How to Change a Cloth Adult Diaper
Decipher if the wearer really needs their diaper changed., Determine which type of cloth adult diaper you need to use., Fold the diaper (if needed) in advance of the diaper change., Determine where you’d like to change the wearer's diaper., Grab a...
Step-by-Step Guide
-
Step 1: Decipher if the wearer really needs their diaper changed.
Although one common trait is the smell of either urine or poop in the wearer's diaper region, the fact that the diaper could sag could be another and could indicate the need for their diaper to need changing.
Despite the person's age, no adult enjoys having someone check to see if they are ready for a diaper change.
Doing so will most often actually degrade this person's emotional status everytime this is done and make the person changing them want to stop them doing it from that point forward.
Try not to leave the person in a wet or soiled diaper for too long.
Diaper rashes (especially those resulting from cloth diapers) are the result of leaving the diaper-wearer to sit/lay in their wet and soggy or soiled diaper for an elongated period of time.
Check into the status of the wearer's diaper every once in a while, to ensure their diaper is still dry. -
Step 2: Determine which type of cloth adult diaper you need to use.
Despite most babies' cloth diapers being large cloths that will still need to be folded, some adult cloth diapers are prefolded and won't need to be folded but will need to be snapped in place or have Velcro closings to be secured on the wearer, but this will depend on the specific brand of diaper you are using. , Most cloth diaper folds used on babies still applies for adults wearing cloth diapers, so the information posed in Fold a Cloth Diaper should still apply.
You can set this diaper off to the side until needed, once it is folded.
Although uncommon for adults to roll around when having their diaper changed, folding the diaper is especially useful for time restraints and any ways to make the change more pleasant is to make it shorter and having the diaper ready to go would be best done before the change is needed.
If the wearer tends to oversoak their diapers in a short period of time, try double-diapering them instead.
Use two diapers stacked inside one another when preparing the diapers together. , Although most adult cloth-diaper wearers aren't big enough anymore to use a diaper-changing table, most will elect to use the floor and that's perfectly okay.
You can also use a bed with a waterproof plastic cover and old towel spread out on it.
Although this change won't matter, most people who have to change a cloth adult diaper, prefer to have this done on a carpeted floor. , Place them all in the diaper changing-area so you can grab it all one-handed and in a place where you can keep your eyes completely on the wearer.
Although the diaper should be on hand, other items would include powders and/or diaper rash creams, along with a clean (and potentially newly-washed rubber pant), a cleaning cloth for any additional urine that wasn't soaked up by the diaper and some new clothes (if the urine soaked through their rubber pant onto the rest of their bottom half of their clothes). , Though most disposable waterproof underpads will no longer be able to fit the entire adult body, they can withstand the stress coming from an accidental over-wetting in the case the adult cloth diaper wearer "springs a leak"
and these can prevent the changing surface from becoming wet. , The place you lay them doesn't have to perfectly center underneath their behind, but as long as their rear end is resting fully on the pad, they should be ready for their diaper-change.
Although adults who require cloth diapers can still wiggle around, not many adults will choose to wiggle around.
However, take every available safety option to keep them from hurting themselves and so strap them in and keep them from moving as best as you can until you ask them to move. , This area may include items such as any pants they were wearing along with their diaper as well as any used cleaning cloths and rubber pants that will have become wet or have been soiled in some way. , Much like those of a baby's cloth diapering needs, only remove clothes that have gotten wet and set them aside.
Only remove clothes that are wet and start by removing items from their changing area on up to rolling up their shirts.
This should include their pants or shorts and socks and shoes/sneakers) as well as their rubber pant that needs to be used with any cloth diaper wearer.
Adult onesies need to be unbuttoned from the genital area and folded up including the back fasteners folded up from behind the wearer, to prevent an unobstructed view.
Never use the leg lift method to raise the wearer's legs if this person is an adult.
You must be able to roll the wearer over.
However hard it is to grab the rubber pants with this method.
Strip the rubber pant that will still impede the cloth adult diaper on the wearer.
Though a normal piece to help urine prevent a soaking feeling on their clothes, these pants are annoying, and can easily rip in the leg seems if removed roughly. , If the diaper doesn't use pins, look for snaps (on the right and left side of the diapers instead) or Velcro-fasteners (along the side onto the top front areas) of the diaper.
