As their sleep cycles lengthen and connect throughout the night, they will go through normal periods of arousal with returns to sleep. They may still urinate through the night, but it may not cause them to wake. Therefore, most older babies can make it through the night without diaper changes for wet diapers.
If your baby is sleeping, you do not need to change their diaper. A dirty diaper isn't bothering them, so it shouldn't bother you either! If your baby wakes overnight, whether it be to eat or just a typical overnight waking, try to limit stimulation and skip a diaper change when possible.
The general rule of thumb is that you should change your baby's diaper every 2–3 hours.
While you might not be too keen on it, you can leave a wet diaper alone through the night, and simply change it in the morning. The only need to do otherwise is if your baby's diaper is soaked right through their PJs. If they have had the 'full' toilet experience in the night, you must change it.
“If you hear or smell stool while your baby is asleep, you'll want to change the diaper soon, but that does not need to be immediately,” Dr. Arunima Agarwal, MD, a board-certified pediatrician explains to Romper. “If you think they'll wake up soon, then it's okay to wait a little while.
Experts recommend that you change your newborn's diaper every two to three hours, or as often as needed.
In fact, urine is sterile so there shouldn't be any issues with leaving it in contact with your baby's skin for a few hours. If your baby is really bothered by their wet diaper, they will wake up and let you know. If they don't, just let them sleep.
Fewer wet diapers
In infants and toddlers, persistently dry diapers are a telltale sign of dehydration. If your baby is younger than 6 months and produces little to no urine in 4 to 6 hours, or if your toddler produces little to no urine in 6 to 8 hours, they may be dehydrated.
Wet diapers—or lack thereof—are always a good indicator of if they're hydrated or not. If your infant has less than six wet diapers per day, or your older baby or toddler has no wet diapers for eight hours, they're likely dehydrated. It's also important to take note of baby's dirty diapers.
Sometimes, your little one will start waking in the night all because of a diaper. The diaper will be overly wet, making your baby uncomfortable and unable to sleep. This can happen even in the young newborn months. Sometimes you child will get so wet he will leak through and get his clothes all wet.
Normally, diapers should be changed every 2-3 hours. Do not let the baby have the diaper on for more than several hours or wait until the diaper feels wet before changing the baby. If the baby defecates, the diaper should be changed immediately and the baby should be cleaned every time before putting on a new diaper.
If you're changing your little one's diaper during a nighttime feeding, either do so before you feed them or halfway through their feeding. If you wait to change their diaper until after you feed them, you might risk waking your baby up, which is exactly not what you want to do at that point!
Zip-up pajamas: Similar to a sleepsack, zip-up pjs make it very difficult for your toddler to access his diaper and take it off (especially if you put them on backwards). Duct tape: When all else fails, put some duct tape over the diaper fasteners, or around the waist of the diaper.
You don't need to change your baby's nappy after every wee – rather, change the nappy just before or after a feed (but keep an eye out for nappy rash or skin irritation). There's no need to wake your baby at night for a nappy change.
In extreme cases, babies need treatment right away and may require rehydration with intravenous (IV) fluids. Go to your child's doctor or the emergency room immediately if you notice your baby: Has not made a wet diaper for six or more hours.
With super-absorbent diapers, it is probably okay to leave a wet diaper on for a little longer, especially if your baby is sleeping through the night; there is no need to wake up your little one to change a wet diaper. But in general, if you spot a wet or soiled diaper, it is time to change it.
The average age toilet training begins in the United States is between 2 and 3 years of age. Most children in the United States are bowel and bladder trained by 4 years of age. However, toilet training can begin as soon as parents and children want to start.
A nighttime potty training routine is simple. Make sure your child goes to the bathroom right before hopping into bed at night. Make sure they try, even if they say they don't have to go. Be sure to let your child know that they need to listen to their bodies even when they're sleeping.
If your baby is sound asleep, even if they have a dirty or wet diaper, there's no need to wake him up to change his diaper. This will disturb his sleep cycle, cause sleep inertia, and cascade through the rest of the day because his sleep window will be lengthened.
If you're wondering when to change a baby's diaper at night, then the obvious answer is to change it when it gets completely soaked up in urine or if your baby has pooped in it.
It is not safe to have the baby in diapers for 24 hours but recommendations say that you need to have open air time for six to eight hours every day. Whenever you are changing diapers, give 15-20 minutes of open air time to let the skin dry on its own.