4 Tips for Cloth Diapering at Night
This post may contain affiliate or referral links, meaning I may earn a sales commission at no extra cost to you. Please see my full affiliate disclosure here.
This post contains affiliate links.
Cloth diapering at night seems to be the nemesis of many cloth diapering parents. I have seen countless Facebook and blog post comments from frustrated moms about leaky nighttime diapers.
I feel very fortunate to have found a combination that works for us very early on, but I know that this isn’t the case for many families. My first nighttime combination was a Fuzzibunz Perfect Size pocket diaper with an additional small insert. This worked well while he was little, but once we switched to fitteds and covers I never looked back.
Take a look at the nighttime diaper combinations that have worked well for us over the years.
Fitteds and Waterproof Covers
Fitteds are my personal tried and true favorite for cloth diapering at night. Fitted diapers can be pricey and it’s hard to swallow the cost sometimes, but a good quality fitted diaper is worth its weight in gold if it holds up for an entire night. Don’t be shy to buy used fitted diapers if the cost of purchasing them new isn’t within your budget. Also, be on the lookout for sales, coupons, and daily deals from your favorite online cloth diaper retailers.
There are a lot of great diaper cover choices and just about any fitted that comes with inserts, either snap in or lay in, will work beautifully at night. Check out the Wonderful Bambino fitted if you’re looking for a dependable yet fairly inexpensive fitted. If you have a fitted without inserts then you can add your own inner layer like newborn prefold or an extra insert made of bamboo, cotton, or a stay dry material. *Note: do not put a microfiber insert against baby’s skin.
Fitteds and Wool Covers
Many people swear by wool diaper covers when diapering their babies. It took me a while to get on the wool bandwagon because I was intimidated by them. Once I tried them, I found that they are actually very easy to prep and wash.
Wool naturally repels moisture and is breathable so it is a great choice for diapering. Fleece covers also work in the same way for a less expensive option.
Nighttime Pocket Diapers
The Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter is a 3-ply pocket diaper made specifically for nighttime or heavy wetters. Kawaii diapers are a great, cost-effective choice and give you the ease of a pocket with the absorbency for overnight.
Covers and Prefolds or Flats
Or you could go the old-fashioned route and stuff a cover with a few prefolds or flats. Diaper covers are more flexible than pocket diapers so you can stuff them a bit more than you could a pocket. My favorite way to use prefolds at night are wrapping one around a RagaBabe insert (or any thick, good quality insert).
A tip about cloth diapering at night
A common problem that I have noticed is overstuffed pocket diapers. It seems that the more padding you have, the more absorbent it will be, right? Well yes, but what happens when you put too many inserts into a pocket diaper is that the leg elastics will no longer be snug and secure on your baby’s legs due to all of the extra padding and this will cause leaks from the legs. If you need a lot of layers, try a diaper cover or wool cover instead.
If you have a tried and true nighttime diapering solution, please share!
so what works for the most part for my son who will be 4 in a few months is:
-a size 3 Thirsties diaper cover (for 40-60 lbs child) with an XL green mountain diapers clotheez prefold, with 1 nighttime hemp/polar fleece double.
for my son from age 10-15 months, it was fail proof until very recently. an alva baby large size pocket diaper stuffed with a size large or XL clotheez prefold. lately ot hasn’t held up though. I am currently searching for another option.
I tried wool covers, and it was just too much for me. The drying time is insane! But I LOVE my fleece covers over a good fitted for night time:) Works great!
Ssshh, but I wash my wool covers in the washing machine on the hand wash cycle with a low spin. They dry overnight instead of in 3 days when you handwash them. I agree, the drying time was really frustrating.
I never even thought to do that! Inspirational lol! Thanks:)
We haven’t done much cloth diapering at night mainly because my husband does nighttime changes. I’m surprised he even gets the diaper on the baby considering how groggy he is…anyway – I would like to start. I personally love using covers. They are SO easy and you can reuse them a handful of times! I recently ordered Thirsties covers and fitteds to try, so if they ever arrive I will see how they work. Currently, my favorite nighttime cloth diaper is the Diaper Rite that we have. Our daughter is only 2 months old though, so I’m not sure if it will continue to be enough for her. It seems pretty well padded though, so I’m guessing it will be good for quite awhile!
I have heard a lot of people having success with fitteds & covers and night time too. For this reason, we decided to start adding some to our stash now so that we don’t need to spend a huge amount at one time when night time leaks will become a problem in a few months.
I just use a flip or bum genius 4.0 with a hemp insert under the regular insert and I don’t have any problems with leaks I’d love to try wool for at night.
We use Green Line fleece diapers at night (growing mom and pop cloth diaper company out of Canada). They make a fleece cover and I put a bamboo cotton blend soaker (similar to a prefold) and a cotton bamboo “doubler” inside. Works well for us. 🙂
I used to have a Green Line diaper but it confused my husband 😉 I didn’t realize that they made fleece covers too. I’ll have to check them out
I too am one of those moms that has had problems with leaks during nighttime! I have yet to try cd at night because I hate when it leaks and my lo wakes up because he is wet! However I have a couple of fitted that Ill try with the insert! I have been wanting to try the sustainablebabyish snapless fitteds so I am glad to see in the comments that you have had a good experience with them!
Loved this post. Can’t wait to try fitted’s with a cover. Do you have a favorite brand you use for overnight?
My favorite fitted is the Sustainablebabyish snapless fitted. They are on the pricey side (but not compared to the hybrid fitteds out there) but they don’t leak! My son is 28 months and a fairly heavy wetter and we don’t have any issues. I also like the new Kiwi Pie from GroVia though I’ve only been using it a short time, we haven’t had a leak yet. Any fitted with extra inserts that either snap or lay in will probably be fine.
We’ve always done a fittted (Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted or Bumkins) with 1 insert (Thirsties Hemp/Cotton or Babykicks hemp) and a cover (Thirsties, Bumkins, Rump-a-Rooz, or Flip). It’s been ultra-leak proof in my experience. We’ve been using cloth for almost 10 months now and that’s been our system since day 1. He still nurses throughout the night so the fitteds and inserts are pretty wet when he wakes up, but they’ve never leaked or caused any sort of rash or irritation!
Kristin
I started cloth at 3.5 months with my little guy. My first (and only until 2 days ago) system was a Thirsties Duo Fab Fitted with a hemp/cotton insert and a cover (either Thirsties, Rump-a-Rooz, Flip, or Bumkins). It was/is perfect! Until I was challenged two days ago to try a new system. That one worked too…similar “style” but different brands. I used a Bumkins Fitted with a Babykicks hemp insert (much more trim than the Thirsties hemp/cotton) and a RAR cover. No leaks either!! I have yet to try wool, but I seem to have great luck with fitteds and one insert…”if it ain’t broke” right? 🙂
kristin
http://www.krazyforklothandkids.com