Bowel Movement During The Night

by Jack
(San Francisco, CA)

My one-year old baby has bowel movements early in the night.
Should I change her diaper at night if I notice that she has pooped when I peek in?

She poops just after she's gone to sleep, but doesn't wake to complain about it.

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Baby Help Line:

Change Diaper At Night - Yes Or No?

Whether to change diaper at night or not depends to a large extent on what is in the diaper...

Many new parent change their babies' diapers at night even when they have just peed. I remember doing that as a first time mom, on recommendation from my midwife. After three kids, I cannot understand why on earth she told me to do that. It just disturbed both my and my baby's sleep for no good reason at all. Today's diapers can certainly hold a whole night, if using the right size. (Of course, if your baby does have a bad rash, then go ahead and change!)

Poop, on the other hand, is a whole different story! Since poop may quite rapidly lead to severe diaper rash, I definitely think you should change the diaper if your baby has pooped.

The older the baby, the higher is also the risk that the child will stick his orher hand into the diaper to scratch for example, which can become quite disgusting.

Changing Diaper At Night Without Waking The Baby

Having to wake up a baby at night is NOT fun, when we strive so hard to make our little ones slepp through. But if your daughter just fell asleep, she might be sleeping really hard, and if you're lucky maybe you can change the diaper without waking her up. Have you tried that?

Here are a few tips to avoid waking yor baby up when diapering at night:

• Check first if your baby is in deep sleep by lifting a leg and see if she reacts at all. If she doesn't, chances are that she is in deep sleep and the risk is a lot lower that she will wake up by the diaper change. If she is not in deep sleep, consider waiting sime 10 minutes and see if she is in deep sleep then.


• Use only dim light.


• Change the diaper in the bed if at all possible.But don't do it if you risk soling the bed. In such case, try to arrange with a changing table really close to the bed instead.


• Use a sleep bag instead of a pajama or blanket. There are sleep bags with zippers that open at the bottom first, so that the sleep temperature for the baby is almost unchanged during the diapering.


• Also remember to prepare well in the evening. Keep wipes, diapers and so on close to the bed and also get yourself a night lamp.

To make her stop pooping after going to sleep, consider giving her her last feeding earlier and maybe she'll get her pooping done before falling asleep. Here is another discussion among parent with babies that poop at night.

Hope this helps!

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