# Do you change diapers at night?



## MamaScout (Feb 22, 2005)

This may sound like a silly question, but I've never co-slept with a newborn. For various reasons, we did not co-sleep with DS, but plan to with baby #2. When DS was a newborn, I remember having to change his diaper constantly at night. Here was a typical night:

Wake up, get out of bed, change diaper, breastfeed on one side. Change diaper, breastfeed on other side. Change diaper, breastfeed to sleep. Repeat 10 times a night.

I thought I was going to die I was so sleep deprived. Now from what I understand, one of the advantages of co-sleeping is not having to get out of bed a thousand times a night to feed, but don't you still have to change the baby? What do you do in that situation? Keep diapers close at hand and do it there in bed? Have a dim light nearby so you can see? How do you keep from waking your partner?

I'm sorry if this is totally obvious, but I'm trying to figure it out ahead of time.


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## loriforeman (Aug 18, 2007)

i'm fanatical about changing diapers...my little ones would break out almost immediately if i didn't get the wet off of them. i always checked constantly...every few minutes, i'd squish them diapers.

i also co-slept with all four of mine...i kept a thermos of hot water next to my bed, with wash-cloths. the warm water kept them from waking abruptly...and i never even turned the light on. quick-change, then back to sleep.


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## jeteaa (Jan 23, 2007)

I changed the poops, not the pees. And use extra diaper cream incase of poops during sleep.


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## lunapier (Feb 15, 2007)

Yep. I change in the middle of the night (about 4 times a week).

If he drinks a lot and the diaper feels heavy, we change. The change occurs after he nurses with the lights off. In the morning, the diaper is still very heavy. I am amazed at how much he pees at night.

BTW - my son is 8+ months.


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## lemurmommies (Jan 15, 2007)

My son is 9 months old, and I still have to change wet diapers at night or we leaks (he goes through about 16 ounces during his nighttime feedings, so I'm not surprised...)

I just change him in bed, with the lights off. I've become very good at nighttime changes over the months. At first I would turn on a soft light, but now I can do it basically in total darkness.


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## MissMommyNiceNice (May 1, 2007)

I think every babe is different. We changed often (12 in one night at the worst!) because ds hated to feel wet. Then we switched to the awesome wicking power of the 15 organic cotton fleece layers of the little beetle. That took us down to maybe at most, 3 changes a night. Ds doesn't wake up, usually, when we change, so it's not a problem. I can tell when it's definatley time, 'cause he is scooching like there's no tomorrow trying to escape his wet hiney.

We have a walk through bedroom that we use as the nursery. We keep the dimmer on the very lowest setting for diaper changes at night. It's quite bright at 3 in the morning!







But for us, it's only like a 15 foot walk. Not shabby. We reverse cycled when I went back to work, so he eats all night long, basically. Lots of night time pee at our house!


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## kittywitty (Jul 5, 2005)

I have only ever changed them if there's poop, or they are about to soak through.


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

My confession is that I use disposeable at night, so I often don't have to change him, unless he is very wet.

If I use CD at night, I have to change him about five times. That was just too much for me... and for him.


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## lovebug (Nov 2, 2004)

:


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## Kat_shoshin (Feb 16, 2007)

I changed him frequently until about 6 wks and then only once in the middle... So like, every 4 hours at night... still do, but I have a heavy wetter that plays all day and eats all night!


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## MaricopaMom (Sep 21, 2003)

I only changed diapers in the middle of the night when they are newborns. My youngest is 7 months now and I haven't changed at night in many many months (unless there is a leak).







And I only have leaks if he's not wearning his Fuzzi Bunz at night.


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## farmwife (Jun 22, 2006)

We don't change our DD. I only changed her the first few weeks at night just because I was actually getting out of bed to feed her. It took me a few weeks to learn how to nurse laying down. Now that we nurse that way we both sleep through feedings and I don't want to wake her up to change her. We use disposables, though. I don't know how CD might change our situation. DD also never poops at night. I have a small clip on light attached to our headboard. It comes in handy if I ever do have to get up because it's on a dimmer.


