Nighttime nappy leaks

[Shefliesonherownwings]

Really struggling with this. DS is 15 months old. The last few weeks he has been eating and drinking loads, we think he’s having a growth spurt. Because he’s having more water in the day and bigger bottles of milk at night his nighttime nappies are really heavy and he’s leaking through to his sleep suit almost every night. He’s waking up wet and waking early.

We’ve always used the same brand of nappy so we upped them to the next size but it’s still happening. Last night we put him in nappy pants hoping they’d be a bit more flexible as he does move around a lot in bed, but this morning they’d leaked too.

Just wondering if anyone can recommend some amazingly absorbant nappies? Or offer advice? Should we go up another size?

What brand do you currently use? We use pampers active fit nappy pants or lidl nappy pants. DD is 2.5yrs and has really full nappies overnight (it's like a brick!) Occasionally have a leak but 9/10 they are fine - usually happens if she sleeps in and therefore is more likely to do another wee in her sleep that pushes the limit it can hold!

You need to go to the + version of whatever his size is, sizing up doesn't get you very far once you're in the bigger sizes.

Pampers are better than other brands for night leaks so we use Pampers 4+ at night and normal 4 in the day.

Or if it's just temporary do a change with one of his night feeds or when you go to bed.

We have this with DD constantly. We use Pampers baby dry and we put some pleated cotton wool in the nappy - no more leaks!! She is 10kg and in size 4+. If we go up anymore they're too baggy on her.

Thanks all. We were using Aldi, size 4+ and had no problems at all until he started drinking more. So we upped him to size 5 and the problem kept happening. Last night we tried Aldi’s size 5 nappy pants. I think size 5 probably is right for him now, he’s about 12kg I think. But we do need something more for the nighttime.

Haven’t tried pampers, have heard good things about them though. He doesn’t have night feeds and I am a reluctant to do a dream change after some epic dream feed failings when he was smaller.

@jevoudrais the pleated cotton wool sounds interesting, how much do you put in? It doesn’t irritate her when it’s wet? I might try that as I do think it’s one wee that’s pushing the limit.

I use cheaper nappies dueing the day the pampers night nappy pants over night. They are prices but it avoids the leaks and I also find my LO sleeps a bit longer too as not uncomfortable in wet clothes.

Also Nappies have been crap for all mine. No idea why because lots of my minded kids use them without a problem.
Oy pampers have worked for my 3. I tend to up a size and get the baby dry ones.

I’d try Pampers Active Fit nappy pants. If that doesn’t work that a liner from a reusable nappy brand inside the nappy could be worth a go. Also if he’s still guzzling milk before bed you could look at cutting that down. I stopped my eldest’s bedtime bottle at 15 months, she wasn’t that interested in the milk from a sippy cup and any issues we’d had with leaks stopped immediately.

Thanks again, I am popping out at lunchtime to get some pampers nappies as they do seem the best ones from lots of people.

We are going to cut down his night time milk and possibly look at phasing it out. It's hard because he does love his milk and that is the only time he feeds to sleep so not sure how well he will settle without it. Although he self settles fine for naps. We'll cut down for now and see how we go. Thanks for all the advice.

You've gone from size 4 extra absorbance to size 5 normal, so you need 5+ for a start. But I'd definitely try the papers Pampers 5+ :)

Try the + version of nappies and/or changing them during the night.

Ours would all sleep through a night time nappy change, they dream fed too. Our 5mth old is in little angels size 5 during the day and 5+ at night as she sleeps a long time at night.

I’ve just bought pampers size 5, now wondering if it should have been 5+ but I was worried about it being too big and gappy? Argh, such a minefield.

DS sleeps 11-12 hours usually. We tried doing dream feeds and it wasn’t a success so I’m not sure dream changes would work. He’ll almost certainly wake up and be awake for ages. We’re just going to have to do trial and error with sizes and routine I think.

Buy some pads for bladder leaks/incontinence and stick one of those in the nappy before bedtime & put a tape nappy over the top, should sort it out.

Use washable nappies?
We usually use a night nappy ( tots bots bamboozle) with one insert. But you can add more inserts if wetter. We had to add two inserts 5-7/8months overnight when he was drinking loads but not really on solids yet.

Ds is 21 months now. But I stoped any night or evening feeds around 15 months. He now has dinner sometime between 6-7pm, water at dinner time. Then just a bit of water before bed at 8-8.30pm.

I’ve just bought pampers size 5, now wondering if it should have been 5+ but I was worried about it being too big and gappy? Argh, such a minefield.

It definitely should have been the + ones, the + doesn't mean they will be bigger it means they will be more absorbant. Its a common misconception. You'd probably be totally fine if you brought him the aldi 5+ ones rather than the expensive pampers ones.

Just to add a thought as we had the same problem. Is your little one still wearing onesie vests underneath? We realised the leaks were happening as our DD had outgrown the vests and we hadn’t realised. They were too tight and pulling in the nappy causing it to gape at the legs. We stopped using onesie vests and just put her in a normal top vest and the problem stopped.

Have you tried a reusable nappy cover/wrap over the top of the disposable nappy?

We use pampers and never had a leak at night even though nappy is heavy.

Happened with us so we just stopped the before bed bottle and it just stopped..

Move it earlier in the day if he just have it

Must = just

Try Tescos own Fred & Flo nappy pants, we never have any problems through the night. Have tried Aldi ones and they leaked almost every night!

Positive update! Last night we used Pampers baby dry size 5. We stopped DS having water about an hour before bed and reduced his milk by an ounce or so, actually back to what he used to have before he started eating everything in sight! We actually did do a change about 10pm as he woke crying (teething issues!) but he hadn’t been at all so don’t think that made any difference.

This morning no leaks! His nappy didn’t feel as heavy either so I wonder if the combination of pampers and reducing liquids has helped. He slept longer this morning and has woken in a great mood. We’ll do the same tonight in the hopes it’s not a one off. Fingers crossed!

Great news!

Interestingly I have been reading about potty training ( for this summer). And they suggest trying to increase liquid consumption so bladder can hold more at once, but the aim of more liquids earlier in the day.
So I guess they get their full 1 litre liquid or whatever per day, but 3/4 of that is before 3pm for example. That way they have time to empty the majority before bed, rather than getting semi dehydrated in the day and drinking loads in the evenings

Biggest size that baby fits, pull-ups over nappies - aldi - massive drinking baby - worked for us most of the time. Good luck!

Definitely go a size bigger. Pampers active is the best.