GUIDE
Diapering after hypospadias surgery
Hypospadias repair is a common pediatric urology surgery, and most children who have it are still in diapers. For a week or more afterward, parents manage a catheter, a dressing, fresh stitches, and a diaper that was never designed for any of it. This guide covers the diapering part. It was written by parents who lived it.
What hypospadias is
Hypospadias is a condition present at birth in which the opening of the urethra is on the underside of the penis instead of at the tip. Surgery moves the opening to the tip and, when needed, straightens the penis. Depending on the repair, a child may need more than one operation.
Why there is a catheter
After repair, the surgeon usually leaves a thin tube in the new urethra so urine drains without touching the healing tissue. Published guidance describes the catheter staying in for roughly five to twelve days, depending on the repair. Your surgeon decides the timing.
The diapering problem
The catheter comes out of the penis and needs somewhere to drain. The stitches sit right where a diaper folds. Stool lands in the same diaper. Hospitals solve this with double diapering: an inner diaper for stool, a hole or a routed tube, and an outer diaper for urine. It works well enough to send families home. It also puts stool inches from a healing wound and an open tube.
Read our step by step guide to double diapering
Keeping stool away from the stitches
Published instructions agree on the basics. Your care team's version comes first.
- Change the inner diaper as soon as there is a bowel movement, and at least twice a day.
- Wipe stool off the catheter gently, the way your care team showed you.
- Keep the dressing dry until the surgeon removes it, usually within the first week.
- After the dressing comes off, many surgeons advise warm tub baths and an ointment before diapering.
- Never pull on the catheter. If it comes out, call the surgeon.
What one family saw
One day during his son's recovery, DiviDiaper's founder opened the diaper and found stool spread across the fresh stitches. The double diaper had failed. Harlow's surgeon, Dr. Dix Poppas, Chief of Pediatric Urology at Weill Cornell Medicine, later reviewed the family's first hand built samples and saw their potential. That moment is why DiviDiaper exists.
A diaper designed for this
DiviDiaper's Waste Isolation Platform™ is designed to keep urine and stool apart inside one diaper. CathEase™ adds a built-in port designed to hold the catheter steady and a sealed front compartment designed to keep the tube apart from stool. Harlows™, for children without a catheter, uses the Divider™ alone. Both are covered by a U.S. patent and are in development. They are not FDA cleared and not available for sale.
Questions parents ask
Q: How long will my child have the catheter after hypospadias surgery?
A: Published guidance describes roughly five to twelve days, depending on the type of repair. Your surgeon sets the timing for your child.
Q: What if stool gets on the stitches?
A: Clean gently as your care team instructed and change the inner diaper right away. If you see redness, swelling, discharge, fever, or the catheter stops draining, call the surgeon.
Q: Is there a diaper made for hypospadias recovery?
A: DiviDiaper's CathEase™ is designed for diapering with a catheter and is in development. It is not yet available.
Written by the DiviDiaper team, parents of a child who went through hypospadias repair.
Related: The catheter diaper that does not exist yet
SOURCES
- Hypospadias Foundation, Understanding postoperative problems after hypospadias surgery:
- Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Urology: Hypospadias:
- Children's Minnesota, Double diapering
Last updated October 23, 2026.