do you think not changing at night makes baby loose awareness?

[kfillmore]

Do you think if you put one diaper on baby all night they loose awarness? My 14 month has always been in prefolds that I change when wet (like 5 times each night) Sometimes I think it might be nice not to change her or to have to deal with often wet sheeets. She wakes 99% of time before peeing.


thanks

p.s. does itt seem abnormal to pee 3-5 times at night? She does nurse at night.

[boigrrrlwonder]

I didn't night time EC until my daughter wasa toddler and she didn't lose awareness. I do recommend using a diaper that gives the illusion of dryness (a sposie or fleece on the top) so the child doesn't grow accustomed to feeling wet.

[evrimbilkur]

Originally Posted by kfillmore

Do you think if you put one diaper on baby all night they loose awarness? My 14 month has always been in prefolds that I change when wet (like 5 times each night) Sometimes I think it might be nice not to change her or to have to deal with often wet sheeets. She wakes 99% of time before peeing.


thanks

p.s. does itt seem abnormal to pee 3-5 times at night? She does nurse at night.

with my son from birth on we were EC. in the night we did not had so much accidents.most of the time i was getting awake, peeing him and breastfeeding and he sleeps. but at about 7 months he started to refuse to pee in the night. and some night we started to have dry. since then we we are mostly dry at night. he does not pee at night anymore. only sometimes, not so often. i am 2 or 3 times breastfeeding him at night still. he is now 12 months old. in the day time we read books when we seat at potty, this really help us so we can keep him sitting.

well i don't know how much it would effect but i don't think your baby will lose awareness
and everything always changing with us. depends on many things. may be with u also a period like this with peeing often in the night and t might change

[lexmas]

I'm going to say no. We pottied DS all night long every night and he was about 2.5 or 3 before he was dry all night every night. Pretty much he stayed dry once he slept through the night. DD nurses all night long, but she never wakes up (only Mama does!) so she's dry in the morning even though I don't change her all night long. I don't think what happens at night has any connection in their little minds with what happens during the day!

[emmaegbert]

Originally Posted by lexmas

I'm going to say no. We pottied DS all night long every night and he was about 2.5 or 3 before he was dry all night every night. Pretty much he stayed dry once he slept through the night. DD nurses all night long, but she never wakes up (only Mama does!) so she's dry in the morning even though I don't change her all night long. I don't think what happens at night has any connection in their little minds with what happens during the day!

sounds just like my kids, but my son is 5 1/2 and still pees in the night (was out of daytime dipes by 22m... not EC, just earlyish, child-led potty learning). DD at 12m is dry most mornings.

I'd say do what is good for *you*. Changing that many times at night sounds like a lot of work. Personally, I would chose sleep over that. I would change a wet dipe if I was fully AWAKE and noticed it, but wouldn't get up myself to do it. (dirty dipe is a different story, but after newborn stage that's not common)

[hrsmom]

I don't think so. And I agree, do what works for you! That is a normal amount of night time peeing to me. My dd soaked 3 or 4 diapers each night for awhile. I would have loved to not change her, but she let me know that that wasn't one of my options.

[pixiepunk]

well i think if she's waking 99% of the time before she pees, that means she is aware that she's about to pee, so it doesn't sound to me like she's losing awareness.

i wonder, though, if she is only partially peeing because she doesn't like being wet, which is causing the many pees throughout the night? my youngest did that for a while until i started EC'ing at night, and for us it actually meant we both got more sleep. for her, she emptied her bladder fully when i pottied her but not when she used the diaper. so when she used the diaper she had to go again in an hour. it was a real "aha" moment for me because my oldest used to wake up a lot and would nurse for 5 seconds and fall asleep again. looking back, i believe that she had to pee, it woke her up, nursing helped her pee and she fell back asleep, but she didn't completely empty her bladder so she had to pee again a little while later. i think she and i both would've slept better had i EC'd her at night. she was also the only one who was dry during the day before she was dry at night - she didn't 'graduate' at night for about 6 months after she had during the day. the other two were dry all night, or could tell me they had to pee on the rare occasion when they did need to go, long before they were consistent with daytime.

like most things EC (and parenting in general) each kid is so unique.