Undo or unfasten the snaps or Velcro tabs a bit but don't take the old diaper completely off. ,, Although it was once advised to use the ankle-hold technique with babies, with adults you will need to be advised to roll them over instead.
Most adults are bigger and that by rolling them over leaves them in less-vulnerable position to feel "too exposed". (While standing behind them while holding them with your right arm, and rolling and placing the older diaper up with your left hand, letting their left arm get rolled over under their side for a moment.) Place the old diaper to the side once you have obtained it.
Watch out for solid fecal matter as well as urine and other bodily fluids.
Although a great place to hold this is on top of the pile with all the other wet clothes, if you have time to slip it in a dirty-wash basin, go for it.
Keep in mind that some adult diaper-wearers can and will still urinate into the air when exposed to the cooler air in the room and should be covered with a cloth until you are ready to switch to using the clean diaper. , Remember to wipe from front to back (especially in girls and women) to prevent the spread of fecal bacteria into other areas of the body.
If you don't have any of these, you can also use a clean area of the old diaper to clean.
Try not to spread the mess on a third cloth diaper to prevent a large load of laundry later on. , Alternatively, you can later place some diaper-powder down onto the cloth diaper to prepare for the next soaking of the diaper to ensure the wetness doesn't hurt the wearer's skin the next time.
Only use A & D ointment and zinc oxide based ointments like Desitin in their genital region if there is diaper rash or as a preventative measure, due to the holding-power of cloth diapers to keep urine in the folds of the wearer's skin near their genital organs.
Smear a glob of the ointment/cream in this area and coat their external organs in these "medicines".
You may wish to use a cotton swab/Q-tip to apply the ointment, if necessary. , Make sure that the center crease or double-thickness area of the diaper is towards the wearer's front.
You'll might want to be close to spot-on where you place it during the diaper-change, to prevent extra overhang from being seen or noticed (or even felt) by the wearer.
For those who have prefolded diapers that have snaps or Velcro, you may need to keep your hand outstretched in the diapers core until the person has been laid back down onto the clean diaper so the diaper doesn't readjust and fold back up while situating the placement of the person onto/into their cleaner and drier cloth diaper. , You'll need to be able to outstretch your arms, but you will need a firm grip on the diaper to bring it up, over and around.
Lay the dry diaper temporarily on the wearer's skin so that you can obtain the new pins or get ready to fix up the diaper again. , For those who've chosen to use prefolded diapers, you shouldn't need to flare out the sides any, but you must be able to hold your arm overtop of their genital region of the wearer's dry diaper for a moment as you'll complete the next step.
The amount of diaper you flare back out onto the diaper's sides will depend on the size of the diaper-wearer's weight and width of their waistline.
Stay consistent as you work with only one side of the diaper at a time.
Flare out and work with only one side at a time.
The side you begin with shouldn't matter.
If you choose the left back, pick the left-front, alternatively when you move on tot he right side, work with both the right back and right front sides of the diaper. , If you formerly used diaper pins and the former diaper pins aren't broken, use these diaper pins to secure the diaper.
If you had something else that works well that was used to secure these diapers, use them instead.
Pre-folded diapers with Velcro fasteners work well, pull each side up and over and push them down onto the face of the diaper.Be sure not to push it through all the layers of the inner diapers' folded layers.
Be sure to insert the end of the pins away from the wearer's navel/belly button.
If you don't want to stick yourself, don't push the pins through all layers of the diaper fabrics.
If you'd like to give yourself some extra security of having the diaper not fall off, you can secure these diapers using two pins per side (one up and one lower), but make sure to secure the lower one first before securing the top for both sides.
Push the pin from the original location into the one layer of the diaper fabric towards the pin head and around the diaper's pin head notch created in most diaper pins.
Snap the diaper pins closed from both sides.
Diaper pins are created with an open section in the pin-head.
Push the pin around and into the head of the pin’s opening, and push inwards so the pin-head is covering this end of the pin.
You can reuse a baby's diaper pins for these cloth diapers, if you'd like, or you can order adult ones.
