Diaper explosion

Yesterday, I was 15 minutes away from going out the door and my twins got into some trouble. Needless to say, my excursion got canceled and it was time to change and go into clean up mode. Here is the background....I have a 5 year old boy who is content to not be very potty trained at night. Good thing Pampers makes Cruisers big enough for him still. What happened???? He took the diaper off, swung it around and slammed it down on the carpet (he probably has done this before without incident) and the sodium polyacrylate in the diaper blew out. This was a new term for me. This is the material that soaks up ALL the moisture in the diaper and keeps the bottom dry. Basically, I had urine soaked gelatinous pellets strewn on the carpet and small nearly invisible ones on the hardwood and bathroom tile (anywhere little feet may have traveled). The funny thing with these twins is, they try to help each other out. My little girl was trying to help her brother clean this mess and hopefully, mom and dad will never find out.

I did a Google search right away on my iphone to see what information is out there concerning this clean up. My first concern was whether it was toxic. Well, I found conflicting information....Pampers says it is not, but a teacher's protocol using this in a science project said yes.

Here is the protocol according to "Seeing Double"

1) Use disposable plastic spoons carefully scoop up all pellets that are in clumps on floor (carpet in this case)
2)Using flashlight, carefully scan the area for remaining pellets and use toilet paper to grasp them off the carpet or anywhere else
3) Using heat (heat dish in our case and base board heater) to make the room warm (not humid) so pellets that you may have missed dry (no longer in gelatinous state)
4) Sprinkle baking soda on the area if you need to deodorize
5) Wait awhile (1-2 hours or so), then use vacuum cleaner to the area

This method worked in our case. The carpet smells okay too. No gloves were used in this clean up and no skin irritation has occurred,

The twins sat in time out for awhile and practiced their reading. There were some nice quiet moments too.

Lessons of the day were...diapers are not toys, and messes need to be reported ASAP.