerning as it will cause way more problems near your baby’s buttocks. Diarrhea also has excess food enzymes that come from the gut, which can irritate your baby’s skin a lot.
If the time your baby is dirty with the feces-filled diaper is around thirty minutes, then the threat is minimum, and you can let your baby take a quick nap for a while, but if the exposure is longer than an hour, your baby should definitely be cleaned ASAP. You can also visibly see if the feces exposure in your baby’s diaper is actually making your baby uncomfortable. If you have a baby monitor or if you’re near your baby, you will see if it’s making your baby uncomfortable as the exposure will make your baby squirm a lot while they’re sleeping. They do this when there’s a lot of poop, so they change their position, hoping the poop will go away. This is where you should change your baby’s diaper ASAP.
Breastfed babies
Babies that are breastfed have a much lower probability of getting diaper rashes. The main reason is relatively unknown, but through several researches, it is found that babies who are breastfed have a much higher resistance to gastrointestinal conditions, so they rarely ever get diaper rashes or diarrhea than babies who drink formula milk.
Best diapers for your baby
Diapers these days are incredibly absorbent. They remove moisture from baby’s skin immediately and prevent your baby from all sorts of rashes and infections. They keep your baby comfortable and dry, limiting any probabilities of skin conditions. Keep in mind that the diaper should be of the right size for your baby otherwise, it will start leaking if it’s big enough or get too uncomfortable if it’s too tight. Cloth diapers another option. They’re usually cheaper and are eco-friendly, but they last long as disposable diapers. They’re not as absorbent as disposable diapers, either.
Diaper changing tips
There are certain things you can do to avoid changing your baby’s diaper while your baby is asleep. Still, it is not recommended that you let your baby keep on the dirty diaper for too long, but you still can do the following:
- As soon as your baby wakes up from their slumber, their diaper should be changed.
- Use natural, safe baby wipes, wet cloth or baths for your baby to keep your baby clean always and limit the probability of ever him or her getting a rash.
- Make sure the area is dry enough before you change the diaper.
- You can even give your baby freedom of not wearing a diaper at all for some time so it will dry by air.
How often should you change baby’s diaper?
You can usually change a baby’s diaper as soon as they wake up, as babies wake up a lot. If the diaper is a lil wet or a lil dirty, you can wait till the baby is up, but if it’s very dirty or really wet, you’ll have to wake up your baby.
As mentioned earlier, most diapers are absorbent enough to take care of the baby’s wetness by itself and prevent it from getting too wet. So, the only thing to worry about will be too much exposure to poop.
There will be a lot of chances for you to change the diaper without waking the baby up because, more than likely, the baby would just be up on his/her own. For example, your baby gets hungry and, as a result, randomly wakes up in the middle of the night. Now you can take this opportunity as a chance to not only feed your baby but also change their diaper if it’s dirty, and most likely it will be.
Most babies would usually wake up on their own if the diaper gets too uncomfortable to wear.
If you set up a routine for your baby like, for instance, you change the baby’s diaper only on specific times of the day. As a result, your baby will get used to that routine, and for instance, if he/she is sleeping at one of those times, he/she will wake up on their own for a diaper change.
You can also be stealthy. Just keep the nights all out and change the diaper quickly. IF your baby wakes up, they’ll soon go back to sleep, or if they’re a heavy sleeper, they probably won’t wake up at all.
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