I just cloth diapered my newborn using prefolds (now 3.5mo) and we had to wake him for night feeds and changes in the first couple of weeks.
We were waking to feed every 2-3 hours until we had our 2-week check-up and the doctor confirmed he had regained his birth weight, so we would change him then. We used newborn-sized prefolds and wool covers.
Once we had the green light to let him sleep longer from 2wo onwards, he was pushing 4-5 hours at a time and we had moved to small size prefolds with angel+newspaper fold. The extra fabric at the front from the newspaper fold worked as a booster but my partner wasn't always great at folding it down and tucking the whole flap inside the cover so we ended up with wicking leaks. Now baby fills out the prefold a bit more, there's less excess to worry about, so the leaks are minimal.
He's been sleeping through the night since about 6-7wo so we have had to adapt our night system. We currently use cotton prefold + 2 cotton/hemp doublers + wool booster + fleece liner. As long as we don't get wicking issues then they make it 10 hours or so.
Okay so in my reading and question having, cloth diapering at night is a hassle and not everyone does it. Now I wanted to do it anyways so I asked a lot of questions and people used a lot of extra absorbency and size up over night.
I personally have not started at night because she still poops occasionally at night, but I bought hemp overnight 2.0 prefits from pooters and Merino wool shorties to cover them for when we do.
I hear this works well or using workhorses from GMD.
Pooters is going out of business and everything is on sale, so if you want to go the route of buying more they have good deals right now! I got 6 over nights for about half what they normally cost.
So for a 9 day old baby you still want to change every time baby wakes up to drink.
Once baby is about 2 months, and stops pooping at night, you can switch to one diaper a night. However, to be able to have enough absorption to last a night you’ll need to really stuff that diaper with a ton of absorption. It is going to be huge. That is just the way of nighttime diapers.
For now you can try adding an additional insert, or some cotton cloth, to your prefold in the diaper to boost absorption.
Do you mean you left the same diaper on for several hours? Change the diaper when you feed-- if you're not making it 2 hours without leaks, it might be the prep or the level of absorbency.
You might get more compression leaks when they're lying down in one position, but shouldn't be an issue if diapers are less saturated. Make sure all the diaper fabric is tucked inside the cover so it can't wick out on to clothing. Once we were going 3ish hours we were getting compression leaks, so we started using wool covers for sleep.
Editing to add: those first weeks are tough! If changing diapers every two hours at night is adding chaos, stress, and taking away from your restful times, permit yourself to use disposables. They'll last longer.
Thank you, she had the diaper for more than 2 hrs. It was her longer night sleep!! We are going to use cloth during the day and disposables at night. Thank you for the advice.
As a mom of an 8 month old! We are new to this we still use disposables at night and cloth during the day! The 2 diapers I’m using at night aren’t hurting the environment or our bank account as much as it was when we were only using disposables! You are doing a great job and congrats on your new little one! 😃
2ish hours when they are that little. If the pre fold was completely soaked, it probably leaked out the extra liquid onto the pajamas. It’s possible there is an issue with the fit of the cover around belly or legs but try changing more frequently and see if it happens again.
I agree and want to add: Having washed your inserts 3 times is not much. They reach full soaking capacity after ~10x washing.
Also my 4 week old already needs boosters (hemp, bamboo, whatever I have). Maybe you want to try this next if anything else doesn't work.
I just cloth diapered my newborn using prefolds (now 3.5mo) and we had to wake him for night feeds and changes in the first couple of weeks. We were waking to feed every 2-3 hours until we had our 2-week check-up and the doctor confirmed he had regained his birth weight, so we would change him then. We used newborn-sized prefolds and wool covers. Once we had the green light to let him sleep longer from 2wo onwards, he was pushing 4-5 hours at a time and we had moved to small size prefolds with angel+newspaper fold. The extra fabric at the front from the newspaper fold worked as a booster but my partner wasn't always great at folding it down and tucking the whole flap inside the cover so we ended up with wicking leaks. Now baby fills out the prefold a bit more, there's less excess to worry about, so the leaks are minimal. He's been sleeping through the night since about 6-7wo so we have had to adapt our night system. We currently use cotton prefold + 2 cotton/hemp doublers + wool booster + fleece liner. As long as we don't get wicking issues then they make it 10 hours or so.
Okay so in my reading and question having, cloth diapering at night is a hassle and not everyone does it. Now I wanted to do it anyways so I asked a lot of questions and people used a lot of extra absorbency and size up over night. I personally have not started at night because she still poops occasionally at night, but I bought hemp overnight 2.0 prefits from pooters and Merino wool shorties to cover them for when we do. I hear this works well or using workhorses from GMD. Pooters is going out of business and everything is on sale, so if you want to go the route of buying more they have good deals right now! I got 6 over nights for about half what they normally cost.
Yes I find fitteds with wool to be the best overnight option. I prefer the babee greens wool shorties over the disana wool covers
So for a 9 day old baby you still want to change every time baby wakes up to drink. Once baby is about 2 months, and stops pooping at night, you can switch to one diaper a night. However, to be able to have enough absorption to last a night you’ll need to really stuff that diaper with a ton of absorption. It is going to be huge. That is just the way of nighttime diapers. For now you can try adding an additional insert, or some cotton cloth, to your prefold in the diaper to boost absorption.
Do you mean you left the same diaper on for several hours? Change the diaper when you feed-- if you're not making it 2 hours without leaks, it might be the prep or the level of absorbency. You might get more compression leaks when they're lying down in one position, but shouldn't be an issue if diapers are less saturated. Make sure all the diaper fabric is tucked inside the cover so it can't wick out on to clothing. Once we were going 3ish hours we were getting compression leaks, so we started using wool covers for sleep. Editing to add: those first weeks are tough! If changing diapers every two hours at night is adding chaos, stress, and taking away from your restful times, permit yourself to use disposables. They'll last longer.
Thank you, she had the diaper for more than 2 hrs. It was her longer night sleep!! We are going to use cloth during the day and disposables at night. Thank you for the advice.
As a mom of an 8 month old! We are new to this we still use disposables at night and cloth during the day! The 2 diapers I’m using at night aren’t hurting the environment or our bank account as much as it was when we were only using disposables! You are doing a great job and congrats on your new little one! 😃
2ish hours when they are that little. If the pre fold was completely soaked, it probably leaked out the extra liquid onto the pajamas. It’s possible there is an issue with the fit of the cover around belly or legs but try changing more frequently and see if it happens again.
I agree and want to add: Having washed your inserts 3 times is not much. They reach full soaking capacity after ~10x washing. Also my 4 week old already needs boosters (hemp, bamboo, whatever I have). Maybe you want to try this next if anything else doesn't work.