7 Tips to Handling Your Baby or Toddler’s Nighttime Leaky Diapers
As parents, we’re all familiar with the standard reasons for a baby’s nighttime waking or toddler’s nighttime waking. Newborns and young infants often wake at night out of hunger. Many babies wake out of habit, because they’ve formed sleep associations. Toddlers may wake up in the middle of the night because they’ve had a nightmare.
Let’s add another cause for nighttime waking to our list: leaky diapers. Have any experience with that? I’ll bet most of you have. If so, you know how it goes — you wake to find your little one wet and cold and wailing loudly.
Sometimes, one leaky diaper is all it takes to turn a peaceful night of sleep into a chaotic mess!
So, what’s a parent to do? How do you stop leaky diapers from waking your baby or toddler at night?
Today, we’re spotlighting 7 tips that’ll help you banish those leaky diapers and keep your little one sleeping peacefully.
1. No drinks before bed (for toddlers).
Ignore this tip if you have an infant; babies need to nurse or take in formula frequently, and you should never withhold a feeding from your baby in order to prevent diaper leaks. If you have a toddler, however, it’s a different story. If your toddler routinely has something to drink right before bed, this could be part of the leaky diaper problem. Change your routine, and make sure that your toddler’s last drink of the night happens an hour (or more) before bedtime.
2. Do a diaper change right before your baby or toddler’s bedtime.
This one seems obvious, but not all parents take this step. If your baby or toddler is routinely waking up with a wet, leaking diaper, be sure to do a fresh diaper change right before you put your little one to bed for the night.
3. Do a diaper change right before your bedtime.
Disclaimer: this won’t work for all babies and toddlers. If your child is a light sleeper who will wake up completely if you try to do a late-night diaper change, then forget it. You’ll probably end up creating more problems than you solve! But if you think your child may sleep through (or at least wake only slightly during) a late-night diaper change, then consider sneaking in a diaper change right before you go to bed yourself.
4. Start buying bigger diapers.
Once your baby or toddler starts approaching the upper end of a diaper’s size limit, the leaks will probably start. If your little one is waking regularly because of a leaky diaper, consider moving up a size (at least at night). Some parents find that this solves the problem completely.
5. Invest in good overnight diapers.
If none of the above tips make a difference in the leaks, consider purchasing separate overnight diapers. Huggies Overnites are a great solution (I can vouch for them personally!); Pampers Extra Protection Nighttime Diapers are also a good choice. These overnight diapers are thicker and more absorbent than regular diapers, making them a good choice for nights. They’re also more expensive than regular diapers, but since you only need to use them at night, a large box will last a long time.
6. Consider using Diaper Booster Pads.
I’ll confess — I’d never heard of diaper booster pads until I found them while researching this article. Turns out that some parents swear by them as THE solution for their little ones’ nighttime diaper leaks. These booster pads look a bit like feminine pads, and they’re designed to fit inside a regular (or overnight) diaper. The booster pad acts as a first line of defense — it absorbs up to 8 oz. of liquid. Once the pad is full, the diaper absorbs the excess. These might make a good last resort option for those parents who find that even overnight diapers aren’t doing the trick. Using cloth diapers? They have cloth diaper insert pads, too!
7. Keep Sleep Training
Although inconvenient, if you are sleep training, you will of course want to clean your baby up, change the sheets, redo a mini routine, and still have your baby try to settle herself. You don’t want to let something like a leaky diaper lead to inconsistency in your behavior and undermine your progress.
Of course, if you need help in your sleep training – look no further! That’s what we are here for. Sleep training can be tough, and hundreds of parents turn to us for sleep coaching help every month. We can help you, too! Take a look at our consultation packages, and see which one looks like a good fit for you.
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Have you struggled with leaky diapers waking your baby or toddler? How did you cope? Any tips to add to our list? Share below!
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Sposie diaper booster pads are great! Definitely recommend to all parents dealing with diaper leaks. http://www.sposie.com
We had this problem a LOT with my oldest daughter. We did the maxi pad trick, and it worked wonders!! My husband came up with the idea, and we thought we were being very innovative, but then did a search and found the boosters. Oh well, pads are much cheaper!
@ Jen – Good for your husband!! And glad you found a solution to your little ones leaky diaper issues 🙂 When my kids were in diapers, we relied heavily on those Huggies Overnights – those worked miracles for us 🙂
Thanks for commenting, Jen!! 🙂
@ Jen — great tip! Thanks for sharing it. 🙂
We have occasional periods of overnight leaks with our daughter (now 26 months), but the greatest problem was when she was about 4mths old and started to roll. As she likes to sleep on her tummy I found the nappies leaked out the top of the front. My solution? I changed her into Huggies Boy nappies (as they have more absorbancy in the front than the girls ones) for nighttime only and they worked a treat!
@ Ben — thanks for this input! We love it when dads chime in. 🙂 Agreed; babies can’t be expected to sleep through the night if they end up soaking wet halfway through it! My husband and I are big fans of the Huggies overnights, too. They were lifesavers with both of our boys, and we’re using them now with our 18 month old daughter. I’m a major cheapskate, but even I’m willing to pay the extra money for overnight diapers, since I’ve found that they work so well.
Thanks again for commenting, Ben!
My wife and I are a huge fan of the overnight diapers, one size larger than he wears during the day. We believe that was a key element in our son learning to sleep through the night when we started sleep training him.
@ Jamie — Probably, yes. You could either try buying booster pads and putting them in his regular diapers, or you could opt for overnight diapers (like Huggies) and see if those help. Let us know what ends up working for your little guy, Jamie!
And thanks for commenting. 🙂
My son is 4 months old and his size 2 diapers don’t hold it all in for an overnight so he leaks so I went up to a size 3 and he leaks out the side of those almost everynight they are still 2 big(he likes to sleep on his side. Will these pads and all this stuff help with leaking out the sides of his diaper?
@ Sarah — agreed on the wool! Makes a nice (and natural) moisture barrier.
Thanks for commenting!
@ Becky — fantastic insight about heavy bedwetting possibly being something developmental. I personally don’t have any knowledge about that, but as you say, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. The changes come so fast and furious in our babies’ and toddlers’ early years that it wouldn’t be surprising if that had some kind of impact on their bladders. 😉
Thanks, too, for the tip about the Goodnight mattress liners! You’re definitely right — the wet diaper isn’t the only issue you have to deal with in the middle of the night!
Thanks for commenting, Becky 🙂
@ michelle — we definitely don’t want to deprive our little ones of fluid if they’re thirsty, of course. No one’s suggesting that. But it is good to keep an eye on when they’re drinking lots of fluid. I know I’ve found that my kids will go through spells when they really won’t drink much during the day, but then later, between dinner and bedtime, they’re drinking 4 or 5 glasses of water. Not good — that doesn’t make for a dry bed! So I’ve learned to be proactive — I ask my kids to sit down throughout the day and drink small glasses of water/juice/milk. I’ve found that it they stay hydrated throughout the day, they’re less likely to load up on fluids before bed, or to wake during the night and ask for something to drink.
Just my experience, though — different for every family, of course! Thanks for commenting, Michelle! 🙂
@ Dale — another vote for the booster pads! I feel like I’ve been living under a rock or something; so many parents are chiming in about how awesome diaper booster pads are, and I’d never heard of them until I started writing this article!
Thanks for commenting, Dale 🙂
@ Meg — thanks for sharing your experience with us! Glad to hear that hemp ended up working out well for your little one. 🙂