middle of the night poopies

[is it puppies?]

Well DD had been sleeping through the night (sleep nursing) for the past, oh, 3 months or so. This week however her pooping schedule has changed and now she's pooped in the middle of the night twice, the first time she was grunting before pooping for almost an hour before finally waking and pooping, then we did a diaper change (in the dark and quiet but at the diaper table) and then she didn't go back to sleep for about 3 hours. Tonight she managed a sleep poop but I decided to change her anyways, and of course she woke up and after 45 minutes of trying to get her back to sleep it's a big FAIL so far and my back is sore from bouncing so now we are watching a bad movie on TV. It doesn't help that she's fighting a cold and thus a bit stuffy this week (that alone woke her up one night)

BUT anyways, my point at 4:45AM is, do you change your DC in the middle of the night for a poopie or do you let sleeping poopers sleep?

[aramat]

I would change a nighttime dirty diaper if I knew about it, because we'd have a big rash if I didn't. Sometimes I have to change soaking wet diapers at night. I just make it as fast as possible, with lights dim and no talking or eye contact.

Have your days been pretty busy lately? My baby poops once or twice a day, but usually only at a time when nothing exciting is going on.

My baby nurses through the night, too (she doesn't like to nurse much during the day). For some reason, last night she had trouble going back to sleep around 4am, so I eventually just rolled away and let her wiggle and fuss a little. When she started to sound frustrated, I rolled back over and offered her the breast, and she went right back to sleep. That may have just been luck, though.

[PatioGardener]

Mine only pooped in the middle of the night when we travelled (time zone change), but there was no sleep pooping for him! I got up with him as soon as the grunts started and held him so he could poop into the hotel sink with his used disposible diaper in it, and it took all of 5 minutes. Much faster with gravity working for you! Then he nursed back to sleep.

Anyway, this doesn't answer your question - just wanted to let you know that there is another option that may work for you, since you're awake with the grunting anyway.

[violet_]

I change her if I hear it happen and she's awake (nursing). But this is (so far!) rare. And yes, I keep things as dark and quiet and quick as possible. I also usually try to give her a potty opportunity (we EC) before bed and sometimes this helps. I don't change wet ones in the night, though.

And we pick her up in the morning as soon as she's awake and the grunting starts and put her on the potty, so she doesn't have to soil herself. We don't do this in the middle of the night, though, as it does wake her really well.

[P.J.]

Although DS doesn't seem to mind being in a poopy diaper, I feel compelled to change it. Luckily, he's not really a night pooper. When he was a newborn he did a few times, and I once attempted to change him on the bed. Big mistake. Ended in poo all over the bed and mattress (because he went again when his dipe was off) and having to get up to clean it all.
The only time I let him sit in a poopy dipe was once when we were out, he was in the carrier, and we were going to be home within 20 minutes. Otherwise I always change it asap.

[Llyra]

I can understand the temptation to leave sleeping poopers lie-- when my twins were infants, sleep was the most important thing in my life, and I was often tempted. But I always talked myself out of it. I think you wind up risking nasty rashes.

[Noah's mommy]

I change middle of the night poops too. Stella's seem to happen around 4-5 a.m. and I never realize quite what's happened until after I try to get her back to sleep for an hour or so. What can I say? I'm exhausted and not so quick these days!

I do it with lights out (hall light on) and little eye contact. I've sung a few times to keep her from screaming and waking the other two though!

[Kuba'sMama]

I usually keep a large prefold under her bum as she sleeps (I find we have leaks at night time sometimes from very wet diapers). If she poos I perfected a technique of "as little motions as possible changing". Basically I change her right where she is, laying on the prefold, with as little disturbance as possible, so gentle leg pulling, slow motions, quiet, dark, etc. She usually sleeps through the changes or barely stirs, upon which i offer the breast immediately after. I change all poos I know about, as tempted as it sounds, I'd probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep knowing that my baby is sleeping in her poop.

[JudiAU]

I would change it. You face a rash otherwise. Phase probably won't last long.

[Burnindinner]

I change poop if/when I hear it. But DS2 doesn't wake up for much of anything, odd kid that he is. I can strip him naked, change his diaper and re-dress him and he's still asleep.

[newmamalizzy]

Funny, mine has become a night-pooper recently, too. It's annoying. Unfortunately, DD has been waking up so frequently at night lately that I can rarely discern the poop-waking from the others and we end up with a surprise in the morning. If I haven't washed her overnight diaper, I slather her well with a barrier cream before putting her in a disposable.

That said, we've been giving DD a probiotic lately and it seems like the night-pooping has calmed down, though that may be a coincidence.

Oh, and when DD has those times when she wakes all the way up at night, our best bet is usually NOT to try to put her back to sleep right away. I keep things dark, don't give her any toys or play with her, don't really talk, but I do let her do her little wakey thing and quietly assist her in doing what she wants to do. When she starts rubbing eyes/whining, then we try going back to sleep and it usually works right away. Whole process usually takes about an hour - way shorter and way less stressful than when I used to try to get her back to sleep the whole time.

[sk8boarder15]

My ds has a little diaper rash that flairs up if hes too wet at night so we change him. Its hit and miss with going back to sleep. Usually he goes down between ten thirty and eleven and is up by three thirty to nurse, if he poops he does it then. So I nurse him on one side, then we change him, then I nurse him on the other side some times this puts him out.... some times hes up for an hour.... but the night time poops seem to be less and less.

[somegirl99]

DS often has to poop after nursing in the middle of the night. He prefers to do it on the little potty, but he is not quick about it, so we usually spend ~15 minutes with me singing silly songs to him on the potty in the middle of the night so he can get his poop out.