How do you get your toddler to leave his diaper on?

@carlaabt (3504)
United States
May 17, 2007 5:44pm CST
My son is 15 months old, and has been able to unfasten his diaper for several months now. So we never leave him in just a diaper unless we are right there with him. We would leave him in a onesie or pair of shorts if it was warm. Well, now he has figured out how to unsnap his onesie, and take it off! He has trouble getting some of his shorts off still, but he sticks his hands up through the bottom of the leg hole and undoes his diaper that way. I don't think he is ready to potty train yet. He still spends more time crawling than walking, and I would really like for him to be able to WALK to the potty before we start it. But I'm tired of cleaning up his mess everyday when I get him up in the morning and after naptime. He loves to sleep naked. He talks and understands really well. He knows that he isn't SUPPOSED to take off his diaper by himself, but he does it anyway. Any tips on how to get him to leave it on?
4 people like this
14 responses
@latsmom (824)
17 May 07
Yes definately!!! my daughetr went through the naked phase too, and my solution wa sthe pull ups that both huggies and pampers now do, they start from very small sizes now plus he will feel all grown up in them, they look like pants and pull up like them but have the absorbancy of a nappy, plus the new fad shoudl keep him occupied at least until he is ready to be potty trained, but also when you go to the toilet take him with you adn let him have a go too, but as you say he is still only young and there is no point in forcing him, but if he is ready to learn don't hold him back and also if all else fails there are always the pampers care mats that you can chuck under him while he is having his daytime nap.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
17 May 07
We might try that! Thanks! We have some size 4 easy ups that a neighbor gave us when her little one moved up in size. They are kind of a pain to change until he gets used to them and takes them on and off himself, though, aren't they? I guess we could try them just for night and nap time, though!
2 people like this
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
18 May 07
Thanks! I hadn't really looked at them. I thought I still had at least 5-6 more months before I start potty training (we're moving this summer and I don't want to start until he gets settled in at the new house). I will try those on him and see how they work. I hope he doesn't see me pull them off, and think that it's easy, and then do it himself! Maybe if I combine them with the shorts that he can't get off, they will work.
2 people like this
• Canada
17 May 07
there not that hard to take off if you have the ones that can rip off. yes you have to pull them on like underwear but they usually have tear sides as well now. so i'm not sure if he'll be able to do that himself, if he can it might not fix the problem but they are harder for kids to tear off then the little tabby ones.
1 person likes this
@PsychoDude (2013)
• Netherlands
17 May 07
For old and demented people you have diaper pants, they are just like shorts put on basically, so if he wears something over it it can't be pulled off. Unless he's one of those little magicians which would be able to take of their underwear without taking off their pants as well. Another option is those (wool) longie diaper cover like: http://www.greenmountaindiapers.com/aristolongiebig.jpg But they might be warm if you live where it's relatively warm.
1 person likes this
• Netherlands
17 May 07
I don't know btw if there are diaper pants like that for kids as well, but since it's available for adults I'm sure someone must have created it for kids as well.
1 person likes this
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
7 Jun 07
My son is 16 months. He started this about 2 months ago. It was a pain! We actually got him some little spiderman underwear, the smallest ones they had and put it over his diaper. It worked for us. I know someone else said to try underwear over the diaper, so I'm not taking their credit, I just want to let you know that it does work. Just make sure they are toddler underwear. Good luck!
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
7 Jun 07
6-9 shorts? He sure is a little guy! :) I'm running out of ideas. I'm thinking maybe put the diaper on backwards. LOL! I don't know what else I would do. I bet you he will be easy to potty train later down the road though. :) If I think of anything I will let you know. Good luck for now.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
7 Jun 07
He is really tall (33 inches) just really skinny, too. We actually tried that putting the diaper on backward idea, but he still got it off. lol My kid is studying to be a magician.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
7 Jun 07
We were going to try that, but couldn't find any small enough for him! He's really thin, and the smallest we found at Walmart was a 3T. He has a hard time keeping up pants taht are 12 month size, so I don't think the 3T's would be effective. :( We're going to keep looking though, and see if we can find something smaller. For now, we've switched him to Easy Ups when he sleeps, and still regular diapers during the day. We put a pair of size 6-9 shorts over the size 4 Easy Ups, and it's working so far.
@suspenseful (40193)
• Canada
16 Oct 07
When my boys were young, we used cloth diapers. It is harder to get the pin off and you cold lock them on so it is difficult for them to take it off. You are right, he is not ready for diaper training. (My husband's family is part Dutch and they train their kids as soon as they walk) but when he is two, he will be. Your boy might think he is ready for toilet training so you can maybe get him used to it, get the potty seat in the toilet and let him just see it. I would go for cloth diapers for a while.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
17 Oct 07
We seriously considered cloth diapering, but decided it just isn't practical for us. I can't do laundry. Well, I do if I absolutely have to, but because of back issues from an old injury and trauma to some muscles from my pregnancy, my doctor recommends that I don't do laundry. My husband doesn't mind doing laundry, but when he spends 14 hours a day away from home for work, it makes it hard for him to get it done. Adding another load every couple of days wouldn't work. This discussion was written a few months ago. We're potty training right now. He doesn't have night time control at all yet, but now that he gets to help take off his clothes and potty in his big boy potty, he doesn't take his clothes off without permission first. Plus it's cold enough that he can wear sleepers, and they are harder for him to get off alone. :)
• Canada
17 May 07
you can just buy a small pair of underwear and put the underwear ove the diaper. that way he won't be able to take the diaper off.
