Diaper FREE!!!

 

My motto for this post:
Being diaper FREE!!!
"JUST DO IT"

 

We have been delaying Sienna from being completely diaper free since we were busy moving (2 times in Singapore) in a span of 3 months and (2 times in USA) in a span of 2 months!!!

But as soon as we bought and moved to our own "permanent" place here in Charlotte (North Carolina, USA), we knew right away we had to pull the plug and just do it!!!
The kids had their own shared room with their own mattresses!

No more sharing with mommy n daddy...

 

When to know when your kid is ready:
For Skyler it was extremely EASY.
We knew right away at an early age of 2.5 yrs old that he can hold his pee all thru the night as he wakes up with dry diapers in the morning.

Whereas for Sienna, she will wake up with wet diapers so very often.
So we started them off with NAP time first.
And soon we knew SiennaSkyler were ready for night time.

 

Here are some important tips when starting the diaper free process:

1) buy a good reasonably priced WATERPROOF mattress protector! I cannot emphasized how much this is so very important and a life saver! Ever since we moved into our new home, we bought high quality quite expensive mattresses for the kids since high quality mattresses are important for everybody coz we spend 1/3 of our life sleeping. It's my OCD telling me that we can't ruin the mattresses with pee and it's unhygenic to sleep in dirty mattresses anyways. How do you even clean and dry soiled mattresses and worst case might further lead to mold?  So the best solution is to cover it up with WATERPROOF mattress protector. After doing some research n reading reviews, I got one that costs only $10 on sale (regular price $12.99) twin size (Cannon brand from Kmart). N every time the kids get an "accident", just throw it in the washer n dryer (following the instructions on it)!
So hassle free n stress free...
The "kiasu-ness" in me even layered in between the mattress n mattress protector with another layer of disposable mattress protector just to be double sure!!! Lols... but so far so good...

 

2) avoid drinks, yogurt n juicy fruits after 7-8pm.
My kids sleep late at around 10 pm. (This will soon change once Sienna starts kindergarten this August).
We used to give them their hot chocolate drink an hour before putting them to sleep (thinking they need their milk to sleep). But it's just a mental n community habit picked up from other parents/TV/etc ... now we give their hot chocolate milk right after they wake up from their nap, 5pm! And it works out fine for us...

 

3) take them to pee right before bed.
(And AGAIN just to make sure) ~> "kiasu"

We asked them to pee before brushing their teeth n then we start our nightly bedtime routine (family prayer, story telling/reading a book, kiss our night night kiss ritual). Then right before the lights are being turned off, we make them pee AGAIN for the 2nd time.

And surprisingly there would still be a little pee left in their tank!

 

4) wake them up in the middle of the night n take them to pee!
We heard this from other parents but as you know I just got my freedom n my beauty sleep back beginning of this year (stopped breastfeeding)... so heck no am I waking up! Lols. I have hinted this to Mr. Hubby but nahhhh, it didn't become a reality.

 

5) as soon as they wake up, remind them first thing first! Go pee pee... a few times Sienna was too excited to tell me about her dream or any story "under the stars" that by the time she made a run to the toilet, she would pee on the toilet floors!!!
Then after pee, they can jump into our beds to give us morning cuddles n kisses...

Skyler just goes with the flow! Monkey see monkey do... he's at a phase where he thinks his jie jie Sienna is the coolest n loves to copy cat his sister...

 

6) start a reward chart for every dry night.
Daddy kept track of every dry nap and night for both kids on the calendar with a smiley face for more than 2 months.  After 10 smiley faces, the kids got to pick out their favorite picture for a printout. This really helps them to psychologically enjoy the success of keeping their beds pee-free!  The smiley faces were becoming more and more common as the weeks went by...

 

7) stay persistent n positive!!!
Many times it crossed my mind that maybe Sienna isn't ready yet. (But then again she's 5!!!) n to put her diapers on again. So I kept telling myself to stay focus n don't get stressed whenever she has her "accidents". Just another load of laundry, that's all!!! Kids can sense us, so stay positive n assure her that she can hold it in. True enough, the next day she was all smiley n told me she can indeed hold it in!!! She was getting discouraged too when she wet her bed a few times in a row. But they will learn a few times after getting their pants wet...

 

8) Accidents do happen!
That's why they are called accidents... Lols!!!
Remember: just another extra load of laundry...and stay positive!!!

 

I'm happy to announced that the Naga household has been diaper FREE since the beginning of this year!!! Say no more to diapers in this house...n say hello to more shopping for this momma... Lols!!!

Yes, the diaper bag that I had for the past 5 years has been dumped into the dumpster this year since breastfeeding cover n diapers have been taken out of my vocabulary!
Hello Prada n Gucci bag ... okay, kidding only! More like Coach, perhaps?