How To Diaper Baby at Night for Optimal Sleep

Get tricks and tips for how to diaper baby at night so wet diapers do not wake baby up and you can get baby sleeping longer stretches at night.

Baby getting diaper changed

Sometimes, your little one will start waking in the night all because of a wet diaper. The diaper will be overly wet, making your baby uncomfortable and unable to sleep.

This can happen even in the young newborn months when your baby isn’t sleeping long stretches at night yet. Sometimes you little one will get so wet he will leak through the diaper and get his clothes all wet.

I always hated that the most because not only did you have a diaper change, but a wardrobe change as well, which really wakes baby up.

Over the years, I learned some simple things to do to prevent diapers from being an issue at night.

How To Avoid Wet Diapers from Waking Baby in the Night

Here is how I avoid diaper issues at night.

CHANGE OF CLOTHES READY

First, I keep a couple pairs of pajamas on the changing table at night just in case I need them. Diaper leaks are going to happen at times despite your best efforts, and it seems they happen much more often with boys than with girls.

The change of clothes makes it easier on everyone because you don’t have to turn on the light and search through a drawer all while holding a crying baby.

I do this until baby dosen’t wake up wet anymore on a pretty regular basis.

P.S. Use pajamas that have a zipper or are fast to get on. Pajamas with buttons or snaps look cute, but are very impractical for diaper changes in the night.

Is baby waking in the 5-6 AM hour each night? See this post for tips on how to stop the 5-6 AM night wakings and get baby sleeping through the night.

FRESH DIAPER AT DREAMFEED

In order to prevent nighttime leaking, I always change the diaper at the dreamfeed until baby sleeps from dreamfeed to desired waketime.

The more baby eats, the more baby pees. By changing the diaper at the dreamfeed, I usually don’t have to change the diaper at the night feed if there is just one night feeding. However, in the first few weeks, I change the diaper at every single feeding.

If you have a sleepy newborn, changing the diaper between sides or halfway through the bottle can help rouse baby to hopefully take a full feed. If your baby is completely roused by a diaper change, do it before you start the feeding so you can put a sleepy baby back in bed rather than a wired baby.

I like to do this because I am already up with baby at the dreamfeed anyway. This way, baby will hopefully only wake when hungry without adding wet and cold to the mix.

Once our little ones were sleeping through the night, we loved Huggies Overnites for keeping them dry.


Read: Ultimate Guide to Stopping Baby Poop at Night


BIGGER DIAPER SIZE

Put a bigger size diaper on your baby at night than he needs in the day.

It will keep baby less wet and prevent waking for that reason (if he is prone to do so). It will also prevent leaks.

At night, I put the next diaper size up on baby if baby is close enough to the upper weight limit of the diaper.

Let me explain in case that is confusing.

Say baby is wearing size one diapers during the day. Say size one diapers are for 8-12 pound babies. While baby is 8-9 pounds, I leave baby in size one for the night. A diaper too large will cause leaks more often than one that is the right size.

But pretty soon baby is 10-11 pounds. Baby is still in size one range, but very close to size two range. At this point, I put baby in size two just at night.

This works very well to keep baby comfortable. And a great thing is that you won’t be wasting diapers because your baby will be in a size two some day (believe it or not). You do not risk wasting money on buying a diaper size your baby won’t wear, so this is a simple thing to do.

But take note to not do this if your baby is at the small end of the diaper scale. So if baby is 15 lbs. and the diaper is for 15-25 lbs. you shouldn’t need a bigger diaper. Once she reaches 20 lbs. though, it is probably time.

HUGGIES OVERNIGHTS

I also hear from a lot of parents who say they love Huggies Overnites, so that is an alternative option to the larger size at night. We love them, also. We often go one size up and in the overnights if the baby is a super-peer at night 🙂

DIAPER OINTMENT

Remember to put your favorite diaper ointment on your baby’s bottom at that last diaper change of the night to protect the skin. I have tried several, and my top three are Boudreaux’s Butt Paste, Desitin Maximum Strength Diaper Rash Paste, and Burt’s Bees Diaper Ointment.

