Nighttime Diaper Tips
Nighttime doesn’t have to be a nightmare, even when your baby has diaper rash. It can be tempting to wake your baby up for a midnight change, but a lack of sleep isn’t helpful for you or your child, so consider trying these tips first to relieve or prevent diaper rash overnight.
Wetness and friction (rubbing of the diaper against delicate skin) are the two main sources of irritation that can cause or worsen diaper rash. So, the key is to come up with strategies that can eliminate or at least reduce how much wetness and skin irritation your baby experiences, especially overnight.
5 Tips for Preventing or Treating Diaper Rash Overnight
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Let your baby have some naked time.
Try this one simple act—let your baby be naked for a bit! After you take off the last diaper before bed or if you give your baby a before bedtime bath, give their bare bottom a chance to breathe. Letting skin air dry all the way after a bath or simply letting the bottom air out after a diaper change can help keep any leftover dampness from getting trapped between skin and diaper. Pro tip: put a towel underneath while letting baby play butt naked to capture any errant spray, plop or tinkles.
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Be as gentle as possible when cleaning and drying baby’s skin before bed.
Before you put a diaper on your baby at night, gently clean their bottom with either warm water and a soft washcloth or wipes that have no alcohol or fragrance in them. Alcohol and fragrances can dry out and irritate sensitive skin. Sometimes even wipes can be too much, so just plain water and a washcloth may be enough – in this case, less is more! Also try not to rub or scrub as that will tug at the skin. Instead, dab and pat gently to prevent irritation. If your baby’s skin is especially sensitive, choose baby washes and wipes that, in addition to being fragrance- and alcohol-free, also have no dyes or parabens (chemicals often used as a preservative).
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Apply diaper rash cream to protect delicate skin.
If your baby already has a diaper rash, of course you’re likely already using a diaper rash cream or ointment. But did you know you can also use the cream to PREVENT rash in the first place? Applying diaper cream with every change can be an effective preventative measure since the cream acts as a protective barrier on clear skin. Triple Paste diaper rash creams use non-nano zinc oxide to promote healing, with “non-nano” meaning the ingredients won’t penetrate the skin. Instead of absorbing into the skin, the cream acts as a physical barrier to protect delicate skin from wetness and friction and helps heal any existing diaper rash. Our All-in-One Triple Protection ointment prevents diaper rash, treats existing rash, and soothes baby’s sensitive skin.
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Use a high-absorbency disposable diaper overnight.
High-absorbency nighttime diapers are designed to hold a larger amount of liquid than your regular daytime diapers do. Some can absorb 50% more liquid than daytime diapers and can keep the baby’s skin dry for up to 12 hours. They also may have additional helpful features to better wick away moisture and prevent leaks and blowouts that lead to rash. These can come in handy if your baby sleeps through the night (lucky you!) and you want to make sure they’re dry as long as possible.
If you use cloth diapers and your baby has diaper rash, you may want to switch to nighttime disposable diapers until the rash has healed because of their more absorbent features, and then use cloth during the day. The goal is to keep their bottom as dry as possible, so you may need to experiment a little until you find the method or products that work best.
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Change your newborn’s diaper before you finish their overnight feeding.
Overnight diapers don’t typically come in newborn size because you may need to feed and change the baby multiple times throughout the night. If the baby’s diaper is dirty when you go in the room to feed them, change the diaper before feeding. If the diaper is still dry when you enter the room, change it halfway through feeding (either halfway through the bottle or when you switch breasts). This way, you won’t have to wake the baby if they fall asleep or are close to sleeping after feeding.
Sleep easy, Mom!
Being a parent is tough and the diaper stages can be frustrating for so many reasons, especially when rash is involved and you’re facing a daunting night of sleepless discomfort. But you’ve got this! Diaper leaks and blowouts overnight are part of the territory and diaper rash is too.
At Triple Paste, we try and keep things simple by providing diaper rash creams that have just the right amount of medicine to treat a rash, along with soothing ingredients like oat extract and beeswax that can help protect and heal sensitive skin. Parents love us and pediatricians recommend Triple Paste – hopefully we can help baby (and as a result, you) rest easy into a dreamy night.
