This post is in no way sponsored by Mother-Ease.
Overnight cloth diapering is one of the most -discussed topics on the various fluffy Facebook groups, and one of the most common questions I get. I didn’t start full-time cloth overnight until the cub was doing something approximating sleeping through the night (at 9 months old he is still getting up for one feeding) and when he stopped pooping at every diaper change. It’s kind of blurry for me when that happened. As a newborn, I was changing him every 2 hours regardless of the time of day, but often used disposables during the night on the off chance he might sleep a longer stretch. Then came the cloth diapering Mama’s rite of passage: the overnight cloth experimentation phase. I tried what seems to be a favourite among many Mamas, the very inexpensive Kawaii Goodnight Heavy Wetter. I found I would still get a bit of leakage around the waist, but this was a good overnight diapering baptism: I became determined to make it work
A very popular overnight diapering solution is a good fitted diaper and a good cover. A good fitted diaper for overnight is a whole other blog post, but I’ve had success with my Bic & Biquette and my Pixie & Me. As you might know, I’ve since switched to using an “overnight diaper insert sandwich” instead of fitteds, but I know many still prefer fitteds for nighttime!
As for a good cover, wool is adored by many a cloth-diapering family. But wool has a few drawbacks: covers can be expensive, between $20-50 a pair. They need some upkeep, including lanolizing, and cannot just be tossed in the wash. Don’t get me wrong: wool is super fantastic. But if you want an alternative and you want it to be bulletproof, I think I’ve hit the jackpot with the affordable (albeit a bit goofy looking) Mother-Ease Airflow cover. I’ve used it on top of all of my various fitted diaper models for 12-hour stretches that include a pre-bedtime feed and a middle-of-the-night feed. I had a leak once, when it was snapped too loose, and another time when Cub went on an all-night feeding marathon. I’ve always gotten a bit of seeping, even on my well-lanolized wool covers. On nights when I’ve put him in a disposable (due to using a zinc cream), I have even snapped this cover on top, since I usually get leaks overnight even in a ‘sposie.
Why I love this cover on top of fitteds:
Breathable: Unlike a PUL cover and like wool, the Mother-Ease cover is made of a material that breathes, thus “reducing the risk of bacteria by keeping the temperature inside the diaper down.” (mother-ease.com)
Rinse-able: You can rinse it off in the morning and use it the following night if you’re not doing diaper laundry in between.
Great fit: The snaps at the hip and around the thigh allow for a perfect fit even on a skinny waist or around thunder thighs.
Canadian company!
RELIABLE…. no wet sheets in our den!
Drawbacks:
Laundry tips:
When I started using a fitted overnight, I found that my diapers were coming out of the wash still stinking of ammonia. I know fully recommend rinsing and ringing out all overnight diapers prior to putting them in the pail. This has made a huge difference for us because 12-hours of pee is no longer getting mixed in with the other diapers in the wash. I used to leave the water from Cub’s evening bath in his little tub and throw the overnight diaper in that in the morning, fishing it out and wringing it out later in the day.
Wolf Cub’s probably going to kill me for putting this picture online.
What do you cover your fitteds with overnight?
[…] I bought fitted diapers for Cub before I really understood their utility (or lack thereof, in our case). In retrospect, I wish I’d lurked on some good Facebook groups while I was pregnant so that I could’ve done some re-con before shelling out cash. Before I had a clue what I was doing, I bought some readily available fitted brands: Bumboo (I think it was a group buy deal), RearZ velour and MotherEase. Once I caught the “buy all the diapers” bug, I had to try more fitted diapers, especially the adorable ones made by WAHMs, and of course, GoodMamas and even an SBish snapless. It was mainly in my quest to find an overnight diapering solution that I really got into fitteds, and for a while, I loved them! I even blogged about using fitteds overnight. […]