Common Potty Training Mistakes
How to read your toddlers signs and avoid these common potty training mistakes.
Read MoreKnowing when and how to change your baby’s diaper during the night can be confusing. Especially when you’ve finally gotten them to sleep, the last thing you want to do is to disturb them in the middle of the night.
In this article, you’ll learn:
- When to change your baby’s diaper at night, depending on their age
- A recommendation for a night time diaper, made with super absorbent materials, innovative features and overnight leak protection
- How to change their diaper without disturbing their sleep
- How finding the right diaper size and fit can help prevent overnight diaper leaks
How often should you change your baby’s diaper at night?
As a general rule of thumb, night time diaper changes are necessary if your baby has soiled the diaper, or it is completely full. A little bit of urine in the diaper is fine, and you can usually wait a bit longer before changing them again. You may like to time diaper checks/changes with your night time feeds, as you’ll already be up at these points of the night.
That’s why choosing a diaper with super absorbent materials and leak protection is so important. Because if you’re waiting until the morning or til their next feed to change them, you want to make sure the diaper keeps all sneaky leaks contained!
To help you understand when their diaper should be changed, Rascal + Friends premium diapers have a wetness indicator in sizes 1 and 2. This can be found on the centre of the diaper, and will change from a yellow to purple colour when the diaper is full and should be changed. On our larger sizes it’s easier to see when the diaper should be changed, as older babies will urinate more and the diaper will look swollen. Use our diaper calculator to find the right size for your baby, based on their weight.
Choose super absorbent night time diapers
While the number of night time diaper changes varies with age, we’d recommend always choosing a diaper made with super absorbent materials and designed to last all night. Our unique 3D Core Technology means Rascal + Friends premium diapers can absorb 15x their weight in liquid*. Paired with our innovative absorbency features, our diapers can both:
Contain sneaky leaks and blowouts
Provide overnight leak protection, for up to 12 hours
So no matter how long your baby sleeps through the night, they wake up comfy and dry, and all sneaky leaks stay in the diaper. Save yourself a load of washing!
*Based on diaper weight and total absorbing capacity.
Our innovative absorbency diaper features include:
- Double leak guards
- Dual-tissue wrapped core
- Liquid dispersion layer
- Breathable outer-layer
How often should you change a newborn’s diaper?
Because they feed more frequently, you can expect to change a newborn’s diaper every 3 or so hours, almost as often as they need feeding.
You may like to use your baby’s feeding time as a rule of thumb for when to change, or at least check their diaper. Of course, this is dependant on your baby’s urine and bowel movements. As mentioned, soiled diapers should be changed as soon as possible, while diapers with just urine don’t need to be changed as quickly. This is where our wetness indicator* comes in handy, to help you know when the diaper is full and should be changed.
A common concern for newborn parents is the frequency of changes if their baby has sensitive skin or diaper rash. Some choose to change their diaper more frequently than suggested to help keep skin clean and dry. While we encourage you to continue with a change-routine that works for you and your baby, you can rest assured that Rascal + Friends premium diapers are made with sensitive skin in mind. Features like our breathable outer-layer and liquid dispersion layer, absorbs liquid in seconds and draws moisture away from your baby’s skin. This keeps skin cool, dry and helps prevent skin irritation.
*On sizes 1 and 2 of our premium diapers (made for the newborn stage).
How to change your baby’s diaper without disturbing their sleep
When the time comes to changing their diaper at night, there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ll disturb their sleep – especially if it’s taken a while to get them down!
Here’s a few tips to making night time diaper changes easier:
- Prepare the diaper changing area before you sleep
- Keep it calm: Keep lighting very low, sounds below a peep and scents at a minimum
- Change your baby’s diaper when they are awake to feed, either before or during the feed
- Change soiled diapers right away and delay changing wet diapers until full
- Use warm wipes when cleaning their skin
Should you wake your baby for a diaper change?
While we suggest changing a dirty diaper as soon as possible, you should avoid waking up your sleeping baby just to do so. This will disturb their sleep cycle and you may struggle to settle them again. Especially for babies 6 months and younger, they never go too long before needing another feed, which is a better opportunity to change their diaper. This is also why we recommend timing diaper changes with their night time feeds.
We’d also suggest making a habit of changing their diaper at night:
- Just before going to bed
- Before a night time feed, or halfway through feeding when you change sides
- And putting baby back to bed straight after their night feed
Prevent overnight leaks with the right diaper size and fit
Choosing the right diaper size and understanding how it should properly fit can go a long in preventing leaks. Our premium diapers are made with a unique design and fit, which is why recommend choosing a diaper size based on their weight. You can learn more about this on our diaper size guide.
With a few simple questions answered, we can help you get to the bottom of leaking diapers. Read more of our tips in this article, or reach out to our Customer Love team for their expert advice on finding the right Rascal + Friends fit. Contact us on Instagram or Facebook.
