Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Ending Leaky Nights

When it comes to diapers, we're connoisseurs. In the early days, we had small packages of nearly every kind of diapers, trying out each brand and off-brand, and judging each of them like a good wine.

"This one has good coverage, but the texture is too plastic-y."

"Great at preventing leaks, but has an unpleasantly strong odor."

As my big baby grew into the Amazon toddler, and we realized potty training was nowhere in sight, finding good diapers has become a real challenge. Not only is she big, but she has a large bladder to go with her size, so only the best diapers survive more than an hour or two. It also doesn't help that at 35+ pounds, finding diapers that fit isn't easy.

We've been trying out Huggies Overnites diapers for the last month, courtesy of the Parent Bloggers Network, and overall they have passed most of our tests. It's common for Cordy to have a nighttime leak at least once a week, so we were hoping that these diapers would stand up to the Iron Bladder of the Thirsty Child.

Using the Huggies Overnites diapers, we didn't have a single leak on nights with just urine. They even held up on nights when she had a late dinner with three cups of milk right before bed. However, they didn't do so well when a night poop entered the equation. Cordy has never been one for solid poop - her sensitive digestive tract usually produces something a little more loose. Adding that on top of a night of pee was just too much for the diaper to handle. (It's too much for her normal diapers to handle, too.) Thankfully, those nights were few.

Like the other diapers we use, I like that the Huggies felt more like fabric, with velcro tabs instead of sticky tape. I know I wouldn't want crinkly plastic underwear, and I won't put my daughter in anything that doesn't feel soft against her skin. These felt very nice, and were absorbent enough to keep her skin dry and rash-free.

My only complaint is the cut of the diaper. I know Huggies promotes their baby-shaped fit, but I don't think they've met my baby girl. Trying to get these on Cordy's large, solid frame involved some squeezing, but this is the largest size they offer. Size 5 is supposed to fit 27-40 lbs, but they felt too tight on Cordy. I always worried they were cutting into her, and I was nervous about the coverage on the sides, even though they never leaked under normal circumstances. I'd suggest either making a larger size in these, or perhaps cutting them a little wider to accommodate toddlers who are long-waisted with large frames.

Overall I was happy with the performance of Huggies Overnites. While we probably won't use them again for Cordy, due to the size issue, there's a good chance we'll use them in the future with our next daughter.

Win them! Want to give Huggies Overnites a try? Click here and leave a comment on the Parent Bloggers post to be entered to win a free package of diapers!

2 comments:

3carnations said...

Glad you discovered those! Unfortunately, they don't come in a size 6, so when our son started leaking through those, too, we couldn't go up to the next size. Fortunately a few weeks later, he started either staying dry through the night, or going about half as much as he used to while he slept. He doesn't leak anymore on his own. :)

I'll probably put the remaining ones (a pack and a half) on Ebay.

Student said...

I've been lucky in that G fits nicely into the size 5 of these. The other thing I do is put plastic pants over them - the kind that you can use for potty training. When we take the plastic pants off in the morning, the diaper is almost always damp on the outside but the plastic keeps it from getting all over. Not exactly nice and soft but G has never seemed to mind. The other day I tried the Huggies overnite pullups and those are *so* very NOT as absorbable as the diapers. Warning: don't go there! Now I have to transition G out of the cute princess pullups back into the diaper. Either that or do nite-time potty training.