My baby is waking up soaked - HELP!
Lots of parents have reached out to me with this question: My baby is waking up soaked - what can I do? I have a few tips that can help!
If your child is 5+ months, night feedings are generally getting phased out. What this can mean for your child, is that they can start sleeping 12 hours through the night. This is an amazing milestone for children!
They’re getting good sleep, you’re getting great sleep, and everyone is happy…except for your soaking-wet baby! This makes for an uncomfortably chilly morning.
Here are a few helpful tips to help your baby make it through to morning without waking up soaked:
Timing of the final feeding. If your child isn’t on solids yet, or if they are under 1 year old, then I recommend offering their nighttime feeding at the beginning of their bedtime routine. This means that they will have their feeding before bath time. Unfortunately, it’s common for children to pee in the bath because of the warm water. This is helpful in your scenario because we don’t want their bladder full when going to bed.
If your child is over 1, then I want you to eliminate milk from their bedtime routine all-together. This doesn’t mean that you have to wean them from formula or breastfeeding, but simply change the timing of when they get their last feeding of milk. Instead of milk in the bedtime routine, I want you to offer them a healthy snack. One that has good fats, proteins, or complex carbs. No sugary cereal, berries, or fruit snacks, please!Size up in nighttime diapers. If your child is wearing a size 3 diaper during the day, I want you to try putting them in a size 4 diaper overnight if they are waking up wet. There is more absorbency because there is a larger surface area in a bigger diaper. Another helpful tip is to actually buy overnight diapers. I found Huggies Overnights worked great for us. There are also some diaper additives that you can put into the diaper to help absorb excess pee (sposie pads), but those didn’t work well for us when we tried them.
If it’s squishy, change it! You likely don’t have to do diaper changes at nighttime because the body’s digestive system slows down during those resting hours. Well, it technically stays the same, working away, but it’s rare for a bowel movement to happen in the middle of the night. If you are going in to do a nighttime feeding for your child, then I want you to feel their diaper. If it feels squishy, then I want you to quickly change it BEFORE the feeding. The wipes can be stimulating, so by doing the change before the feeding, they will become relaxed enough again to fall asleep.
Check the time. A typical night for a baby is 12 hours long. But, is your baby sleeping 13-14 hours long at nighttime? If so, I want you to wake them up in the morning to keep them on schedule. By adding 1-2 more hours into the nighttime diaper, it is going to start getting leaky. That’s a long time to be wearing the same thing! I know it’s hard to wake a sleeping baby, but to avoid having them waking up soaking wet in pee, it’s worth it. Trust me.
Mattress Protector. As always, accidents happen and we want to be prepared! A great thing to have on your child’s crib mattress (or regular mattress!) is a mattress protector. This serves as a barrier between the sheet and the mattress to collect anything that spills on gets on the sheet. Essentially, it preserves the mattress.
By following these 5 tips, I know that you will be successful in helping your child wake up without being soaked!
But, if they’re waking up soaked because they’re sweaty, then we have another thing to talk about 😉
Sweet Dreams,
Bailey