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## mamadelbosque (Feb 6, 2007)

nak

I try to avoid it, and usually do. But sometimes he just won't sleep w/o being changed. But at this point (6 mos), I almost never change more than once at night. We chang RIGHT before goign to bed around 11 or 12 usu, and then hes usu good till 6 or 7am, though, as noted occasionally it happens round 3 or 4 too. But thats it. And we do our bestest to just sleep







I really think thats the trick. Do everything else first, to try and get'm to fall asleep again, and only change as a last resort


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## CalBearMama (Sep 23, 2005)

You also might try some type of EC (Elimination Communication) so that you don't have to do several diaper changes during each feeding session (as you described). After observing your baby's patterns for a while, you might realize that he wakes up with a dry diaper, so if you immediately take off his diaper and hold him over a bowl when he wakes up, you can help him go outside his diaper. Or if he always poops while nursing (perhaps popping off the breast right before he starts to let you know he has to go), then you can nurse him diaperless with his butt in a small potty bowl. (You can find these and other EC supplies at www.theecstore.com.) In any event, with a little observation, you can probably glean enough information to EC a bit if you want to, or at the very least figure out when the best time is to change the diaper so that you only have to change it once, not three times, during each waking.

For more information about EC generally, check out www.diaperfreebaby.org, www.tribalbaby.org, or the EC sub-forum of the Diapering forum here at MDC. Oh, and if you didn't cross-post your question to the Diapering forum, that might be a good idea too.


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## dziwozony (Aug 27, 2006)

funny to see this thread! i used to change ds every time he woke up until another mum mentioned she only changed poos, something i hadn't even considered! now if i change him around 11ish b/f i go to sleep i can usually make it until dawn for the next change. he is only 4 mo now, so as quantity increases, this may change, but it works for now.

i keep a couple of nappies by the bed & just change him right there. we have a small light w/in easy reach, but i only need to use it when there's no moon (we live out of town)! it only wakes my partner when ds decides to cry b/c he doesn't want to be awake but the wet/pooey nappy has disturbed his coziness.

i can tell when he wants to be changed b/c he gets fidgety & doesn't settle with the breast.


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

Well, it's not that the CDs leak, but that they turn cold when they're wet (they're terry fitteds). This seems uncomfortable, so that's why we use 'sposies at night.


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## LilWin (Apr 25, 2007)

No, I don't change at night. We use disposables at night for that reason. Changing would wake up DS and me way too much! If it's a poopy diaper, I do change but that hardly ever happens at night. In the first few weeks I changed a lot at night, but that was because I was new to boys and kept having leaks (with the sposies). Nobody explained until DH saw me changing DS and commented I didn't put his penis right. Kinda dumb, I guess!







:


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## TirzhaZ (Jun 15, 2007)

We don't change DD's diaper at night at all, but this is because since 3 or 4 months old DD rarely eliminates at night. It seemed so bizarre in the morning when she would have a clean, empty diaper. I thought it was a fluke at first, but she continues to be this way. She's 8 months now and she waits every single night until the morning to go potty. She'll often wait until after she has nursed and lets it all out while she's eating fruit or playing on the floor.

During the newborn phase, though, we would change DD's diaper whenever it was wet. When she woke up to nurse, if she had a wet diaper DH would go change her and then bring her back to bed so she could nurse while we all fell asleep together again. I found that she hated being wet, so changing her before nursing helped her go back to sleep faster. Otherwise she nursed, nursed, nursed then couldn't get to sleep because her diaper was wet!

We also have always used disposables at night.


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## Genesis (Jan 8, 2007)

I change DS's diaper about 2 or 3 times from the time we go to bed until we get up. He nurses a lot during the night lately because of teething, so still wets his diapers very quickly while sleeping. I would never let him sleep in a wet diaper, and he wouldn't anyway, he'd fidget until I changed him. We cosleep, so it takes 2 seconds to change it anyway. No big deal.


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## Sharlla (Jul 14, 2005)

Not unless they are poopy.


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## alegna (Jan 14, 2003)

We changed any time she needed it (and we found it...) But the deal was, I nursed, dh changed diapers







So *I* didn't get out of bed...

-Angela


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## puddle (Aug 30, 2007)

I always change diapers at night. The reason co-sleeping helps us, is that dd doesn't wet her diaper unless she is all the way awake. I usually feed her before she really wakes up--when she first starts wiggling from hunger. Then we both fall back asleep. She is 3 months old now and I change her diaper once a night most nights. (We've started EC during the day which I think helps as well.)


