5-mo-old touching his genitals during diaper changes

[Anonymous]

My 5-mo-old son has recently started doing this. I know he's just exploring with his hands, but he's getting diaper cream or even poop on his hands faster than I can wipe his diaper area clean. and, when I interrupt the diaper change to clean his hands, he's at it again right away. and, as an infant will do, he puts his hands straight into his mouth.

I've been trying to hold his hands back while changing his diaper, but that's nearly impossible. any advice?

[Anonymous]

I totally relate - have a seven month old daughter who was doing the same thing. We started keeping little toys right by all changing stations in our house. We hand one to her before we change the diaper and then she's busy putting the TOY in her mouth instead of playing around where she should not be playing around! It's worked for us. On weekends or at night if it's really poopy, we call it a two man job - one of us holds her hands while the other quickly changes the diaper!

[Anonymous]

PP is right, little toys help. Keep a couple she can only have during diaper changes so you're sure to have something on hand that will keep her attention.

[Anonymous]

Agree about the toys.

Wait until he's old enough to take off his diapers to touch himself - my 15 m.o. just started that trick! LOL

[clarabow]

How about using the toy distraction while you clean him up so he's not putting his hands in poop, then giving him a minute or two to explore before diapering him again?

[Anonymous]

OP here... the toy trick worked like a charm, except for when he briefly tried to put the toy on his genitals! ha! but, overall, this is a HUGE improvement. thanks, everyone!

[Anonymous]

I'm the first poster - that is hilarious!!! But glad that overall it worked. I am laughing right now on the couch as I read your post - told my husband and he had a good laugh, too.

[Anonymous]

Both my kids did this. I solved it by giving them their diapers to hold. Worked like a charm about 95% of the time. The other 5%, well, let's just say that it did not end well...

[Anonymous]

We had this trouble for awhile. I would also give my DS the diaper cream to hold -- he loves it, for some reason -- and make sure he had a pacifier to try to keep poopy hands out of his mouth. Good luck! For us it's been worse with a toddler than when he was an infant!

[Anonymous]

To the poster talking about when they can take their diaper off....my nephew used to take down his pants in public and play with his genitals. It got to a point where we'd just look at him and he'd know he couldn't do it. Once he said "Oh, okay. I put it back in". Haha. It was so cute.