Adult ones are the same size of those used for babies, so just recycle these if you have them available for use. , Both sides will need to be fixed to ensure a proper fit. , If the rubber pant was wet, choose to use a dry pant.
If it wasn't all that wet, you can either reuse the pant or use a dry one from a few extras you might have had to keep on hand. , Pull down and refasten the snaps to any adult onesies the wearer is using, or change the clothing much like any other piece of clothing.
The order here doesn't matter, but you can begin with the person's top and work down past the pants onto their socks and sneakers/shoes. , Bring the soiled diaper diaper to the laundering station for further cleanup. , Remove all wet clothes from the pile and place any of the other unused changing supplies back where they were originally found (or where they belong if found in areas other than where they belonged if accidentally misplaced).
Take care of any wet underpads by placing them into a trash basin (for disposable pads) or into the laundry bucket for cleanup (for reusable ones).
Place all wet clothes into a laundry basket that can be carried to your laundering area as where all your other laundry will go. , Make sure to close the diaper pail's lid tightly.
Wash the dirty cloth diapers to prepare them for future use and rinse them well afterwards. -
Step 3: Fold the diaper (if needed) in advance of the diaper change.
-
Step 4: Determine where you’d like to change the wearer's diaper.
-
Step 5: Grab a hold of all needed items excluding (for a moment) the wearer in question.
-
Step 6: Lay a waterproof changing pad (such as either an adult waterproof pad or Goodnites Underpads) on the changing surface to prepare a mess-free changing environment.
-
Step 7: Bring the adult diaper-wearer over to the changing area and lay them down on the pad so that their rear end is in the pad's center core.
-
Step 8: Make sure to keep an area near the changing area open to receive any of the dirty clothes from the wearer's ensemble and will need to be changed out of.
-
Step 9: Remove any and all of the wearer's outer clothes (including the rubber pant).
-
Step 10: Look for and remove any diaper pins that exist on the diaper.
-
Step 11: Pull the diaper outwards from the center of the person's stomach and lay the diaper flat onto the changing surface.
-
Step 12: Roll the person over onto their side
-
Step 13: and pull out the dirty diaper from underneath the wearer
-
Step 14: but do not slip a clean diaper underneath the wearer just yet.
-
Step 15: Use a diaper wipe or wet cleaning cloth to clean the person's rather-sensitive genital areas from urine or fecal matter that may have settled there.
-
Step 16: Place a smear of diaper rash cream on their behind as well as in the genitals near their diaper region.
-
Step 17: Spread the freshly-folded diaper onto the surface then roll the person back onto their back.
-
Step 18: Fold the diaper up
-
Step 19: over and around the wearer's genitals until the diaper's top center has met the wearer's waistline.
-
Step 20: Flare out and position both sides of the back portion of the diaper a little (if this diaper is of the non-prefolded style).
-
Step 21: Secure the diaper in place.
-
Step 22: Repeat these steps for the opposite side.
-
Step 23: Clothe the wearer back into a pair of rubber pants.
-
Step 24: Re-dress the wearer in their applicable clothes.
-
Step 25: Dispose of any poop from the soiled diaper into a toilet
-
Step 26: and roll the diaper carefully up into a ball.
-
Step 27: Clean up the changing area.
-
Step 28: Place the dirty cloth diaper into a small plastic bag
-
Step 29: and place it into the diaper pail nearby.
Detailed Guide
Although one common trait is the smell of either urine or poop in the wearer's diaper region, the fact that the diaper could sag could be another and could indicate the need for their diaper to need changing.
Despite the person's age, no adult enjoys having someone check to see if they are ready for a diaper change.
Doing so will most often actually degrade this person's emotional status everytime this is done and make the person changing them want to stop them doing it from that point forward.
Try not to leave the person in a wet or soiled diaper for too long.
Diaper rashes (especially those resulting from cloth diapers) are the result of leaving the diaper-wearer to sit/lay in their wet and soggy or soiled diaper for an elongated period of time.
Check into the status of the wearer's diaper every once in a while, to ensure their diaper is still dry.
