Babies diaper leaks only at night.

May 7, 2007 9:27 AM

2 week old baby has diaper leaking issues, but only at night. Mom is tired of changing outfits 4 times a night. What to do?

We use disposables. He's 8 pounds and only leaks at night, but soaks through his onsie and the swaddle blanket. He gets changed every time he eats, which is about 4 times a night.

I tried going up to a bigger size and changing brands, but neither of these have made any difference.

I was going to try some diaper doublers, but don't know where I can get some (does Babies r Us carry them - there's nothing on the website). Experienced parents I need your help.

posted by Formiga to Health & Fitness (20 answers total)

Perhaps you're changing diapers a little more often during the day or he's eating more at night. You may want to change dirty diapers a bit more frequently than that and it may be that you just need to change diapers more frequently overall. We used cloth and I changed dirty diapers immediately and changed wet diapers immediately during the day. At night, we still changed diapers every time he woke and whenever he had a wet/dirty diaper before he went back to sleep. This stage will not last forever, although I know it feels like that right now. You may also want to put him in a t-shirt, gown or vest, instead of a full onesie. I loved vests because I didn't have to put them over my son's head -- it made it a lot easier to change.
posted by acoutu at 9:35 AM on May 7, 2007

what brand of diapers are you using now?

we used to have a problem with our newborn girl, and we switched to huggies and that solved it.
posted by sxtxixtxcxh at 9:35 AM on May 7, 2007

Make sure his penis is pointing down and towards the center (absorbant) part of the diaper. We had problems with our baby boy's diapers leaking which we eventually figured out were caused by the direction of the stream of urine.
posted by alms at 9:40 AM on May 7, 2007 [2 favorites]

not unusual at that age to have to change the diaper at every feeding, though the soaking through to the onesie is a but much

don't be afraid to fasten them on little baby tight enough. don't get bigger ones. if anything get smaller ones. you don't say what size you're using. usually there are the "N" size for like up to 8lbs, and then the the 8lbs-14lbs size. you may want to go with the "N" for now.

also, try the same size in a different brand like sxt says.
posted by poppo at 9:46 AM on May 7, 2007

well, she did say they tried switching brands, but no mention on what brands they've tried.

i'm thinking alms is on the mark, though, which is why i mentioned just switching brands worked for my daughter. the different anatomy is probably a factor.
posted by sxtxixtxcxh at 9:56 AM on May 7, 2007

Response by poster: We've tried Huggies, Pampers and Luvs. All in the Newborn size. We've tried moving up to size 1 with the Huggies because he's right on the cusp (most newborn sizes go up to 8-10 lbs.).

I can't see waking up more often to change a diaper. Right now he's up every 2-3 hours for food and a change or two.

I'm going to try fastening them tighter and positioning his penis, see if that'll work. I can imagine it pointing up and going right out the top/leg hole.
posted by Formiga at 10:50 AM on May 7, 2007

Make sure the part around the leg is on right. Not sure exactly how to describe this but here goes: there is sort of a little ruffle on the edge of the diaper, where it goes around the leg. If the little ruffle gets folded inside, we found it resulted in leakage. If I make sure the diaper is on right and tight (run my finger around the inside edge where the diaper contacts the leg), all is well. We also went up a size and that worked, but I see you already tried this. Take heart - in a few weeks/months, their bowels change and they go to 1 or 2 poops a day instead of 10. There is a really disturbing period of time, around week 14 I think, where they JUST STOP POOPING. Up to 2 wks is normal, I kid you not.
posted by selfmedicating at 10:51 AM on May 7, 2007

We've had these issues off and on with both our boys. We've found it's almost always a diaper size issue. If I'm getting my facts straight, I believe Pampers tend to be on the smaller side than Huggies when buying the same number/size. The cheap brands are just that...cheap. Never found a cheapie that would work very well.

One thing to mention is that if the diaper looks like it fits the kid like a pair of tighty whitey's it's probably too small. It has seemed like for us that the correct size tends to appear a little too tall (like his pants have been pulled up like his grampa's). Whenever the diapers have been looking a little low that's when he'd end up wetting out.

Also look to see from where the leak originates so you'll have a better idea of how to attack. Ours were alway up the back, but I would imagine it's possible it could come out around the legs or over the front. If it's over the front, I'd say alms is right on.
posted by MrToad at 10:51 AM on May 7, 2007

'Real' nappies seem to be better at coping with this in our (and some of our friends) experience. Disposables are fine until they reach their limit, at which point they become next to useless.

