Do I have a super soaker?? Need night help!

[the2amigos]

Well, my boy is now 6 weeks old and starting to sleep more at night - praise heavens! Sometimes he will sleep up to 6 hours at night, nurse and want to go right back to sleep. I'm unsure about changing his diaper and waking him during that feeding (unless he poops). What would you do?

However, we are using Kissaluvs 0 or an infant CPF with a prorap during the day and he will completely saturate them during the 2-3 hours he may have them on during the day. So at night I'm finding he is wet through his Aristocrat or BJMarketplace wool cover....very frustrating. I wanted to try using something with more breathability, but having to wake him and change everything the last few nights is not making wool look positive to me. I'm guessing it's not the wool, but the diaper. I've tried stuffing the K0 - so much so it barely snaps and he is still soaked after a few hours.

Any suggestions? I'm guessing I have a super soaker on my hands! Is the wool supposed to get completely wet through?

[mudder17]

Okay, a couple of things. If the diapers are soaking through that much, then I would definitely change him during his night feeding. That said, it sounds like the diapers you have are not absorbent enough. Kissaluvs really aren't that absorbent and although they usually work for a newborn, it's usually because newborns are usually changed every 1-3 hours around the clock. K0s worked for us precisely because we did change DD every time she woke up for a feed. Same with the infant CPFs. It wasn't too bad, and she just went right back to sleep afterwards. When she was younger, we'd change her first and then nurse her and that would soothe her back to sleep. As she got older, though, she would be too hungry to patiently wait through the diaper change. So I'd nurse her, DH would change her, and I would nurse her again before putting her back in her crib (in our room). It worked pretty well.

But if you'd like to go longer, you're going to need a slightly different system. First, if the diaper is completely soaked through, then you're waiting too long for the current system--he's going to feel the wetness which is pretty icky. I would suggest making some fleece liners. Just get some fleece or microfleece from your fabric store and cut out rectangles or hourglass shapes to lay between him and the diaper. It will help him feeling dry. The BJM wool cover is definitely NOT absorbent enough for night time, so I would definitely stick to the Aristocrat. If he's also soaking through the Aristocrat, there are a couple of reasons. One is that the Aristocrat needs to be lanolized. But the other, based on your description, sounds more likely--you need to increase the absorbency of your diaper. One of your solutions has been to stuff the K0, which is a good one. But what are you stuffing it with? You could try using hemp doublers. They are more absorbent and could help make the diaper last longer. Same with your prefold--you could add a hemp doubler to them. You could also get a wool doubler, which you lay between the diaper and the cover, and which will force the diaper to absorb more. But it sounds like your diaper system is actually absorbing everything; there's just not enough soaker material to deal with the amount of pee.

You could also get a couple of night time fitted diapers like Benjamuffins or perhaps other hemp diapers and use them only for night time. They are going to be MUCH more absorbent than the kissaluvs and even the prefold by itself. In the same way, you could get a couple of hemp prefolds and hemp doublers and use them just for night time. If you read a couple threads down, you'll find that Lizajane's 6 week old (I think he's around the same age) is also soaking through EVERYTHING. I think she's going to try making some hemp prefolds for him.

I hope this gives you some ideas.

Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
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12.5 months: 30", 19.7 lbs, 47 cm head

[new_mommy25]

If you want more breathability how about trying an absorbant fitted at night? A Firefly sleep tight or a Benjamuffins Night Dreamer would work well with your Aristocrat. I know that Jen mentioned before that she didn't think the BJ Marketplace was thick enough for nighttime. You might also try a Sugarpeas fleece cover over that.

If not, another suggestion would be for a generous cut fitted and laying an extra hemp doubler in there. It's been so long I can't remember how much they pee back then. I think I was still changing night diapers until he stopped pooping at night but I can't remember when that was!

During the day you might want to just change as soon as he wets or poops. Maybe try laying a doubler in the kissaluv or prefold?

[mommyj_2]

Kissaluvs are great for the newborn stage, but they can't hold as much pee as other dipes. I used to change my DS' diaper at night a lot of the time, since he was awake anyway. When he got older and didn't wake up as often, I just used a fleece topped hemp doubler in a prefold. That worked really well for me, and was much cheaper than the night time dipes. I had a Bumpy wool cover I used, but I'm guessing the aristocrat wll work just as well, as long as the diaper is absorbing enough.
Also, boys tend to soak through Kissaluvs more easily, because they were designed for a girl baby, and a lot of the absorbancy isn't where boys pee goes in the dipes. I used them for my son, but he got chubby so fast he outgrew them before the absorbancy became an issue.
HTH

[lizajane]

i hear ya!!!!!!!!!!!! dylan is 7 weeks tomorrow. he drowns everything. i think i have made it one or two nights with a fuzzibunz stuffed with a nighttime hemp insert (my own- 8 layers) wrapped in a microfiber towel. it isn't the perfect solution because the FB is still a little big on him so i have to get the legs perfect around his monster thighs so it won't wick around the edge of his onsie.

i still haven't gotten to make my hemp prefolds, but that might be a good thing to try, and less expensive than a hemp fitted. as soon as i can get them done, i can let you know how it worked out. dylan still eats twice at night and he is asleep immediately, so i do not want to change him and wake him up (or wake me up anymore than i have to!)

at least try some hemp doublers. i use a 2 layer hemp doubler in all my prefolds and in kissaluvs during the day! and he can still soak through if he sleeps a long time (which is rare, i am afraid...)