Despite most babies' cloth diapers being large cloths that will still need to be folded, some adult cloth diapers are prefolded and won't need to be folded but will need to be snapped in place or have Velcro closings to be secured on the wearer, but this will depend on the specific brand of diaper you are using. , Most cloth diaper folds used on babies still applies for adults wearing cloth diapers, so the information posed in Fold a Cloth Diaper should still apply.
You can set this diaper off to the side until needed, once it is folded.
Although uncommon for adults to roll around when having their diaper changed, folding the diaper is especially useful for time restraints and any ways to make the change more pleasant is to make it shorter and having the diaper ready to go would be best done before the change is needed.
If the wearer tends to oversoak their diapers in a short period of time, try double-diapering them instead.
Use two diapers stacked inside one another when preparing the diapers together. , Although most adult cloth-diaper wearers aren't big enough anymore to use a diaper-changing table, most will elect to use the floor and that's perfectly okay.
You can also use a bed with a waterproof plastic cover and old towel spread out on it.
Although this change won't matter, most people who have to change a cloth adult diaper, prefer to have this done on a carpeted floor. , Place them all in the diaper changing-area so you can grab it all one-handed and in a place where you can keep your eyes completely on the wearer.
Although the diaper should be on hand, other items would include powders and/or diaper rash creams, along with a clean (and potentially newly-washed rubber pant), a cleaning cloth for any additional urine that wasn't soaked up by the diaper and some new clothes (if the urine soaked through their rubber pant onto the rest of their bottom half of their clothes). , Though most disposable waterproof underpads will no longer be able to fit the entire adult body, they can withstand the stress coming from an accidental over-wetting in the case the adult cloth diaper wearer "springs a leak"
and these can prevent the changing surface from becoming wet. , The place you lay them doesn't have to perfectly center underneath their behind, but as long as their rear end is resting fully on the pad, they should be ready for their diaper-change.
Although adults who require cloth diapers can still wiggle around, not many adults will choose to wiggle around.
However, take every available safety option to keep them from hurting themselves and so strap them in and keep them from moving as best as you can until you ask them to move. , This area may include items such as any pants they were wearing along with their diaper as well as any used cleaning cloths and rubber pants that will have become wet or have been soiled in some way. , Much like those of a baby's cloth diapering needs, only remove clothes that have gotten wet and set them aside.
Only remove clothes that are wet and start by removing items from their changing area on up to rolling up their shirts.
This should include their pants or shorts and socks and shoes/sneakers) as well as their rubber pant that needs to be used with any cloth diaper wearer.
Adult onesies need to be unbuttoned from the genital area and folded up including the back fasteners folded up from behind the wearer, to prevent an unobstructed view.
Never use the leg lift method to raise the wearer's legs if this person is an adult.
You must be able to roll the wearer over.
However hard it is to grab the rubber pants with this method.
Strip the rubber pant that will still impede the cloth adult diaper on the wearer.
Though a normal piece to help urine prevent a soaking feeling on their clothes, these pants are annoying, and can easily rip in the leg seems if removed roughly. , If the diaper doesn't use pins, look for snaps (on the right and left side of the diapers instead) or Velcro-fasteners (along the side onto the top front areas) of the diaper.
Undo or unfasten the snaps or Velcro tabs a bit but don't take the old diaper completely off. ,, Although it was once advised to use the ankle-hold technique with babies, with adults you will need to be advised to roll them over instead.
Most adults are bigger and that by rolling them over leaves them in less-vulnerable position to feel "too exposed". (While standing behind them while holding them with your right arm, and rolling and placing the older diaper up with your left hand, letting their left arm get rolled over under their side for a moment.) Place the old diaper to the side once you have obtained it.
Watch out for solid fecal matter as well as urine and other bodily fluids.
Although a great place to hold this is on top of the pile with all the other wet clothes, if you have time to slip it in a dirty-wash basin, go for it.
Keep in mind that some adult diaper-wearers can and will still urinate into the air when exposed to the cooler air in the room and should be covered with a cloth until you are ready to switch to using the clean diaper. , Remember to wipe from front to back (especially in girls and women) to prevent the spread of fecal bacteria into other areas of the body.
If you don't have any of these, you can also use a clean area of the old diaper to clean.
