overnight leaks - would switching to cloth help?

[dowlinal]

Within the last two weeks our Huggies overnights are no longer cutting it. I sized up thinking that would help and it has stopped the leaks but Madeline is still waking up btw. 2-4 am. I think it's because the diaper is overfull and she starts to feel the wetness. The problem is that she won't go back to sleep unless we bring her into our bed. This is fine most nights because DH is home for her to sleep with but he is currently working overnights I need to work until the wee hours to get my work done.

I am completely clueless about cloth diapers except that I lurk here and secretly envy all the beautiful dipes everyone has. Could I use a cloth insert with a sposie? Would switching to cloth at nights help? Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated.

TIA!
A

[pritchettzoo]

Honestly, if she's that much of a super soaker, cloth diapers at night could be a frustrating place to start. What you could do is get some fleece--I like the anti-pill fleece at Joann's--and cut out liners for her nighttime diapers. You can use the inside of the sposie as the pattern. Then just lay it in the diaper. Rinse it out in the morning and wash them with something on which you don't use fabric softener (like towels). The fleece will help her feel drier longer. Also, cut back on/cut out fluids 2 hours before bedtime. We're going to have to do that too, and Gracie usually has a snack with graham crackers and milk shortly before bed. She's going to be ticked! ;)

When your time is up with the evil judge and you have more free time, we can definitely turn you to the fluffy side! :)

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)
and a BOY! (coming July '05)

[mudder17]

And if it still doesn't keep her dry enough because the diaper really is overfull, you could add a doubler to the backside of the fleece liner for extra absorbency (but still use the sposie). But hopefully the fleece liner alone will help tide you over until we turn you over. ;-)


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040222/0/0/1/-5/.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif
12.5 months: 30", 19.7 lbs, 47 cm head

[duvie]

I wonder if, maybe, the diapers aren't the problem. There was some study done (sorry to be vague, but I can't remember where or when I read it!) where the parents changed the baby when s/he cried at night but then put the SAME WET diaper back on. The babies were then fine after that...what they wanted was contact with the parents.

I know that this is of no help to you, but thought that it was interesting.

Duvie

[pittsburghgirl]

The suggestions from PPs are good. You also might try going up a size in the Overnights... you didn't say what size you are in. James wears a size 4 sposie but at night he gets a size 5 Overnights. It looks a little silly when it goes on (super high rise) but it can contain it all.

Marilee
mommy to James
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040120/1/1/1/-5/.png

[rrosen]

I smell fresh meat.

C'mon over to the dark side! We promise to be gentle. }(

[kozachka]

A friend of mine has a super-super soaker. She uses a size bigger Overnights with a super long pad (Maxi?). Her boy sleeps in a fleece PJ on a fleece blanket instead of a cotton sheet. He still gets soaked up to his chin but at least he does not feel wetness and does not wake up. Maybe you can try something along those lines.

[dowlinal]

The dark side! LOL You guys crack me up. It probably wouldn't take much to convert me. I've already switched to mama fluff and I tried to talk DH into cloth a few weeks ago but he vetoed it. His position was that the sposies worked so why change it. That's why I thought our soaker problem might be the perfect way to introduce cloth. DH is really good at supporting all of my choices (ie cosleeping, babywearing, homemade babyfood, and my unsuccessful plan to BF for atleast a year) so I think he would come around to this too. I just can't do it until I stop working in September.

My biggest concerns are 1)there are so many options that I am totally overwhelmed, 2) cost - I know that they can be cheaper but I suspect that dipes will turn into my next hanna/naartjie obsession, 3) ick factor - I hope to be pregnant in the near future and with Madeline I was sick for the whole 8 1/2 mo so this concerns me.

Thank you for the advice. I am going to try the liners and cutting back on fluids. I already tried sizing up and I don't think we can go up another size. Sadly part of our problem is that she has started drinking her bathwater. We have a sprayer and when you rinse her off she tries to drink it like a water fountain.

A

[mudder17]

There's plenty of time between now and September to do the research. And it'll be fun--I promise we won't bite. ;-)

The options can be narrowed down quite a bit if you figure out your needs first and then your wants. It will also depend on what age you're thinking of diapering (i.e. starting with Madeline will give you one set of possibilities and then moving on to a newborn will give you another set of possibilities. Other considerations include ease of use with a newborn vs. a wiggly toddler, and balancing out cost vs. the "gotta have" diaper. :P But we can tackle those when you're ready. :)

As for the ick factor, based on some of the recent posts I've been reading (and other than the first 2 days of DD's life when she was in the hospital, I have no experience with sposies), sposie messes and smells seem much more nauseating than cloth messes. DH and I recently discovered a valuable lesson with stomach viruses and diapers. When DD has a stomach virus, put her in a snappi'd PF + fleece cover OR fitted + fleece cover, but don't put her in a pocket, LOL. In any case, from what I've gathered, the smell of sposies with poop and pee seems to be much stronger and worse than with cloth and poop and pee. And generally speaking, barring user error, cloth seems to be better at containing poopy messes. Yes, you do have to deal with the washing of the diapers, but that's really not so bad once you get a system going.

Anyway, keep us updated on how your current solution works.


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040222/0/0/1/-5/.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif
12.5 months: 30", 19.7 lbs, 47 cm head

[egoldber]

My DD was a nighttime super soaker and I eventually gave up on cloth at night. It was so hard getting enough absorbancy on her that I could get PJs to fit over! At one point she was also saturating her nighttime disposable diapers and she was wearing size 6 already! I did add a hemp doubler to her disposable diapers at that point, and that did help.

HTH,

[mudder17]

Wow Beth, and I thought I had a super soaker! I hope this isn't what I have to look forward to!


Eileen

Mother of Beautiful Kaya, www.chemicalgraphics.com/kaya
http://lilypie.com/baby2/040222/0/0/1/-5/.png

http://www.gynosaur.com/assets/ribbons/ribbon_gold_12m.gif
12.5 months: 30", 19.7 lbs, 47 cm head

[egoldber]

It was VERY frustrating. What finally really helped was switching from sippy/straw cups to regular cups. She would EASILY down a 4 or 8 ounce sippy of water, but with a regular cup, she seemed satisfied with much less.

[dowlinal]

Beth,

What doubler did you use? I looked on naturalbabies and there are so many brands/sizes. Madeline is big so she's already in size 4 reg dipes and size 5 overnights. I'm think I need a L or Xl doubler??? I'm also thinking that want to use hemp because of the absorbancy and natural anti-microbial properties but other than that I am lost.

A

[tarahsolazy]

A large joeybunz should be plenty big, length wise. I'd add fleece to the top, and cut the fleece bigger than the insert, all around. This will help Alexis have that drier feeling.

[egoldber]

I used either a large JoeyBunz or a large MOE doubler. And I did add a fleece liner on top of the doubler. I will confess to using TWO of them at times the issue was so bad for us LOL!