What do you put on your heavy wetters at night?

[Ruth]

Here's the story, my dd has just moved into her own cot (after sleeping in our bed for the first 6 months) and she sleeps ok but after about 2am she starts to be really restless and wakes at least every hour until the morning (I usually give in and bring her in with me at around 4am but she's still very wakeful). She's always been a really heavy wetter and no matter how much cloth I put on her (the most ever is a toddler prefold, a 24" terry square as booster with a 7 layer hemp booster inside that) she's always saturated in the morning - it's only because of the wool that we have no leaks. So anyway last night I put her in a disposable and she only woke up 3 times and settled back to sleep straight away after feeding - she only came into our bed at 6.30!!!

So of course the obvious answer is either to use disposables at night which I hate the idea of (in principle and because they make her bum red and blotchy) or to wake her and me up and change her in the middle of the night. I can't use fleece liners as she's sensitive to them and the whole nappy all the way around is soaking anyway. I really don't want to have to change her in the night as I'm hoping that she'll eventually start to sleep through (and I want to sleep through one day too).

Does anyone have any ideas or am I just going to have to lump it and do the change?

[pageta]

I gave up on the idea of making it through the night months ago. DS is soaked at midnight sometimes. If he wakes up and is wet, I change him even though we use fleece liners (they don't go all the way around and the wetness does). At this age, I figure it can be part of the non-reward of waking in the middle of the night. We usually go through about three heavy duty diapers at night.

[Ruth]

No way Tana, my ds was sleeping through the night at that stage. Ben has the same birthday as Millie, just a year older :) must be a 10th of July baby thing lol.

[mommomrebecca]

I would just change her if she's uncomfortable. If sposies make her red and blotchy I don't think that's going to be a comfortable alternative. She'll go back to sleep after eating, right? Also, you might want to consider some EC exercises, just a thought, it really works and would solve the issue after a really short time.

Oh, and that doesn't seem like many layers to me. Before I got into EC with Levi I would have him in three 7 layer hemp doublers inside a firefly or other absorbant fitted and wool and he would soak through it all by early morning.

[hunnybumm]

I definitly think EC or changing cloth in the middle of the night would be your best options. Also, if she is waking every hour after half the night she is probably peeing every time she wakes up, which makes the diaper even wetter, making the problem even worse.

DS is a pretty light wetter, we use a hemp SOS at night with a wool soaker/pants. He very rarely soaks through, but on nights when he wakes more than normal he is either soaked through and/or the diaper is completely wet. If he is very restless I just change him and he doesn't wake up near as often. However, that morning pee is a like an opened flood gate, but it's better than it being on the bed.

My DS will sleep through a night diaper change, though he usually fusses or cries. After he is changed I nurse him and he goes right to sleep.

[Knitting24/7]

my oldest had the biggest diaper butt at night.
After tons of frustration we just ...we basically put his entire stash on him at night.
one way we cd'd him at night was a meos with a doubler, then covers by a stuffed fuzzi bunz...then i would put a mother ease traing cover over that yet.
or we would use a toddler prefold with 2 doublers, then wrap the meos around that then use either a fuzzi bunz or another pocket diaper as a cover.
I was so happy when he was finally trained at night. *sigh * but wdyd?
With him i changed him if he woke up
but ds2...well he is the lightest of light wetters.
Often i can just put a prefold,doubler and soaker on him and when he wakes up only the doubler is wet.

[9wildthings]

I usually change Landen right before I go to bed, around midnight. He wears a hemp fitted diaper, 2 hemp fleece doublers, a wool cover and wool pants or shorts over that. It really isn't too bad, as far as bulk. Certainly not as trim as a 'sposie, btu not terrible either. This usually gets us through about 8 hours. He wakes up and nurses a few times during the night still.

[Ruth]

Thanks ladies, I'm ashamed to admit she's in disposables at night at the moment :hide . I even have to change them she's such a heavy wetter. It's not bulk I'm worried about - she can't walk yet so it doesn't matter that her legs are splayed out almost into the splits lol - it's just that the wetness seemed to be waking her up all the time. Ha, ha, who am I kidding - she still wakes up at least every 2 hours through the night (except the evening strangely enough - little madam, it only starts when I go to bed) and I'm still changing her so I should really go back to the cloth, I suppose I think it'll be more disruptive pulling off a soaker than it is to quickly undo and wrap around a disposable, hmmmmm.....

[BethyM99]

I might get the evil eye for this, particularly as the mod of this forum...

but, disposables are not the end of the world. If it helps you and her sleep better at night, then go for it. I suspect that as she gets a bit older her wetting will slow down. That's what my James did. I'm trying to think when, he was maybe 6mths old when I started noticing he wasn't as saturated all the time. As a new baby, there weren't enough diapers in the house to soak up all that boy could pee.

Another option, do cloth with a velcro cover... I think F&F has a velcro you can knit, or go with a PUL like a Bummis wrap. Might be quicker and you don't have to totally undo the jammies like you do with a soaker.

[Ruth]

Thanks Beth, pul is definitely no good - leaks like a sieve lol. I might knock out a couple of ribby wraps and try them with velcro - the one I have is only a small (I think, might be medium lol) so it won't go anywhere near the night time nappy. That's the thing see, my ews is brill for covering the bulk and keeping dry but a bugger to take on and off in the middle of the night. I usually just change her in the dark on my lap while she feeds - interesting fact - disposables release some kind of luminescence when you take them off in the dark.

[blueskymama]

With dd#1, we used disposables at night. She was a champion night nurser and wet wet wetter. Luckily she night trained when she was 2-1/2. With dd#2, under-the-nile fitted and a thick wool cover (aristocrats or whatever I have thats thick). The diaper and the cover would be wet, but no leaks. We change her right before bed then when I wake up in the morning around 6am.

[9wildthings]

Whoa, luminesence! I chuckled at that! I also agree with Bethy. It is not the end of the world to use a 'sposie at night, especially if the alternative is saturation. I should have mentioned, before I started using fitteds and wool (I used prefolds and Dappi pull-ons for 15 years), I used 'sposies at night because otherwise, we would all be soaked. :)

[Quinlonsma]

I use a Starbunz Pocket one size too big, with a prefold and a microsuede cloth in the middle.

I tried EVERYTHING with Quinlon and that was the only combo that didn't leak. My kids are night feeders. Then when I night weaned Quinlon he was still drinking 8oz of drinkable yogurt at night plus water on top of that!

At almost 3 he finally drinks only about 2oz before bed and the occasional sip during the night.

Hope that helps.

[stormintheattic]

My name is Yvon and my kids are very heavy night wetters....isnt that how CD anonymous works ?
Sposies were worse than cloth here. I even put 2 on DS with a cover....didnt work either. He sleeps for 12 hours straight, nothing wakes him.
So now he's like a teletubbie at night. DS wears: 10 layers of hemp folded into a doubler, a 4 layer hemp diaper, a felted wool velcro wrap (disana I think) and over that he wears his heavy duty longies.
DD is up to 10 layers of hemp in total now, with the same covers.
For an expertiment I weighed their diapers in the evening and in the morning. There was over 450ml of fluid in DS'

[Quinlonsma]

off to find a metric conversion chart ;)

[mamapez]

450ml is almost a pint.


Love, Your Nerdy Engineer Friend

[Quinlonsma]

LOL!

:)

THANKS oODLES....

[pamelamama]

I highly recommend plopping that baby down on a mini potty when the midnight squirmies set in. Eli would squirm when he needed to pee, and I'd take him. Now he's dry all night, years before my older kid was out of diapers at night. He's two and a bit.

oxox