Every Monday, I publish a reader question so everyone can offer help. Don’t miss any posts! Subscribe to our new RSS Feed or subscribe via email.
Questions don’t have to be cloth diaper related, just email maria at change-diapers.com with “Mailbox Mondays” in the subject, or fill out my contact form for readers, which you will always be able to find on my Contact Page.
Zach says:
Help! My daughter, age 14 months, somehow learned to remove her cloth
diapers—and they were snapped! She learned velcro a while ago, but
we thought we were safe with snaps. Any ideas for keeping her in her
diaper or teaching her that she shouldn’t unsnap them? She was showing
tentative interest in potty learning a few months ago, so we put her
on the potty in the AM, but then she lost interest and we felt she was
probably just too young. Do we need to potty-train her? Switch to
prefolds and pins? She hates diaper changes and tries to crawl away in
the middle of them, so I am hesitant to use anything that could hurt
her.
Thanks,
Perturbed in Pennsylvania
Duct tape? I kid, I kid!! Does she seem to be taking the diapers off when they are wet, or does she just like being naked? Both of my boys went through a stage where they thought it was hilarious, especially when they got a reaction from me! It didn’t last long.
In the meantime, if you have any side-snapping diapers, they are much more difficult for little ones to open. Consider putting a onesie on over the diaper, or zip up PJs (although some toddlers just grab the diaper through clothing!) If all else fails, you can get Wahmies diapers with hook closures, but this phase usually passes!
Do you have advice for keeping diapers on a “stripper?”
Maria wants to live in a world where cloth diapers are the norm and moms can make parenting choices without judgement. When she’s not chasing her 18, 14 and 11-year old kids around, you might find her checking out the latest gadgets, organizing something (again) or exercising in the fresh air. 
I haven’t had to do it but some folks say they put the diaper on back wards and has success.
zipper jammies, button pants!
Have you ever read the Honest Toddler blog? As I started reading your reply here, I couldn’t help but think about what he might say. It was probably your punishment for daring pay attention to anything but your little darling. 😉 Seriously, if you haven’t, you need to go read that blog, now I’m chuckling to myself looking crazy.
Thanks for publishing my question! I think she just likes being naked; this has so far happened when we’ve just put a diaper on her and then run off to do something else like tend to a vomiting dog or ringing doorbell before putting pants on her. We’ve also been trying to put her in overalls more often to reduce her ability to go under the pants. This all started after a bout of diaper rash during which we tried to let her air out in flats or snappier prefolds without covers as much as possible. I guess she realized she liked the feel of the air on her bum.
I already know I am going to have this problem. Peanut LOVES being naked. He’s 8 months, so not close to figuring out snaps but hook and look closures are not safe anymore.