2yo Fighting diaper changes

[mommyria2]

Ugh this is a new thing. Just a couple months ago he was a perfectly cooperative little dude. Now he just wants to be nekkid all the time. I'm fine with that for a little bit but eventually he needs to get dressed. During the day it's not a huge problem bc he likes to wear shoes and everything else gets put of before shoes. It's MUCH worse at night before bedtime. He really puts up a fight then, kicking, thrashing, back-arching and screaming like we are killing him. I hate having to tackle him and hold him down but I can't let the bedtime routine drag on indefinitely... sigh, he used to be so cooperative, pick out pjs, get a diaper, lay the diaper down on the changing pad and lay down on top of it and help us get him dressed, now he fights everything.

[chello]

Maybe he's ready or getting ready to be ready (lol) to PL?

[mibarra]

Sounds like he's 2. They discover they have all this power over the world, and take every chance to assert it. My DD2 is going through the same thing. I count to 3, saying what I want each time: "1, come put on your diaper, 2 come put on your diaper, 3 come put on your diaper" If they don't then I tell them "Mommy gave you a chance to come put on your diaper, now Mommy will do it for you." It works like magic on my girls. After about a week of this they start doing what I ask by the time I say 3. I don't use it all the time, only in situations where they HAVE to do something (diapers, carseat, etc)

[hpfgirl]

Yeah, potty train him! He's begging for it.

[jbug_4]

Yeah ds has started to fight it too. I try to make a game out of it. Tickle him some, do itsy bitsy spider. Usually it works, but if all else fails I hold him down- which we both hate. We also read a book after diaper and jammies are on so a lot of times I can use that- "we're not reading your book until diaper is on". Sometimes he'll hold the book he wants while I change him. We certainly don't have one trick we use. I am going to try the counting thing above one night- he attention span is kind of short though, he's a pretty active boy so I am not sure it will work. But I'll try anything if it keeps me from having to hold him down.

[wordbox]

My son did this as well. He still "fights" a bit, but mostly in a silly way where he wants us to chase him.

One thing that really really helped him was explaining wet and dry. We mostly use diapers with cotton interiors so that he can feel when he pees (we mostly use Grovia AI2s and some other AIOS, like BGEs, Grovias, and Swaddlebees). I did this to simplify our diapering routine (since I now have 2 in cloth, so it helps to have him out of pockets... we only use those for naps and overnights so he feels dry), and to help ready him for learning to use the potty.

Anyhow, when it was time for a diaper change I would tell him to come feel the dry diaper. When I changed him, I'd also let him feel the one that was wet. This really piqued his curiosity and he started telling me when he felt other things that were wet or dry. He began fighting diaper changes a lot less when we started doing this. Asking him to feel the dry diapers and explaining that we needed to get him out of the wet diaper seemed to make him stop and think, which derailed his tantrums a bit.

It's also just a good step to take in understanding their bodily functions. My son isn't quite ready to PL but he's getting close. Now he (usually) tells us when he pees/poops, and will sometimes pee and then sit on the potty. I can see him starting to make those connections.