Pooping at night

[rinap]

We're not *really* doing EC with our 1-year-old twins, but we catch 1-2 poops a day and maybe 2-3 pees per girl. But right now they wake up between 4 and 5 to poop. We take them to the potty, often find a clean diaper, have them poop, and rediaper, but by the time two girls have woken up, pooped, been dressed, it's really hard (and sometimes impossible) to get them back to sleep. (And I feel bad because often by the time I'm done with the first the second has pooped in her diaper, which means even more cleanup before she can go to sleep.)

I'm looking for advice on ways to streamline the nighttime pooping process, while hoping that this is just a phase and they'll go back to pooping first thing in the morning rather than in the wee hours.

[skycheattraffic]

Do you have two potties? If so then I'd put both girls on at the same time (unless one is asleep of course), sometimes pottying at the same time can help with relaxation. I don't have twins but definitely see this in action when I'm on the toilet and DD is on the potty. My girl wakes to pee not poop but a sippy of water helps her go. Even if she doesn't want to drink (usually she does) I slosh the water around and the wet sound helps. She is usually whiny/fussy since she is tired so I hum her a lullaby to try to extend the sleepy feeling. What kind of diaper are you using at night? Maybe the diapering could be streamlined. I stopped using covers or soakers at night in this heat and just have DD in a mother ease fitted or a cotton training pant with a flat diaper tucked inside for pee. Instead I got two baby kanga mattress pads to prevent her from sleeping in wet sheets. If we miss a pee at night then her diaper is still wet but it doesn't soak her shirt and the bed and she keeps sleeping. These pads have PUL on the bottom, cotton or microfiber (can't remember) in the middle ant a fleece top layer so they work just like a stay dry AIO to pull moisture away. Ditching the covers overnight has made things much quicker and easier for us. I think when the weather gets colder, I will use wool longies on a fitted and keep the mat underneath for backup.
This is definitely a phase. Since her birthday, my almost 16 month old has gone from pooping after her nap to pooping in the morning to pooping at bedtime and now it's a poop free for all lol.
I hope you find some of this helpful. Good luck :-)

[rinap]

Thank you. The two potties idea is a good one, though it makes it harder to keep them from playing with the poop.

I'll think about whether I can streamline the nighttime diapers. We're currently doing a trifold prefold with a hemp doubler in a velcro cover, but if we went to snaps we could skip the clothes over the top. I might think about whether we could skip the covers with an appropriate pad. And while I'm at it, maybe I could learn to potty very quietly in the bedroom instead of in the bathroom (I generally take one to the bathroom to keep the other asleep, but since they're both waking anyway, maybe it would be better to just let them wake, but keep the lights low and movement to a minimum)

Thank you!
 

[skycheattraffic]

Oh yes I forgot to say that the potty comes in the bedroom at bedtime and the only light is her nightlight. It would be trickier for poop but if they are passing formed movements then a quick wipe in the dark should work. If you're not pinning or using a snappi then losing the cover won't really help. Id have a set up prefold/cover combo ready for each girl so you don't have to mess around with that stuff at night. If they wake at 4 or 5 then you probably won't need the doubler to get you through until the morning. Good luck:-)

[seraf]

Our boys both went through phases where they pooped at 4 or 5. Now they wait until about 7.

We have 2 potties in the bedroom (we also have 2 parents pottying, we do a man to man defense) We have two stacks of diapers and a stack of wipes within arm's reach of where we sleep. When one guy does the potty wiggle, one of us takes him silently.  If he poops, that is the only noise. Sitting on the potty is cue enough for them.

Our diapering system is a flat or prefold tucked into an elastic belt.  Middle of the night diaper changes are very quick. One of the boys sleeps on a fleece blanket still because he wets his diaper at night.  The other one stays dry all night if he's wearing a diaper (but pees several times if not) so he sleeps directly on the sheet, with a mattress protector underneath. Neither of them wear pants to bed. This system is mostly for pee, it will hold poop better if the diaper is spread out in the back.

Here's a video, actually. The only difference now is that he's taller, so I would have to leave the potty on the floor to nurse him. Our boys are 6 months apart, so the little guy still goes like this, but uses the insert from a BB potty chair.

[rinap]

Yeah, it's just me at night unless there's a disaster (which has happened twice this week), but my husband needs to sleep.

We just spent a week in a hotel and there was a very dim light in the bathroom. I was able to get the wiggly girl up, get her to poop on the toilet, and get her diapered and back down several days. (others I stayed up with her for an hour, then got her back to sleep.) So clearly I need a better low-level light at home.

Funnily enough, this week they alternated nights for who woke up very early to poop (though one night they both did).
 

[seraf]

LOL, I'm sure you need to sleep, too. I'm glad to hear they're not both getting up to poo every night.

[rinap]

Oh! That's brilliant. Just use another cover rather than messing with setting it up. Sometimes I complicate things needlessly.

They're shifting to waking up a*little* too early, then pooping halfway through their nap. Which is easier on me, but means they're missing out on sleep. :(