Which Diapers Should I Use for the Night?
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Diapering during the day is usually not a big challenge. You and your baby are awake and active, and you can check and change your child's diaper at any time. And the latter happens quite frequently during the day, so you might wonder: Which diapers are best for the night? How can I ensure restful nights? Even though we cannot tell you when your child will sleep through the night and you can skip nighttime diapering, we can give you plenty of tips on how to get through the nights best.
So, which diapers are best suited for the night? Cloth diapers are excellent for the night, as the absorbency can be perfectly tailored to your child. The optimal design of Judes also ensures a perfect fit and prevents diaper leaks.
In the following, you will not only discover which diapers are best suited for the night, but you will also receive valuable tips on nighttime diapering and preventing diaper leaks.
Changing Diapers at Night – What You Need to Know
A milestone eagerly awaited by all parents is the sleeping through in the night. Unfortunately, we don't have a secret recipe, as every baby is unique and has individual needs, such as nighttime feeding or physical contact. What we can tell you, however, is how to make the nights as relaxed as possible with a baby or toddler. Below we have summarized the most important information about nighttime diapering:
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How often should the diaper be changed at night?
How often you need to change your baby's diaper during sleep depends on various factors. For instance, the digestive system of newborns is not fully developed, which results in them still having frequent bowel movements at night. In this case, you should change your baby's diaper immediately to avoid irritating their skin. The digestive system usually matures between the third and sixth month of life, and nighttime bowel movements become a thing of the past.
As 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. If the diapers leak during the night, you may find the solution to the problem in this article.
The frequency of changing diapers depends entirely on your baby's needs and elimination habits, as each child is unique. While one child spends the night comfortably in wet diapers, another sleeps much better in dry ones, meaning that nighttime diapering or holding is unavoidable. Other children rarely or never urinate at night and end up with a dry diaper in the morning. The reason? The Antidiuretic Hormone.
What is the Antidiuretic Hormone?
The human body produces a special hormone at night, even in childhood: the Antidiuretic Hormone, or ADH for short. This hormone has a significant influence on the body's water balance and ensures that we need to go to the toilet much less frequently at night, as the body produces less urine. At night, babies excrete as much urine in 11 to 13 hours as they do during the day in 3 to 4 hours.
The primary function of the hormone is to ensure that we sleep peacefully at night without being constantly awakened by the urge to urinate.
How to diaper at night correctly
During nighttime diapering, it's important to proceed gently to avoid waking your child and making it difficult for them to go back to sleep. For relaxed nights, follow these tips:
Have all the materials you need for diapering ready. To minimize effort, change your child directly in bed. Consider these items:
- Sufficient spare diapers
- Change of clothes
- Wet wipes or washcloths
- A mat (a towel usually suffices)
- Easy-to-open sleepwear
One thing you should definitely avoid is bright light. Use dimmed lighting for nighttime diapering. Mobile night lights have proven to be especially helpful.
During the day, diapering is often a lively and entertaining situation. At night, however, you should try to remain as calm as possible. Speak as little as possible, ideally limiting yourself to quietly telling your baby what you plan to do. What's more important is plenty of skin contact and minimal movement.
Photo by Minnie Zhou on Unsplash
Which Diapers are Best for the Night?
Although absorbency is an important factor, it is just one of many criteria a good night diaper should meet. Other important points include:
- The right size
- perfect fit
- leak protection
- comfortable material
- skin compatibility
- easy application
If you rely on disposable diapers, you will come across the craziest tips to avoid nighttime leakage. Many parents choose the next diaper size or put the diaper on the child backwards so that the large catch area is at the front. The latter is especially recommended for tummy sleepers who burst the diapers at night.
However, consider: During the day, your baby's skin is caressed with fresh air at every change. At night, however, your child wears the diaper non-stop. Due to the poor air circulation in disposable diapers, an unhealthy diaper environment develops, causing your baby's skin to soften and become more susceptible to bacteria.
An alternative—for us, even the best diapers for the night—are cloth diapers. With these, you achieve the same, if not stronger, absorbency as with disposable diapers while avoiding numerous negative side effects. Points in favor of cloth diapers include:
- Cloth diapers are as easy to use as disposable diapers.
- Better leak protection due to snug, flexible leg cuffs.
- Waste reduction: By using cloth diapers, you actively counteract the pollution of our planet. If you use washcloths instead of wet wipes to clean your baby's skin, you can diaper your baby entirely sustainably. This way, up to one ton of diaper waste per child can be avoided. In an additional article, we delve into the sustainability of cloth diapers compared to disposable diapers.
- Financial benefit: If you handle your cloth diapers carefully, you can save a significant amount of money that you would have spent on disposable diapers. Cloth diapers can be passed on to up to four children. Alternatively, used diapers can still be sold well. In a separate post, we dared to conduct a cost comparison of cloth diapers and disposable diapers.
- Skin-friendliness: Did you know that disposable diapers are full of chemicals? With cloth diapers, you rely on natural and skin-friendly materials, thus preventing the development of skin irritations and diaper dermatitis.
- Earlier potty training: In cloth diapers, babies and toddlers receive natural wetness feedback. That means they feel the wetness as soon as they urinate. This is very important for potty training, which is why children using cloth diapers are often potty trained significantly earlier than those using disposable diapers.
- Last but not least, cloth diapers are also visually a real eye-catcher. Different colored designs bring joy not only to us parents. Children also enjoy actively participating in choosing their daily companion.
Photo by @madame.vio
Judes – Diapers for Night and Day
We are an innovative start-up with the goal of developing the simplest cloth diaper in the world. With Judes, we have developed a diaper that meets all criteria and is even easier to use than disposable diapers.
Simple & Sustainable: How Judes Work
Our cloth diapers consist of two parts: an absorbent inner diaper and a waterproof cover. The system not only seals incredibly well but is also very easy to change. To do this, you open the diaper just like a disposable diaper. The inner diaper goes into the laundry, specifically into the diaper bag, and the cover is hung out to air dry. The latter only needs to be washed after several uses or when heavily soiled.
We have also prepared a guide for the proper washing of cloth diapers for you. Washing cloth diapers is simple and quickly becomes routine.
Now you put on a fresh inner diaper and cover on your child one after the other and secure both with the infinitely adjustable Velcro. Judes are designed to perfectly adapt to your child's body shape. Flexible leg cuffs and an additional back cuff provide optimal protection and comfort. This combination makes Judes not only more absorbent but also better at sealing than disposable diapers.
We also completely avoid the use of chemicals, as the health of the baby's skin is paramount. Therefore, we have summarized all the health benefits of cloth diapers in an article. Our soft inner diaper is made of 100% organic cotton. It ensures a pleasant skin feeling and stays dry for up to 12 hours. Even for the cover, we focus on sustainability, as it is made from recycled plastic bottles.
Safely Through the Night with Judes Diapers
While our absorbent inner diaper quickly and securely absorbs all liquids, the waterproof cover provides optimal protection. The material is breathable and ensures a healthy diaper climate.
Our diapers are optimal for the night. For additional protection, you can add one of our booster inserts into the inner diaper. This takes up hardly any space and noticeably increases the absorbency.
We have designed our diapers to fit 99% of all babies right away. So you save the long search for the right diaper and get a cloth diaper that combines all possible advantages. Judes are available in two sizes, which are sufficient for the entire diapering period.
What tips do you have for nighttime diapering and which diaper gets you through the night best? Feel free to share in the comments.
