What Is A Diaper Blowout?

A diaper blowout is a real-life horror story of when your baby poops, and the poop has made its way out of your baby’s diaper. Poop is all over the place – up your baby’s back, on their legs and possibly on their bellies too.

This happens because the poop is often liquid, and the diaper that your baby is wearing cannot hold the poop any longer. There is no room for the poop to go, so it spreads up your baby’s back.

Diaper blowouts are extremely common, particularly with younger babies. It is also somewhat common in babies who wear disposable diapers. This is because disposable diapers have no elastic on the back to contain the poop. 

Cloth diapers, on the other hand, are thick and absorbent and the elastic on the back of the cloth diaper is often enough to contain the diaper poop. While a diaper blowout in cloth diapers are less likely, it could still happen. Containing diaper poop is not always possible, even if you use cloth diapers. This is because the diaper poop has to go somewhere if there is no more room in the diaper itself.

No one knows when it will happen. When you least expect it, you could get hit with a diaper blowout of epic proportion. Since it is common and some even say – inevitable –  all you can do is prepare yourself.

5 Helpful Tips to Prevent a Diaper Blowout

1. Change your baby’s diaper frequently. When the diaper is too full, poop will escape because there is not enough room for it in the diaper;
2. Your baby’s diaper should fit snugly to reduce the gaps where poop can escape. Be careful not to put it on too tight, but just snugly;
3. If you’re using disposable diapers, try various brands to get the best fit for your baby. (If you had a diaper party or a diaper raffle at your baby shower, you may actually have many brands to choose from.)
4. If you are breastfeeding, consider your own diet. A high fiber diet may be great for you but your baby’s stomach may not be ready for all that fiber.
5. Use envelope onesies whenever possible. In case of a blowout, you won’t need to pull a poopy diaper over your baby’s head – thereby getting poop into the baby’s hair. Instead, you can pull envelope onesies down.

Note From The Author

Been there, done that!

The worst is when you have prepared for a morning outing and you just dressed your little one in their your favorite baby outfit. You’ve packed the diaper bag and out the door you go.

You get to the coffee shop to catch up on the latest gossip and as you are about to bite into your favorite muffin, you smell something foul. Your baby must have pooped. Oh well, you’ll just go clean that up and get back to that delicious muffin.

You pick up your baby and something is not right. There is a stain on the car seat and your baby’s back is wet. That’s when you notice poop everywhere.

You excuse yourself without saying much because, well – you don’t know what has happened.

You get to the public restroom. The fancy outfit is no longer fancy. No, it is now covered with explosive poop. Poop is everywhere – down the legs and up your baby’s back.

This is going to take A LOT of wipes.

…There goes your appetite for that delicious muffin.

Helpful tip from mom to mom – always carry a lot of wipes and a spare outfit. If it’s not a diaper blowout, there will always be something else.

Feature image credit: bunchoberries.blogspot.com

---