The Best Overnight Diapers
James was a wonderful baby and I would take an exact copy of him with baby number two in a heartbeat. But our biggest struggle through his first year was sleep. He needed to be held for all naps (even past his first birthday) and at night he woke up frequently. He gradually dropped feedings at his own pace and responded well to the light sleep training we did. So when he was finally ready to sleep completely through the night, the only thing holding us back was the diaper situation.
The Problem
If we let him go the whole night (630pm-630am), he would wake up wet, but if we changed him at night he would wake up and have trouble going back to sleep. He doesn’t mind a full diaper, so we just needed a diaper that could hold up for the 12 hours he was in his crib without making him wet.
The Options
Some of the solutions I saw proposed were doubling up the diapers, using special night time diapers, and using a special waterproof underwear over the diaper. Doubling up the diapers seemed to make him really uncomfortable. He just didn’t like the extra bulky sensation and couldn’t stop trying to fiddle with them so that was out immediately.
The Diapers
James uses Pampers Swaddlers during the day, so naturally we tried them first for nighttime sleeping. They advertise (up to) 12 hours of protection, but unfortunately he still woke up wet.
We then moved on to the Swaddlers Overnight and I’m not entirely sure they are any different from the regular Swaddlers. They seemed very similar although Daniel did write to Pampers and they told him they are made from more absorbent material. Still, they couldn’t hold up for the full 12 hours he was in his crib.
Next we tried Huggies Overnites and they seemed to hold up the best even though he was still a little damp in the morning. It seemed like they were just not quite absorbent enough.
The Solution
James was in a size 4 diaper but we bought Huggies Overnites in size 5 to offer additional protection. They fit tightly enough to be secure but the extra absorbency made the difference. We can put a size 5 on him at 6:30pm and when I get him out of his crib at 6:30am, he’s still dry. So if you’re looking for a similar solution I would highly recommend trying Huggies Overnites (in a slightly bigger size).
