Baptism By Fire: A New Father's Foray Into Diaper Changing

Nevin Barich

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , November 13, 2018 () – I never understood the phrase “two steps forward, one step back” so acutely until I became a father and had to start changing diapers.

Before my son was born, I had never changed a diaper in my life. Frankly, the mere thought terrified me to no end. I remember first meeting my niece when she was 6 weeks old and watching her diaper being changed. She screamed at the top of her lungs and flailed her legs all about, and my sister and brother-in-law were in full-on “batten down the hatches” mode. They were just trying to survive. I remember telling my wife later that day: “I can’t handle diapers. We’re adopting. Age 5 and up.”

But fast forward four years. I have a 6-week-old boy who made it clear from the get-go that he had zero interest in his daddy’s fear of changing diapers. He needed changing from his first moments of life, which meant I was thrown into the fire.

Being instantly inundated with changing disposable diapers multiple times a day, I came to have a strange fascination with the product. For one thing, it’s both simple and complex. The concept is simple: Open up the flaps, put the diaper underneath your baby’s bottom, fold up and Velcro each side. It seems easy, and sometimes it is. I have times where I change a diaper so quickly that I feel like “professional diaper changer” was the life role I was born to play.

But the practice is often more complex. When I open up the diaper, it seems to fold back into itself as soon as I let go. The Velcro flaps sometimes stick together, I’m either positioning the diaper too high or too low, and when I Velcro each side, a lot of times one side detaches. Plus, my wife keeps reminding me to open up the flares.

I still don’t know what that means. What I do know is that I’ve had several days, even weeks in now, where I feel like a diaper dunce.

Then there’s determining whether the diaper even needs to be changed. The issue, of course, isn’t when the baby goes No. 2. That’s pretty obvious. But determining whether a pee-pee has occurred isn’t as obvious as one might think. Unless, of course, you’ve invested in the diapers that have the yellow line in the front that turns blue when the baby pees. Whoever invented that, thank you! Because without it, I’m clueless as to whether I’m face-to-face with urine.

When it comes to changing diapers, there’s no room for those who are hesitant. You must roll up your sleeves and dive right in. It’s truly one of the last baptism-by-fire experiences in this world.

Nevin Barich is the Food and Beverage Analyst for Industry Intelligence, which can help YOU better address your own industry challenges. We invite you to come take a look at our service. Call us today at 310-553-0008 and we’ll schedule you for a 15-minute demo.

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