What Cloth Diaper for the Night? - All About Nighttime Diapering

Photo by @anni.und.die.bande

 

The diaper suitable for daytime does not always meet the requirements for a nighttime diaper. Your baby's nighttime diaper has to withstand quite a bit more. Because you certainly don't want to unnecessarily disturb your baby's night sleep because the diaper leaks again or fits uncomfortably. That's why we've gathered the most important information about nighttime diapers for you.

What features should cloth diapers have at night? The nighttime diaper should be particularly leak-proof - even for side and tummy sleepers - and it should adapt comfortably to your baby and be especially absorbent.

In this article, you'll learn what requirements a cloth diaper should meet at night, which cloth diapers don't leak at night, and valuable tips for nighttime diapering. 

Which cloth diaper for the night?

For you and your baby to get through the night without unnecessary diaper incidents, the nighttime diaper should meet these requirements: 

The cloth diaper should remain leak-proof all night

• The cloth diaper should not leak at the top cuffs or around the legs. 
• The cloth diaper should also quickly absorb all urine for heavy wetters (babies who urinate less frequently but in larger amounts all at once).
• The nighttime diaper should not leak even in side or tummy positions.
• The cover should be made of PUL or wool to prevent leaks.

The cloth diaper should be comfortable

It is important that the cloth diaper fits your baby. Make sure the cloth diaper has the correct size. It shouldn't be too tight, but it also shouldn't slip. 

The nighttime diaper should be as absorbent as possible

For your baby to wear the cloth diaper all night, it's important to choose a very absorbent material. Also, make sure that you can adjust the absorbency of the diaper, for example, by using boosters.

Uncomplicated nighttime diapering

If your baby needs a fresh diaper at night, the diapering process should be as straightforward as possible.

Photo by @madame.vio

Suitable Cloth Diaper Systems for the Night

There are several suitable cloth diaper systems for the night. Here is a list of the suitable systems.

Fitted Diapers with Diaper Cover

Fitted diapers are made entirely of an absorbent fabric. You will need an additional diaper cover for the fitted diaper.

Diapering effort: Diapering here is very straightforward → Put on the diaper and pull the cover over it

All-In-Two Diapers

In the All-In-Two diaper system, the cover and inserts are not sewn together. The absorbent insert is either snapped into the diaper or placed in the flaps.

Diapering effort: Diapering here is very straightforward → Place the child on the diaper and fasten it, push elastics into the leg crease

Insert with Wool Diaper Cover

Here, you choose the appropriate insert (see below) for your baby. The diaper cover serves as moisture protection (with regular lanolin treatment). The covers are available as pull-up pants or with Velcro or button closures.

Diapering effort: The inserts must be prepared before diapering. The effort depends on the choice of insert and diaper cover. 

Judes Cloth Diapers

A Judes diaper consists of two combinable parts, the absorbent material (inner diaper) and a moisture protection cover (cover). The special weave makes the cotton particularly absorbent while keeping the diaper very slim.

Diapering effort: Diapering here is very straightforward → Place the inner diaper and optionally Poo Paper (if your baby still has bowel movements at night) into the cover. Put the diaper under the baby's bottom and fasten it with the Velcro closure.

 

Suitable Inserts

You should ensure that the cloth diaper insert fits your child. If, for example, your child urinates a lot at once, the insert should be able to absorb the urine quickly. 

• Cotton
• absorbs quickly, medium absorbency volume
• Cotton Terry
• absorbs quickly, very absorbent
• Judes Booster Insert made of organic cotton
• absorbs quickly, very absorbent → To increase absorbency, two inserts can be combined 
• Polyester / Microfiber
• absorbs quickly, very low absorbency volume
• Hemp / Linen
• absorbs slowly, very absorbent
• Bamboo
• absorbs quickly, very absorbent
• Exception: Stay-Dry Fleece / Diaper Fleece
• absorbs slowly but redirects urine into the diaper's interior and provides a dry feeling to the child's bottom. → Suitable for babies sensitive to wet diapers

Photo by @ammenmaerchen

Judes Cloth Diapers

I want to go into more detail about our Judes cloth diaper here:

Judes cloth diaper is the ideal nighttime diaper. While the absorbent inner diaper quickly and securely absorbs all liquids, the waterproof cover provides optimal protection. The material is breathable, ensuring a healthy diaper climate.

