As the light grows dim

[ailbhe]

We didn't go to the park. We went to the baby clinic and had Linnea weighed. She has lost 5lb! this means she's within the weight limits on normal pushchairs! There must have been a problem with the scales last time, though she is a bit thinner than she was two months ago. And taller. And she was ill. But not, I think, over 10% of bodyweight ill.

On the way home I was talking to my friend who uses disposable nappies. Apparently disposable users don't change infants' nappies every time they're wet. Oh. I can see how they use as few as 5 in a day, then. Linnea was on 8 a day until she was really pretty grown up. More when she was lickle.

Also on the way home, Linnea and I dropped into Sweet Masala for a samosa and a mango juice each. It was lovely. Then we walked home via the charity shop, where there were no clothes in her size but there was an orange truck and a weird bouncing pig, so we got those. I didn't get the baby keyboard or the huge tank toy.

I did borrow a couple of books from the library because they are doing a thingy where you get a free book if you are one of the first people to review books from the Orange prize longlist. So I'll have a go at reading those and see if I like any of the free books. I love my assistant librarian. She said "As soon as the promotion came up I thought of you two," meaning me and Nicki.

After we got home Linnea fell asleep on the floor, still wearing her coat and reins. That was about 16:45. She's still asleep now. Ho ho ho. I must read my Pantley.

Comments

[lovingboth]

Part of the reason is that disposables can be so absorbant that you don't realise anything's happened.

[ailbhe]

But a wet disposable has a smell like nothing else on earth. The smell happens as soon as the wee hits the chemicals. It's very distinctive.

[buzzy-bee.livejournal.com]

Depends on the brand, IME. The premium brands stink. Own brand is OK :)

[lovingboth]

Yes, it may vary according to brand. For non-huge wees, I honestly could never tell, unless I took it off and weighed it in my hand.

[k425.livejournal.com]

Have to admit I doubt we changed Jack's nappy every time he weed because I didn't check, but since birth it's been every three hours, more if he'd pooed. At night he's in the same nappy all night because a) he doesn't have a problem with it (if he does, he gets changed) and b) he's sleeping through.

[ellipunk.livejournal.com]

Well I use an average of 4 nappies (cloth) a day on Ali... it is working because he is not bothered by it and has no rash.. He gets changed once when he gets up, again after morning nap, again after afternoon nap and then before bed.
I don't check to see if he has peed at all..

[ailbhe]

What about when he was little - 3-6 months, say?

[ellipunk.livejournal.com]

Oh at 3-6 months he was pooing all day.. so I suppose we were using 8 or 10 a day at that stage alright.

[sidheag.livejournal.com]

Count me in as someone who's never attempted to change a nappy every time the baby pees (cloth, with fleece liners). If it isn't detectable e.g. bothering him or causing a rash, why would I? Nursery don't either, they have set times of day for changes. Unless there's a poo, obviously. I'm a bit puzzled actually - how do you *know* you change Linnea's every time she pees? Stick a finger in every few minutes, or does she have clear "I'm peeing now" behaviour, or what?

[ailbhe]

She knows when she's wet. Now she's older, she doesn't care, but when she was a baby, especially when she was newborn, she didn't like being in a wet nappy. She didn't get upset, but she seemed uncomfortable to me. To be fair, the only other person who could see the behaviour was my mother; Rob never noticed it, and nor did any of our close antenatal class friends.

When she was *really* small, she cried out every time she did a pee. That stopped when we stopped using disposables; there was something in disposables that seemed to make her react badly, reddened her skin etc. So we probably changed her less often in cloth.

She also wet very heavily; if she wasn't changed for several hours, the nappy would be as wet as if you'd put it in a bucket, and the soak would go through to her clothes and whatever she was sitting on. Overnight, we used to change her nappy and bedding at least once - baby sleeping bags were a godsend - even though we did use plenty of boosters and there was no ordinary leak in the wrap. Disposables at night were no better at holding the leaks in; in fact, once we started using two hemp boosters as well as two prefolds, cloth were definitely perceptibly better.

[sidheag.livejournal.com]

Interesting, Colin's never showed any sign of caring at all if he's wet, as far as any of us have been able to tell! (Nor has he ever had a non-trivial nappy rash.) He wets very heavily at night - after trying many options, we usually use 2 hemp boosters plus a BumHugger in a fleece wrap, and even that isn't always enough. Annoyingly, a disposable at night will always take whatever he throws at it, with no leaks in the morning. I have to remember when we go away (so use disposables) that this means I don't need to pack as many pairs of pyjamas as I think! Leaks right through to the sleeping bag are rare now thank goodness. He does now sometimes complain about the night nappy , I think just because it's so bulky, and when that happens I do let him wear a disposable. I feel bad about using disposables, but I certainly wouldn't use washable sanpro if it wasn't as comfortable as the cloth ones, so...

[batswing.livejournal.com]

I've changed many nappies in my time, and also many incontenance pads. I would find it hard not to use more than that on my own child to be honest!