Current Nighttime Diaper Fix

So here is the epilogue to our nighttime diapering dilemma in this previous post:

So far the new setup has worked. I would still like to add a staydry/fleece liner just so the wetness isn't against his skin all night, but he is comfortable enough to stay asleep all night!

I got a comment that this seems 'complicated'. Well, it certainly has been trial and error, but I am not sure its any different from figuring out how much coffee makes the perfect pot in a new coffeemaker? And in comparison to using a disposable, even one specifically designed for nighttime, they didn't hold in all the wetness either, and M woke up with wet jammies and little gel beads all over his diaper area.

Hopefully this suggestion saves you some time in your trial and error process!

Oh - the best thing about this 'new' set up is that I already had all the parts! I highly recommend having a cover or two, and some prefolds (we have six) on hand for backup. They are always the fastest drying and are very versatile. [I have a friend whose son needed several days to recover from a terrible diaper rash due to illness. While at home, she would put a prefold on him with just a snappi, so that he could still get air circulating, but not make a mess.]

So here are the details:



all the 'ingredients': a Thirsties duo wrap, an indian prefold, both inserts from a Rump a Rooz pocket, plus a bamboo insert.



Step 1, looks just like how I'd put together a prefold/cover combo (usually i am lazy and skip the snappi, and just tuck the prefold into the cover, folded just like this)



I snap together both of the Rump a rooz microfiber inserts. then I double over the bamboo insert and situate it toward the snaps, which I'll put towards the front of the diaper... which is where most of our wetness occurs...



I can't even add up the total layers of absorbency here! This combo is just tall enough that the gussets on the cover cover the insides. If they didn't we might still have a leak issue through any open gaps.



Top view. um... i think my diapers need some sunning... hope this isn't a turn-off for future cloth-diaper-ers!



The Nighttime Cloth Diapering Saga

Let me start by saying that this was how my diapering philosophy evolved, based on my knowledge and experience. Please chime in about what has worked for you! I scoured posts like these when I was researching, and begging for a full nights' sleep again!

When we first got started cloth diapering, we took home a small sample of diapers, which included a Rump a rooz pocket diaper. This diaper comes with two inserts. One is a newborn size, that you can also snap in to the regular size for extra absorption. We have always used both inserts as our night solution. The other thing that makes this a good night diaper is that the top layer is fleece, which allows moisture to pass through and keeps it away from baby's bottom, making it more comfortable, and less likely he or she will get a rash. This worked great for us, except that the Velcro didn't take long to start wearing out.

However, soon after our little guy turned one, he developed what I call a "toddler bladder," and started waking up again in the middle of the night. Ack! My internet research pointed to the best solution to this being a combination of a fitted diaper (especially the sustainablebabyish brand) plus a wool cover for "bulletproof" protection. I admit: I am intimidated by wool. It isn't cheap, and requires care I am unfamiliar with, so I am afraid "to go there". I also couldn't bring myself to make the investment, especially since the main reason I wanted to use cloth is to save money. The above-mentioned fitted is $20 a pop, and they are sized (which means you have to buy new ones, eventually, as baby grows). And we would need 4 each time. Wool covers are also pricey ( I found them to be $30-40 or so, and also sized so you have to get more as baby grows (and honestly, they are mostly kind of ugly) but I don't see why you couldn't use a PUL cover. I couldn't bring myself to make the investment when I had already invested in night diapers that I didn't intend to use for daytime purposes. However, I also know that sleep is priceless. Overnight Pampers can help, but our guy leaked out of those, too.

So I decided to go with adding an extra bamboo insert  that I fold in half and situate towards the diaper, for our boy.  Recently, at 21 mos, he has started waking up again. He goes back to sleep on his own, and still wet, but I feel bad for his discomfort and we are going through pjs and bedclothes like crazy. So again I find myself looking for a nighttime solution. A friend's baby recently turned one, and soon thereafter proved she had developed her toddler bladder. My friend, who had just finally come to enjoy full restful nights of sleep, was at her wits end. Her local diaper store suggested the ecoposh one size fitted plus a PUL cover (with good gussets, like Blueberry or thirsties, etc. Again, these are not cheap, and I am not sure I am ready to buy 4 of them (unless I really can't come up with another solution!... like potty training :) ), but if I were where I was a year ago, or even putting together a baby registry, I would plan to try these out!

