Eli Gets His Period

I buy sanitary napkins for my 13-month-old son. No kidding.

From the time he'd turned one, he'd started leaking out of his night diapers. Do you know how much of a hassle it is to get up from sweet (finally!) sweet sleep to change a whimpering toddler who'd soaked through his eight-peso-per-piece XL diapers and burnt a pungent spot on the fragrant sheets, as well?

Much too much. And just when Eli had started to sleep through the night, too.

Two XL diapies - sixteen pesos - a night. Extra laundry-ables from damp pajamies. Two extra sheets of wet wipes to scrub urine spot. Electricity wasted blow-drying bedsheets in the dead of the night. Above all, an upset baby with broken sleep. Much too much.

The next grocery day, we looked at diaper options. Pull-ups? Nah. Eli can't do pull-ups. He hasn't even started walking yet. And at twenty pesos a pop? Fwah!

XXL varieties? At fourteen pesos each??! They're kidding, right? Might as well do a milk formula downgrade to keep him in these.

Atch and I were actually considering sticking a long plastic bag (the ones they use to make ice candy) to the tip of the baby's willy each night with micropore tape. Sort of like a catheter-wee bag. (Yes, we really are cheapeskate crazy). Until we imagined Eli rolling over, busting the bag, and gushing a whole night's urine quota unto the mattress. Oh, eeeewwie!

We went home frustrated. But as surely as necessity is the mother of invention, it was a relative no-brainer attaching one of my sanitary pads to Eli's diaper. A bit bulky in the crotch, maybe. But he didn't seem to mind.



The next day, we all woke up rested, happy and leak-free. But above-all, within budget (eight peso diapy + two peso sanitary napkin = ten pesos per night. Hah!).

Yaya Merly can't get over it, she continually chuckles about Eli getting his period every night. Eli chuckles right along with her.


We realize this is temporary. Pretty soon (but not too soon, we hope) he's going to leak out of this layered nightly contraption. How do you toilet train a 13-month-old who still doesn't walk?


I guess we'll cross the bridge when we get there.