"We have a winner!"
— Joey Gladstone (when touching Michelle's diaper), Full House, "Our Very First Show"
So the Loving Mom or Loving Father is running around the house and trying to do several tasks at once. Maybe they are fixing dinner or have to take out the trash. It could be they are simply watching their kid play in a box instead of their expensive holiday gift or trying to feed their other child.
The big sister may be wandering into the room or the goofy, klutzy Dad comes in to try and assist the Mom in whatever task she is busy with. Then, the parent asks, "What's that smell?" and immediately requests that somebody check the child's diaper to see if they need a diaper change.
Does not always include a smell the diaper moment but that is usually the quickest determiner to if a baby needs a diaper change. May also include scenes of somebody pulling the back of and/or feeling the diaper, or rarely, opening the leg siding to see inside the actual diaper. Also the person checking the diaper may not be the actual diaper changer after confirming the contents.
Related Tropes/Tropes Found In Scenes:
- A Day in Her Apron
- Badly Battered Babysitter: May be the icing on top after their awful night when they smell something afoul.
- Nausea Fuel: Upon the checker realizing what the diaper probably contains.
- Nobody Poops: Usually the cause for the initial diaper check in the first place.
- The Diaper Change: Often the prelude to this event happening, naturally.
- Truth in Television
Examples of this Trope:
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Anime and Manga
- Pretty Cure:
- Doki Doki! PreCure: In Episode 8, when Ai-chan won't stop crying, Rikka thinks she may need her diaper changed and lays her down on a towel to check, she finds it clean, and Ai-chan just keeps crying. This was bowdlerized into trying to lay her down for a nap in Glitter Force Doki Doki.
- HuGtto! Pretty Cure:
- In the first episode, Hariham Harry does this when Hugtan cries as a monster approaches the two.
- In episode 14, Hana tries to figure out why Seitarou is crying and thinks it's his diaper when it's actually the Oshimaida. It's not implied if he actually went in his diaper or not.
- In episode 22, Hugtan cries over Emiru and Ruru's argument because she wants them to stop fighting. Harry asks if Hugtan is ready for a diaper change, and Emiru takes Hugtan out of the room to get changed.
Films — Live-Action
- American Pie In American Reunion, Jim's dad remarks that Jim & Michelle's son has, "a little poopy diaper," as he and Michelle head into the house.
- In Back to the Future Part III, after travelling in time to 1885, Marty McFly tenderly holds the baby that would become his great-grandfather, the first America-born McFly... then he lifts the baby to check his diapers as he's just peed on him.
- The Pacifier Shane is forced to change a diaper after Baby Tyler giggles. Zoe promptly hands him off to Shane, knowing full well he pooped.
- Three Men and a Baby A female friend of Tom Selleck and Steve Gutenberg drops by and holds the baby, talking to her until she realizes upon patting her diaper that she needs a diaper change.
Live Action Television
- The second episode of Drake & Josh deals with this including jokes pertaining to how bad the diaper smells due to the baby pooping. Includes a moment where the initial holder of the baby sniffs the diaper and remarks that the baby pooped, followed by Josh passing out from the stench after smelling the baby's butt himself.
- Full House In the first episode, Joey is forced to check Michelle's diaper by Uncle Jesse, leading to the page quote.
- Good Luck Charlie:
- In "Baby Come Back", when P.J. returns home, Teddy sniffs and asks him if either he or Emma bothered to change Charlie's diaper. When she prepares to change her, she finds out that P.J. accidentally brought home Emma's baby brother in a nearly-identical baby carriage.
- In "Dance Off", Bob sniffs Charlie and says, "P.U. Alert!", indicating that she needs her diaper changed. However, due to rumors started by Gabe as part of his plan to get them to argue and him to get out of doing his homework, Amy thinks Bob is talking about her perfume.
- In "Charlie in Charge", Gabe sniffs the air and wrinkles his nose as Jo remarks, "It's coming from the business end of that baby," implying Charlie pooped.
- Baby Daddy The pilot episode features Riley carrying Emma around until she suddenly feels added heaviness and remarks, "I think somebody needs her diaper changed."
Music
- Referenced in "Baby's Got the Car Keys" by Trout Fishing in America. The family is getting ready for work, but dad can't find the car keys. He smells the baby's diaper, but says that it has to wait until said car keys are found. Later in the song, he decides to change the diaper anyway, and finds the keys inside of them.
- Da Yoopers' "Turdy Lb. Diaper
" is about this. The husband is left alone with the baby, and reacts in horror when he finds how comically overloaded the kid's diaper is.
Puppet Shows
- In Dinosaurs, Baby has the ability to talk and will often tell the rest of his family when he needs a diaper change. Two specific examples other characters indicating he needs a diaper change include the beginning of the episode, "Nature Calls", when Earl, Roy, and Robbie sniff around and Baby flat-out tells them he needs to be changed, and towards the end of the episode, "Terrible Twos", when The Babysitter tells Earl and Fran there's a scent of brimstone hanging in the air, to which Fran tells him she and Earl weren't able to change Baby in quite a while.
- In The Noddy Shop episode "Skunked", the crybabies ask each other if they had an accident upon smelling the skunk smell.
Web Original
- In Episode 63 of The Most Popular Girls in School:
Brittnay: Son of a bitch! Saison, what is wrong with that fucking baby?!
Saison: Oh well, is either hungry, or she has to, how do you say, poop.Brittnay: ...Oh, oh God, oh my—what the fuck is that smell?
Saison: Oh, it's a poop. That explains the crying. Mystery solved!
Brittnay: Saison, for the love of God, will you please go change your child's diaper.
Saison: Okay, if you say so.
(Later)
Saison: Okay, okay, all of le poo-poo has been cleaned up and we can now resume.
Western Animation
- Dexter's Laboratory has one scene where Dee Dee sniffs the air and mentions that her Dad needs a diaper change, after all the adults were transformed into babies.
- In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, "Baby Cakes", Mrs. Cake asks who needs a diaper change. Pinkie Pie says they're fine before picking up Pound and sniffing, thus discovering that, yes, he does; Mr. Cake comes in and changes both babies. Complete with visible smell.
- Lily Loud of The Loud House often disgusts her siblings with her toxic-smelling diapers.