[karika]

I did EC at night with both as much as I could (100 % with dd1, not so much with dd2, I was too tired at first) I kept folded up receiving blankets under us and would switch them out if they became wet. Whenever I wake up to put a boob in baby's mouth, or after 5 hours (totally variable depends on when they peed last before lying down, what they drank, how much....) or so I put child on BBLP with a boob in mouth. DD1 would sleep through it. dd2 wakes up but goes right back to sleep (as long as that boob stays in her mouth lol) but they are just totally different. I think it all depends on the child. dd1 was diaperless early on (4mo) and we would have a wet bed a lot (as I recall, memory is fuzzy) yet she would be dry in day. She would wake if the bed was wet if I didn't change it right away. She also would stir and I knew when she had to pee, it was just whether or not I sensed the stirs...dd2 I kept diapers on for a long time (12 mo), but not always (partially diapered until 12mo, less often at night than the day). dd2 would sleep in a wet spot for as long as I would let her. She was not consistent in the day either. But she is night dry already at 17 mo. (and mostly using potty in day too, been 5 misses in 3 weeks now, which is a huge improvement) And has been for at least a month. Far earlier than dd1. I think as long as they are kept in touch with the potty, it will all work out. I do recommend diaperless at night though if you can do it. That way you are honoring the child by being their vehicle to keep from soiling themselves then too. If we slept in the forest canopy, pee would go down through the leaves and wouldn't bother anyone. Even in a hammock, this would be true. If we were on a cave floor lying on an animal fur, it would absorb it. That was why I used the receiving blankets, to allow them to sleep yet not sleep in a wet spot. They become consciously aware they are needing to pee while asleep at a certain point (more than the baby stirs they do early to 15 mo) I think and wake themselves and me up to accomplish it.

[LCBMAX]

I NEVER ec'd at night because my son is so easily woken to wide-awake state and sleep was a big issue for us. Tried about 3 times with disastrous results for my sanity, so gave up. Came to this forum and got support for the idea that mama's need for sleep trumps ec goals. I was fully prepared to have a 5 year old bedwetter if that was the cost of skipping this part of ec.

By the time he was a year, we were using a single disposable at night (because the cloths all leaked and again - sleep was a big issue!) and because I was worried about the awareness issue.

by the time he was 18 months (and nearly a day time grad) the disposable was often only lightly or recently wet, and he was waking up dry 50% of the time

and by 20 months he was refusing diapers at night, and waking up dry 99% of the time.

Since then he wears underwear or cloth trainers to bed because he will pee in his sleep if naked, almost never if clothed. Any night pees that happen now are always related to developmental changes, emotional stress, or illness.

So for sure at our house - skipping nighttime ec had zero impact on his ability to develop awareness, day or night.

I think it was pixiepunk who wrote something to me about the possibility that night dryness is less a function of dedicated ecing parents and more a function of an individual kid's neural development re bladder. If not her, some other wise mdc mama! That's how I think of it now, since it all happened with no help from me.

[emmaegbert]

Originally Posted by LCBMAX

I think it was pixiepunk who wrote something to me about the possibility that night dryness is less a function of dedicated ecing parents and more a function of an individual kid's neural development re bladder. If not her, some other wise mdc mama! That's how I think of it now, since it all happened with no help from me.

I agree with this- just seeing the difference between my two kids, and the difference in night-wetting with each kid through other developmental milestones/changes convinces me of this.

[kfillmore]

I do recommend diaperless at night though if you can do it. That way you are honoring the child by being their vehicle to keep from soiling themselves then too. If we slept in the forest canopy, pee would go down through the leaves and wouldn't bother anyone. Even in a hammock, this would be true. If we were on a cave floor lying on an animal fur, it would absorb it. That was why I used the receiving blankets, to allow them to sleep yet not sleep in a wet spot. They become consciously aware they are needing to pee while asleep at a certain point (more than the baby stirs they do early to 15 mo) I think and wake themselves and me up to accomplish it.

(i don;t know how everyone quotes but wanted to reference this)

Karika, you wrote excellently about this, so well said and eloquent.