For a long time, I was of the belief that my heavy-wetting son would not be able to wear a cloth diaper and make it through the night. I was envisioning nights of 3 AM wake-up calls, fretting the need to search through his closet for clean sheets, the bureau for clean pajamas, and foraging for a clean diaper, not to mention the time spent helping said child fall back asleep. I was so concerned that I spent his first 8 months faithfully putting him in disposables.After a while, I began to think about the monetary waste of using disposables and concluded that I would try the cloth through the night. The first time I left him in cloth all night was an accident (he fell asleep and I put him in his crib forgetting that I hadn't changed him).
He wore a Haute Pocket and didn't leak during the 10 hours he slept. I decided not to attempt that feat a second time and started to use my FuzziBunz that were very large on his little bottom. It took me a while to determine the best method for stuffing and ensuring dryness throughout the night, but I found a system that worked for us. I began by using a FuzziBunz and inserted a cotton prefold, that was folded into an insert.The result was a VERY large diaper on my son's behind, however, it kept him dry and sleeping all night long. With that success behind me, I created the same insert for my "larger" one sized diapers Rumparooz and Mommy's Touch). I was concerned that I would run out of night-time diapers, but I had six of them and as long as he did wake up wet in the middle of the night, we had plenty.
As time went on, the little guy grew, and the diapers needed to change; he was no longer fitting into his pajamas. Considering the leaks, I was extremely brave one night and double stuffed a bumGenius, basically, I used the newborn doubler and the larger micro-terry one-size insert that the bumGenius came with and crossed my fingers. In the morning he was dry! There have been random nights where he has leaked and woken up the house, however, most of the time he is dry. Nighttime diapering is not nearly as scary as I expected it to be.-- By Becky D.
40 comments:
Thanks for sharing! What a good idea. :-)
I was afraid of CDs at night too, but then I tried a GAD mid-weight windpro fleece pocket with the GAD insert and it works like a charm....No leaks and my daughter skin feels super dry in the morning....If I didn't remove the completely saturated insert in the morning, I would think that she hadn't peed all night!!!
I use a BabyKicks Hemp insert and a microfiber insert for my 2yo and 3yo overnight (in a fuzzi bunz or a bumgenius 3.0 or even a Happy Heiny trainer) and have never had a leak- not even once! Not even if the 2yo drinks an entire cup of milk JUST before bedtime, like she wants to do almost every night! (but very rarely actually gets to do)
It took me awhile to use cloth diapers overnight too.
It took me a long time to figure out nigttime too. We faithfully used FB with the same method you mentioned. Like your little guy we have outgrown those and are finding new ways to diaper. I LOVE Happy Heiny's trainers. They work great still bulky but no leaks.
I had to use hemp or bamboo fitted diapers with a wool cover to get my lo through the night starting at about age 1. I couldn't stuff my pockets full enough to keep her from soaking through...(or they'd leak b/c they were too stuffed and not fit well). However, fitted diapers with a wool cover was the solution to all my nighttime problems!
A double-stuffed BG is one of the few things our son can sleep all night in.
We don't worry about it too much because his medical issues require a 3 am wake-up anyway (and most nights we've got a nurse keeping tabs on him), but it's good to know that as he needs less interventions, we've got options for a good night's sleep :)
For nighttime, I put a four layer microfiber insert (made several from cheap bar mop towels on clearance from Target--work like a charm) inside a prefold and add a Kissaluvs super soaker on top. Put it all in a Wonder Wrap and we have no trouble. It's bulky, but she's just sleeping, so I don't care about that part. It works!
I also do the prefold wrap trick. Glad you found something that worked for you!
I haven't been brave enough to attempt cloth at night. We use sposies at night and naptime still but cloth all the other times.
I too started with disposables at night but when the pack ran out, I didn't want to buy any more. I started with double stuffing my BumGenius, which totally works every time. However, I only own one and had to wash it every day. So I reached more more options. I found a GoodMama used for a decent price and jumped on that. But it didn't really fit with my small sized covers. My DD was only 3 mos. at the time. I just recently splurged on a wool cover (Loveybums) and used that over my GM. Great! And I got even braver and went with a large prefold with a newborn prefold trifolded inside as an insert, using the wool, which you can reuse every night. Also success. Whew. It really isn't that bad after all. I feel like a REAL CD'ing mom now. :)
It is so nice to read about other mommies who have had the same issues with nighttime diapering! BGs have worked perfectly for my son, who now sleeps 12 hours at night. I use the thick insert and a hemp insert and both are soaked when he wakes, but he is dry as can be! Like you said, there are random nights where the aplix comes open and he wets all over himself but they are few and far between! Great post, thanks for sharing your experience!
I either use bumGenius os FuzziBunz at night stuffed with a bumGenius one size insert and a Super Do Hemp Terry Insert. Riley can go 12+ hours with no leaks.
I use prefolds on my two girls. I just place a hemp insert and a doubler in the middle and cross my fingers. Every once in a while we'll have a leak (more from my 2 year old). But I was like you, used disposables for night with my 4 y/o because night time cloth diapering scared the daylights out of me.
I must have a "super soaker," because my two-month-old daughter can soak a double-stuffed BumGenius in 2 hours and then leaks all over. :( Anyone have a wetter like this?
