New to CDs: Diapers for Overnight

[Jen_in_Chicago]

I have a 4 month old DS and am thinking of switching to CDs using a diaper service. I'd be using prefolds and covers. When you use prefolds, do you do anything special to help prevent leaks overnight? Stick an extra prefold in the diaper?

Thanks,
Jen

[katie9143]

if you are trying to go all night without changing, then yes you might want to add and extra pf if you can fit it. if not, you could buy a half dozen doublers, some hemp or microfiber and just wash them yourself. it depends on how heavy of a wetter you have. at 4 mos i still changed my baby atleast once during the night.

[wild fire child]

I have a 2.5 mo heavy wetter, I usually change once a night, or twice if he's mad (he loves naked time, so I do it to calm him). I use doublers that I made myself, but for nighttime I actually use preemie sized prefolds from greenmountaindiapers.com as doublers (he's a really heavy wetter, so it's necessary).

[Michigan Mama]

Both would do fine - either an extra prefold or a doubler - depending on how much they pee! We like hemp and hemp doublers at our house...we use microfiber a lot, too, but keep in mind it can't go next to baby's skin. Microfiber is sooo absorbant, it will pull the moisture right out of the skin! So if you decide to use mf, just make sure you cover it or wrap the prefold around it or soemthing.

[emmaegbert]

We often used 2 pf at night and a cover, no problem. Or a doubler. It looks funny but baby seems fine. I stopped changing at night when he stopped pooping at night.

Okay- these things are all sort of obvious, perhaps, but I made these mistakes... the cover has to really fit well for no leaks. If its too small or anything- won't work right. Make sure the diaper is really totally inside the cover- anything hanging out even the least little bit will wick moisture out. Also, some PJs sort of dig in at the waist or something and will wick moisture out.

My son has had way more nighttime leaking with disposable diapers than with cloth. I am not sure why, but there you go.

When my son was a lot older I discovered the joys of a wool soaker (he grew out of all the covers we had so I was looking around). They are amazing, they really have worked well for us. You just have to keep them lanolized. It its just for nighttime, you can get away with just one (once in a while when its washing/drying you might need to use a regular cover- they can take a long time to dry. But we only washed/lanolized once a month since it was just for nighttime). I even ended up making one out of an old sweater for a grand total of $1 and about an hour of my own labor (which, sadly, is pretty cheap these days).