Saturday, February 08, 2014

DIY Big Kid Onesie

One of the challenges we've faced with Joe is keeping him from getting into his diaper (and creating chaos with his feces) when he is dirty - especially at nap-time before we get him up.  We have tried a series of things before finding one that seems to be successful.  Here is the progression of our 


Attempt one: sheet corner fasteners
We used two different kinds of sheet corner fasteners to clip his shirt to stay tucked in.  It worked briefly but was too stretchy and frankly didn't hold strong enough.  Eventually Joe would fiddle with it long enough that it would either come unfastened or he would get around it and still make a mess with his poop.

Attempt two:  cloth diaper snaps
Next I attempted to create a crotch strap of sorts using cloth diaper snaps.  The trouble I had was finding a material that was strong enough to do the job but thin enough for the snaps to fit on.  And I wasn't get the hang of the snap thing anyway.  I kept getting them on there kind of wonky and they didn't have a real good hold if they weren't on just right.

Attempt three: onesie conversion



Inspired by this "onesie extender tutorial" post titled "Seriously, Keep that Diaper On", I cut the crotch strap off of some onesies and sewed them onto a few under shirts.  This has been our best solution yet.  They are wider than previous attempts and its easier for me because the snaps are already in place and I don't have to fiddle with a clamp trying to attach the snaps to the fabric myself. 
Joe seems to tolerate it very well.  The only thing we've come up against is that he will sometimes hop out of his pants during nap-time and then have access to the diaper via the side.  So we currently will snap the "onesie" over the top of his pants which keep the pants in place and his hands out of trouble.

So far this is working for us.  I would love to hear of ideas other special needs families have used.  Any suggestions?  ;-)

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