Good Morning
I have a set order for Abbie’s bedtime routine. First we change the diaper and into pajamas, then we brush teeth and hair, finally we read before going to bed. It’s important to put the reading last to help calm her down; the other parts of the routine rile her up, especially when we hit some snags during the hair brushing, and can lead to her banging around the room for a half-hour after I turn out the lights before falling asleep. With this routine she only bangs around the room for 20 minutes.
Her routine has changed recently. Now we do the diaper changing right before reading the final bedtime book. I’ve made this change to leave her in the overnight diaper for the shortest time possible because she’s been peeing through the diaper by morning, assuming that she leaves it on all night. In my twisted parenting mind, ten minutes can make the difference between leaks and no leaks on a diaper worn for 11 hours.
I’m also experimenting with a different overnight diaper. Since birth, I devised an ingenious system of putting the children in cheap diapers during the day, and a Supreme Cruiser* overnight. Plus I put the child in one size bigger than recommended, because if that diaper can handle a 24- to 36-pound baby, surely it can handle my 20-pound baby.
This system worked great for Abbie’s first two years, and I still use it with the boys. Abbie is running out of larger sized diapers to wear, though. She’s already in the largest size diaper, which is probably nature’s way of telling me it’s time to potty train her, but I wish nature wouldn’t send me mixed messages by sending twins that drain too much time to devote to potty training.
Instead of putting Abbie in the largest size of the premium diapers, I’m experimenting with putting her in the largest size of the Sam’s Club generics, which unintuitively seem to stop leaks better. The premium diapers may just be more comfortable with their stretch tabs and recognizable licensed characters. This isn’t really a plus in an overnight diaper since Abbie is asleep most of the time she wears it, and by morning any diaper that sodden would be uncomfortable.
I’ve only been experimenting with the cheap overnight diapers for a few nights, but we’ve had no leaks so far. The secret may be the diaper’s hard plastic non-breathable shell that locks moisture inside. I hope these diapers work, because the next step up is to use formal “overnight diapers,” which are so named because the child wears them overnight, and the parent may need to take an overnight job to afford them.
The change in routine also seems to be going well. We still read one book between the stimulating diaper change and the lights going out, so she gets a couple minutes to unwind. The later diaper change may or may not help her wake up dryer. I know it helped last night because she peed on the changing table after I removed the diaper. She peed a lot, possibly enough to overflow a diaper by itself. Better on the changing pad than on the sheets.
* I use both brands, depending on who’s on sale and who sent me the latest batch of coupons.
Her routine has changed recently. Now we do the diaper changing right before reading the final bedtime book. I’ve made this change to leave her in the overnight diaper for the shortest time possible because she’s been peeing through the diaper by morning, assuming that she leaves it on all night. In my twisted parenting mind, ten minutes can make the difference between leaks and no leaks on a diaper worn for 11 hours.
I’m also experimenting with a different overnight diaper. Since birth, I devised an ingenious system of putting the children in cheap diapers during the day, and a Supreme Cruiser* overnight. Plus I put the child in one size bigger than recommended, because if that diaper can handle a 24- to 36-pound baby, surely it can handle my 20-pound baby.
This system worked great for Abbie’s first two years, and I still use it with the boys. Abbie is running out of larger sized diapers to wear, though. She’s already in the largest size diaper, which is probably nature’s way of telling me it’s time to potty train her, but I wish nature wouldn’t send me mixed messages by sending twins that drain too much time to devote to potty training.
Instead of putting Abbie in the largest size of the premium diapers, I’m experimenting with putting her in the largest size of the Sam’s Club generics, which unintuitively seem to stop leaks better. The premium diapers may just be more comfortable with their stretch tabs and recognizable licensed characters. This isn’t really a plus in an overnight diaper since Abbie is asleep most of the time she wears it, and by morning any diaper that sodden would be uncomfortable.
I’ve only been experimenting with the cheap overnight diapers for a few nights, but we’ve had no leaks so far. The secret may be the diaper’s hard plastic non-breathable shell that locks moisture inside. I hope these diapers work, because the next step up is to use formal “overnight diapers,” which are so named because the child wears them overnight, and the parent may need to take an overnight job to afford them.
The change in routine also seems to be going well. We still read one book between the stimulating diaper change and the lights going out, so she gets a couple minutes to unwind. The later diaper change may or may not help her wake up dryer. I know it helped last night because she peed on the changing table after I removed the diaper. She peed a lot, possibly enough to overflow a diaper by itself. Better on the changing pad than on the sheets.
* I use both brands, depending on who’s on sale and who sent me the latest batch of coupons.
posted by Matt at
11:53 PM
1 Comments:
Yeah, this is one of those crossroads ... getting too big for diapers to hold everything but not quite ready for getting rid of the diapers. Good luck!
By
Becky, at 1:59 PM
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