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## onemoremom (Jun 8, 2007)

When ds was a newborn I did change diapers at night-probably not every single pee, but he usually didn't wake a ton so when he did, it needed to be done.

I kept diaper supplies on the nightstand so I could do it without getting out of bed though







Sometimes (after we were comfortable with nursing laying down) I could change a pee while he nursed.


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## BoringTales (Aug 1, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *dnw826* 
I have only ever changed them if there's poop, or they are about to soak through.

Me too. After the initial "poop ALL THE TIME" newborn phase it is rare that they get changed at night at all, unless they are leaking for some reason.


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## EKilgore (Dec 18, 2006)

farmwife said:


> We don't change our DD. I only changed her the first few weeks at night just because I was actually getting out of bed to feed her. It took me a few weeks to learn how to nurse laying down. Now that we nurse that way we both sleep through feedings and I don't want to wake her up to change her. We use disposables, though. I don't know how CD might change our situation. DD also never poops at night.QUOTE]
> 
> Same here. In fact, Peggy O'Mara said in one of her articles that one way to make sleeping with a baby easier is to not change diapers if not necessary as it disrupts sleep so much. I have only changed DD's twice in about 6 months now- once when she wet through and once when she poo'ed.


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## Margot Adler (Jun 2, 2007)

I change ds at 6am when he wakes up and it helps him sleep in. We don't really change during the night otherwise...


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## StrawberryFields (Apr 6, 2005)

I only changed diapers at night when ds was a newborn and pooping during his nightwakings. When he stopped pooping, I stopped changing him.


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## amyleigh33 (Nov 2, 2006)

DD wears very, very stuffed fuzzi bunz to bed whose inserts are thoroughly soaked in the morning, but the microfleece always feels dry to the touch. i used to change her, screaming, before feeds so that she could nurse back to sleep... then for a while she was sleeping through so no way would i wake her to change it...and it didn't seem to bother her. but now she is back to nursing at least half a dozen times t/o the night, i can't imagine actually sitting up to change her every time.







: (though to cover my behind, i have tried changing her diaper to see if she would sleep longer w/a dry diaper but to no avail)


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## mommyrachael (Dec 27, 2006)

Nope, unless she poops, which is rare. We use fuzzibunz stuffed with a prefold and a hemp soaker, and rarely have a leak. I did when she was really little/newborn the first few days when we were keeping track of wet/messy diapers and she wasn't nursing laying down.
Our midwife says the same thing...only change if baby is poopy, has a rash, or is fussy about the wet diaper...otherwise let them sleep!! You might find, as many people do, that baby doesn't really wake up that much with cosleeping even if they nurse a lot, they may just enough to nuzzle around and find the breast...so it's nice not to wake them any more than that!

hth

rachael


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## GooeyRN (Apr 24, 2006)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MilkTrance* 
My confession is that I use disposeable at night, so I often don't have to change him, unless he is very wet.

If I use CD at night, I have to change him about five times. That was just too much for me... and for him.

Same here. I use sposies at night. DD only needs one change (pee) that way. She hasn't pooped at night in a long time, but would change her immediatly if she did. She wakes up too much and can't get back to sleep if I change her for pee's. So I use a sposie overnight, and that eliminates a lot of changes.


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## DisplacedYooper (Aug 10, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *mamadelbosque* 
nak

Do everything else first, to try and get'm to fall asleep again, and only change as a last resort









This is the exact opposite of what we do!







If 15 sec on the boob doesn't settle him, a diaper change it is! We usually change once in the middle of the night (2-3am) and he's good until 7ish.

He doesn't even wake up for these diaper changes. I do them in the bed. (When he was still pooping at night, I got out of bed...) I use the ambient light from outside. In general, the thrashing about settles the minute I take the wet dipe off, and he is totally floppy-limbed by the time the new dipe is on. It only takes a couple of minutes of being awake, and, for us, is more than worth it in terms of getting longer stretches of sleep.

For a while (around 5-6 months) we were double diapering, trying not to change at night. But Ben was always really hard to settle... he'd wake every 45 min to an hour starting at about 4 am. I can't believe it took me 2 months to realize that changing him earlier in the night would solve the problem!


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## becoming (Apr 11, 2003)

I only change him at his 2 AM feeding unless he's super-poopy. I'm lazy about diaper changes, even during the day. We use sposies, though.


