Change frequency

[shilva]

I’ve got a 6 week 5.4 kg boy whom I’m assuming is a heavy wetter. I’ve got a bunch of used pocket diapers that leak sometimes but my question is about changing frequency.

With the newborn schedule of 30mins-1.5 hours of awake time between naps (some can be 2.5 hours), what are people doing for changing the diapers the recommended every 2 hours? Little man would definitely not sleep through a change and it seems odd to change a diaper twice during his wake period if it’s only a half hour. We typically nurse to sleep.

 

[starlightviolet199]

@shilva I changed before and after every nap plus at poops when she was little. Now at 20 months she holds a lot more and we have 4 set times (am wake, pre nap, post nap, bedtime) plus when she poops in the afternoon and I usually check her every couple hours for when she pees

 

[buckeye_momof4]

@shilva We changed before and after every nursing session, and in between that if baby was wet and awake. Every wet or poopy diaper, basically. With cloth it’s not like you’re wasting precious dollars changing so often like you would be with disposables.

If you’re nursing to sleep, I personally would change when baby wakes up and if he’s wet, then again before nursing. And if you have a minute while you’re switching boobs and he’s wet again, change then instead or in addition.

 

[entheos1249]

@shilva It depends, if it’s been only 30 mins and I’m about to put baby down for a nap then I don’t change (naps are never longer than 1.5 hours now at 12 weeks) but if it been closer to an hour then I put in a new insert (we use a lot of the grovia hybrid) otherwise we get more leaks. The schedule changes constantly with newborns and we’ve gotten better at diapering and fewer leaks as baby has gotten older!

 

[shilva]

@entheos1249 Ya we’re still not on much of a schedule either, but he does seem to enjoy long naps! 2-2.5 hr naps during the day are pretty normal so maybe I should just get in the habit of changing before as well since that’s pushing the time limit.

 

[entheos1249]

@shilva I like changing baby more often with cloth because I don't feel like I'm "wasting" a diaper (like I do when she's in a disposable!) - it just goes in the laundry, even if it's pretty dry. If you know he's taking long naps, I would just change him before the nap so that he sleeps well in a fresh diaper!

 

[shilva]

@entheos1249 That makes sense! I imagine a nap would be much more pleasant with a fresh diaper

 

[markiplier]

@shilva What inserts are you using? If they are microfiber I’d replace with cotton. Microfiber doesn’t last forever and doesn’t hold a lot but is often sold with newborn diapers especially.

I usually tried to stick to every two hours or when it made sense in the routine. So if his wake window was super short, I’d leave him, but if he had an abnormally long window I’d change after nap and before the next nap.

 

[shilva]

@markiplier Im pretty sure that they are cotton - they kind of seem almost like towel fabric but they definitely don’t feel like microfibre. Im not sure because I got a big lot from someone on marketplace. There were only about 12 newborn diapers and the rest are the one size kind. I get confused because one website said that having too many inserts could cause leaks but maybe I needed to add one more with how much he pees

 

[desertfox]

@shilva More inserts cause leaks when they cause the pockets to not sit right in the underwear line. If you can add an insert without fit issues you're probably fine, but it's a risk.

 

[shilva]

@desertfox Ah gotcha that makes sense. I might have to look online and get more of a variety of inserts to play with because the ones I got with my diaper lot are definitely all the same material just different sizes