We're meant to scoop when the baby poops. Do you?

If there’s one thing we feel like we’ve mastered in those early years of parenting, it’s changing nappies, right? We can change up to 12 a day, for many years, and we could (and have) done it with our eyes closed. So how would you feel if I told you we’ve been doing it wrong?

A shocked parent has shared on reddit that she’d been changing nappies wrong, and didn’t know all this time. “You’re supposed to scoop poop into the toilet before disposing it! I didn’t know!”

The questions begs to be asked, do you scoop when your baby poops?

In the United States, it is against federal regulations to put human waste in landfills, and this includes faeces in nappies. As a general rule, even in Australia, “the safest place for faecal matter is in a public sewage or private septic system, where it can be effectively processed and avoid coming in contact with the general public”.

It seems most parents are more about folding a nappy, with poop included, rather than scooping, but one reddit member said that scoopers definitely do exist, “I had a friend who would use a paddle pop stick and scrape it into the toilet.”

While another is definitely not keen on the idea, “I never would have had kids if I knew I was supposed to do this. I’m not gonna start doing it now.”

And many others were worried about the bacteria and disease that can be spread from not scooping the poop, “I got used to plopping poop in the toilet when I cloth diapered and we are using disposables right now so I just keep plopping the poop. Makes the trash can smell way less gross.”

SO, WHAT’S THE CORRECT WAY TO DISPOSE OF A NAPPY?

If you’re not already scooping the poop into the toilet, here is what is suggested parents do to maintain cleanliness and reduce bacteria in the waste system.

1. Dump or shake the faeces into the toilet and flush the toilet
2. Wrap the nappy into a tight ball, using the adhesive strips provided on the nappy
3. Place into a sealed container or bag, to reduce any offensive smells – particularly when outside of your home
4. Dispose of the nappy properly
5. Wash your hands

Now that you know, will you be scooping into the toilet when your baby poops?

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33 Comments

- - mom160289 said
  - 06 Jun 2022
    2:46 pm
I personally can’t as they are mostly runny and you can’t really hose off a disposable nappy.

- - mom485659 said
  - 10 Mar 2022
    5:41 pm
Yes I just plop the Pooh into the toilet, easy when they are older, when a newborn I just put whole nappy in bin.

- - buggeritliz said
  - 16 Oct 2021
    5:16 pm
I always put the poop in the toilet but I always used cloth nappies and only when the babies were new born we used disposable nappies. As soon as poop was solids we scooped. We used a cotton nappy service they had strict instruction of scoop the POOP! We were supplied a bin to put the nappies in with a lid and we had a pickup and delivery service once a week or twice when I had three kids in nappies at the same time.

- - mum300445 said
  - 23 Sep 2021
    8:30 pm
As a disposable nappy user I’d never thought to do this!

- - tessie said
  - 19 Sep 2021
    10:29 am
Too late for me but I always put the poop in the toilet but I always used cloth nappies. I had disposables at home for when my late husband was at home alone with our sons. He knew to roll them up and leave them in a bucket if they had poop in them. I’d sort that out when I got home. I didn’t know that’s what you were meant to do though. Glad to know I was doing the correct thing though

- - caramello said
  - 17 Sep 2021
    10:05 am
like they say ” you learn something new every day”.

- - Gwen2620 said
  - 12 Sep 2021
    8:43 am
I used cloth nappies and always disposed of the poop into the toilet. For runny ones, I would hold the nappy and flush to wash off. With disposables, which I rarely used, lumps would be shaken into the toilet but runny ones had to be folded up as the nappies would become waterlogged if I tried to rinse off.

- - sunflower said
  - 12 Sep 2021
    8:06 am
Yes, everyone who uses cloth nappies knows this. Perhaps this article could actually mention that the growing number of cloth nappy users do this all the time?

- - mumof3 said
  - 11 Sep 2021
    7:33 pm
What about the runny ones? I’ve honestly never done this. The only time I have is when I’m trying to toilet train the kids. Otherwise I roll it up in the nappy and place it in a little bag and bin it.

- - mom101628 said
  - 11 Sep 2021
    12:20 am
I always used cloth nappies, so it was automatic to me to flush the poop down the toilet as I didn’t want it in the nappisan bin or my washing machine.

- - Frankiielot said
  - 11 Sep 2021
    12:02 am
Honestly never even knew this!
I don’t even think any of my friends with kids do this, especially when you’re out in public you just wrap the nappy up, pop it into a nappy bag and throw it into the bin!!!

- - KatM said
  - 10 Sep 2021
    7:09 pm
I had no idea! A quick check of the nappy packaging and they state “roll up and discard in bin”. We aren’t at the super solid stage anyway, so it wouldn’t be possible to “scoop”.

- - Petal53 said
  - 08 Sep 2021
    12:56 pm
That checklist is how I always handled my nappies – except for really sloppy ones that had to be contained on the spot to avoid any more spills. I just thought it was the normal thing to do.

- - tea4tee said
  - 08 Sep 2021
    2:37 am
This is why I use cloth nappies! So much better for the environment by not adding to landfill! So yes I always pop it into the toilet before washing

- - ~Loui~ said
  - 07 Sep 2021
    3:25 pm
Never even occurred to me to do this.