Try not to spread the mess on a third cloth diaper to prevent a large load of laundry later on. , Alternatively, you can later place some diaper-powder down onto the cloth diaper to prepare for the next soaking of the diaper to ensure the wetness doesn't hurt the wearer's skin the next time.
Only use A & D ointment and zinc oxide based ointments like Desitin in their genital region if there is diaper rash or as a preventative measure, due to the holding-power of cloth diapers to keep urine in the folds of the wearer's skin near their genital organs.
Smear a glob of the ointment/cream in this area and coat their external organs in these "medicines".
You may wish to use a cotton swab/Q-tip to apply the ointment, if necessary. , Make sure that the center crease or double-thickness area of the diaper is towards the wearer's front.
You'll might want to be close to spot-on where you place it during the diaper-change, to prevent extra overhang from being seen or noticed (or even felt) by the wearer.
For those who have prefolded diapers that have snaps or Velcro, you may need to keep your hand outstretched in the diapers core until the person has been laid back down onto the clean diaper so the diaper doesn't readjust and fold back up while situating the placement of the person onto/into their cleaner and drier cloth diaper. , You'll need to be able to outstretch your arms, but you will need a firm grip on the diaper to bring it up, over and around.
Lay the dry diaper temporarily on the wearer's skin so that you can obtain the new pins or get ready to fix up the diaper again. , For those who've chosen to use prefolded diapers, you shouldn't need to flare out the sides any, but you must be able to hold your arm overtop of their genital region of the wearer's dry diaper for a moment as you'll complete the next step.
The amount of diaper you flare back out onto the diaper's sides will depend on the size of the diaper-wearer's weight and width of their waistline.
Stay consistent as you work with only one side of the diaper at a time.
Flare out and work with only one side at a time.
The side you begin with shouldn't matter.
If you choose the left back, pick the left-front, alternatively when you move on tot he right side, work with both the right back and right front sides of the diaper. , If you formerly used diaper pins and the former diaper pins aren't broken, use these diaper pins to secure the diaper.
If you had something else that works well that was used to secure these diapers, use them instead.
Pre-folded diapers with Velcro fasteners work well, pull each side up and over and push them down onto the face of the diaper.Be sure not to push it through all the layers of the inner diapers' folded layers.
Be sure to insert the end of the pins away from the wearer's navel/belly button.
If you don't want to stick yourself, don't push the pins through all layers of the diaper fabrics.
If you'd like to give yourself some extra security of having the diaper not fall off, you can secure these diapers using two pins per side (one up and one lower), but make sure to secure the lower one first before securing the top for both sides.
Push the pin from the original location into the one layer of the diaper fabric towards the pin head and around the diaper's pin head notch created in most diaper pins.
Snap the diaper pins closed from both sides.
Diaper pins are created with an open section in the pin-head.
Push the pin around and into the head of the pin’s opening, and push inwards so the pin-head is covering this end of the pin.
You can reuse a baby's diaper pins for these cloth diapers, if you'd like, or you can order adult ones.
Adult ones are the same size of those used for babies, so just recycle these if you have them available for use. , Both sides will need to be fixed to ensure a proper fit. , If the rubber pant was wet, choose to use a dry pant.
If it wasn't all that wet, you can either reuse the pant or use a dry one from a few extras you might have had to keep on hand. , Pull down and refasten the snaps to any adult onesies the wearer is using, or change the clothing much like any other piece of clothing.
The order here doesn't matter, but you can begin with the person's top and work down past the pants onto their socks and sneakers/shoes. , Bring the soiled diaper diaper to the laundering station for further cleanup. , Remove all wet clothes from the pile and place any of the other unused changing supplies back where they were originally found (or where they belong if found in areas other than where they belonged if accidentally misplaced).
Take care of any wet underpads by placing them into a trash basin (for disposable pads) or into the laundry bucket for cleanup (for reusable ones).
Place all wet clothes into a laundry basket that can be carried to your laundering area as where all your other laundry will go. , Make sure to close the diaper pail's lid tightly.
Wash the dirty cloth diapers to prepare them for future use and rinse them well afterwards.
About the Author
Doris Turner
Professional writer focused on creating easy-to-follow lifestyle tutorials.
Rate This Guide
How helpful was this guide? Click to rate: