I just SUCK at taping diapers!

[gnd567]

I'm visually impaired and unable to see well enough to judge where the tapes should go and often end up with a diaper that isn't straight or get so frustrated that I end up wasting it. I've wasted like 7 diapers out of my last case due to bad taping. It's expensive and frustrating. I have SUCH a hard time. I'm sarting to have an even harder time now because I'm trying so hard to get it right. It's ruining my diapers and my little space. :wall bash: Help me please.

 

[bambinod]

I'm visually impaired and unable to see well enough to judge where the tapes should go and often end up with a diaper that isn't straight or get so frustrated that I end up wasting it. I've wasted like 7 diapers out of my last case due to bad taping. It's expensive and frustrating. I have SUCH a hard time. I'm sarting to have an even harder time now because I'm trying so hard to get it right. It's ruining my diapers and my little space. :wall bash: Help me please.

try pretaping it. get out a ruler if you need to. once you figure out where the tapes need to go, pull down your diaper and take measurements. Mark your next one and put the tapes down and put it on like a pullup. perfect fit every time, and faster too.

 

[depends4me]

While it would still be tricky, you can use duct tape if the original tapes don't land where you need them. Just carefully use scissors or a hobby knife to cut the original tape, without damaging the outside shell.

I recall reading a post here from a guy who was mobility impaired and would mark his diapers ahead of time so he knew where the tapes needed to go. Something like that. When you get one just right, could you measure the tape position and mark it on another diaper with a thick, black Sharpie. Would that work?

 

[gnd567]

A lot of it has to do with my lack almost total lack of eyesight and depth perception and I'll wear the tapes out trying to get them lined up correctly and end up resulting to duct tape which is fine I guess but I just want to be able to put 'em on and go and not have to "rig" them up every time. That's almost like going back to the days of my homemade diapers before I could actually get any real ones. That's what it reminds me of anyway.

 

[depends4me]

While they may not get high marks for style, are you familiar with Abena's Abri-Wings diapers? These don't use tapes, but fasten around the waist with velcro, then the middle comes up between your legs and fastens to the waist, also with velcro. See http://kckmedical.com/abri-wingbriefs.aspx . They don't seem to be as common in the USA anymore, but are still available.

 

[bambinod]

I recall reading a post here from a guy who was mobility impaired and would mark his diapers ahead of time so he knew where the tapes needed to go. Something like that. When you get one just right, could you measure the tape position and mark it on another diaper with a thick, black Sharpie. Would that work?

iirc that was catenex (sp?), he has CP. He has enough mobility to diaper himself, but determining where the tapes go at the same time is tough, so his caregiver gets out a ruler and premarks his diapers to make it easier for him to self-change.

 

[KimbaFoxNatsume]

iirc that was catenex (sp?), he has CP. He has enough mobility to diaper himself, but determining where the tapes go at the same time is tough, so his caregiver gets out a ruler and premarks his diapers to make it easier for him to self-change.

Caitanx has never mentioned having a caregiver, so it must be someone else.

 

[Cottontail]

Try this: While standing, hold the diaper behind yourself by the top tapes (or the only tapes if it's a one-tape-per-side diaper). Raise or lower the diaper until the tapes are at the level of your beltline, then pull them forward around yourself until the back of the diaper feels comfortably snug through the small of your back and above your hips--just like a belt would be. At this point, note the approximate separation of the tapes. (The front of the diaper should be hanging loose behind you throughout this exercise.)

Next, lay the diaper out flat on your bed or a table and, with a magic marker, draw two parallel lines down the front of the diaper, with a separation similar to what you observed with the tapes.

Finally, proceed to put the diaper on. Position the back so that the top (or only) tapes are at your belt line just like you did earlier. Pull the front of the diaper up between your legs until it's comfortably snug through your crotch. The front may be a bit high on your tummy at this point, and that's fine. Pull the tapes forward until they reach the lines you drew, and stick them down. You may find that angling the tapes downward a bit helps with support. If you have another pair of tapes below, you'll need to experiment a bit with placement. The best placement for those will depend a bit on your body shape. In most cases, I end up angling the top tapes down and the bottom tapes up so that they're almost on top of each other.

If the front of the diaper rises well above your belly button, there are a few things to try. The first is to simply accept it, as babies often wear their diapers this way--so hey! Authenticity! The next would be to tuck the excess in, possibly over your penis if you're a male who likes to "point up". If the excess is extreme, like halfway to your nipples or something, you probably have the wrong size of diaper, but you might also try repeating the above process starting with the bottom tapes instead. That will distribute the excess evenly in front and in back. In the end, you just want to make sure that one pair of tapes is tensioning the diaper like a belt. When I do this, I've never found it possible to slide my diaper up and down, but then I'm definitely not a stick!

Good luck! It does take practice.

 

[SpAzpieSweeTot]

Caitanx has never mentioned having a caregiver, so it must be someone else.

He lives with his apparently abilist, and anti-AB brother, who does begrudgingly help him out, but has called him all manner of nasty things, and resents Catainx for needing his help at all, which isn't surprising to me. Hey, guess what. Catainx doesn't wanna need your help either! You tushy outlet! (Speaking as if to his brother.)

 

[wackoreese]

Even medium (smallest ones) diapers from abu/bambino go past my leg lines as far as tapes so I have to put tape on it near my hips so the waistbands don't end up lifting off and causing leaks. The only small diapers I can find is rearz but they're absurdly expensive.

 

[Tygon]

Something with velcro tapes might help. The velcro won't wear out as quickly as refastenable adhesive tapes. With the demise of cloth-backed Cushies, there isn't currently an AB-specific diaper with velcro tapes. Medical brands with good refastenable velcro tapes are: NorthShore AirSupreme, iD Slip Maxi/Super, Abena Delta-form, Tena Super/Ultra, Tena SuperStretch/UltraStretch. These are all cloth-backed, but they are the good kind of cloth-backed that do not weep moisture through the backing. If you want something plastic backed or AB-specific, wait a couple weeks until the Bambino Magnifico is released late September/early October. The Magnifico will be plastic backed with a velcro taping panel and velcro tapes.

 

[gnd567]

Thanks for all the advice everyone. I tried something completely different today and I'll be darned if it didn't work! I put my diaper on STANDING UP. I'd never tried that before and was very unsure but I positioned myself against a wall and did the top tapes first (I usually start with the bottom, but I wanted to try a completely different approach.) Anyway, top tapes I did standing up, bottom tapes I did laying down. Took a bit of trial and error but I got a much better fit then I ever have before.

 

[Themanswifesman]

I found with plastic diapers that you can sit a light taping to figure out how it will fit, and when you got something good you can marry it to the landing strip by putting lots of pressure on the tape.
Did this when I had Depends because I found that the tape around the legs was coming off too often, and putting lots of force really married it to it even after coming off.

So two step.
1 - Pre-tape, figure out how it fits.
2 - PRESSURE

 

[gnd567]

Just got a new case of diapers today and am already on my 4th diaper because I ruined the 1st three. Grrr! I just can't get them to fit straight. I don't have enough sight or depth perception to tell where I'm putting the tapes! I'm always lopsided and its SO annoying. They're so expensive and such a pain for me to get and wasting them like that ruins the mood and is killing my little time. I don't know what to do.