Laura C
laurakcowan/at/gmail/dot/com
I am still afraid to use cloth diaper at night because my daughter sleeps 11 - 12 hours straight. I recently bought a superdo but it has not been washed plenty enough to have its full absorbancy so i'm kind of chicken!!
I was also afraid of cloth diapering at night time. However, our conclusions were very similar to yours: we double stuff our BG pockets and every night for months now, DS wakes up dry.
We started night CDing with my daughter because she was getting horrible diaper rash from sleeping 12-13 hours and being wet. It was scary at first, but now I sleep better knowing her poor little bum isn't getting all rashed up!
I have a terrible time with leaks at night. We can't seem to find a system OR a diaper that works for us. No matter what I do, we still have leaks. Perhaps I'll try again though.
I love CD at night because I don't have to worry about changing my 9mo during the night. I use BumGenius with the big insert and a BabyKicks insert. Works like a charm. I haven't had a leak yet and my kiddo is dry and doesn't have diaper rash from being in them all night. I have also used the BumGenius fleece diapers and those are even drier on her in the morning
Thanks for sharing - we did really well for a long time, but now my DD is developing a heavy-wetter personality that I'm not as familiar with. We just have to keep trying!!
Great to read about options for cloth diapering at night. we have never had a problem until recently and I am learning new things to try. I hear bamboo is really great. I'd love to hear more about Fleece diapers!
I love my BG's at night. I also like Smartipants stuffed with two inserts. We've just started having to double stuff at night at 3 months old.
thanks for sharing. you know, unless snapdragon goes to bed in a bg esbaby or a smartipants, we usually have an accident unless i wake him up to change him with frequency.
Thanks so much for sharing, my baby girl wasn't leaking the first few weeks but now she is sleeping longer and leaking more! This is a great technique!
I like using Disana wool shorties at night. My 9 mo. old wears Dream-Eze, thirsties, or goodmama underneath, usually with some sort of doubler or prefold added. She has a nice big fluffy butt, but I like that all that moisture is not trapped inside PUL at night for 12 hours. Cuts down on redness and rashes.
Overnight diapering was a big fear of mine too, but I had other mommy bloggers who gave me lots of advice. Every 3-4 months I have to tweek what I do a bit as my baby grows and changes, but it is possible!
Thanks for sharing your experience! For the first 6 months or so, I changed my baby during nighttime feedings just to make sure she wouldn't leak. Double-stuffing diapers does wonders though!
We do a Bluberry One Size Combo insert plus the Newborn Bum Genius insert..it's the only thing that keeps our heavy wetter dry at night! I've considered trying just the large BumGenius insert plus the Newborn one, but I don't want to have to change sheets in the morning!
I'll be referencing this information again when we start cloth diapering our newest family addition full-time. I started with my son when he was a year old, so not too much experience here...he made it through the night in a prefold and cover, because he was already starting to wake up dry sometimes.
Your story comes as a relief, as I have not tried nighttime diapering and have some of the same fears that you had. Good to know it can work!
Thanks for the encouraging info on nighttime diapering. I have a friend who gave up cd'ing at night because of her heavy wetter, and I was worried I'd have to do the same, but now I'm willing to try different things to keep it up!
I have had my fair share of nightime issues. Now I use the Super Do insert.
I use BG at night too. I started having weird leaks only on one particular blue diaper (I think it's my daughter trying to tell me "I'm a girl, don't put me in blue") :) seems like the elastic in the legs isn't as tight or something. And we cosleep, so when she wets we all get wet. But... wool pants are the best, she just outgrew a pair so I need more then I think problem will be solved!!!
Here's what works for my heavy wetter: Happy Heiny One Size with 1 large hemp, 1 fleece, and 2 hemp ovals. He will wake up dry, dry, dry after 11+ hours!
I use FB and BumGenius with hemp and a microsoft insert or prefold.
Does anyone else have a "big kid" who still wears diapers at night? My almost 5 year-old still wears diapers at night. I have an XL Fuzzi Bunz diaper, but it still leaks at the waist. Any suggestions?? What works for big kids???
It took me too quite a while to brave night time CD'ing with my heavy-wetting-then-3-month-old (I was usuing CD on my 2 y/o though 'cause he stayed/s pretty dry at night). I tried both inserts in my BG 3.0 and it still works well! :)
Wow! There are really a a lot of options here! I have a very small stash as I am new to cloth diapering, but I fold a birdseye flat inside a hemp fitted diaper, then cover it all with my large Green & Comfy all in one. No leaks for two nights in a row!
We were in the same boat with worrying about making it through the night. He was walking up during the day when he wants his diaper changed. But one night we realized we were down to 2 disposies and I didn't want to waste them on night time (since the next day he was being babysat by his grandma and we don't force those watching our baby to do CD also). We put a goodmama with an infant prefold as a doubler and he made it just fine through the night. Hey its not as bad as we thought. We've been doing a little over a week now and he is 4 months today- so it only took us 4 months to figure it out. Thanks for sharing.
We have a 6mo "super soaker" son. We had put him in a BG with two of the full size inserts plus an infant doubler. He leaked through it all. We bought night-time disposables and then wrap a BG AIO around it. That seems to work, but we would like to use CDs at night again if we could.
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