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## secondintheoven (May 21, 2007)

I changed my sons diapers after each feeding - he was a pee machine! He still is and he's 3 1/2









but, we did not use CD and did not start co-sleeping w/ him until he was 2 1/2.

We are due to have our second in January and plan to co-sleep and use CD so we'll see how she does!


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## TheAJs (Jun 29, 2007)

I don't even put a diaper on DD at night. We EC and she lets me know she has to go by getting very restless. I get up, take her into the bathroom to use the potty. Then we either nurse or she conks right back out again. She stays dry every night, and so does the bed.


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## christy005 (Mar 5, 2007)

we only change them if they're poopy (which is really rare, he usually poops during the day) or if they are really soaked.


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## mommy2abigail (Aug 20, 2005)

I''m anal about clean, dry diapers. I still change dd at night. She's 2.5. I just can't sleep thinking she's in a wet/peed on diaper.


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## mama in the forest (Apr 17, 2006)

I've always changed my babes at night because it's so easy. I just keep a pile of clean cloth diapers near the bed & it takes me literally 15 seconds to get it on. I don't even turn on the light.

I feel like my sweet girl sleeps better once she's dry again. At 14 months she usually only needs to be changed once in the middle of the night. When she was a newborn though, it was many times.


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## artemis80 (Sep 8, 2006)

No! Only if he's poopy, which he hasn't been at night since he was a newborn.


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## MamaScout (Feb 22, 2005)

WOW!! Thank you all for the great advice! I feel much better about it now. And by the way, we did cloth diaper DS and plan to with this babe as well. I mentioned the disposable at night idea to DH and we will keep that in mind.


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## MommytoTwo (Jun 20, 2004)

Only if he poops or leaks pee. We use disposables at night.


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## MilkTrance (Jul 21, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *TheAJs* 
I don't even put a diaper on DD at night. We EC and she lets me know she has to go by getting very restless. I get up, take her into the bathroom to use the potty. Then we either nurse or she conks right back out again. She stays dry every night, and so does the bed.


You ECers amaze me.








:

It's like parenting on a higher level or something! So cool.


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## CalBearMama (Sep 23, 2005)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *MilkTrance* 
You ECers amaze me.








:

It's like parenting on a higher level or something! So cool.

EC is really not that special / amazing / difficult (although it is kind of nice for the ego to hear things like that







). Just like breastfeeding, once you get into a groove with your baby, it's not that hard to know what he needs. You just have to break out of our cultural mindset that the diaper is the only place for babies to eliminate, and instead start thinking of the diaper as "back-up" in the event of a miscommunication. Once I started EC'ing my son when he was about 10 months old, I was so annoyed that I hadn't known about it sooner, because it helped me to understand so much of his behavior that was previously a mystery to me and gave me another tool to address his needs.


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## Meg_s (Apr 13, 2006)

poops only.. and yeah I'm a disposable diaper mom







: and yay baby #2 like never poops so I guess that equals no nighttime diaper changes


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## preggymeaggy (Jul 25, 2006)

Seems like there is a mixed poll here. What an interesting question. Every child is definitely different in this area. My DD (7 mo) starts off in her crib from about 8-11ish. When she wakes, I change her diaper, and then bring her to bed with us. We don't change her then until morning.
She never poops at night, and never pees through. We also use CD, and they never give us any problems. If CD leak through anytime, it may be due to the particular brand of cover that's used. All children have a slightly different fit. I'm expecting that all this might change as she gets older, but for now it's smooth sailin'.
Oh...we also have my bedside lamp on a dimmer. That works great for nighttime nursing. We can do it in the dark, but I like the comfort of the soft light.

PS...I guess we did change her a lot more at night when she was a newborn. But that pretty much ended as soon as we mastered nursing laying down.


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## prothyraia (Feb 12, 2007)

We kept the diapers nearby (in the co-sleeper, actually, at least it was good for something!) and just changed him on the bed. He never did poo overnight, thankfully.

Once we figured out how to nurse laying down, and he stopped fully waking up at night, we stopped changing him until morning.


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## goodheartedmama (Feb 1, 2007)

I don't change DD, because she barely pees at night.

I am now changing DS every 2-3 hours, because he pees so much. Even if there was a diaper to hold in all that pee (which believe me, there's not), I wouldn't want him sitting in that much urine for 10-12 hours.


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