9 Must-Haves to Survive Public Diaper Blowouts

Morgan and Max’s Hilariously Horrible No Good Very Bad Day….a book being published just in time to be under your tree for Christmas this year. Just kidding….but in all seriousness this was QUITE the weekend! We made the 8 hour drive to Michigan so Bryce could be in his friend’s wedding and Max did phenomenally in the car! He only was fussy for about 20 minutes of about 18 total hours of driving time. You definitely can’t beat that! We did make sure to stop on the way there and back at the halfway point at Grandma and Grandpa’s to break the trip up a bit.

When we got to Michigan, I realized that I had forgotten my dress. I decided to go shopping with Max while Bryce was at the rehearsal and bachelor party. Unfortunately, the nearest decent-sized town was about an hour away, so I strapped my boy in and we ventured out. All the stores there were tiny…everything was less than half of the size of the stores we have here in the St. Louis area. We went to Kohl’s first and picked up a wedding gift. I couldn’t find anything to wear though, so we went to Target. The Target only had a tiny section of dresses, and they were all spaghetti straps or off-the-shoulder (which wasn’t going to cut it for this nursing momma). So we headed to TJ Maxx. By this point it’s around 8:30 p.m. and I had a fussy baby, so I nursed him in the back of the car with the radio jamming. He was super content when we went in to TJ Maxx, and I was casually perusing the dresses, when all of a sudden, I heard the loudest poop-splosion you ever heard. I figured it was just a normal poopy-diaper though and kept shopping. Then I looked and saw the poop oozing from the diaper into the carseat crevices.

Here I am…alone in a TJ Maxx in the middle of nowhere-Michigan…with this poop-covered baby…and still desperately needing to find a dress before the morning and before all the stores close. I took him to the bathroom to change him and there was no changing station. And the sinks were stand alone with no counter space… So I opted to continue shopping and change him when I left. I just laid a little burp cloth over his lap so no one would see the poop. Every time I passed someone, I would push the cart a little quicker in hopes that they couldn’t smell him. I even took him into the dressing room with me to try on a few dresses (nearly gagging from the smell of my cheerful little poop-covered smiley boy). None of the dresses worked, and I was exhausted….and disgusted, so I went to the front of the store and asked the cashier if I could have some plastic bags. She gave me one, and I said, “We just had a diaper blow-out. Could I have some more?” She quickly handed me a handful of extra bags, and gave me an empathetic smile and said, “I’ve been there!”

So I took my son to the car…put the plastic bags over the portable changing pad we have in the diaper bag and proceeded to change the grossest diaper I’ve seen to date. I seriously went through a half a package of baby wipes trying to not only clean up Max, but also the car seat. There was SOOOO much in the seat that it went through the seatbelt buckle slots and into the base. It was completely soaked into the fabric of the carseat. I did as good a job as I could, and then strapped my naked baby back into the seat and wrapped him up in a blanket and we went to go back to pick up Bryce (still didn’t have a dress). The whole car smelled terrible. I picked up Bryce and told him about what happened, and he did another wipe down on the carseat (which didn’t do a whole lot).

We drove back to our sketchy motel on the side of the highway, both of us sleep deprived and exhausted. I took the removable part of the carseat off and tried my best to hand wash it in the sink of the world’s tiniest bathroom. I finally just accepted the fact that our family would be smelling like poop for the next couple days until we made it back home. For the rest of the trip I doubled up the diapers on Max… just to prevent any more catastrophes. And sure enough…we made it back home! Bryce’s mom even washed the whole carseat cover for us in her washing machine when we stopped there. I’ve never been so thankful.

I’d say we handled the first major diaper blowout pretty well, but since returning home, I have been working on creating a kit to keep in the car so I am always prepared to handle whatever circumstances my son’s diaper decided to put me in.

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1. Piddle Pad

After posting on Facebook about what happened, a friend messaged me and suggested I invest in the Piddle Pad. It acts as an extra barrier between your kid’s booty and the carseat. They are so cheap, I am honestly considering getting 2 and keeping the extra one in the car to switch out if we have any more blow-outs in between washings (like we did on this long road trip!).

2. Extra Diapers

It goes without saying that extra diapers are a must…however…you NEVER want to get to a place where you dip into your stash so much that it ends up empty when worse comes to worse. ALWAYS keep at least 10 extra diapers tucked away for that rainy day! You can even do like I did on our way back home and double up the diapers while little one is in the carseat for long stretches to provide another extra barrier. On our way home, the double diaper trick saved our carseat from Diaper Blowout 2.0. Signing up for a subscription on Amazon Family makes it super easy to always make sure you never run out of diapers…and it will save you tons of money (20%!!!) without having to worry about coupons.

3. An Extra Package of Baby Wipes

It goes without saying that if you have extra diapers, you’ll probably need extra wipes. On our way to Michigan, we made a stop at a gas station for a diaper change and I didn’t have any wipes in my diaper bag. I ended up using wet paper towels…and it was such a hassle. The wipes will always come in handy even if you never have to use them for diaper changes! Use them to wipe off sticky fingers, to clean up minor spills, and for wiping off dirty feet that have been wearing sandals all day. You can also subscribe and save with these wipes so you’ll never run out!

4. Plastic Grocery Bags

Plastic grocery bags are useful for a number of reasons. Keep a stash in your car to throw your dirty diapers in, or to put your kids’ clothes in so you can wash when you get home. Try this cool plastic bag folding technique so they stay organized and don’t take up tons of space.

5. Lysol Wipes

When poop gets all over the seatbelt…you can’t take them out to wash. Instead…be prepared to scrub them with Lysol wipes. I don’t need to say anything more. Keep them in your car. You’re welcome.

6. A blanket

I keep a giant homemade tied fleece blanket in the car at all times. It can be used in emergencies for all sorts of things…I decided not to use it as a changing pad this time because we were so far from home, and I didn’t want a poop-covered blanket stinking up the car for 3 days…but on a normal day at home…this could easily be laid down in the back of your SUV’s trunk to be a changing station. Just take it home, pop it in the wash after, and don’t forget to put it back in the car for next time!

7. Cloth washcloths and a cloth hand towel

These can be used as changing pads too, or to block streams of pee that are headed directly for your baby’s eyes. I keep a stack of washcloths at our changing table at all times, and I don’t ever change a diaper without using one as a barrier. I tried using wipes on the trip as a shield, and they just made a bigger mess. You want something more absorbent, so just do yourself a favor and keep a stack of cheap washcloths on hand at all times. You can use them for other things when situations arise.

8. An extra change of clothes

Don’t be like me and have to strap your naked baby back into his carseat. Have an extra (or a couple extra) onesies that stay in the car for emergencies. And honestly…it wouldn’t hurt to have an extra T-shirt or two for you and your spouse for when you get covered in poo. Bryce has already used the sentence “Can you help me wash this poop off of my thumb?” twice since Max was born. And I’m sure the day’s coming when he gets it on our shirts.

9. A camera

You’re going to want to take pictures…so you can show your spouse and guilt them into taking over the next 15 diaper changes. 🙂

Moms, dads, and other childcare givers…what other recommendations do you have that everyone needs to keep in their car to survive diaper blow-outs?