For special advice about newborn night nappies, please scroll down to the bottom of the page.

12 Hour Nights

Premier disposable nappies will last most babies through the night without a change - can cloth do the same? Yes, certainly cloth nappies can. All of the nappy systems we sell can be successfully adapted to overnight use. But you may need to experiment to find out what combination best suits your baby. If you are starting with an older baby, rather than a newborn, be prepared for several nights damp bedding before you hit the jackpot!

Fuzzi Bunz and Stuffables Stay Dry Systems

These are favourite night nappies for many people. Fuzzi Bunz are brilliant for keeping baby's skin dry and soft. However, Fuzzi Bunz do not always seem to suit the shape of every baby, and we also sell fleece liners, that achieve a similar stay-dry effect with our other nappies. Also, the Nature Babies Stuffables frequently provide a good fit on those babies who do not suit the cut of Fuzzi Bunz. (The fleece liners that we sell are actually produced by Nature Babies from exactly the same, soft lightweight fleece as is used inside the Stuffables themselves)

It is important when using Fuzzi Bunz at night not to overstuff them. The stuffing should lie flat between the fleece and outer layer of Fuzzi Bunz. Too much stuffing will make the Fuzzi "sausage shaped" and cause leaks.

Some suggested Fuzzi Bunz stuffings:-

2 or 3 Micro Inserts. These make for a very soft nappy.

A cotton prefold folded around a Micro Insert (use the "boy" fold, so that the prefold's tramlines run down the length of the Fuzzi, and excess length is turned over at the front - this will minimise bulk). After pushing this combination into the Fuzzi I always fan the prefold out to lie flat across the back.

Either of these combinations will give excellent absorbency without excessive bulk.

Prefolds and Mio-Lite Wraps

Prefolds and Mio-Lite wraps can be used to create a very absorbent, cost effective, night nappy. Use 2 prefolds, preferably with a fleece liner on top.

The following prefold combinations are suitable for this:-

Small Mio-Lite: Place 2 small prefolds on top of each other, and fold together before placing in wrap. Fan out across back and add a fleece liner.

Medium Mio-Lite: Fold regular prefold and place in wrap, fanning out across back. Fold small prefold in same way and place on top before adding liner.

Large Mio-Lite: Fold regular or large prefold and place in wrap, fanning out across back. Fold small prefold in same way and place on top before adding liner.

X-Large Mio-Lite: Either fold together 2 regular prefolds and place in wrap, or fold large prefold, place in wrap and add small folded prefold on top.

Tip: To avoid excess bulk at the front of the nappy with some of these combinations it may be necessary to fold the smaller prefold shorter, so that it does not come up to the front of the nappy, but instead has an extra layer between baby's legs.

Tots Bots, TwoSize Nappies and Ultra Fits

First try simply adding a booster inside the Tots Bots, TwoSize, or Ultra Fit nappy (with a fleece liner next to baby's skin if desired). If more absorbency is required place a Micro Insert between the nappy and the wrap. Either a Mio-Lite or Vento wrap can be used over these nappies. Alternatively try the Red Rap fleece wrap, which allows water vapour to evaporate out of the nappy; this not only keep baby's bottom cool and well ventilated at night, it may actually reduce the amount of absorbency required at night. The Red Rap is also wonderfully soft and snugly.

Fleece Wraps and Fleece Liners

Both fleece wraps and fleece liners can be an extremely useful part of your cloth nappy system at night. But I know it can be daunting to try these unless you know how they work. So here's the science…

Polyester fleece (it must be 100% polyester) is non-absorbent. When baby wees the stream of urine passes straight through the fleece liner into the absorbent nappy underneath. It will not go back through the fleece onto babies skin, or out through a fleece wrap onto baby's clothes, unless the nappy's absorbency is exceeded. The exception to this is if pressure is applied to the nappy and fleece, forcing the wet through. This frequently happens under the carseat buckle if baby is wearing a fleece wrap. It may also happen if baby is sitting on a hard floor or highchair seat. Because of this many people choose to keep fleece wraps for night-time use.

Fleece wraps also provide excellent breathability, because the fabric requires no additional waterproofing. This also allows water vapour to evaporate from a wet nappy, which helps to keep the nappy area cool, even though the fleece fabric is in itself so cosy!

To make your own fleece liners simply cut a single layer of 100% polyester fleece to the size and shape you want. You do not need to hem, as the fabric should not fray. Liners made in this way should save you money, but are likely to be bulkier than the fleece liners that we sell on this site.

If making your own fleece wrap, you should be aware that wind-pro/wind-bloc type fleece has an additional membrane sandwiched between two layers of fleece. This will make the wrap much more waterproof, but much of the breathability will be lost.

Note on Fleece Sensitivity

Some babies' skin seems to react to polyester fleece. It is much harder to create a satisfactory night nappy without a fleece liner to keep baby's skin dry, but you may find that some fleece is tolerated better than others. I found the lightweight fleeces used by Fuzzi Bunz and Nature Babies were very useful for my babies.

Newborns

Your newborn is probably being changed every few hours overnight, so any of our nappies should provide adequate absorbency. But there are still special considerations at night, even for newborns.

Comfort: Your newborn is not able to roll over like an older baby, so will be lying in the same position on their back from when you put them down until they are lifted again to be fed/changed. Wraps can leave a red mark across baby's back where they have been lying on the elastic. Although this didn't seem to bother my baby, it certainly bothered me! I found it was minimised by using the Mio-Lite wrap, and also by alternating wraps at night changes, so that the elastic was in a different place after a nappy change (for example, if I was taking off a Fuzzi Bunz I would put a Mio-Lite on for the next few hours, and vice versa). Alternatively the Red Rap is wonderfully soft and snugly, as well as providing excellent breathability to the nappy area.

Sleeping angle: When baby is sleeping flat on their back I like to keep the thickness of the nappy at the back minimal, so that their spine is not lying over a ridge, or their bottom higher than their head. A prefold fanned out at the back (in either a Mio-Lite or Fuzzi Bunz) is very slim.

Poo: Obviously it is important, in any type of nappy, to change your baby as soon as they are dirty, but what if you are asleep and don't realise? Some breastfed babies can be virtually continually passing small amounts of liquid poo in the first few weeks. I found that by applying a barrier cream at each night-time change, and putting my baby in a prefold nappy without a liner (prefolds used in this way will absorb much of the liquid poo), their bottom didn't get sore even if I failed to notice a poo for several hours at night.

... The Buzzness Info & Advice ...