It’s hot. Really hot. I’m finally realizing how awesome New England summers are, and I’ve always known how hellish California’s are. Granted, it’s beautiful here in California, and theres plenty of lakes and rivers and pools and cold drinks, but for those of us that generally have a little extra padding, summers can be impossible. So how do we survive being diapered during summer?

#1 – Always keep baby powder with you! Most any store sells those little $1.00 bottles of baby powder small enough to fit in your pocket, so keep that or a little baggy (not too little, or you might have to go through some field tests with the cops) with you everywhere, so if you come in from the sun you can just re-powder. I generally buy a big tub of Johnsons Baby Powder With Aloe, as seen in this eccentric review on Viewpoints, the Aloe and Vitamin E help protect skin and its the best baby powder I’ve found. It may be the best preventative solution, but it’s still mostly just cornstarch and doesn’t do much to heal once you already have a rash.

#2 – Obvious pun is obvious, but if you have to mess, try your best to make it to a restroom, even if you still mess in your diapers. in 90 degree weather, you have about 10 minutes to change out of a messy diaper before irritation starts, and the smell can clear a supermarket. A solution to this is using tons of A+D ointment and bodymints, but most cremes eventually melt off of your skin, making your diapers less absorbant and leaving your skin unprotected. Just find a restroom ASAP and make sure to completely clean up and get all the residue from the baby wipes off your skin, powder/creme up and re-diaper. Always sells something called “Always Clean” which can come in handy, and they make me feel pretty girly just to have them in my purse. I feel so bad for anyone who actually has bowel incontinence in this kind of weather!

#3 – I am a huge fan of crinkly plastic diapers, and have spoken out in the past about the negative trend of cloth backed diapers. I still don’t like them, but my distaste is completely not practical. If you go out into the sun with a plastic diaper on, its basically the same as wearing a plastic bag filled with towels. Some of the brands I avoid during hot weather are Tranquilty Briefs, Depends, Molicare, Bambino, Abri-Form X-Plus, Goodnites, all are plastic and hardly breathe. Tranquilites Briefs like the ATN and Slimline brief are unusable in summer, they basically just come apart at the seams after a couple hours of movement and their cloth pull-ups soak through the material pretty consistently. Bambinos are so bulky they get warmer faster than any other diaper, and sweat makes the padding bunch up. Luckily, brands like Tena, Attends, and certain Abri-Forms have plenty of alternatives for breathable briefs. I know its tough to get away from the crinkly softness, but breathable diapers will save you tons of trouble. Also, some diapers look cloth and breathable like goodnites, but are really just plastic with a cloth cover.

#4 – Completely shave your diaper area if you haven’t already, and do it everyday. It takes about 3 minutes and you get better at it every time you do it.

#5 – This ones for the bedwetters like me, I had to take my vinyl sheets off of my bed because my apartment has oven status, even late at night. It’s too hot for vinyl sheets or plastic panties and I’m drinking more water than ever, whats a little bedwetter to do? The best solution I’ve found, is before making your sheets, put a few incontinence bedpads in a strip where your waist usually lays. They still get hot and wont protect everything, but the cottony material breaths way better than vinyl or plastic and they won’t move around everywhere if you put them on your mattress before your sheets. Other than that, I’m saving up for a new mattress once it cools down, I had a couple accidents before I figured out the bed-pad thing.

#6 – Lets talk about a different type of pads… Tena makes a pad and pant system that I love for the summer. The pant is a very lightweight mesh and the super and night pads handle as much as most briefs. They’re easy to change they don’t make the tape noise in the bathroom and you don’t have to fear getting powder on the tapes. They fit both men and women fine and feel really comfy too 🙂

#7 – Even if you’ve followed all of these tips, there is still a chance you might get either a bad rash, or worse, a yeast infection. in the case of a rash, I recommend Desitin or A+D for the day, Desitin Overnight for overnight. Make sure you stay out of your diaper for at least a half-hour a day, even if that means pulling your diapers down to air out in the bathroom, trust me, your skin will thank you. For the yeast infection, there’s really only one solution, Miconazole, the key ingredient in things like Vagisil and Monistat. It kills yeast dead, and does it surprisingly quick. Keep some handy and if you have severe irritation, try some of this, I think you’ll be surprised how often simple irritation is really a fungal infection. ewww… gross.

I hope these tips help you have a more pleasant summer, I’ll leave you with one of my favorite things about summertime!

Tiny Toons – How I Spent My Summer Vacation

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