The Hosing Technique: No More Wiping!

There's something I never got used to and I'm not sure I ever will: wiping babies.

I remember when Little Guy was a baby, nothing was more dreaded than changing a messy explosion, specially if it had climbed all over the back. It required a ritual that included undressing the baby in prone position and cleaning his back first, in which half a box of baby wipes would be spent.

And I never liked those things. They smelled funny, they were too thin and they were always too wet.

But one day, and forgive me if I have talked about this event in the past, Little Guy's explosion was so epic that it went over all his exersaucer. The diaper (disposable) was covered in and out. I needed help.

Between my husband and I, we got our 6 month-old monster and, me holding his hands and him his feet, we transported the little poopy ball directly to the bathtub, deattached the shower, set it up in water massage and "hosed him down".

I could not believe what I was seeing!! It took so little time and effort! I mean, we still had to deal with the prior mess, but the baby cleaning was fast and effective, and our hands were clean!!

Ever since that day, we opted for the hosing for big messes. My usage of baby wipes started to decrease, to the point that, when Tiny Guy was born, I still had about 5 bags for re-filling in the baby cabinet.

Eventually, when he was about 18 months and loved to rip off his diapers, we switched to pull-ups. That made it even easier to just put him standing on his dad's bath chair, take the diaper there, toss whatever we could in the toilet and the rest in the garbage, and hose him down. We got it down to a science.

I practically forgot what it was to clean babies with messy diapers, despite the fact that Little Guy was not potty trained when Tiny Guy was born. Then the whole nightmare re-started and I got out my remaining 5 bags of baby wipes, and of course, had to buy more of those.

Then I switched to cloth diapers, which made the endavour easier and less smelly, but the kicker was using wash clothes as wipes, since they would remain in the diaper and just be washed with everything else, it was easier, and I only needed one to clean the whole area. Once Tiny Guy was able to stand on his own, to the shower we go!!!

So, if Tiny Guy happens to poop when we're out and about, which he hardly ever does, he may get a traditional change with a wash cloth, but otherwise, his butt is extremly grateful for the prompt and efficient cleaning it gets on a poopy basis.