Toddler leaking through every night

[Lavender14]

Ds is 2 and has recently dropped his nap during the day and has started sleeping through most nights which is amazing. He usually goes to sleep at around 7.30 or 8pm and will wake up in the morning around 8 or 8.30. He could sleep longer if I let him to around 9.30.

My problem is that he's leaking through his nappies. He sleeps on his tummy with his bum in the air every night and he does move around a lot so in the morning the nappy isn't as secure as it was in terms of where the straps are. I also think it might be due to him having a fuller tummy after dinner then going to bed and his tummy shrinking over the night and the nappy then is looser as it was strapped on when his tummy was fuller. By the time I get out of work, get him from nursery and get home it's 6pm and he is exhausted by 7.30 so it's a quick dinner at 6.30 and he has about an hour to run about before bed at 8. He's waking up with his vest,pj's and sleeping bag drenched. The nappy is full at the front and dry at the back.

Is there anything people with tummy sleepers would recommend trying? My mum is adamant I need to be waking him earlier but to me, sleep is so important for development and if he won't nap I want him to get as much rest as he needs. I've tried waking him earlier but then he's literally fallen asleep having dinner so that's too much for him.

How about using pull ups, which are elasticated so would change shape and wriggle with him?

Thanks, I'll give the pull ups a try!

We had/ have this issue with DD who is also 2.

We have started cutting back on fluids 2 hours before bedtime and that seems to have really helped. We now only have a leak 1/2 nights per week.

We now only offer her water in this time frame so if she is thirsty she can drink, but find she doesn't much because she doesn't like water.

We use pull ups which are so much better for wriggly sleepers. Previously I would also do a nappy change in the middle of the night and resettle (not close to the morning as they won’t go back to sleep), but then my DC always woke at least once in the night for a cuddle…

I stopped offering fluids after dinner.

Also try different brands of nappy/pull up. I use pull ups, bit only red pampers seem to fit without leaks. Purple pampers = leaks. Very bizarre, and no idea why.

Is he potty trained yet? If not then that’s the obvious solution. Yes night time is hormonal and usually comes after day training, so I wouldn’t expect him to be instantly dry at night although you never know, the obvious one is that you can get him to do a big wee before bed and it limits the amount going into the night nappy. If he is already trained then try a wee before his bath and then again right before bed to make sure his bladder is totally empty. With regard to the nappies themselves- pull ups/nappy pants are much better than taped nappies for expanding tummies and I found pampers active fit pants the best for my tummy sleeper. Also, I don’t know what he wears to bed but if he’s in a baby style poppered vest ditch it because it will limit the nappy expanding.

So to answer a few questions, he's not potty trained yet. He's only just turned 2 and he has only in the last 2 weeks started to show an interest in the potty and been a little more consistent with telling me when he's about to pee rather than when his nappy is already wet but this is something we're working towards. A lot of the time he will do a big pee after (or during) his bath right before he goes to sleep so there's a fresh nappy going on then.

He gets a bath before bed every night and if I don't give him enough to drink beforehand he will literally be drinking the bath water. He's a very warm, sweaty child. In nursery he's always in a layer less than all the other kids in the room because he just seems to run warm and play hard. So often he'll wake up and ask for a drink in the middle of the night. I did mention it to the gp but they didn't seem concerned. Obviously the wetting is a complete nuisance, but equally I hate the idea of him being really thirsty and not being able to go get a drink the way we could.

If I did a change in the middle of the night he'd be up for hours honestly. Any time I've woken him by accident checking on him before I went to sleep and I ended up sleeping on the floor in his room for a few hours trying to get him back over so very hesitant to try that! If he wakes up himself during the night then I just change him but that doesn't happen often.

He's wearing nappies and vests for age 3-4 because he's really big for his age (not overweight but very tall) and I was worried about them being restrictive for the nappy.