Mom Hack: Preventing Diaper Blowouts
In your past life, you probably would look forward to the treat of a blowout because it was often accompanied by a night out enjoying yourself and looking fine. Now that you’re a mom, that term probably scares the crap out of you (pun intended!). Have faith, I’ve got a great easy and cheap solution for you.
The solution is really simple. No DIY tutorial, no complicated alternatives, just one tiny change that will afford you the reassurance that you are far less likely to end up with a mess all over the car seat or the crib mattress. Even if you are using disposable diapers, use a diaper cover over top. Yup, it really is that simple.
Avoid The Blowout
While I would love to be able to say that you will never have to deal with a blowout when using this mom hack, it is an avoidance method for the majority of circumstances. If you get the right kind, the ones that have the elastic edges, it keeps the mess contained and much easier to deal with. I’ll spare you the horrific details of my experience in the Tim Horton’s bathroom—long story short: there was no garbage in sight, an overflowing sink, and everything needed to be washed when we got home (including me!)—but it was the catalyst of finding the solution. Never again was I going to be caught in that situation. Ever.
First things first, if using disposable diapers, make sure those ruffles are flipped out around the edges, that the waistband is nice and snug (without being super tight), and that you can give a pinch to the crotch area and feel bulk. If any of these are not done, you are prone to leaks to begin with. If leaks happen often even though you’ve completed that little checklist, it may be the wrong size of diaper, OR your brand of choice doesn’t match your baby’s shape—it happens!
How It Works
Diaper covers are designed to go over some sort of cloth diaper, which means their sole purpose is to keep baby’s output IN. This unique feature does not magically disappear if you put it over a disposable diaper. The trick is to make sure that the diaper is COMPLETELY covered: check the legs for sneaky escaping ruffles and check the back for that tall edge and make sure you tuck it into the cover. The outer edge of the cover becomes the safeguard and keeps the mess IN the cover so that you have some resemblance of a chance to keep everything else clean. Yes, you will want to keep a spare cover in the diaper bag because in the case of a blowout, while contained, will still soil the cover. But that’s it, just the cover. And a ton of wipes, but so many more would have been needed otherwise so you save on those as well.
Where To Buy?
Let me preface by saying that this is NOT a sponsored post and that the products I am about to recommend are based on my preferences from personally using and loving the products, but yes, the links in this paragraph are affiliates so I do make a small commission if you choose to purchase. My absolute favourites are the ones from Thirsties (you can get them locally from The Extraordinary Baby Shoppe in Hintonburg, Ottawa) and my second choice is from Rumparooz. My preference is the hook-and-loop closures (velcro) because you can adjust them each time as baby grows instead of having set sizes with the snaps. They all come in different fun patterns or solids so that you can show them off or have them blend into an outfit.
So the next time you go to a baby shower, even if they don’t know it yet, a good diaper cover will be well appreciated down the road. Seriously—even if they are super vocal about not using cloth—I so wish we had bought ours sooner!
Cheers!