For additional nighttime protection, simply place one of our booster inserts into the inner diaper. The booster takes up very little space and increases the absorbency, allowing your baby to wear the diaper for up to twelve hours. Plus, the cotton fleece surface is particularly soft on the baby's bottom.

If your baby wets heavily, you can even combine two boosters to further enhance the absorbency.

Judes cloth diapers are exceptionally snug. We have designed our diapers to fit very well to all body shapes. Thanks to the good fit, they hold particularly well, and since the insert is already sewn in, nothing slips and the diaper fits super comfortably.

And there's a sustainable bonus too: The longer you use your Judes and the more often you wash them, the more absorbent the material becomes.

Is moisture in cloth diapers harmful over a longer period? 

The moisture in the diaper is not harmful to your baby. Since the temperature inside the diaper matches your baby's body temperature, a wet diaper does not feel uncomfortable (you can think of it like a wetsuit).

It's important that the nighttime diaper absorbs enough to keep the clothes and bed dry. This is quite simple. Just adjust the required absorbency to your child's urine output.

Moreover, feeling the wet diaper even positively impacts your baby's transition from diapers. By diapering your baby with cloth diapers, they feel immediately when they wet themselves. This provides a completely natural bio-feedback: through this immediate action-result sequence, a baby can recognize the "if-then" connection and gain an (unconscious) understanding of it. This understanding benefits your child in becoming toilet-trained since they already know their body's signals.

At Judes, we have consciously developed our cloth diapers so your baby feels when they wet the diaper. This way, your baby can learn this important connection. Our self-conducted study also shows: Children who were diapered with cloth diapers became diaper-free about 8 months earlier than those using disposable diapers.

How many nighttime diapers?

If your cloth diapers are not suitable as nighttime diapers, you will additionally need nighttime diapers. Adjust the quantity to your washing routine. With one diaper per night and a washing routine of 4 days, you will need 4 nighttime diapers and 2 - 4 covers.

If you use Judes cloth diapers, you do not need extra nighttime diapers, just 2 - 4 boosters (depending on your washing routine). 

Unsuitable Cloth Diaper Systems for the Night

• All-In-One Diapers
• Pocket Diapers
• All-In-Three Diapers

Diapering at Night

Should you change diapers at night?

A suitable cloth diaper can stay leak-proof all night. However, newborns, in particular, still need to be regularly changed at night. In general, if there is solid waste in the diaper, you must change it.

How often you should change your baby's diaper at night depends on various factors. The digestive system in newborns is not yet fully developed, and they usually have bowel movements after every meal. Therefore, you need to change your newborn's diaper at night more often to avoid irritating their skin unnecessarily. Between the third and sixth month, the digestive system typically matures, and nighttime bowel movements become a thing of the past.

For urine, it depends on the absorbency of the diaper and your child's sensitivity. If your baby becomes restless in wet diapers and has difficulty falling back asleep, you should change them.

Adiuretin - the Antidiuretic Hormone

At night, babies produce as much urine in 11 to 13 hours as they do during 3 to 4 hours in the day. The reason for this is a special hormone: the antidiuretic hormone, abbreviated as ADH. This hormone has a significant influence on the body's water balance and ensures that we need to use the toilet less frequently at night because the body produces less urine.

Tips for Nighttime Diapering

When changing diapers at night, it's important to maintain a relaxed atmosphere and gently diaper your child to avoid unnecessarily waking them. For restful nights, consider these tips:

Good Preparation

Prepare everything you need for diapering in advance. To minimize effort, change your child directly in bed.

You'll need:

• Fresh cloth diapers + cloth diaper inserts/boosters
• Change of clothes - in case of any accidents
• Washcloths and warm water (e.g., from a thermos)
• Possibly a changing mat or towel

Relaxed Environment

Ensure a relaxed environment when changing diapers at night. If the sleepy mood is maintained, you and your baby can quickly fall back asleep.

Pay attention to:

• Dimmed lighting → e.g., yellow light from a nightlight or a salt lamp
• Quiet environment → speak as little as possible, skin contact and minimal movement are more important
• Warm environment → Ensure warm hands; you might have a portable heat lamp; you can also place diapers on the heater to warm them slightly

Suitable Clothing

For good preparation for nighttime diaper changes, it's also important not to disturb your baby unnecessarily when undressing. Ensure that the sleeping bag and pajamas can be easily opened from below.

