OK, DH and I need help with diaper changes, and possible TMI

[squimp]

Please bear with me on this, but you CD mamas are among the most resourceful around, and I just know you can help us. This is kind of odd and slightly embarassing.

My DH has a lot of trouble with poopy diapers. He is a big, strong, wonderful man, but he gags whenever he has to change a poopy diaper. He has almost thrown up twice during a diaper change. And he is not making this up to get out of it ;), he is really trying but just has an exceptionally sensitive stomach. We thought it would get better with time, but it hasn't. So far, it's been OK, with me and our babysitter around to be the "relief" diaper changer.

But DD's starting a morning daycare in June, and I will be leaving early for work so he will have to do the morning diaper change. Which usually involves a poopy dipe.

SO, has anyone dealt with this odd problem? Any suggestions, ideas, experience? A face mask? A respirator, LOL? Some kind of counteracting scent that would make him forget about it? Or just a bucket by the changing table? I appreciate your help SO MUCH!

[mudder17]

Wow, that's a tough one! For nausea, I've often found the peppermint scent to be helpful. Perhaps some peppermint essential oil on a wash cloth for him to bring up to his nose would help? I think there are other EOs that might work as well, but that's the first that comes to mind. Or possibly some mentholatum right under his nostrils might help.

I assume that he won't be able to rinse off the poopy diaper, so maybe in his case you could have disposable liners so that he could just drop the whole thing (quickly) into the toilet.

Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040222/0/0/1/-5/.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif , 13 months & counting
Kaya's cousin, due October 9th!!!

[psophia17]

You didn't say if you CD or use sposies - I have found that CDs are way, way less smelly than disposables are, so if you're not already using CDs, consider making that change. The other thing is to get him to not hold his breath. It has been scientifically proven that after 10 seconds of smelling something, your smell receptors stop noticing that smell. If you get a whiff and then hold your breath, when you are forced to breathe again it will smell just as bad as it did the first time, defeating the purpose of the olfactory nerves. I don't know where I got this information, I suspect from Mr. Z, my favorite science teacher ever, but I have tested it at my childhood home, a dairy farm, and it seems to be true.

About that dairy farm...I hesitate to suggest this, but the winky face and LOL in your post indicate to me that it might work...have you considered visiting a place with smelly livestock? A dairy or horse farm should do nicely - somewhere where the smell of manure is all over the place. Dairy farms smell like home to me, but DH, city boy that he is, has always been grossed out by it. He's has gotten used to it (true love?), and when DS has had horrible, stinky, disgusting poops, DH will often say that it's better than the cowbarn...

Good luck, and keep us posted :)

[squimp]

We've been using cloth since about day 3. It's definitely not the diapers, it's the poop. I will have him try the holding breath suggestion, and also Eileen's great peppermint EO idea as well.

LOL the dairy farm suggestion. I lived in the Netherlands for a short while as a child and came to sort of love that tinge of manure smell that wafted across the fields. But up close and personal, it is really horrible, isn't it!

[mudder17]

Actually, you DON'T want him to hold his breath so that his olfactory receptors get overloaded and then filter out the smell so it's not as bad. If he does hold his breath it will make it much worse when he has to breathe again. On the other hand, when smells made me nauseous during my pregnancy, often breathing through my mouth helped because smells didn't overpower me as much. If you do try something like peppermint oil or euclaptus or something like that, maybe he could get a scarf with a tiny bit of the oil (it's pretty concentrated stuff!) and wrap it around his nose as a filter. It looks a bit silly, but it would work. :)

Keep us updated--I'm curious if he'll be able to get past this! Of course, he HAS to, so he will. ;)


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040222/0/0/1/-5/.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif , 13 months & counting
Kaya's cousin, due October 9th!!!

[pritchettzoo]

Homicide investigators and coroners/medical examiners sometimes use Vick's VapoRub under their noses to block out the scent. If it works for that, it should take care of baby poop.

Your DH is being very brave to try to overcome this! I could barely deal with it myself during the worst morning sickness. DH frequently came home to a double-bagged poopy diaper to clean out. I didn't notice how old your DC is, but the poops become much less frequent (usually) as they get older. It's once a day and fairly predictable now.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and a BOY! (coming July '05)

[psophia17]

Nothing like catching a whiff of a pile o' manure right after spring thaw - it's how I know summer's coming ;)

[jec2]

that's a good idea!

this one was really stumping me but I think anna might be on to something :)

good luck!

[squimp]

That's the problem - she's 18 months and poops at around 8 am and 5 pm. He'll have to deal with that 8 am poop every morning :P!

[squimp]

Exactly - he WILL get through this, but I really don't want him to hurl on Sophia ;)!

I misunderstood the first post about holding his nose - I thought if he started holding his nose before the smell, he might be OK. But then he might pass out, and that would be a problem...:)

Your olfactory stuff got me thinking - it works for me to fill my mouth with water when I have to cut onions and then breathe through my nose. Might serve the same purpose here.

I'm seriously thinking about a face mask dotted with peppermint EO.