It can be pretty scary changing your little girl’s diaper if she is prone to peeing on you while you are cleaning her up and getting things refastened. Even though boys are known to be a little more dangerous, girls can still make quite a mess if you aren’t paying attention while the diaper is off. With that in mind, I thought that I would share my best tips for preventing your baby girl from peeing on you during a diaper change.
So, how do you stop your baby girl from peeing on you while changing her diaper? The best way to find success is to change the diaper as quickly as possible, keep her warm enough during the change, and encouraging her to pee before getting a new diaper. Products that promise to guard against pee are mostly a waste of time.
Not every little girl is going to give you trouble with peeing on you. In fact, my twin girls very rarely had any issues while you have to watch my third daughter like a hawk! Read on to see what I’ve learned over the years to keep myself, the changing table, and baby clothes dry!
Table of Contents
Change the diaper very fast
The first tip is the best tip. It’s also the most obvious.
Really the only time you need to worry about getting peed on during a diaper change is while the diaper is actually off. With this in mind, you need to keep that amount of time as short as possible by taking the old one off and putting the new one on as quickly as possible.
So how do you do it?
Preparing your diaper changing area beforehand is crucial. Have the new diaper, wipes, and other items like diaper cream or powder within arms reach so that you don’t have to search while you are in the middle of everything.
My preferred method is to get the new diaper under your baby while the old one is still on (this works best for wet diapers). Once you unfasten the old one just slide it out and the new one will already be in place. If you do it right, you can get the front of your baby covered in literally one second. This video below provides a good demonstration:
Obviously, a poopie diaper changes the speed game pretty significantly because you will have to slow things down and clean up while changing. In these cases, be sure to have wipes pulled out and ready to use before you take the old diaper off so that you won’t have to mess with the dispenser! Still, quick wet diaper changes should go off without a hitch!
Help your baby pee before you change her
You might not have thought about this little trick before. Some parents call this the cold activation method or the ‘cold air trick.’
Essentially, you are going to try and encourage your baby to pee before you change her diaper by using mother nature against her. This way, she won’t have any ammunition during the change!
I’m no doctor and I don’t know exactly how this works, but exposing your little girls privates to cool air will often cause them to pee right away. Once she has finished her business, you can safely proceed with the diaper change at your preferred pace – no rushing! Here are a couple of tricks to get this to work:
- Rub along the bottom of your baby’s tummy with a cold wipe.
- Open up the dirty diaper and fan a little cold air in if it’s cold in your home.
- Put a wet washcloth in the freezer for a minute and then place it under the edge of the diaper for several seconds.
Something else to think about is when your baby is most likely to pee on their own. This is especially true as your baby gets a little older and starts to naturally hold their pee for longer periods at night. If they are doing this, the first diaper change of the day could be extra dangerous!
Keep your baby girl warm while changing the diaper
This is a complementary technique to the cold activation method – just in reverse. You can use this if you feel a little rude for making your baby girl cold!
Instead of wiping the baby’s tummy down with a cold wipe or washcloth, you want to keep things as warm as possible for this method. Basically, you will change your baby in the warmest room and maybe even consider using a wipe warmer or space heater to keep things nice and comfortable.
All of this prep work means that less cold air will hit your baby’s privates once the diaper comes off so they will be less likely to get startled into peeing on you!
If you are on the fence about getting a wipe warmer, by the way, I’ve tackled that question in a great resource that you can find right here. They could certainly help keep your baby girl warm during a diaper change!
Look for visual signs that your girl is about to pee
This one probably sounds a little strange, but hear me out. Many baby girls will show signs that they are about to pee that can help give you a cue during the diaper change that you need to take cover.
Most often, it will be a facial expression. You might also see a little bit of pee come out shortly before it squirts up and makes a mess.
Be sure to keep an eye out for these and be mindful that every baby is different. If you pay close enough attention, I bet you can figure out how your baby acts just before she is going to wet everything down!
Cover her privates with a diaper, wipe, burp cloth, etc.
If you aren’t keen on playing offensive, then defense can work just as well!
With this method, you will be keeping a constant cover your baby’s privates throughout the diaper change. This works especially well during a poopie diaper change because you will need more time to work. Essentially, you will place a new diaper, a wipe, a burp cloth, or something else over your girl’s privates to catch the pee if it happens. This way it will be mostly soaked up and won’t make as big of a mess.
I prefer to use the new diaper out of those options because it’s going to get dirty anyway and I won’t have to clean it. Yep, I’m lazy! Unfortunately, a fresh diaper doesn’t work as well as a cover during a poopy diaper change because you run the risk of getting poop on the new diaper and ruining it before you have a chance to use it. Keep this in mind when using this strategy and just use something like a wipe. This will help you avoid doing extra laundry while still getting the job done!
Avoid gimmicky products
If you have had problems with getting peed on in the past, you might have looked up different products that can help keep the pee at bay for you. Basically, these are ready-made covers or blocks that you can place over your baby’s privates to keep you dry.
Unfortunately, none of these products will really work any better than using a wipe or fresh diaper as a cover. At the end of the day, they are likely a waste of time and money.
If you think about it, this makes sense. How does their cloth cover work any better than using a burp cloth or wipe that you already have? Either way, you will have to do some extra laundry or by more wipes. You might as well stick to the stuff that you already know you need rather than purchasing more crap that won’t get used.
If you happen to receive something like this as a shower gift then you could give them a shot. Personally, I would just exchange them!
Always prepare for the worst!
I’ve given you all of the best tips that I know of for avoiding a pee shower while changing your little girl’s diaper. With that said, even the best plans don’t usually survive an encounter with the enemy so remember that no strategy will be perfect!
With that in mind, always have a fail-safe or backup plan in place. In our case, we usually put a big towel down on the baby’s changing table or anywhere else that we happen to be changing a diaper. This way, we have something to soak up extra pee if and when it manages to escape. If you really think you need some extra protection, consider picking up a plastic sheet to put under everything to create a waterproof barrier between your baby and any delicate surfaces.
I hope you have found some of this information useful. Good luck while changing your next diaper!
