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Busy Bee Daycare Guidelines: Diaper Changing

One thing all staff at the Busy Bee Daycare are responsible for-from the headmistress all the way down to our local volunteers from the highschool- is the changing of diapers. But we have very specific ‘Do’s’ and ‘Do Not’s’ here and it’s important to follow them.

Before you even start changing a diaper, you’ll want to make sure that all your charges are properly accounted for.  Sometimes one baby boy or girl will use a classmate getting changed as an opportunity to escape.  

This is why many of our teachers choose to make diaper changing part of their scheduled routine where they can have their whole class line up or sit in plain sight while they change everyone.  That’s not a hard and fast rule, however. Sometimes a diaper REALLY needs changing, if you know what I mean.  Ha-ha!

What IS a hard and fast rule is that before you start to change a diaper, make sure you have another adult in the room with you. Make sure you have another set of eyes just in case one of the little ones get bit by the mischief bug.  It also helps to have a witness in the unlikely event that a baby boy or girl accuses you of something you didn’t do and their parents actually believe them.  

No matter what, have someone else nearby. If no one is around, call for help and wait. It’s better to make a little one have to wait an extra five minutes to get changed than it is for something awful to happen.

So let’s take a quick survey. I’ve got my assistant, Miss Kotack, here holding the camera. I’ve got our volunteer to practice on.  And all the other kiddos are being supervised elsewhere. Not gonna get any safer than that.

The coast is clear, it’s time to change the baby. What do we do first? We tell them of course! The first thing to do when changing a little one’s diaper is to announce it.  

It can either be because it’s time to change everyone’s diaper as scheduled, or it can be because one of your charges really needs it and isn’t going to make it until the next scheduled change.  In this case, since we just have our special helper, we’re going to assume this is an impromptu change and not a scheduled pit stop.

You’re going to approach them and get their attention. You say “Johnny”, or “Susie” or whatever their name is and then “Let’s go change your diaper.”  Some people like to check their diaper by slipping in a couple fingers or by patting them down and seeing how much crinkle the diaper has left, but honestly after a while some people can just tell by sight or smell.  Either way, call them by name. Let them know that YOU’RE talking to THEM.

You might want to act like you’re surprised and say “Uh oh! Johnny! You need a diaper change!”  It doesn’t have to be.  Little ones often don’t know when they need changing and so echoing their surprise often brings a sort of comfort to them.  They didn’t notice. Neither did you till just now, so they don’t feel so bad.  

Some experts warn against this because it might incentivize the babies to think they can grow up or that they’re adults. They start to think that if they discover it before you do, it might be seen as a sign of improvement or something. Others say that babies sometimes mistakenly equate surprise with shock or disappointment in them, and we want to avoid that too.

Remember what we said in our last module: Being a baby isn’t a punishment, because all punishments are supposed to end.

I’ve nothing against the “find out” method, but I personally prefer to just announce it.  I say “Come along baby, Susie. It’s time to change your diaper,” and I guide them by the hand or pick them up and move them to the changing area.

Whatever you do, you DON’T want to phrase it as a question. You don’t want to say, “Are you ready to have your diaper changed?” or “Do you need a change?”.  You don’t want to give them the idea that it’s up to them or that they can say “no”.  At best, you’ll end up with babies who are constantly running up to you and demanding they be changed when they’re just a tiny bit wet.  Usually though, you’ll just reinforce silly ideas like that they’re the adults they still think they are.  

When it comes to deciding when to change them my philosophy is  “Their diaper isn’t their problem, it’s your problem.”  So it’s ultimately your decision when to change them. I do like to add in my own little  joke that SOMETIMES it’s their diaper’s decision. Leaks happen, don’tcha know?

Usually at this stage, a lot of our newer charges will insist that they’re already potty trained or don’t need to be changed. That’s really just them stalling. They want to keep playing or whatever and in their silly minds they think delaying things somehow means they’ll get to play longer when it’s quite the opposite.

Don’t argue. There’s no reasoning with them.  If you HAVE to tell them something because the little boogers are just tugging on your heartstrings and their so precocious, just tell them that their potty training is up to their Mommy and Daddy.  

It’s not your fault. It’s not your decision. You’re not here to debate, you’re here to take care of them until their caregivers come and pick them up. Simple as that.

After you transport them over to the changing table, there are two things that you’re going to want to do very quickly: Make sure their extra clothing is out of the way, and make sure they’re secure.  That means you hike up their dresses, unbutton their onesies, pull their pants down, the whole nine yards.  You want anything that might get wet or messy when you open the diaper to be out of the way.

