Nappy leaking by morning - any suggestions?

[Bozza]

More often than not when DS wakes in a morning his nappy is fully saturated and has leaked onto the front of his pjs. He is currently sleeping from 7.45 pm to approx 6.45 - 7 am. But a couple of weeks ago he was going through a 5.30 am spell and the same applied.

He is 16 months and I have moved from Huggies Freedom size 22-35 lbs to size 27-50 lbs. Last time he was weighed in early April he was 24 lbs plus. I'm guessing he is probably about 27 lbs now. Also he sleeps on his front.

Any suggestions? Don't like to restrict his fluid intake but have started giving him water rather than watered down juice in an evening so that he self-restricts. But no effect. Of course, he also has 9 oz milk at bedtime which I am reluctant to alter because he is starving by morning and its his only milk drink.

Is this a common problem. Should I change nappy brand? Could I get liners for extra padding? How comfortable would this be?

bozza, my hv once told me that often nappies that are too big are more likely to cause leaking than ones that are too small. I would suggest trying some different brands of nappies.
My son is 18 mo. and weighs around 30 lbs. I use Tesco's size 4 (up to about 45lbs i think) and have only had a very occasional leakage with an extra large poo, never with pee. Though, I don't generally give my son anything to drink after dinner (which he usually has 2 hours before going to sleep) and I always put him in a fresh nappy just before bedtime.

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Bozza I also think perhaps it might be his fluid intake towards bedtime... either that, or like SofiaAmes said, perhaps the nappy isn't on tight enough or is too big. My son wears the biggest size nappy and I never have any problems with leakage through the night, although whenever he stays overnight with my parents, they are always saying that his pants seem to be a bit wet in the morning, but I've seen the way they put his nappies on!! I don't think they don't do them up firmly enough. When I put his nappy on, I make sure it's on firmly and comes up fairly high around his waist. Otherwise, if that's not the problem, I'd say you might have to cut down the amount of water/juice if he is also having milk at bedtime.

DS2 (15 months) is in the 27-50lb Huggies. I've not had him weighed for ages but he has VERY chubby thighs and tummy! We've never had a problem with this sort of leaking - he has a 9oz bottle of milk at bedtime (about 8:30) too and a beaker of water with tea (6:30ish) which he only really sips at.

I do make sure the nappies are done up snugly. I also make sure his bits are pointing downwards - the only leaks I've had are when it's been aiming to the side or upwards!

You could try adding a pair of plastic pants to protect his PJs and bedding if other brands aren't any better. I really like Pampers Easy up Pants (prefer them to Huggies pull-ups) which seem to be a really nice fit round the tummy - they are more expensive than nappies though.

My DS used to have the same problem and we put in liners (like massive sanitary towels) in his nappies. I think they came from Boots. R

I use washables, and for some reason made the decision to use disposables at night. After AGES I finally came across the wild idea of using the washables at night too - slow or what?! Anyway don't have problem with leaks now, whereas I did with the disposables.

Hi bloss - i too had two in washables - until older ds had a miracle self-train about a month ago! Now with only one in nappies I hardly even notice.

I use washables during the day but disposables at night at my dd also used to leak every night so the sight that greeted me first thing in the morning was dd soaked wet, with soaked blankets, sheets and mattress. I used Supadrug Junior nappies and although she does some pretty big wees, so far they have held out - she is nearly 2 - so I think that's pretty good going.

You'd think it would help them stay dry at night wouldn't you? It can't be nice lying in all that wee but they never seem to complain.

My advise would be not to use PJs. DS1 (19mo) has the same problem in PJs with leaky nappies, just as you've described. I use Tesco ultra dry/soft in the maxi plus size which I've found better than Huggies for reducing leaks. And I dress him in either a sleeveless body (hot weather) or a sleepsuit (cotton romper with feet, not those really bulky things)in cooler weather, and his sleeping bag. Now no probs.

DS1 has washables during the day, and although I've tried many times to use them at night, he always wakes up at around 5am wanting a change, so gave up and stuck to my one disposable at night. No amount of boosting the washable (totsbots with fleece liner) would keep him dry enough.

