Using cloth diapers at night & avoiding leaks

Longer sleeps naturally require a little extra protection. Unless you're having repellency or fit issues, cloth diapers don't leak until they become fully saturated. This means that if you add more absorbency, you can usually avoid leaks. To help our little ones stay dry and sleeping comfortably, we recommend stuffing one insert into the pocket and laying an additional insert on the inner liner to double the absorbency. Alternatively, you can always purchase a booster insert.

For little boys or belly sleepers, try adding a folded insert towards the front of the diaper to help absorb moisture. Always try to keep the insert from riding up and touching any clothing, as clothing will absorb this moisture and become wet. When using and adjusting double liners or booster, remember that little boys need extra protection at the top of diapers while little girls need it near the middle and back.

Washing overnight diapers

Having a good wash routine is especially important with overnight diapers, washing 101 covers the basics on a successful washing cycle for your fluff. However overnight diapers are often the first to show flaws in a wash routine as they are naturally exposed to larger amounts of urine for longer stretches of time. Especially with little ones, it is common that throughout the night the diaper may be urinated in, dried, and then be urinated in again. This can cause ammonia crystals to develop and create an unpleasant odor.

You may recognize this odor as a type of “burn your nose hairs” or ammonia smell. Although especially among older babies and toddlers, it is normal and common for overnight diapers to smell like urine, it is important to tackle the ammonia smell and buildup in the butt (literally). To easily remove the smell of ammonia and restore your diapers follow the steps in our blog post on stripping your diapers. Another helpful tip to manage this odor buildup is by rinsing out overnight diapers in hot water first thing in the morning.