There are many sleepless nights in parenthood. The most obvious segment is the newborn phase up until that blissful day when they finally start sleeping through the night. You will ask yourself if that really happened, if you maybe just slept through their crying, or if maybe sleeping through the night was a cruel dream. Once it’s been established that they are indeed sleeping through the night there is a sense of calm at every bed time, you will begin to feel the freedom of having a solid 8-10 uninterrupted hours each evening. This bliss is short lived as you now have to battle the soaked through diapers. Those of you who use cloth, I have no idea if this happens to you once the little ones sleep through the night or if it does- how you approach it. I have compiled a list of strategies (from perusing various mommy message boards) to help “save our sheets” from the inevitable overflow that happens while baby slumbers peacefully while they have APPARENTLY become a leaky faucet.
**DISCLAIMER** A few of these are practical while the rest are quite obviously not so please don’t take this too seriously, just read and enjoy.
Go up a size!
Pretty straightforward, lots of moms suggested using the next size up diaper and making sure to fasten it as tight as it will go. Do they realize though that the weight guidelines on the diapers are for the child’s weight and not the volume of liquid they hold?? Truth be told I have tried this method and it works, the only downside is that you have to buy an entire extra package of diapers in the next size up meaning you will be spending more money on diapers.
“Overnite” diapers?
Yes, they make a specific model of diaper just for wearing through the night. One question I have “Why not just make the regular diapers more absorbent??” Personally it’s just another way they suck you in to spend more money- but since these moms swear they work it might be worth the extra dinero. If you think about it you would only use one a night (two if you make babies in pairs) so the extra pack of diapers will last a while.
“Diaper Doublers”
They actually make extra pads to put into diapers at night to make them absorb more. Yet another thing to spend money on! I wonder if a maxi pad would do the same? Since most of us already have a box of those somewhere in our house. Or better yet, get yourself a “Sham Wow” and make some inserts out of that! They’re made in Germany so you know they are good!
Origami
A few moms posted that they fold the top part of the front of the diaper inwards and hike up the front of the diaper more and have had no problems with leaks. I can see this solving the problem for belly sleepers, but would you reverse the process for a baby who prefers sleeping on their back? What about side sleepers?
Plastic diaper covers
Use a plastic cover (like the ones made for potty training) over the diaper to help contain the liquid. This one seems iffy to me at best. If preventing diaper leakage is as simple as waterproofing the diapers on the outside, I think a better idea would be to buy a can of Flex Seal (for the super low price of 12.99 plus shipping and handling!) and just completely spray the outside of the diaper before putting it on. According the infomercial it “stops leaks fast!” and if it can make a boat with a screen door built into the bottom completely watertight then it sure should do a number on those night time leaks!
That’s all I could find for now and I sincerely hope you find the solution that fits your needs in the list above. If all else fails you could just continue to wake up every few hours (as if you don’t do that anyway) and get in touch with your inner ninja to change their diapers multiple times throughout the night without waking them!
Too funny Brittany! Yes we are actually struggling with this with our 2.5 year old who is fully potty trained except still wears a pull up at night. She soaks through it almost every night. And who really wants to change sheets every day?!