You will find different ointments and pastes work better with different babies. The Burt’s Bees worked best on McKenna with eczema. The Butt Paste was great on Brayden and Kaitlyn–who had normal skin. Brinley had normal skin but the Desitin worked best on her.

Conclusion

These simple tips can prevent a wet or leaking diaper from waking your baby up in the night. Baby can sleep longer through the night and so can you!

RELATED POSTS

4 steps to diaper baby for night sleep

This post was originally posted on this blog in January 2010.

20 thoughts on “How To Diaper Baby at Night for Optimal Sleep”

  1. Hi, I do cloth diapers when we're at home. Usually at night I put in a normal insert + a newborn insert (2 normal inserts is way too bulky!) and that works for us. I know there are hemp inserts as well that are said to absorb more than a microfiber insert. Hope that helps!

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  2. Pampers also has a great nighttime diaper that has worked great for us. I think they are called "extra protection nighttime" or something like that. 🙂

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  3. When I was a nanny, one of the families I watched had trouble with their son leaking every night. It seemed like no matter what they tried nothing helped. Finally she started placing a pad in the diaper. It totally worked. Seemed alittle nuts at the time, but at 4 am you'll do anything!

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  4. We use cloth diapers and we use a hemp insert underneath a normal microfiber insert. We don't change her from 7pm – 7am. The inserts are soaked at 7am. We have to make sure we get the elastic snug around her legs so she doesn't leak. Seems to work well for now.

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  5. My daughter is a heavy wetter. We cloth diaper too. At night, we put a regular microfiber insert + a newborn insert+ a hemp insert for nights. Might seem like overkill, but anything less and she leaks. The hemp is nice though because they are super thin. I have also tried a regular insert and 2 hemp inserts together. I think we are all talking about pocket cloth diapers. I'm not sure how to increase absorbency with covers and prefolds.

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  6. We use cloth during the day and a disposable at night. My daughter has been soaking through Pampers onto her pajamas by morning. I recently bought a pack of Target brand (up & up) and she has not soaked through in over a week, so hopefully I'm onto something! They seem to be able to hold much more.

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  7. Butt paste used to be my favorite. Then I started cloth diapering recently and started using Grandma El's which is cloth friendly. The stuff is awesome! Works better than the Butt paste, even! My DD gets eczema also, and the Grandma El's really takes care of it!I ordered mine off Amazon.I haven't gotten the courage to try the cloth diapers at night yet. I am still using Huggies Overnites for that. My 12 month old DD is a VERY HEAVY wetter at night and the Huggies Overnites just barely contain it! Sometimes, even those leak! I love, love, love, the cloth diapers though, and her eczema is almost gone now.

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  8. I use the Desitin extra strength (the purple tube) and it works GREAT. It's 40% zinc oxide, more than butt paste, regular desitin or A&D. When my DS was really little and more prone to diaper rash, I would put A&D ointment on just to prevent it, and Desitin only if he had a rash.

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  9. I second Kristi's recommendation. The Pampers nighttime, and sometimes I did those a size larger. Baby is in a 3 during the day, but a 4 nighttime. And he fills it every night! 🙂

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  10. I also need help. I have read your links and posts through and through. I have read ideas and I can't seem to do anything right. We are on a good daily schedule. 3 hour schedule. 8:00, 11:00, 2:00, 5:00, 8:00 and then the late feeding at 11:00. My baby is 16 weeks on Monday. She has only slept from 11:30 to 8:00 maybe 3 times. For the last month maybe month and a half, we have been trying to drop that middle of the night feed. I did like the book said and let her CIO. We got rid of the consistent 2:00 a.m wake up. But now she is waking up at 6:45ish every morning and wake up time is not til 8:00. If I go back in and give her the pacifier she will fall back asleep. But I don't want to do this every night. It is so frustrating to see all these moms who have had their babies STN since like 8 weeks. What did I do wrong? I have tried some of the suggestions from here and it is not working. I tried feeding her earlier last night and she woke up like 4 times instead.Do I feed her at 6:45? Do I let her CIO? How long should I let her cry though? Because I don't want her to get more awake. I just don't know what to do. At this point I am supposed to be getting close to dropping her late night (11:00 p.m.) feeding! If I do that…. I know she won't make it. And I am not supposed to drop a feeding until she is consistently STN. I am sick of crying and not doing things right. Or at least feeling like all my hard work on doing BW and getting her on a good schedule isn't working as well. I know she is learning too… but help! She is also waking up half way through her naps sometimes. I will put her pacifier back in and she will sleep the rest of the time. This is after waiting 10 mintues of CIO. But do I feed her then? I am so confused. Please help with any advice!

