When does the wrestling of diapers and clothing stop?

OMG they are 14 months old now and I feel like all I do is wrestle them for diapers and clothing. I break a sweat at night getting them from the tub into their jammies. it seemed to get better, but they were just lulling me to sleep...How much longer does this go on?

 

LOL...I just saw that you posted that you're anxious to see responses to my trip post....well I'm anxious to see what you hear on this post!! It is so hard to get them changed, and they are so strong I can't (or won't) physically make them stay put. Looking right at their faces and singing a song works for a short time, but not long enough to get the job done if it's poopy.

ETA: Re breaking a sweat...the other night as I came out of the boys' room, dh asked me if something was wrong because my upper lip was all wet....I said no, just sweaty from changing the boys!

 

Sorry to say 21 months and counting.

 

Oh - boy - I thought there was some light at the end of the tunnel for me on this one - it's wrestlemania almost every change. It's the time I feel most frusterated with my girls. I work up a sweat before 7 am every morning! And forget it if I let them run around naked at night for a short time (they LOVE this) but getting them to get into pj's is a battle! A toy or song will divert them for a short while - but when there's a loaded diaper - I feel I have to physically hold them down as they'd get poop everywhere! No advice - sorry - just right there with you!! Here's to pro wrestling!

 

Try offering "non-toys" to keep them busy for a moment (if you kept the baby nose bulb, that one has always been a favorite), sing the same song every time so they begin to anticipate the song, make faces... whatever you can think of to keep their minds on something else.

The fighting really tapered off here when they became interested in dressing themselves (because I let them try and they do love to do things themselves) but don't think for a moment that this makes the dressing process go more quickly

 

I don't take any *&^% here on the changing table. I have NO desire for poop anywhere other than in the diaper pail. If they start to turn over or fight me, I tell them "do you want to go in your crib?" They 99% of the time then stop. I also of course give them books or non-toys as soon as we get on the changing table.
If they DO refuse to stop and keep turning over, I put them right in their crib, take out their blanket & toys, close the door and walk away for about 60 seconds. (I usually make the bed or clean the sink or fold laundry in this time so I actually don't mind the screaming. ha ha) When I go back in, I say "we're going to try again. Stay put please or we'll go back in the crib." Neither one has ever turned over again or fought me since we started this. I only have to say "do you want to go in your crib?" and it all stops.
Best of luck!
Kathleen

 

We're still there too (21 months) and in fact, it's got worse because they now keep taking off their clothes as well. Although it does come and go in intensity. Over the months we have found a few things which help (a bit):

• make doing something they want to do contingent upon being dressed ("when you're dressed you can go and play outside / draw etc") so it gives them an incentive to get dressed - about half the time this works, but we do have to wait for there to be something they want to do first
  
  using pull-ups at bedtime (because I'm just too tired to fight with them over proper nappies but they're too expensive to use all day long)
  
  let them choose between two tops or trousers etc and then get themselves dressed, doing the things they can do (like pull up the zip with help or pull up the socks once they're on, at your age)
  
  get dressed in stages so they get a run-around between the stages
  
  tell them what's about to happen "once you've eaten dinner then daddy's going to bathe you, mummy's going to put your nappy and your pyjamas on [and then you can go and choose some books to read]". they probably won't understand initially, but gradually they will
  
  give them something to play with whilst having a nappy change which they're not usually allowed to play with unsupervised (although it's sometimes a problem to wrestle this back off them afterwards!).
  
  the very last change of the night, after the bath, we cheat. we don't have a TV or a DVD player, but when we're getting them dressed for bed, if it's very hard going, we let them watch short clips of family members that i've filmed or a couple of nice things we've found on youtube at the same time as we're getting them dressed (and make watching this contingent on already having put their nappies on).

Nothing works all the time, but these suggestions sometimes help. Good luck!
lisa

 

well at 21 months NOTHING works - toys, non toys, helk I even change them so they can see the TV thinking it would help- NOPE!

one thing that did help a bit was to put them in pull-ups - they hate laying down for diaper changes so they think its cool to step into their diaper

 

It comes & goes, but at the moment (27 months) it's easier for us than it was at 14 months. In general it's not too bad right now -- assuming they are willing to wear what I've chosen. They wind up wearing some interesting outfits because things go much more smoothly if I let them pick out their own clothes. But sometimes they are distracted and don't care what I put on them as long as I get it over with quickly.

Diapering is harder, but this trick sometimes works: Before I start, I ask them where they want to be changed -- on the changing table or on a towel on the bed. (We do both.) Then, if they fight too hard, I say "If you don't hold still, I'm going to have to change you on [the opposite of what they picked]." Works about 50% of the time. The rest of the time, I pin them down, or do it standing up (they're more likely to stand still that way).

However, I don't think that logic would work at 14 months. At that age, it's not so much about preferences, but about just not wanting to be still even for the 30 seconds that it takes to change a diaper.

 

Hate to say it but even at 31 months it's still tough, except instead of wrestling for you to do it, they wrestle so they can do it themselves! Which is great in some respects but not always when you're late for something and are in a hurry! Hang in there it begins to get easier...

 

Still going strong here at 23m.

Ours started EXACTLY on their first birthday.

Consider it training...perhaps you have a future career in the WWF arena.