Our 2yo has sensitive skin, so we’ve always been really particular about drying his butt during a diaper change before putting the new diaper on, and we haven’t had much problem with diaper rash since he was only a few months old.
But sometimes when he comes back from an afternoon with grandma and auntie, he’ll have a good bit of diaper rash - well when we watch the change him, I noticed they don’t bother to use the drying rag we include in the diaper change kit, just wipe clean and then strap up.
We also got some friends with a similar age kid, and they also don’t dry, but they are big fans of baby powder, and out some of that on with every change. Their kid is a little bit younger but it sounds like they deal with rash fairly often (despite less sensitive skin generally).
So that brings me to the title - are people just really out here not drying butts? Is it weird that we always do? Is this not a normal part of the diaper change process?
What do yall think?
With modern disposable diapers, my kids haven’t typically needed a dry cycle. Might have needed more when we used cloth, but I didn’t take notes and it all blurs together.
I have stepped up drying and ointment and powder as appropriate when needed to deal with a rash.
Every kid is different. Gotta do what works for yours.
You have to do what’s right for your kid, and ask grandparents to do it the way s/he needs. Diaper rash won’t just stop happening, but it could get worse.
And this goes for pretty much everything. If there’s a way the child needs to be treated for their health and well-being, you need to communicate that.
You’re absolutely right! We have talked to them about this and it hasn’t been an issue since.
I’m mainly just curious if this is a common thing for other parents, but this is also a very good perspective !
I think every parent does things a little differently. I don’t recall ever drying their butts, but I’ll admit my partner carried a far heavier diaper changing load.
We never had to dry with either of ours. We had one that would go bright red if we used anything other than a specific brand of wipe, but it wasn’t a dryness issue, more of a sensitivity one.
Like others have said, each one is different!
Depended on where we were.
At home, we dried - carefully, with a soft absorbent cloth towel so as to avoid rubbing or irritating the skin.
When out and about, we often found ourselves doing “tactical” nappy changes at maximally inconvenient times. I’m afraid our high standards could not be maintained.
Managed to generally avoid nappy rashes though; once, only briefly, and caught / dealt with early.
All kids are different so what works for my kid might not work for your kid (on top of patenting preference) but for what it’s worth we never dried butts and used cloth diapers and the doctor even said she rarely sees a baby with no diaper rash. It might be that we change diapers once an hour though.
