Help - Change Table Tantrums!!

[Lachlan's Mum]

Hi All

Lachlan's change table tantrums are now OUT OF CONTROL :eek:

He can be in the best of moods, and having a FANTASTIC day and then needs his nappy changed, or has a bath and has to be dressed and all of a sudden it is like I am trying to murder him!

The carry on I can handle as it stops as soon as we are done...but now it is like a two person job just to change a nappy as he rolls, crawls, flips, throws head back, arches back etc etc etc.....so hard!!!! It is almost impossible not to get really angry and frustrated with it!!! :mad:

It makes no difference where (floor, change table etc) and what I try and do to distract him...toys, music, signing, pictures......

What can I do? It is getting unsafe I think we will have a nasty changetable accident soon...he is sooooo strong! :(

Any suggestions???

[Mother Duck]

Hello there

I saw that you were viewing and wondered where you were!

Uh-oh!!

Is this what Mickayla will be doing in the future??

You poor thing.

Have you tried (probably stating the obvious) - using a really stern voice with him, or clapping loudly to break the tanty?

I don't have a clue what else to sugget but will be really interested to follow this post.

Good luck and chin up
Jessie

[xkwzit]

Hi Melanie
I went through sim with DD1 (in fact that was the first and last time I've ever smacked her - I got soo mad but then decided that I did not want to manage her behaviour with smacks - but I digress...)

The GOOD news is that they do grow out of it - I only remember this problem running for weeks (not months) with DD1. In the mean time, can you change him on the floor? safer for you both, but maybe tricky on your back.

I'm starting to occaisionally have the same problem now with DD2 (sim in age to your boy), but I can still hold her down! ;)

Best of luck...it won't last forever - just feels like it when you're living through it

[mamafelix]

It was at about this age that I gave up and started changing Felix standing up- requires a bit of practice but it's worth it, not having the struggle...
I vividly remember watching a friends dh planting one foot on his 13 month old son and holding him down while changing his nappy on the floor when Felix was a newborn- I was horrified at the time but.... seems like they all go through it!

[Mother Duck]

Hi again Melanie

Just as an after-thought. Is it worth just checking with the doc or CHN in case he has something wrong in his back etc.

Maybe this is causing him distress??

But then again after reading the other comments - Maybe just a phase??

Warmest regards
Jessie

[Chickadee]

My otherwise happy DD also started tantrums about diaper changes around 8 or 9 months old. She's very social and I think she just hated being taken away from the action. At 1.5 she still hasn't outgrown it, the change table is the most common place for a tantrum, but luckily she's still easily distractable. At first, I always sang the same song to her that she seemed to love and calmed her down a bit. Putting her in her crib/cot or on the floor for the dressing part also eased my mind about her falling off the table during a tantrum. These days we play "hands on... (pick a body part)" during diaper changes and it keeps her distracted. Teaching them to put their hands on their head as a game is also a great trick for keeping little hands clean and out of the way!

[nickosmoo]

Nick has been doing this for about a month now also - first he was squirming his head back to look at the baby on the Huggies wipes packet so I put posters on the wall of babies and Nemo for him to look at as a distraction - no difference.

I sing to him and make stupid sounds and pull faces but all to no avail - he still wriggles around and whinges while I am dressing him

I've had to learn to change him really quickly and hope his nappy is on the right way!

[Chickadee]

I sing to him and make stupid sounds and pull faces but all to no avail
Isn't it amazing the things we'll do to amuse our babies! Ask me 2 years ago to dance around a room making a fool of myself and I'd have said you were nuts. Yesterday I was singing "eensy weensy spider", complete with actions, in the supermarket and didn't care a bit! :p

[lilipe]

i had the same problem with my DD(16 months) ,what i did was because she knows 6 or 7 diferents song, i started to sing them in diferent tones of voice and usually this gets her to stop,often she tells me NO meaning she wants a diferent song or the usual tone and this makes her to forget about the diaper change. i hope it helps:o

[Peaceangels]

I know you say you have tried the toy thing, but what I do with DS2 (who's name is Lachlan and is very similar age to your DS) is give him about 5mins notice that I am going to change his nappy and I ask him to choose a toy he would like to play with.

He of course says "no", but I keep saying it and keep reminding him to choose his toy and eventually he give's in.

I have found that the tantrums are worse when I don't give him some warning as to what is about to happen. Worth a try :fingerscrossed: and goodluck.

Btw, it does pass!!!!:yelclap:

[pookiesossige]

Been a while since the last post, but I need help with this same issue pretty badly- I'm changing my 22 month old Ronan on the floor (for saftey) but he screams and rolls over and throws a full-on tanty. I'm 38 weeks pregnant and it's killing my back. How do I get through the next couple of weeks (and then the post-baby sore stage) of this hell every few hours?? :banghead:

[JnA]

Hi, Jade (8 months) does the same.. a lot of wiggling and back arching.. one day I let her wiggle for a bit (while holding her legs so she didn't fall off) and she ended up reaching for a bottle of cream that I had near the change table. So I emptied the cream out, washed the bottle and hand it to her while changing.. so far it's worked a treat. Keeps her occupied.
I also have a musical hangy thing on the door (that she can see from the changetable) and she watched that, but I don't put it on all the time.. just if the bottle doesn't hold her attention for long enough.
Another trick I discovered was to put the nappy on while she is lying down, then dress her sitting and standing. She seems to respond to that because she is getting used to the fact that she'll only be lying down for a bit.

Good luck.. and I hope that it's only a phase and they'll grow out of it *soon* :)

[Tam-I-Am]

Don't know if this will help, but i've come across this useful looking gadget -

safe change (http://www.bumpto3.com.au/product_display.aspx?id=224)

It's essentially a seat belt for your change table so that you can sort of "strap" bubba down while changing them - it might not be for everyone, but if changes are getting dangerous on the table - then it might be worth a go. Its retailing for $30 on the website.

[emmar]

my daughter is a day younger and does the same thing. We try distracting her with toys - sometimes it works.