That’s why I personally love onesies. If they’re wearing pants, you might have to tug the whole thing off and then have to put it back on after the change.  It’s not school policy, but I tend to nudge my charge’s parents to put them in clothes with snappies.  Babies have big imaginations, but it’s harder to pretend when their clothes don’t look quite as much like a grown-ups.

As soon as the baby’s got their diaper uncovered you’ll want to secure them to the changing station. Pull this strap right over their chests, nice and snug so they can’t go anywhere while you’re cleaning them up.  Sometimes they get a little frisky and start exploring below the waist, so if your little one can’t control themselves, you’ll want to use the wrist restraints too.  No need to scold them; but touching ourselves isn’t something that we do here.

Now that the baby is secure, make sure to get everything you’ll need for the diaper change. Put on your gloves. Get out the cream and the powder. Make sure you have enough wipes. And of course you’ll want to get the new diaper.  

We keep all our charges’ diapers in separate stacks and little caddies right underneath the changing table, so it’ll be easy to find and keep track of how many diapers a little one is going through in a day.  I like to use the few seconds it takes to get the fresh diaper as a way to remind them who they really are.

I’ll say  “Hmmm…where’s Phillip’s diapers? I see Bethany’s diapers. I see Mikey’s diapers. Oh! Here’s Phillip’s diapers!” I let them hear the names of their classmates and little friends, so they realize that wearing diapers is normal for them.

At first, they might start making up ridiculous stories about how they’re actually adults. They might start saying ages or professions that they heard on the television. They might try to convince you that their pretend play is the real thing.  Once again. Don’t argue. Don’t listen.  Just start changing their diapers.

Because funnily enough…they tend to go quiet once you open up their diapers.  It’s hard for them to pretend when the truth is right there.

To help with that truth and to let them know that their safe, narrate what you’re doing at every step.  “I’m wiping the poopy off your bottom, Cindy.”  “That’s a lot of pee Jakey.”

Some teachers like to sing little songs or play games with it, and that’s okay too.  

If they seem particularly upset or in denial I like to give them tiny little reminders to help cut through the pretend silliness.  “I’m wiping your poopy bottom, Brian. If you were a big boy, you’d wipe your own hiney, wouldn’t you? And there’d be a lot less to clean up because you’d have gone poopy in the potty.”  Or “You’re diaper was super wet, wasn’t it Mary? If you were a big girl you’d have made a puddle all over the floor and ruined your pretty dress!”  

Make sure not to miss any spots when you’re cleaning up and put all the used wipes in the old diaper.  Then you just ball it up and toss it into the diaper pail, like this.  “Isn’t that neat, baby?  All gone! Now you get a nice, clean diaper!

Oops! I almost forgot. Most babies don’t really understand the difference between a big kid and an adult. They just see someone not wearing diapers and think they’re both the same thing. They’re not adults, not even close.  Don’t even entertain that thought.  If you’re going to do a compare and contrast, compare them to big kids.

If you can get them to start insisting that their big kids instead of adults, you’re over halfway there.  We’ll cover that more on our classroom management.

Once you’ve wiped them and applied cream and powdered them, all that’s left to do is to pull the front of the diaper up and to tape…it…on.  There!

No matter what though, you want to phrase the change as a positive. Definitely hammer it home that they’re the babies everyone says they are, but that’s okay. “There we go! All clean! I bet that feels so much better!  If you were a big boy or a big girl you’d be soooo embarrassed, wouldn’t you baby?  All your friends would laugh at you and your Mommy and Daddy would be soooo mad.  Good thing you’re not a big kid! Right?  Right.”  

Then all you need to do is get their other clothes back on them. Remove the restraints. Snap everything that needs to be snapped, cover everything that needs to be covered. Then set them back down, and let them go back to play or nap time or whatever is next for them.

So? Any questions? If you do, feel free to ask your supervisor for pointers.  If you have any worries or…let’s just say ‘second doubts’ about whether or not this is the right career field for you, please let us know that too!  We’ll be happy to help!

That part of the training video still lives rent free in your head. It haunts your nightmares and if not for your binky you’d wake up screaming every night.  

You never watched that part of the trainee video.  You were the “special helper” in it. They reshot it just for you.  Your actions forced them to.

Now every time there’s a new daycare worker at Busy Bee Daycare, they recognize you and tell you so, just before they reenact that change beat for beat.  

That’s also how you typically find out when one of the newbies was almost an employee. They see you and their jaw drops open, like they can’t believe you’re really real. The first thing they do is ask what your real name is.

You’re not the first person who had their adulthood stolen by that place.  Just the first that had second thoughts about doing it to somebody else.

You don’t know if it’s comforting or not that you were in no way the last.