It's easy to become an expert at changing your baby's diaper -- just wash your hands, gather the following items and make sure you keep everything out of your baby's reach:

• A fresh diaper: If you're using a cloth diaper, you'll need either a clean diaper cover or pins and waterproof pants.
• Baby-wash supplies: Diaper wipes or, if your baby is under one month or has diaper rash, cotton balls and warm water for cleaning and a small towel for drying
• Ointment: If needed, for diaper rash (preferably one containing zinc oxide)
• Cornstarch-based Ppowder: If needed, which should be applied to your hand and not shaken on your baby to prevent it from getting into your baby's lungs.

Diapering Tips

• Make diaper time fun by talking to or singing to your baby while changing him. Or distract him with music or a toy if he needs soothing.
• Until the umbilical cord falls off, fold the diaper down to expose the raw area to the air and keep it from getting wet.
• Dispose of plastic diapers by folding them over, retaping them and tying them in a plastic bag. Keep cloth diapers in a tightly covered diaper pail until pickup or laundry day. Choose a diaper pail with a locking lid to keep your baby out of it.
• Wash your hands with soap and water after changing your baby.

Step-by-Step Diapering

1. If you're using a changing table, strap your baby in for safety. Never leave your baby unattended or out of your reach.

2. After unfastening the diaper, use it to wipe away most of a bowel movement, from front to back. Then clean away any urine and remaining feces with a wet cotton ball or diaper wipe. Pat your baby dry with a towel if you've used a cotton ball. If you're changing a boy's diaper, keep a fresh diaper over his penis as much as you can and aim the penis downward when putting on a new diaper to keep wetness from drenching his clothing.

3. Put on the clean diaper. If you're using cloth diapers, they're probably prefolded and ready to use, but you may need to fold them further until your baby gets bigger. (The extra fabric goes in the front for boys and the back for girls.) Slide the diaper under your baby so his waist aligns with the top edge.

4. Bring the front up between his legs, and hold it in place while you fold the sides in toward the center and fasten, by using either a Velcro diaper cover or a diaper pin.

5. Then, if you're not using a diaper cover, put a pair of waterproof pants over the diaper. Waterproof pants should fit snugly -- but not so snugly that they irritate your baby's skin.

6. If you're using disposable diapers: lay the diaper flat, with the tabs at the back. Slide the diaper under your baby so that the top aligns with his waist. Bring the front up between his legs and tuck it around his stomach. Unpeel the tabs, pull them firmly over the front flap and fasten the diaper. (Be sure not to fasten the tape to your baby's skin.) The diaper should fit snugly, but it shouldn't be tight.

7. When you're finished, undo the changing table straps and gently pick up your baby.

Help for Diaper Rash

You can prevent diaper rash by keeping your baby dry and clean. However, if small, red dots, inflamed skin or pus-filled dots appear on your baby's bottom, follow this advice:

• Apply an ointment, preferably one with zinc oxide, at the first sign of broken skin. Rub it onto your baby's bottom after changing and washing your baby.
• Let your child go diaper-free whenever you can.
• Limit the irritants you apply to your baby's bottom. Use soap only once daily, and avoid using wipes until the rash clears up. Always dry your baby's bottom thoroughly after washing.
• Consider switching to another kind of diaper -- from disposables to cloth or vice versa -- until the rash clears up. If you use disposables or plastic pants, make sure they're loose enough so that air can circulate inside the diaper.
• Call your healthcare provider if the rash doesn't clear up in a day or two.

Early Elimination Habits: What You Can Expect

• In the beginning, breastfed babies will have at least five stools a day and at least six urinations. Bottle-fed babies may pass a stool for every feeding.
• The number of stools will decrease as your baby gets older and may dwindle down to between one and three a day after the first month.
• In the first 24 hours, your baby's stool will be greenish black. After that, the stools will be greenish yellow and loose.
• After three or four days, the stools of breastfed babies will be yellow, sometimes loose and sometimes seedy. The stools of bottle-fed babies will be soft but more formed, and the color can range from pale yellow to yellowish brown, light brown or greenish brown.
• Your baby's stools will vary from day to day and sometimes from movement to movement. The changes will become even more pronounced when your baby begins eating solids.

Early Elimination Habits: When to Contact Your Healthcare Provider

• If your baby has fewer than three wet and two soiled diapers a day after the first 48 hours or fewer than six wet and three soiled diapers by the fifth day.
• If you see blood, pus or mucus in the stool.
• If your baby has watery stools, you should mention it. (Loose stools are generally not a cause for concern.)

Sources:
Complete Baby and Child Care by Dr. Miriam Stoppard (Dorling Kindersley) and What to Expect the First Year by Arlene Eisenberg, Heidi E. Murkoff and Sandee E. Hathaway (Workman).