Late night diaper change question

My dh & I are having a bit of a disagreement & I'm hoping that I can get some input from all of you...

Do you automatically change your LO's diaper every time that you get up to feed them at night or do you only do it if they're fussing? One of us feels that a check & a change is necessary every time and the other feels that if the baby seems ok it will unnecessarily wake them up more making it harder to put them back down again.

Just to add a little background: our son is 10 1/2 weeks old, still wakes up 2-3 times a night, I breastfeed exclusively & he's still in a bassinet in our room so he needs to be brought down the hall to his room to be changed (it's too tight in our room & it can't be done in there).

Thanks!

Re: Late night diaper change question

When DD was still waking to eat, her diaper got changed. Once she started STTN, her diaper got changed in the morning when she woke up.

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I changed DD at every nighttime feeding, she was in our room until she was 3 or 4 months old. I had a basket of supplies in our room and would change her on my bed (with a pad underneath her, just in case).

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I would change her at every feeding...she usually slept through it so it wasn't an issue.
Once she started sleeping through the night, we didn't change her until morning.

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The book I read (Baby Sleep Solutions) say to only change a diaper during the night if absolutely necessary (soaking wet or poopy). It is too "stimulating" and wakes them up even more.

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Thanks everyone!

Message edited 11/23/2009 11:45:16 AM.

Re: Late night diaper change question

My son is 13 weeks (and he's FF).

The first time he wakes up, it's after he's been sleeping from 4-6 hours. I change him before I feed him.

He usually falls back to sleep right after feeding, so that's why I change him before.

He wakes every 2 hours after that first long stretch, so the 2nd time he wakes I only change him if he needs it.

Of course, if he poops, he gets changed immediately.

As for where I change him....DS still sleeps in our room. I feed him in the living room and change him on the living room floor in the middle of the night. We set up a make-shift changing station every night.

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i used to change DD with every feeding until about 4-5 weeks. i made the mistake of feeding her, then changing her. she would then be up for 30-60 minutes. then around 6 weeks i would change her then feed her, and she'd fall right back out. now i check her diaper to see if she needs to be changed. if there's poop or she's really wet i change her. if not, i just feed her and put her right back to sleep.

DD will be 10 weeks tomorrow, is BF, and her room is across the hall from ours. she only gets changed in her room, but the trip there and back doesn't bother her as long as she is changed first. she'll be wide awake and smiley while i change her, but the feeding puts her right back out.

Re: Late night diaper change question

Riley only gets changed late at night if she poops. I just take a good sniff and that tells me all I need to know! TIA

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I always change when there is poo and I change every other feeding if there is no poop throughout the night. SOmetimes every! Santino ALWAYS has a wet diaper he pees constantly. His diaper has never been dry during a changing whether it is 15 minutes or hours!

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I change him before every feeding, day and night.

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At that age, I changed him after every feeding or after he was done nursing on one side. He usually pooped during or after every feeding so it was necessary to change him. If he didn't poop, he'd leak through the diaper if I waited to change him.

ETA: When the diaper change really woke him up, I'd just nurse him back to sleep.

Message edited 11/23/2009 1:31:03 PM.

Re: Late night diaper change question

I used to change him at every feeding because he wouldn't sleep if he was wet. Now he doesn't mind being wet, so I don't change him unless he poops. I've learned that I have to change him in the middle of the feeding. If I try to change him before, he is hysterical because the wants to eat right away and if I change him after he has a very hard time going back to sleep. I feed him a little then change and then continue feeding so he wind up falling back asleep easily most of the time.

When he was in our room I put a pad down and changed him on the bed. Can you try this? He might be getting too much stimulation changing rooms.

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it's fuzzy for me.... funny that i always thought i would remember everything and now my brain is so mushy.

anyway, when DS was really tiny, i can't remember. Eventually, I changed him halfway through nursing (I'd do one side... he'd be sleepy... I'd change him... and then I'd nurse the other side and put him back down to sleep). when he was alittle older, I changed him first before he nursed, and then he'd fall asleep nursing and I'd put him back in teh crib.

BUT YES, I changed him every time he woke up...

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Thanks so much for sharing ladies!! You have a few really good ideas that we might try - although I hesitate to try the change on the bed thing as he often kicks off his pee pee cover and, if I'm not quick enough at 3am, he makes a mess. I'd die if he got my dh while he was sleeping

I'll be showing this thread to my dh this evening and we'll discuss - we may give that a try anyway

Re: Late night diaper change question

EBF here - we change before every feeding. DH does the changing then wakes me for the feeding.