Night Time Diapering

Even before switching to cloth diapers, night time diapering was a challenge for me–DS used to be up a few times a night to nurse, and his diaper, even a disposable, would be soaked the next morning, often to the point of leaking.

When we first switched to cloth diapers, I used two g-Flappers in a pair of gPants.  After a while, I found his bum to be red the next morning from a soaked diaper sitting on his bum for too long.

Then I switched to two flushies, one folded in half in front.  It held all the liquid (although some days the flushies would be holding so much pee that they would burst), and we had no leaks or red bums.  However, it got expensive.

The next thing I tried was double- or triple-stuffed pocket diapers.  I often used whatever pocket diapers I had on hand, but often resort to BumGenius OS 3.0 or Rumparooz.  I particularly liked Rumparooz’s gusset and doubler–no leaks ever!

After a while, my hands got itchy, and DS’s thighs grew even chubbier, so I decided to switch to a feel-wet solution.  For one night, I tried a Bummis prefold with wool cover.  It was definitely not enough!  So I switched to a Sustainablebabyish fitted.  It was still no good.

Three months ago, I finally decided to splurge on a Goodmama fitted.  When I first received it in the mail, I was amazed how thick it was!  The Goodmama fitteds really held up all the liquid (although barely).  But I had leaks–because the Goodmamas are so thick, most of the diaper covers couldn’t cover the diaper well.  That included Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, Flip, and some WAHM-made wool covers and longies.  In addition, the Goodmama would be SOOOO soaked and stinky in the morning, and we’re also seeing red bum again.  Thinking it was my washer (which has never been cloth-diaper friendly), I tried stripping the diapers in different ways.  None of them worked well enough; there were still redness, especially where the elastics land on his thighs.

Another problem is, he has basically outgrown the Goodmama fitteds, despite them advertised to fit up to 30 lbs.  It’s his chubby thighs.  So I switched to using prefolds, with an extra prefold folded up as a extra thick doubler in front.  The prefolds are snappied (so no elastics), then I put on the wool cover and wool longies.  The prefolds are still soaked, but they are less stinky, and we had less itchiness around the thighs.

Then it dawned on me: I should just change his diaper in the middle of the night.

Sounds easy, right?  Except that I have to unzip DS’s sleep sack, take off his wool longies (for extra protection), the wool cover, and his diaper.  Then I try to take him to potty (my half-hearted attempt to night-time EC).  After that, I had to put on a clean diaper, wool cover, wool longies, and sleep sack.  More often than not, that whole sequence would wake him up, and I had to nurse him down again.  Not a fun thing to do when I was trying to go to bed.

I’m trying to find the best time to change his diaper at night so I won’t disrupt his sleep.  After that, I need to find a good time to take him to potty and ramp up the night-time ECing.  Hopefully with the warmer months night-time ECing would become easier.