Getting Over The Night Diapering Challenge

Night diapering has always been my biggest cloth diapering challenge. Sam is my second baby to use cloth diapers, so at least I had some ideas about what to start with when he came along. When we cloth diapered my older son, Adam, it took me many tries to figure out a good solution—and yes, I had to shake it up from time to time to make it keep working. Initially a well-stuffed pocket diaper worked, but then he started wetting through that option, so I bought some super-thick fitteds and a wool cover. Those worked, but with two issues: the super thick fitteds were very absorbent, but hard to get clean. And he had such a fluffy bum that figuring out what kind of pajamas to use was a challenge. Pocket trainers, stuffed with hemp, were the final night-diapering solution when he was a toddler.

When Sam stopped the mad all-hours pooping of the newborn, I started to look at what our overnight options would be. The first try was one of my trusty OS pockets (we use mainly bumGenius and Fuzzibunz), with extra stuffing. As far as absorbency goes, this worked, but his legs were still pretty skinny, and when I stuffed the diaper enough to last all night, the leg holes gaped and we ended up damp, all of us. So I decided to head back to fitteds and wool. I got two Happy Heinys pocket fitteds, size medium, which I discovered through trial and error were best stuffed with a prefold and one microfiber insert. These are fleece-lined and his skin always feels nice and dry in the morning. I also got a wool soaker. This combination worked beautifully… until recently. Sam is a much chunkier monkey than Adam ever was, and the medium-sized HH was just not a long term solution. Right now, the rise is a little low, so if he squirms around enough (especially in the early morning hours when the diaper is on the wet side), the diaper droops, and we end up damp. We still use them during the day, though, with no issues.

Enter our latest solution: the Thirsties duo fitted, size 2. Sam is still on the lowest snap setting on this diaper and it is a great fit. I was initially reluctant to get a diaper with sewn-in microfiber, but the "tunnel" design enables it to get clean easily. It takes a bit longer to line-dry than my other diapers, but not terribly so. I stuff it with a small prefold and we are ready to go—he still has a bubble butt, but fits better into pajamas. I use a wool soaker on top, although I have used a duo wrap overnight, too, without any leakage. Besides the obvious benefit of everyone waking up dry…. the duo has the super-cute factor, too.

Anne-Marie is a stay-at-home mom to a 9 year old, a 6 year old, and a seven month old. She blogs about their adventures in sustainable(ish) living at http://mainemonkeys.blogspot.com/