4.14.2010

Mother Guilt.

Oh my. I felt so bad this morning. Usually, Sam wakes up once or twice a night, fusses, one of us gets up and puts his pacifier back in (bad habit, I know, but we need the sleep...) So last night Sam woke up at about 4 AM, fussed, pacifier in, back to sleep. Then this morning again around 6, his usual time, I went in and held him, rocked him, and put him back to bed for a bit, fast asleep. When I got him up and changed his diaper, he was in a poop-filled diaper. His bottom was BRIGHT red with diaper rash. When did he do this??? I felt so horrible. He screamed while I cleaned him up. I used a lukewarm washcloth, blotted him, and coated him w/ Aquaphor and other stuff we have (I rotate w/ prescription stuff, OTC stuff, etc.etc. when he had diarrhea a few weeks ago.) Anyway, my heart dropped. If I knew he was poopy, I would've changed him! At any time of the night! His bottom was perfectly healthy and white last night when he went to bed. Now he's completely raw. Poor baby. I'm doing cloth diapers today and changing as often as possible to keep him dry and comfortable. He was even fussing to sit, so I gave him a little Tylenol. UGH. Has anyone else ever done this? My heart hurts. I cried. I know it sounds dumb, but I feel like it's my fault. And I know that if diaper rash is my biggest issue right now, then I should be thankful. But I hate seeing my little guy in pain. Poor baby. :(

3 comments:

sara luke said...

Um, yes. Every mother in America has likely done this at some point.

If I'm wrong, then you can at least take comfort in the fact that I have. And if you're anything like me, it'll be just one of many parenting mistakes over the next few years. These things happen.

Sarah said...

Just the other day I was holding Ezra and hugging him saying, "You have such a bad mommy....I'm SUCH a bad mommy....I'm SO sorry!!" (Really, Ezra was okay.....but mommy guilt is definitely easy to come by!!)

These days Ezra always sleeps in an overnight diaper, but every now and then b/c of bad timing or something, he'll end up in bed with a regular diaper, and by the time I get him out of bed, he is just DRENCHED and I always feel horrible for that....b/c I've done the whole pat him back to sleep thing, and realized later he was probably soaked when he was calling for me :(

Anonymous said...

Done it! He won't remember & you didn't mean to... You're a good Mama Leigh-- you're doing a great job!