Question: Do I need to change my baby’s diaper when they wake for a night feed?

Not unless your baby has pooped! With Mother-ease’s nighttime solutions, a diaper won’t need to be changed at night even if your baby is waking for feeds throughout the night.

Changing through the night can cause your baby to become more alert or fully awake, which doesn’t bode well for restful sleep for either of you!

Of course, if your baby pooped (like my youngest after EVERY feed for 4 months day or night), you do need to change the diaper. There are a few things you can do while changing a diaper at night to prevent your baby from fully waking:

• Keep the lights low! Don’t turn on the overhead light in your baby’s room. Instead, try using the hall light with the door only partially open or a small lamp in a far corner.
• Lay out an extra diaper change or two and make sure all supplies are within easy reach. You don’t want to have rifle through your change table in minimal lighting nor do you want to take too long and give your baby a chance to fully wake.
• Finally, be as quiet as possible! Loud noises will wake your baby more fully and make it difficult to fall back asleep. It’s always jarring to get woken from sleep because of a loud noise. Don’t chat to your baby or otherwise engage your baby too much. Use a soft soothing voice.

Until your baby is around 6 months, no inserts or special nighttime diapers should need to be used for naps or over night diapering. Once your baby is older, you’ll want to look for options that provide more absorbency and/or use a booster/liner with your diapers.

Mother-ease has several different excellent options for nighttime diapering from a fitted + absorbent liner + cover to an overnight insert for the Duo system that has more absorbency than the regular inserts. All of our nighttime options, with the exception of the Toddle-ease fitted, are available with our Stay Dry lining to help your baby feel comfortable and dry all night long.

So long as you are using a nighttime diaper that is absorbent enough with a good quality cover, nighttime changes can be a thing of the past – certainly helping to follow the old adage of “never wake a sleeping baby”! Even if a change is necessary, it is possible to get the change done before your baby has the time to become fully alert.