Diapering

I waited a week (can you believe it's only been a week? I almost don't remember life before the cast!) before doing the diapers post so that I had a chance to figure things out. Diapering with the spica cast is annoying but it is not as bad as I expected it to be.

One thing that helps a ton is that the cast has room to spare in critical places - you can see here that there is tons of space between Evie's belly & the cast. There is also a little extra room in the diaper area, which seems pretty important for successful diapering. I keep wondering how this will all change by the time we are close to the 6-week cast change because I expect that Ev will keep growing like a weed.

Evie normally wears a size 3 diaper, and from what I had read online, it sounded like most everyone has had to go down a size in the spica cast. I haven't found this to be absolutely necessary. I also read a lot about people doing things like lining the edges of the cast (in the diaper area) with pantyliners so that it absorbs any leaks. I can see this being important if the cast fits so tight you can't get a diaper very high in there, but I haven't done this yet.

I'm trying to keep things simple. So I have two different boxes of Poise pads - I think it's important to use incontinence pads because they're made to absorb an adult sized amount of urine, which gives me confidence that they're plenty absorbent for Ev.

Ultimate absorbency for nighttime

Moderate absorbency for daytime

As for the diapers, I use Pampers BabyDry - this is what we've used for a while and they've always done the trick. Size 2 are easiest to get up in the cast (one size too small), but I have been using some size 3 too.

When I change her diaper, I first take out the dirty diaper and wipe her, and let her air out a little while I get the new diaper ready. I take the pad (moderate for daytime, ultimate for nighttime) and tear 3-4 holes down the back of it. This is so that the urine soaks through to the diaper instead of it all staying in the pad, hopefully keeping her a little drier. Then I put the pad in the diaper, more towards the back because as she is lying down, the wetness will move back. I'm not sure about other brands, but the pads fit perfectly inside our diapers. Conveniently, the ultimate pads are almost exactly the same length as the size 2 diapers.

Then I (sometimes) tear off the tabs of the diaper so that they don't bother her. And when I don't tear them, I tuck them inside so they are not touching her skin, which could be uncomfortable.

Tucking the diaper inside the cast right now isn't too hard, so I usually do the front first (and I know it's far enough in when the band of colors along the top of the diaper is right inside her cast) and then just tuck it up the back. Occasionally I turn her over to tuck the diaper in the back of the cast, which makes it easier to get it nice and smooth.

You ca see here that the edge of the cast is lined with wide medical tape. They did this at the hospital and it is just now starting to peel a little. Seems like replacing this once a week is a good idea. I need to do it this weekend.

Also, I don't always put in a pad - if I know she'll just be in the diaper for a short period and won't be sleeping during that time, I use a size 3 diaper without a pad.

Over all of this, I put a big diaper (size 5) just to keep things all in there. It really doesn't serve much of a purpose except that if I'm holding her, the small diaper could very easily be pulled out. So the big diaper keeps everything secure. Also, it's a little protection for while she is airing out between diapers. I pulled this one out too quick a few days ago and ended up with a major pee all over the bed. Gross.

So that's how we diaper. Hope that helps anyone who is about to do this for their son or daughter!