WWYD? Payton left Mommy a #2 just before he dropped off for his nap... (Update)

[hez]

So, you've put your child down for a nap and walked out while the child finishes settling. 20 minutes later you walk in to gently remove a book from the crib and turn down the lights. Upon walking in you realize said child used the opportunity of a fresh diaper to get the daily #2 taken care of.

Do you let the child continue sleeping and hope for the best on the diaper rash front? Do you change the diaper and hope you can keep the child asleep or get the child back to sleep quickly?

Payton's awake now (still in his crib), 55 minutes after I made Choice #2. I'm beginning to regret it-- and will regret it more as the day progresses and the rest of the evening and bedtime get affected by the lack of nap!!!

***Update***
He fell asleep while I was composing the original ;) Think we're going to end up with a late bedtime, but it's DH's turn tonight! Payton's not normally prone to rash, so I think DH wins on this one and we'll be going with Choice #1 in the future (unless there's a pre-existing rash). Thanks for the helping me think about all the angles mamas! Who knew this could be such an important decision in my house? :)

[Jen841]

We don't have diaper rash issues (knock on wood.) I never change diapers until the am.

[mudder17]

I know I'm totally no hep, but if I put Kaya down for a nap, I turn off the lights and walk out and don't return until after the nap. If she happens to poop, sometimes she'll stay awake, and sometimes she'll just go to sleep. This hasn't happened often, but it has happened on occasion. If she goes to sleep, I deal with it later. But if she stays awake (which she has been doing a lot anyway), then after an hour, I'll go in and get her out and we just call it a nap she didn't feel like taking. Occasionally it's because of the poop, but lately, it's just been that she doesn't feel like taking a nap. :(

Anyway, the few times I made the choice you did (well, I didn't know she pooped, but I didn't bother to check when she didn't fall asleep right away), I did feel bad about it because I thought that if I had only changed her, she would have gotten a nice nap, but I decided after a while to not worry about it because you can never predict and even if you know, well, sometimes it bothers them and sometimes it doesn't. Don't worry about it now and just get him and deal with the missed nap later. Maybe he can go to bed a little earlier tonight?


Eileen

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/candle.gif for Leah
http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_emerald_18m.gif

http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_4_Kaya+is.png
Kaya's a cousin! 10/1/05, 5lb13oz

[kaylinsmommy2]

I also don't change night time diapers - and definitely not if DD's already asleep. But Eileen is right - there's no way of knowing whether Payton would have stayed asleep if you didn't change his diaper, IYKWIM.

Look on the bright side. At least Payton isn't crying/screaming like Kaylin would be if it happened to her. :)

Caroline
"ma meee" to Kaylin 6/5/04

http://b2.lilypie.com/9KMlm7/.png[/img][/url]

[hez]

Yup-- this doesn't happen very often (and when it does it's been DH's turn for nap duty!). DH will be laughing when he sees the results of the poll-- he doesn't get to tell me, "I told you so!" very often ;)

Oh, well. It was my turn finally, and ya' gotta learn things the hard way sometimes!

[katerinasmom]

I would have changed the diaper immediately. And yes, it would have ruined her nap. If I could, I'd just let her sleep. But my daughter has such sensitive skin that we can't risk leaving her in a soiled diaper. She would wake up with terrible diaper rash. I have been lucky a couple of times and changed her diaper in the middle of the night without fully waking her. It's a miserable choice but in our case no choice at all. If we smell it, we change it.

[KBecks]

I think it depends on the child's skin sensitivity. If your kid is sensitive to diaper rash, then change it. If your kid doesn't suffer from rashes normally, then let the child sleep.

[jadamom]

I agree that it totally depends on the child. Both of my DDs would get bright red rashes if we didn't change them right away, so we did.

[mommy_someday]

For me, it would depend on whether or not the diaper area had a rash already. If so, change it. If not, wait until the nap is over.

I have a different problem right now with DS waiting to poop until I put him down for a nap/bedtime. I've tried varying his nap schedule, but to no avail. If he's crying when I walk out of the door, I can be about 90% certain he's gonna mess his diaper within 15 minutes. We're just getting over a nasty yeast-related diaper rash, so I *have* to change him. Not to mention that if I don't, he'd just scream endlessly and no one would have any sleep or peace in a three-mile radius. ;)

I hope Payton gets some sleep for both your sakes!

[holliam]

Mari sleeps right through diaper changes when she is sleeping. We change at night still. We would definitely change it!

Holli

[kelly ann]

For naps, we used to let DS just sleep. However, if DS was down for the night, we would change the diaper.

We could never understand how DS could poop in his diaper then go right to sleep.

[Smiles81]

I don't change it for naps, but do change it at night. He doesn't wake up when we do it at night.

Reena
Mom to Dovi 3/16/04

[lisams]

Coming in here late but I would have changed it. It would just bug me the whole time knowing she's sleeping with poop on her bum! Plus it would be a guaranteed rash.