Have you thought of trying to change his nappy again before you go to bed?

DD is almost 15 months, also in Huggies, sleeps from approx 7pm-7am and has 6 oz milk at bedtime so very similar situation.

When she first started sleeping for 12 hours her nappy would be absolutely soaking in the morning (never actually leaked, but she would wake up really uncomfortable and grumpy!). So now I always go in and put a dry nappy on her before I got to bed at around 10:30 or 11pm. I keep the lights off while I'm doing it and she almost never wakes up.

I had to change over to reusable nappies a few months ago because ds became allergic to the disposables. I now use motherease sandys and they are so much better than any disposable I have used (which are many as I have 4 children!). Ds has a new nappy on about 7.30 pm and it lasts until the next morning when he gets up about 9 am! I don't even use a booster pad with it, only a fleece liner. Ds2 is 16 months old, but ds1 (aged 3) still wears nappies at night so I have been putting him in a washable nappy too (same type) but with a booster as well, and this has never leaked either.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try out a few of the ideas and see what we can find that works. I suppose the simplest thing to start with would be to take more care putting his nappy on and ensure he is pointed downwards! Since he always complains about getting out of the bath, being dried etc it tends to be a rushed job with him wriggling around etc.

I am having a similar problem with new DS, 3 weeks. One night I changed him and the moses basket three times, I only remember changing DS1 when he was dirty through the night. We are using these Pampers New Baby nappies and I have already moved him to Size 2, Mini I think, thinking this would solve the problem. Has anyone else experienced this with these nappies, should I try another brand or are the ordinary Pampers better. These ones have a strip down the front that changes colour when wet, this makes me laugh as I certainly don't have any problem deciding whether the nappy is wet or not!

Should just say that he is often soaking when he wakes for a feed which is every three to four hours through the night. This being second DS we are very willy conscious and make sure it is pointing down!

Bozza, is he still wearing a vest under his PJs that do up with poppers underneath? (although it's probably too hot to wear any kind of vest at the mo ..) We found that ds would have leaked sometimes by morning because the vest was getting too tight around his bottom and pulling the nappy to one side (probably the side his willy was pointing to!) and the leaking seemed to stop when we changed over to normal vests.

I have also found the new and improved Tescos Explorers disposables great.

Demented
have you tried the pampers new baby? We used these with Ds and they were great they soaked up everything.

leander we are using the Pampers New Baby nappies. DS keeps having these feeding marathons at the moment and the nappies can't keep up. Do you think the New Baby nappies are dryer than the Baby Dry ones?

honeybunny, we had the same problem witht the p.j's. The waist band tucked under the nappy and he was soaked by the morning. R

Demented
sorry didn't read your message properly,but yes i did think that the new baby were drier than the Baby-dry, we also tried Huggies but they were terrible Ds was always soaked in them.

leander, I will keep trying with the New Baby nappies as I have always found Pampers to be best for DS1, last night they kept him dry but yesterday evening one leaked after about 2 hours and earlier on in the day, poo leaked out of it. If it keeps happening I will contact Pampers have had to do this with DS1 (I think my sons could pee for Britain) and they are generally very apologetic and send loads of vouchers!

My DS started this around 16 months too but it must have been a phase because after a couple of months the "wee supply" settled back down! So don't despair, things may go back to normal.

I did the same as Rhiannon, used a booster pad (£2 a pack in Boots, in the clothies section) or some from the nursery shop called Weenies that are from Australia.

DS wears short pjs and no vest (never wears a vest under his night clothes even as a newborn in Feb). I put his nappy on v carefully and restricted him to water and milk - he only drank half last night and probably half water compared to juice and still leaked. Will get some liners I think. Still at least he didn't fill up on juice instead of his tea and so didn't wake up early because hungry.

Bozza- why not try ds in just a body rather than pjs, or anything that isn't waisted and see if it makes any difference. I swear its the elastic round the middle on ds1 that causes his leaks. They cause his nappy to ride down, almost to the point that his willy hangs out, hopeless. Its been so warm in the SE lately that ds only wears a short sleeve body and his cotton summer weight sleeping bag in bed. No leaks!