Sleeping through the night

[Pepperminx]

DD is around 2 months old now and for the past two weeks she's been sleeping through the night, from 12am to 9-10am. :

I'm shocked to say the least.. and a bit worried. I don't want to wake her up in the middle of the night but she needs her diaper changed obviously. What would you mamas do? How many changes do you think she needs? I used to change her when she woke up at 12am, 2am, 6am and 9am but it seems that she doesn't actually pee that much during the night (no leaks, and we're using Bumgenius one size) but if I leave the diaper on for too long it smells horribly of amonia when I change her.

Any ideas?

[mamamilkers]

Better be careful who you go bragging to about this! :

I think there is no reason you need to change her at night, especially if she isn't waking up. I haven't been changing DD at night since probably about 3 weeks of age and she still wakes to nurse.

[Pepperminx]

I wouldn't mind letting her sleep for that long if it wasn't for the horrid smell.. It gets so bad it nearly makes my eyes water up. Surely that can't be good for her delicate baby skin?

And yeah, I know I'm lucky for now and that it's probably temporary, heh

[mamamilkers]

Can you put a fleece liner in her dipe to keep the wetness away from her skin? Add a doubler for absorption? I'm not sure about ammonia smell, hmmm . . . .

[cottontail]

Would she fully wake up if you changed her? I try to change the pee diaper after early morning nursing to avoid a morning blow-out caused by a saggy diaper. I'm able to change her without fully waking her, but we use disposables. I think I'd try to change her to avoid the smell, especially since she sounds like a good little sleeper.

[Sailmom]

Don't wake the baby to change the dipe! Not unless she has a rash or it is obviously bothering her - (like she was AWAKE!) I am not so lucky with this babe, but my dd was sleeping like yours at that age. I just started looking for nighttime diaper solutions to make sure that the wetness wicked away from her skin, and that the diaper didn't leak. Pretty much the same thing I do with her now that she is 2! Congratulations on your good sleeper - wanna trade?

[Pepperminx]

I agree, I really don't want to wake her up. We're lucky that she has good skin and we haven't had any signs of irritation, and I think I've figured out the ammonia problem, I probably just need to change my washing routine. Here is to hoping that will work.

She doesn't pee all that much during the night so a doubler wouldn't do much of a difference..

I knew it was too good to be true, after posting she woke up at 7am to nurse and has done so all weekend. It's still awesome to get that much sleep in a row so am definitely not complaining

[JenMidwife]

Erin's a pretty good sleeper at night too... I just started using Bum Genious over night & just noticed the amonia smell for the first time. Could it have anything to do w/ the pocket diaper?

[phoebemommy]

Same thing here! DS sleeps from midnightish until as late as I do, usually. I hardly ever change a diaper overnight, and the stink wasn't bad enough for me to be bothered by it. I'm usually using fuzzibunz. I started trying to change him at least once after his foreskin got all inflamed (I think caused by my MIL messing with it but now that it's back to normal I just leave the diaper unless it's poopy.

Another funny thing -- he hardly nurses in the night either. He sometimes tries in his sleep, and I try to help him latch on, but he's usually too groggy to get it going. He's gaining tons of weight, so I'm not worried. He's making up for it during the day!

[Pepperminx]

Originally Posted by phoebemommy

Same thing here! DS sleeps from midnightish until as late as I do, usually. I hardly ever change a diaper overnight, and the stink wasn't bad enough for me to be bothered by it. I'm usually using fuzzibunz. I started trying to change him at least once after his foreskin got all inflamed (I think caused by my MIL messing with it but now that it's back to normal I just leave the diaper unless it's poopy.

Another funny thing -- he hardly nurses in the night either. He sometimes tries in his sleep, and I try to help him latch on, but he's usually too groggy to get it going. He's gaining tons of weight, so I'm not worried. He's making up for it during the day!

DD doesn't nurse at night either, but she nurses plenty in the evenings before dozing off. Funny that she doesn't wet that much at night, but once she wakes up I usually have to change her diaper every 20-40 minutes, and we're having some leaking issues because of the heavy flow. :

Lucky for me she only poops a couple of times a week and always at day time so far. It makes me want to laugh out loud when she crunches up and makes Hmmmpphrr noises, heh!

[BirthFree]

For the ammonia in your dipes - it sounds like there is detergent build up. How much do you put in with a load of diapers? Your diapers should smell like pee, but not that super strong ammonia. (I was the queen of build up so that's why I say...)

I only change Graysen once at night (the first time he wakes up).

[veganf]

Originally Posted by Pepperminx

Lucky for me she only poops a couple of times a week and always at day time so far. It makes me want to laugh out loud when she crunches up and makes Hmmmpphrr noises, heh!

Wow! You're so lucky. We're DOWN to 6-8 poops per day. Although when he had croup he actually went 24 hours without pooping, I was so worried, that's never happened ever to any of my babies! Diaper washing would be soooo quick with so few poops!

[Pepperminx]

Originally Posted by BirthFree

For the ammonia in your dipes - it sounds like there is detergent build up. How much do you put in with a load of diapers? Your diapers should smell like pee, but not that super strong ammonia. (I was the queen of build up so that's why I say...)

I only change Graysen once at night (the first time he wakes up).

I use 3 tablespoons per instruction, but we have super soft water here so maybe I should try less. We also have a really old frontloader that might have problems getting everything washed out, so I've been doing a wash with detergent and a rinse and then the same cycle again but without detergent. Perhaps I should try a 3rd cycle...

Originally Posted by veganf

Wow! You're so lucky. We're DOWN to 6-8 poops per day. Although when he had croup he actually went 24 hours without pooping, I was so worried, that's never happened ever to any of my babies! Diaper washing would be soooo quick with so few poops!

Wooah, that is a lot of poopy diapers! We used to be able to say "You know it's Friday when she poops", but then she went and pooped this Monday AND Wednesday and I was shocked, heh. On the other hand those 6-8 poops can't be very big... When she poops she really fill those diapers to the brim

[mamamilkers]

I was just reading on the diapering board (anyone know how to get out stains when you can't sun them out?!?!) and came across this thread:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=542226

August DDC's very own marymamma gave some good advice for the ammonia smell!

[veganf]

Originally Posted by Pepperminx

On the other hand those 6-8 poops can't be very big... When she poops she really fill those diapers to the brim

Oh, most of them are pretty big! He must be a big eater, but it's hard to tell.

[Pepperminx]

Ah, whaddaya know - she's back to her old 2am, 6am feedings

[mamamilkers]

Originally Posted by Pepperminx

Ah, whaddaya know - she's back to her old 2am, 6am feedings

Is this your first? If so, you'll be in for lots of changes this year! Your DD will probably change her sleeping habits soooo many times. Of course, it's really nice when the change is to sleeping through the night, huh?