I'd also second the point about anatomy and direction of flow though.
posted by pharm at 10:52 AM on May 7, 2007

what about skipping the onesies and just using diapers and t-shirts? the hem of the shirt might get a little dirty if baby makes a real mess, but i would imagine it would improve your odds (and reduce your laundry load).
posted by thinkingwoman at 11:25 AM on May 7, 2007

For larger babies, the problem is usually diaper capacity, so going up a size and/or using a better brand should work. But this is a newborn, so the problem (unless his diaper is actually soaked, which you don't mention) is probably that it's just escaping. For those tiny, skinny legs you really need to fasten that diaper tight. Don't cut off circulation, but don't leave any gaps either. And go ahead and pull it up about as far as it will go--he'll look like an old man with his pants around his neck, but that's fine. (You can fold down the front a little to let his cord air out if needed.) If all else fails, just cram an absorbent cloth in there with him to soak it up (I've never tried this myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't be fine for a couple months).
posted by DU at 11:50 AM on May 7, 2007

Yeah, go tighter on the fit. Even tight, there is still some give. I found Huggies to be better in the N size.

Also, the water-absorbing material is usually a polyacrylate (like sodium acrylate of potassium acrylate), which works great unless there is salt in the equation, whereupon it starts to fail spectacularly. There is salt in pee and in sufficient quantity, it will break down the polymer and make it give up the water.
posted by plinth at 12:08 PM on May 7, 2007

Our kid soaked through his onesie frequently, too. We ended up sizing them up and doubling up each night. Literally just one diaper on top of the other.

Usually (but not always) when he woke up with the doubled-up diaper, the inside one was soaked and the outside one was pretty dry, and we could use the outside diaper as the first diaper of the morning.
posted by AgentRocket at 12:55 PM on May 7, 2007

I've also found the fancier versions of Huggies/Pampers (i.e., Huggies Supreme vs. Huggies, Papmpers Swaddlers/Cruisers [when he's older] vs. Pampers Baby Dry) are nicer (and hence work better) than the less-fancy versions. This may just be because I strongly prefer the elasticized tabs (they seem to make the diapers fit better and go on easier).

Even with well-fitting diapers, you can still have a leak if the angle's just right (or, well, wrong!).
posted by leahwrenn at 1:06 PM on May 7, 2007

And, of course, one of those rubberized changing pads on the crib/bassinet wouldn't hurt, so at least you don't have to change the sheets in addition to everything else! (But you probably figured that one out...)

OxyClean works really well on poop stains, when it comes to that.
posted by leahwrenn at 1:08 PM on May 7, 2007

In my experience diaper sizing by lbs. is way off and they usually need to go up a size well before the poundage recommendations would indicate. So I'd say try going up a size and then 1) make sure the penis is pointing down every change and 2) fasten it tighter around the waist.

Also put him in t-shirts instead; less onesies to wash.
posted by Melinika at 1:16 PM on May 7, 2007

Yeah, definitely make sure the captain is pointing down.. only time the boy wakes up wet is when the little bugger managed to point out the side somehow.

Otherwise the routine here is, when he wakes, make the bot (we use formula), pick baby up, change nappy (diaper), then go feed baby, burp, and back in bed. Tend to make the bot before so that it can dissolve properly, which takes a minute or two.

But don't worry, the buggers tend to change tactics every three weeks, so you'll have to get used to something new soon.
posted by lundman at 6:14 PM on May 7, 2007

This happened a lot to us at first also. The keys were (1) getting the diaper on pretty tight; (2) penis down!; (3) once the diaper is on, stick your fingers into the leg holes and make sure that all of the "lace" frilly parts are pulled outwards, not tucked in; (4) give the waistband in the back a good tug and make sure the whole thing is snugged up on his butt. Also, we found that we needed to switch up in size earlier than indicated in order to keep them from soaking through.
posted by Mid at 7:08 PM on May 7, 2007

Agreeing with the hive mind here:

Size up.

Premium diapers if using disposables. Cheap diapers aren't worth the plastic they're wrapped in.

If using nappies, get covers. Every store with baby products has them.

Point the penis down.

Realize that this too will pass. I swear to god. It will. I know it seems never ending, and you're both tired and cranky and at the end of your ropes, but I swear to you, it gets better. I promise on the head of my adorable son, it does.

Big hugs to you, your bride and your newborn.
posted by dejah420 at 7:58 PM on May 7, 2007

I don't know if they make them in his size, but "overnight" diapers have done wonders for our little guy. We started using them at about 8 months (he's about 18 months now), and it completely stopped the middle of the night outfit changes. We use a Huggies overnight, and it is well worth the extra bit of cash to use one of those a night. The value you place on sleep with increase dramatically over the next few months.
posted by shinynewnick at 8:20 PM on May 7, 2007