Consider when choosing cloth diapers that nighttime diapering should be as easy as possible. While pull-up diapers can be practical during the day, they save some time at night if your child doesn't have to slip all the way out of the pajama legs, or if you don't have to open and close all the buttons.

Photo by Dakota Corbin on Unsplash

Do older children still need to be diapered at night?

The older your child gets, the more likely it is that you can forego nighttime diapering. On one hand, the bladder of growing toddlers has a larger capacity, and on the other, the antidiuretic hormone (ADH) ensures that the body produces less urine at night. Your child's sleep is less frequently disturbed by the urge to pee, and the amount of urine can be well managed by the diaper. Often, the diaper remains dry until morning.

However, this is less clear with disposable diapers. Our study found that more than 15 percent of children using disposable diapers are diapered for 4 years and longer. With cloth diapers, it's less than one percent of children.

If your child sleeps through, you don't need to wake them at night to change the diaper. You can check the diaper once more before you go to sleep. If your child still regularly wakes up at night, this is a good time for a check and possibly changing the diaper.

Here you can find out what to do when the diaper is full and your baby is asleep.

Tips for when the cloth diaper leaks at night

• Cloth diaper one size larger
• Body one size larger or body extender
• Change cloth diaper brand/type
• Change diaper once more before you go to bed
• For tummy sleepers, place the absorbent insert/booster further forward
• Additional absorbent insert/booster
• Re-lanolize wool covers
• Avoid moisture bridges → Inserts or diaper liners should not stick out of the cover
• For heavy wetters: fast absorbing inserts

Learn more in our detailed guide on what to consider with leaking diapers.

Staying Dry at Night

How Long to Use Nighttime Diapers?

Even if your child is diaper-free during the day, it usually takes a bit longer to achieve dryness at night. During the day, your child can actively respond to their signals, and even then, they might miss them if distracted. At night, the bladder essentially needs to learn to signal the body to wake up when it needs to be emptied.

Most toddlers show the first signs around the age of three that they can or want to do without the nighttime diaper. You can remain relaxed and give your child time until their 5th birthday.

Photo by Minnie Zhou on Unsplash

Practical Tips for Relaxed Nights

Often, nighttime dryness is a longer process and not completed in just a few days. Especially for the transition phase, it can be helpful to consider the following tips:

• Have your child go to the bathroom one more time before bed.
• Encourage your child to drink enough during the day so that they don't make up for it all in the evening - of course, don't deny your child drinks in the evening.
• Cover your child's bed with a waterproof sheet or use a waterproof underlay. This way, your child can easily sleep without a diaper, without the mattress being affected.
• For stress-free bedding changes at night, double-sheet the child's bed and place a towel or waterproof underlay in between - this way, you only need to remove the sheet and towel/underlay at night and have a fresh sheet ready underneath.
• Have a change of clothes ready so that you can quickly and easily change your child at night if their clothes get wet.
• Double-sheet the bed. My most valuable tip: waterproof underlay, sheet, waterproof underlay, sheet. If your child wets the bed at night, you can remove the affected sheet and underlay, and your child can quickly go back to sleep without you having to change the bed.

Here you can learn more about weaning off nighttime diapers.

I hope this article has helped you in choosing the right cloth diaper for the night! If you have any more tips for nighttime diapering, please let us know in the comments! For more information about our cloth diapers, feel free to follow us on Instagram.

Further Questions and Interesting Facts

How should I dress my baby at night?

Below 16°C: Hat + Gloves + Socks + Onesie + Pajamas + Sleep Sack 3 TOG*
16°C - 17°C: Socks + Onesie + Pajamas + Sleep Sack 2.5 TOG 
18°C - 19°C: Onesie + Pajamas + Sleep Sack 1 TOG 
20°C - 21°C: Short Onesie + Pajamas + Sleep Sack 1 TOG 
22°C - 23°C: Pajamas + Sleep Sack 0.5 - 1 TOG 
24°C - 25°C: Short Onesie + Sleep Sack 0.5 TOG
From 26°C: Short Onesie

*TOG (Thermal Overall Grade) - Measure of the thermal resistance of textiles → The higher, the warmer