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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cloth Diapers at Night

Do you cloth diaper?
Just not at night time?
Want to try cloth but you're scared?
Need a better night time solution? 

Try ours!
I'm not gonna lie, there was a time in our household where we used disposables at night. It was a dark, expensive, and occasionally leaky time. We didn't start out that way, it just became necessary when G got really bad rashes from cloth diapers.

Come to find out, it was because I wasn't using appropriate detergent & I wasn't using the right kind of diapers for night time. Because G wets her diaper a lot at night, using certain types of diapers (regardless of detergent used) caused her to get rashed up because the diapers wouldn't keep the moisture off of her. Certain diapers also couldn't contain the leaks, and that just wouldn't work for us because we want to be sleeping--not changing sheets.

Enter disposables with Destin and Rx rash cream. After about a week of that being our night time solution, I got really fed up because it wasn't what we had set out to do. Buying disposables, even if we only used 7 to 14 a week, was not part of the plan. We were determined to save money, be kinder to G's bottom, and help the planet. AND they weren't leak proof either!

I stripped our cloth diapers and started using cloth diaper detergent. Then I made sure to keep the diapers detergent-residue free (sometimes this is a very annoying task). Then I tried some different combinations of diapers/inserts/doublers to see what worked best. A few of our diapers weren't good for night time, but those that were, I share below!
In my honest opinion, the below solutions work even better than disposables at night time.

You will need to get a quality pocket diaper with a microfiber insert, a hemp doubler, & possibly another hemp insert depending on the thickness of the microfiber-or the level of wetness you are trying to protect against.
Microfiber, although not a natural fiber, absorbs the quickest. Many moms have found that if their baby pees too quickly other fibers can't soak up the wetness quick enough--and the diaper leaks. Hemp is the most absorbent fiber you can stuff into a diaper, so it's great for overnight. The combination of the two is the best I've found! 

Our night time line-up:
Tots Bots, SmartiPants, FuzziBunz, Rump-a-rooz
Tots Bots (sold in North America by Bummis) Easy Fit stuffed with its liner, 1 Hemp Baby Little Weeds insert, & 1 Thirsties Hemp Insert
OR Tots Bots stuffed with its liner and 1 Thirsties Hemp Duo Prefold
I have one Tots Bots and it is my preferred night time diaper. It holds in the moisture while keeping G as dry as possible. The nicest thing about this solution is the fit of the Tots Bots. It's stretchy in all the right places so that it closes around her legs and belly perfectly. The velcro allows for a customizable fit every time.

Our new Smarti Pants stuffed with its liner & 1 Thirsties Hemp Duo Prefold. This is my second favorite night time solution, due to my preference of velcro (Tots Bots) over the snaps (smartipants). This, as I state in my SmartiPants review, is a very trim fit, so her bottom isn't too bulky.

My third preference at night time is a tie between the medium one-size FuzziBunz and the Rump-a-rooz. I like the trimmer fit of Fuzzibunz, but don't really like the way it fits her legs.  I stuff the Fuzzibunz with its microfiber insert and a Thirsties Hemp Duo Prefold.
I like the double gussets of RaR, but it is SO bulky and doesn't fit G very well in the belly. Thus, the two are tied. I stuff the RaR with the two 6-r soaker inserts it came with, plus a Hemp Babies Little Weeds doubler.
SmartiPants (2nd) is the trimmest fit, the Rump-a-rooz (4th) is the thickest
The reason to have a good pocket diaper for night time is to keep the moisture off the baby but still contained inside the diaper. The stay-dry capability of part that touches the baby is really important, that's why I've listed the brands that work best for us (to give you some suggestions/starting points). The covers of the pocket diaper are important too, so that the diapers don't leak out the front or back. The real workhorses here, though, are the extras that I stuff the diapers with--as long as you have a quality diaper, the brand probably doesn't matter as much--it's the stuff you stuff it with.

Hemp Babies Little (or Bigger) Weeds Doublers/Inserts
Thirsties Hemp Prefolds and Inserts


 Check out my other diaper posts!


Buy some dipes at Kelly's Closet!

3 comments:

  1. Wow, who would have ever thought that diapers could come in so many colors and styles! I remember all I had was white! I am a new follower thru GFC, Twitter and RSS Feed. I would have followed on FB but had a fiasco last Friday on the FB blog hop only. Somehow, FB targeted me for doing all those follows and said I was spamming and suspended my FB for 15 days (I have 5 to go). I am leaving it up to everyone how they want to handle FB. If you prefer to wait until I can go back thru my comments on my blog and to follow you that is fine or if you would rather I follow you first then you follow me, that is also fine. I would appreciate a follow back on the other three and just let me know what you did with FB. Please leave the comment on my blog, not FB. I know everyone else can go on my FB and leave comments because I have seen them thru my emails but I can't log onto FB because they won't let me. So, please leave the comment on my blog. I am compiling a list of people that I need to return the favor so I won't miss you. Thank you and have a wonderful weekend!

    Mary@http://www.mmbearcupoftea.com

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  2. These are good tips to remember. Thankfully for us, we haven't had to double up on anything yet. At night we only use BumGenius 4.0s and I only put the one-size insert in folded to the smallest setting with the doubled up part in the front and we haven't had any leaks yet. Rumparooz and Fuzzibunz always leak for us, but maybe someday I might try the doubling thing. :-)

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  3. I have never used a hemp liner, but very interested in using them. I have heard that they are better for night time as well and also that they don't hold smells as much as others. We use Bumgenius and just have an extra liner in but I think we will have to get some hemp too

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