1 person likes this
@mememama (3076)
• United States
18 May 07
We use cloth diapers and they have snaps, thankfully! A few times he has wiggled around and pulled them down his butt lol, it's hard not to laugh! I would try not to react to it, he knows he gets a reaction from it so he'll keep repeating it, like all of the great things they do lol.
@carlaabt (3504)
• United States
19 May 07
He doesn't do it in front of us. He has a few times, and my husband let him know it wasn't appropriate. Both times he took his diaper off in front of my husband, my husband put it back on him, and didn't let him play anymore for a few minutes. He just does it when he's in bed now. He knows he isn't supposed to, but he does it anyway. We don't punish him for it, since we don't catch him in the act, and it's probably not really worth punishing him for anyway. It's just frustrating cleaning up the messes all the time! I don't know how strong the snaps are on cloth diapers, but he has no issue at all getting snaps undone on things like pants and onesies.
1 person likes this
@mememama (3076)
• United States
19 May 07
I've heard about other kids doing what you are talking about, I can't remember who exactly but one of the toddlers in my family smeared poo all over the place when someone wasn't watching-it was just a phase thankfully! They are interested in what's going on down there ;)
@nishdan01 (3051)
• Singapore
18 May 07
I am facing the same problem with my 14 month old(today) when it comes to unfastening the diaper.I know he does it intentionally and it is fun for him.My son even once removed the diaper and threw in the dustbin.The only solution now is to but pull up pant diapers or making him wear shots even if it is warm.I find no other solution.My son walks and runs too.He runs and enters the lift if I open the door.Potty training-I tired and my son refuses to use it.He will kick the potty backwards.So I stopped that trial.May be after 18 months , I will try again.
@magnet (2087)
• United States
9 Jul 07
When my daughter started to take off her diaper I started putting her in pull ups and that works well for us. When she turned about 17mths she showed an interest in potty training. Everytime she saw me use the bathroom she would copy me and sit pull her pull up down and sit on her potty.
@roniroxas (10560)
• Philippines
7 Sep 07
i have four kids and here in the philippines is really hot so they get irritated wearing a nappy. but what to do they need to wear one. so i usually buy small underpants, briefs and panties so i can let them wear while they have their nappy on. now they are all in their early teens.... wish you luck. wink wink wink
@stacyv81 (5903)
• United States
3 Jun 07
duck tape it on...lol...ok I was totally just kidding. Maybe try the swim covers..they fit like underwear but hold in moisture. They fit quite tightly so maybe if he had one on, it'd be harder to get the diaper off if it was under there. I dont know so far I havent had that issue. But my daughter seems like she might be the one to do that. So, I look forward to hearing others ideas.
@miamilady (4910)
• United States
14 Aug 07
Some kids...and some people just like clothes less than others. I suggest trying "pull ups". They are a bit more expensive than regular diapers, but they don't have the tabs on them that he could just pull off. They are kind of like underwear. You pull em up. No taps. It should be harder for him to get those off. It might now solve the problem permanently, but it should slow him down for a while. If you do go that route. I'll give you a tip. It took me a while to figure this out...it might be on the package but i never looked at it. Their tear easily down the side. When my kids were using them and they would soil them, I'd try to carefully slide them off. It was a little tricky. I finally realized you can tear the side and remove them like a diaper... I guess once he sees you do that once or twice, he might figure it out and start tearing them off himself. But still, he might not have the coordination to do it. Good luck.
• United States
5 Jul 07
I know you don't want to hear this, but that is just too cute! I can remember when my daughter was that age, and she did exactly the same thing. We had to literally pin the bottom of her shirt to the top of her pants or shorts to keep her from pulling the diaper off. Your son may simply be uncomfortable. Or, his diaper may be causing him to chap. Try using more corn starch based baby powder so that he won't experience uncomfortable friction. You might also try using your a bigger diaper.
@3lilangels (4639)
• United States
11 Aug 07
my daughter is constantly taking off her diaper,i got to the point where i have to check her when shes in her crib.because if i dont check her every few minutes,there is always a mess.so i put 2 diaper on her and a pair of denim shorts.this actually works so great because the denim shorts are hard for her to take off,they have a hard button to undo.maybe you can try that,it worked for me so far.i did the training pants and stuff but they do get them off.they are smarter than we think.but its been 1 month now and no diaper taking off,thank god lol.
• United States
4 Apr 09
Get the Little Keeper Sleeper. No safety pins, duct tape or putting sleepers on backwards that don't fit correctly around your childs neck. This company created the perfect sleeper that all parents of toddlers should have. They work GREAT!! Check them out at www.littlekeepersleeper.com