Oh, the dreaded night time solution. The worst part about cloth diapering at night is that every baby is different, therefore there is no “perfect” combination that will work for everyone. This is not an easy post to write. I have talked to many people who cloth diaper during the day but use disposables at night because they are afraid of leaks. I get it - we've all been there. I was used to changing my son's diaper every three hours, all day and all night. So when he started sleeping for longer periods, everything changed.
I will have a list at the bottom that will be suggestions - things that have worked for people I have talked to. This might help some people make the switch from disposables to cloth for night time, if that what your intention is.
I’m sure there are parents out there that are able to use the same cloth diapers they use during the day for overnight. Maybe for babies that aren’t “heavy wetters” or for parents that change diapers a couple of time a night. But my son is a heavy wetter and sleeps through the night, so I needed something different, something better for over night.
When I say “night time solutions” I mean a solution to keep baby’s jammies and bed sheets dry, without changing the diaper during the night.
When Noah was a newborn, he woke up at 2am and 5am, every night. So, at 2am and 5am, I took him out of his bed (which was in our bedroom) and took him across the hall to his room. There, I changed his diaper and then sat in the glider to nurse him back to sleep. I didn’t have specific night time newborn diapers, but I did use all fitted diapers and PUL covers at the time. It worked well, I never had an issue.
I didn’t experience him waking up with wet jammies until he was around one and a half months old. He started sleeping longer stretches at night, sometimes seven or eight hours. While it was wonderful getting so much more sleep, I worried about him being in a wet diaper so long. He was mostly out of newborn size diapers and into size small. I was just putting whatever diaper I grabbed on him – Thirsties Fab Fitteds with small Bummis or Rearz cover, Thirsties Duo diapers, Tiny Bots all-in-one, etc. Sometimes he woke up dry, sometimes his jammies were soaked. It was frustrating because I didn’t have the “solution”.
One night I remembered I had bought five used Bamboozle fitted diapers, when I was pregnant. I had two “size 1” and three “size 2”. I knew that bamboo was more absorbent than the synthetic materials I’d been using, so I figured I’d give them a try for over night. The size 1 seemed really big at first, because they fit 5-18 lbs. Noah was about 12 lbs when I started using them. I put a cover over it and while his bum looked huge, I felt confident. And I’ve never looked back. He’s now into the size 2, which fits 10-35 lbs. I started using this size when was about three months old, because the rise on the size 1 was getting short – though he wasn’t at the weight maximum yet. I use these diapers probably five nights out of the week, always with a Thirsties Duo Wrap with leg gussets.
My secondary night time solution is a Motherease one-size fitted diaper, with a hemp booster. I either use a Thirsties cover or a wool soaker. I (and moreso Noah) never have to deal with wet jammies or sheets anymore.
But, of course, just because these diapers work well for us doesn’t mean there aren’t other great night time solutions out there. Others that may work for you:
Canadian made options:
Motherease One size fitted
Motherease Sandy's fitted
Rearz Smitten fitted
Bububebe fitted
A Lovely Start fitted
Other fitteds:
Goodmama
PiddlePoodles
Kissaluvs
*All of these would work well with a PUL cover or wool soaker. Just make sure none of the diaper itself is sticking out of the cover.
Pocket lovers might want to try:
Kawaii Good Night Heavy Wetters
Blueberry pocket “fully stuffed” (hemp and microfibre inserts
Bum Genius pocket “double stuffed” (two microfibre inserts)
Adding hemp doublers and a wool soaker to a fitted diaper is often a "bullet proof" combination. It may make for a super fluffy bum but at least baby's jammies will stay dry all night.
"Double stuffing" or "fully stuffing" a pocket diaper means to use all the inserts the diaper came with, or even adding extra inserts or doublers.
It depends on the age of the baby and whether or not they are a "heavy wetter", but any of these options may be the perfect "night time solution" for you and your baby.
