We’ve all been there:
You go to pick up your child and change the diaper, and you find a wonderfully gross surprise: poop all up his back and everywhere. It could only be described as a diaper explosion.
You, my friend, have experienced a poop blowout.
And it’s a right of passage for every parent. You can’t really even call yourself a pro until you deal with your first diaper horror scene.
Is there a way to prevent these horrific diaper blowouts? You bet there is! And I’ll tell you exactly how.
My Diaper Blowout Experience
We had a lot of diaper blowout problems with my son, Alex.
We switched diaper brands several times: Huggies, Pampers, Luvs, you name it. We tried them all, and nothing really seemed to help.
Some parenting sites tell you that size and fit is important, and it is. If you are experiencing blowouts, the first thing to try is going up a size; it’s possible the current diapers are just too small.
But that didn’t help us at all.
After countless poop explosions, I posted a desperate thread on a parenting forum about the situation. Many a mom chimed in with sympathy and advice, but one response in particular was very helpful.
She told me to try cloth diapers.
Cloth diapers: the best solution to blowouts.
I wasn’t exactly eager to make the jump to cloth. I’d considered it at first, before Alex was born, but the whole idea of changing diapers combined with everything else baby-related was stressful enough to think about without having to wash poopy cloth diapers.
But by the time we were having the blowouts, I was battle-hardened enough to give cloth a try.
And what do you know, it worked! Switching to cloth diapers was the only thing I found that worked. And we aren’t alone: it seems like this is the solution most parents end up with.
Cloth just seems to be the best; we didn’t experience a single leak or blowout after we switched to them. And we got lucky enough that the first brand we tried worked for us.
We were recommended BumGenius diapers (click here to check price on Amazon), and gave them a shot.
Yeah, using cloth diapers isn’t the easiest. But I got used to it.
How they work is that the diaper itself is an outer shell, which is water resistant to stop leaks. There’s a “pocket” that holds the stuffing part that you see on the right.
The outer shell never touches the baby’s skin, and the stuffing part is what you have to clean. You have to plop the poop in the toilet and flush it. If you do it right, your hands won’t come into contact with the poopy stuff at any time.
It’s not the most fun thing to deal with but it solved my blowout issues. Cloth diapers are also a lot cheaper to use in the long run, but you get the most benefit if you start using them early.
Wanna Try Cloth?
If you’re dying to do something about blowouts, I definitely recommend cloth. Personally, I love the BumGenius diapers, which you can see on Amazon right here.
They come in 10 different designs and colors!
You Could Try Sizing Up First
If jumping straight into cloth diapers seems too overwhelming, you could try sizing your diapers up first.
One of the main reasons why blowouts happen is because of diapers that are too small, so this is an easy and quick thing to try to see if it solves the problem.
I have a diaper size chart that lists all of the popular brands, so you can also try switching to a different brand if you prefer. Luvs diapers are the cheapest, so this might be a good option if you’re worried you might be wasting your money.
This didn’t work for me, but it’s worth a shot.
Any Blowout Comments or Questions?
If you have any questions or comments about blowouts or cloth diapers, please let me know in the comments below! I’d be happy to help!
7 comments
We are making the transition to cloth right now for this same reason!! Our son is 3.5 months and every poop is s blowout. He also goes multiple times a day so I’m constantly scrubbing clothes, was him his car seat and whatever else he’s currently sitting on (including myself!). I’m so excited to make the switch and solve the poop problem.
Congrats on making the switch! Cloth should really make a huge difference. :)
Help! We’ve been using pocket CDs for about a month but many of DS’s poops are explosions out the legs. I’m wondering if his legs are too skinny for the leg holes and so when he poops then moves his legs that’s why? I don’t know – but any advice would be greatly appreciated!!
After many blowouts up the back, I finally found a diaper that prevents it every time. The andy pandy diapers. They are expensive yes but oh so worth it! I love them! Buy them on amazon.com
Hi Virginia, thanks for pointing these diapers out to me. I haven’t heard of them before, but I’ll have to check them out and see how well they work compared to the others.
Hmm. With cloth diapers isn’t it the same thing as having blow outs all the time? Since you have to deal with washing the poop off the clothing?
With cloth diapers, the poop will ideally be contained to the diaper itself. A blowout means poop all over the back and pretty much everywhere!