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As I watch my fourth little one growing up, running around, getting into everything, I’m reminded of how quickly time passes. As I sit among my piles of laundry and Huggies Little Snugglers diapers I often think back to those first days as a new mom. I felt pretty prepared; after all, I had grown up with two little sisters who were significantly younger than me and I was well-versed in diaper changes and bottle feedings. I knew different techniques for rocking and swaddling and comforting. I understood middle of the night wakings and the importance of a nap schedule.

And then the first nighttime diaper change at home came. 

With my first we’d been in the hospital for about 5 days as my son was struggling with bad jaundice. In the hospital it had been so different, there were always lights on somewhere, it was never completely dark. In fact, it was something that I had been looking forward to the most—being able to be in my dark and quiet home without the hustle and brightness of the hospital environment. So when we finally made it home as a family of three for the first time I didn’t put a lot of thought into nighttime diaper changes.

I quickly realized it’s hard to change a diaper in the dark—I was so unprepared! I mean, I had my Huggies Little Swaddlers Diapers (my favorite!) and Huggies Natural Care Wipes, but how had I forgotten something so simple and seemingly so obvious as a nightlight?! I definitely didn’t want to turn on our overhead light and risk my baby (or myself!!) waking up completely and not being able to fall back to sleep, but my eyes also couldn’t adjust well enough to efficiently change a diaper in the dark. True story, I once put the clean diaper on my child over the dirty diaper. I had taken off the soiled diaper but hadn’t moved it out of the way enough so it ended up inside the clean diaper. I blame my sleep-deprived mom brain for not realizing that something must have gone awry as I had no dirty diaper to throw away.

Today I want to share a tutorial for a simple and inexpensive nightlight to help light the way for your own late night diaper sessions. Not only do you only need a handful of items to make it, but it is a quick naptime project that won’t break the bank!

Materials Needed:

• glass block with cutout for lights (available at your craft store)
• strand of lights
• spray paint (I opted for sea glass spray paint so it would be more opaque, but they also make translucent spray paint)

This project is so simple and can be customized any way you’d like to fit your own decor. Simply take the glass block outside or to a well ventilated area (once you’ve got your little one down for a nap, finally) and cover with several, light coats of spray paint. Once it’s dry all the way then fill the block with your light strand—that’s it! If you’d like to you could also place a vinyl decal on the front of your block. I thought about adding some waves to mine but decided sometimes less is more.

Some safety notes:

• Never leave light on and unattended.
• Be cautious what your glass block is adjacent to, it will heat up and could cause other items to get hot.
• Never have your cord somewhere that your baby could grab it or get entangled.
• Make sure that any exposed outlets have covers on them.

I think we all have moments like mine—when we think that we’ve dotted all our “i”s and crossed all our “t”s, but the reality is that parenting is hard and trying to remember every little detail or know how to do everything is quite the feat! Even the most seasoned among us could probably  learn something new or have a refresher course when it comes to childcare. When I was in my local Babies “R” Us the other day picking up some Huggies Little Snugglers and Huggies Natural Care Wipes I noticed that they offer classes in store to help parents through the first six months of their baby’s life—what a great resource! So now not only can you go and pick up all your baby needs and test drive the latest stroller or baby glider (who else loves doing that?!) but you can also take some classes to brush up on your baby skills. Hosted by a local community medical partner, these classes are being offered to help with bathing, diaper changing, and everything in between, and I do mean everything. For example, this weekend my local Babies “R” Us is offering a fun baby’s first Christmas event on Saturday and a sidewalk chalk demo on Sunday, how fun is that?! (Check your local store for details.) 

I wonder if they’ll cover sleep-deprived nighttime diaper changes?

Psst… get back to baby basics with Huggies and Babies “R” Us with some of these adorable ideas!

What’s your funniest diaper change story? What do you wish you had learned before having babies?