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  11. Susan, it seems like I answered this question a couple of days ago?See the post "early morning feedings before waketime."Have patience. She is doing well. She is still young. Take things on her timetable, not the books. The book just provides generalities, not absolutes for every baby.Some babies sleep better with DF at different times or without one at all. Try having a DF at 10ish instead and see what happens. Maybe 10:30.When she wakes from naps, feed her if hungry. Otherwise, helping her to fall back asleep at this age is great.

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  12. I cloth diaper, using an all in 2 set up. We use bamboo inserts during the day. At night, I use a regular insert, put a newborn insert between the folds of the regular insert, and place a hemp doubler between the insert and the cloth cover. We never have leaks at nighttime, and it lasts for 12 hours on my little boy. I also like Angel Baby Bottom Balm.

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  13. I am in need of some advice regarding changing the diaper in the middle of the night. My daughter is 10 weeks old and had dropped her middle of the night feeding, however she seems to still be waking up due to a dirty diaper. I try to let her CIO for a while to ensure that it is the dirty diaper waking her up, but if I let her get too upset she has a very hard time getting back to sleep after I change her diaper. I guess my question is she inevitably has a dirty diaper in the middle of the night – how long should I let her CIO before intervening? We have her in Pampers Baby Dry diapers right now because the Huggies Overnights don't start until size 3 (she's size 1). I know that she can STTN because she has done it once before. I would love to make it a more frequent occurrence. Any suggestions are welcome!

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  14. I am in need of some advice regarding changing the diaper in the middle of the night. My daughter is 10 weeks old and had dropped her middle of the night feeding, however she seems to still be waking up due to a dirty diaper. I try to let her CIO for a while to ensure that it is the dirty diaper waking her up, but if I let her get too upset she has a very hard time getting back to sleep after I change her diaper. I guess my question is she inevitably has a dirty diaper in the middle of the night – how long should I let her CIO before intervening? We have her in Pampers Baby Dry diapers right now because the Huggies Overnights don't start until size 3 (she's size 1). I know that she can STTN because she has done it once before. I would love to make it a more frequent occurrence. Any suggestions are welcome!

    Reply
  15. I have an eight week old who was sleeping anywhere between 7 and 9 hours at night. Recently she has been waking between 5 and 6 hours. I noticed her diaper is filled pretty heavily. I have also been feeding her at this time too since originally I thought she was waking for food. I tried to change the diaper and put her back down but she was wide awake and then fussed/ cried for about an hour so I fed her. I don't want to start a habit because it seems like she is waking earlier and earlier which then makes her wake before her 7:00 am wake time. Any suggestions besides the next diaper size up? She's almost 10lbs so I'm a little nervous about trying size two at night because I don't want to have to change her entire outfit. I am going back to work in about a month and would like to have a consistent routine. We haven't been doing CIO which I am beginning to think maybe we should have but I am not sure I can handle it.

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  16. SCThib, if she is waking from a dirty diaper, I wouldn't do any CIO at all. CIO doesn't work if there is a reason that the baby is waking that needs to be addressed (pain, cold, diaper, gas, etc).

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  17. Roxann, I really would try the next size diaper.It could also be a growth spurt. If she is waking because her diaper is uncomfortable for her, the only possible way to fix that is to make it more comfortable, which all I can think of is a larger diaper size. Good luck!

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  18. Thanks for the good info. Too bad Huggies Overnights are no longer that good, after their new design came out, I read online. I usually cloth diaper, and we have a nice cloth diapering support group on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/353822974654830/ but I am looking for solutions for a 2 weeks vacation I'm going on where I have to use disposables. I will try going up a size. He nurses all night long, so of course, he is always peeing.

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