So, first I decided to strip our diapers, by adding some blue Dawn dish soap to our normal load of diaper laundry. Meanwhile, tonight I decided to try an experiment. I started with a Thirsties cover (which we already had on hand and they are great! Love the gussets) I laid an XL pre fold in it, tri folded in the front, fanned and folded down a bit in the back. On top of that I laid the normal contents of our nighttime Rump a roo: both insets that come with it, plus our folded over bamboo insert towards the front of the diaper. I don't have any fleece liners, but laid a disposable liner on top hoping it would keep some moisture away from his skin. I slathered him with some Cjs BUTTer just in case. Fingers crossed for uninterrupted sleep for all of us!

I'll update this posts with pictures of my setup! Here's our current solution - and we already had all the parts!

What's your nighttime diaper solution!?!?

Precious sleep

Etrade Baby

The one truth we all know about kids, whether we have many, one, or none, is that you get less sleep with them in your life. If you don't know this, and are expecting, here is your news for the day. Even if you don't sleep all that much, you will sleep less. And forgive this rambling post because of, well, lack of sleep.

With a new baby, I actually fully anticipated this, and was looking forward to finally getting to cuddle my bundle of joy at every opportunity, once I met him in person. And after he was born, the adrenaline kicked in, and we regularly had milk dates at 10 and 2. But then we were fortunate and the little guy started sleeping through the night. This continued beautifully until he was about 15 months or so (give or take the occasional growth spurt). And then he started seemingly random jags of getting up an hour early.

Now, I forgot to mention that once M was sleeping through the night, and we were constructing our morning routines when we were both working, we decided the best strategy was to get up about an hour before him, get ourselves ready, and bags packed, so we could fully attend the chaos that would ensue, and still end up at work with most of our belongings and clothes. So naturally, losing this hour of peace and privacy really bummed us out. Not to mention we somehow ended up mostly ready to go early... like before daycare was even open. Which means there is that much more time that we have to keep our work clothes protected from banana hands and toddler fluids. This hour early wakeup could last a week or two, then go back to normal for a week or two.

I tried to comb through the details of our lives to see what could have been the catalyst for the change, but came up empty handed. Sometimes we suspected teeth, or later an illness of some kind would be sprinkled in, but nothing truly clear cut. For about a week straight, he was waking up soaking wet, and I was losing faith in cloth diapers (thought they were doing their share of heavy lifting, the kid just had high output - he even outsoaked overnight disposables, such that we found little gel beads on him when we changed him in the morning). We even made a trip to a local cloth diaper boutique for suggested and they offered switching to the souped up nighttime solution, fitted bamboo diapers (such as sustainablebabyish or Sandy's fitted) + wool covers. These were a little pricey for us (especially this late in the diapering game), so I went the cheap route and bought some trim bamboo inserts to add to our overnight setup. They seemed to have helped some.

http://www.amazon.com/Newborn-Baby-Tracker
%C2%AE-Childcare-Journal/dp/9729375011

As I mentioned previously, just a few weeks ago, we moved our family from the East Coast to the West one. We adjusted to the 3-hr time zone shift over the customary 7-10 days. But still had this nagging 30 minutes-to-an-hour that we couldn't get him to sleep in. I consulted my What to Expect, the Toddler Years, and my Baby Whisperer, and Googled. Basically, if he was sleeping at least 10 hours (which he was hitting right on the nose), then they had no suggestions. ... except maybe to push bedtime back. Again, this feels like a milestone, but we are starting small, to make it seem less so.

So after about a week of going to bed 15 minutes later, I think we are mostly getting our hour back. He has legitimately had the sniffles, which gave us one rough night, but at least he slept in afterwards.

I'd love to hear what things worked for you! And if you suspect a cause I am overlooking!!

One last tip that I firmly believe has minimized the effects of this phenomenon: the Wait Just a Bit rule. When baby cries, if you know s/he is not wet or hungry or in pain (so new mommies of newborns, this probably doesn't apply to you) WAIT. Wait, like 10 minutes. It seems like a reeeeaaaallllly long time. But sometimes that is how long baby needs to figure out how to settle back down. You may hold your breath for this 10 minutes but will be rewarded!

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