Today we’re going to talk about one of your favorite parenting topics….. solving dirty diapers! Because honestly once you finally get your child to sleep the last thing you want is then waking up with a dirty diaper! I’ll cover 1) why they may happen overnight 2) when and why you would need to change and 3) how to change their body clock to having that poopy diaper during the day.
Let’s get started by learning how babies are developing and what is changing over that first year of life in terms of when they’re actually pooping. When babies are first born in those newborn days they don’t yet have what’s called a circadian rhythm or a body clock. We have a body clock that is in our head that tells us when it is day and night and that starts to mature around 2-3 months of age. Our stomach also has a body clock and we know over the past decade or so of research that many different cells in our body also have a body clock. When newborns are first born one of the reasons that they don’t have a developed body clock, especially in their gut, is that they’re having to eat very frequently. So of course those dirty diapers are going to follow!
For newborns, poopy diapers can happen even up to 5 or 6 times per day, or they may just have one poopy diaper a week…..that’s how much variation can happen with a breastfed baby. Babies who are formula fed typically have at least one per day, but sometimes that can vary somewhat as well. Now for newborns, I like to have the diaper change happen in the middle of the feeding so you can have a nice full feed on both ends and the baby is not sleeping as much while eating. The diaper change can be helpful because it can wake them up a little bit. Again in that newborn phase, the first couple months of life, you’re not going to worry as much if they are pooping overnight as this is very normal. Want to learn more about newborn sleep, check out my sleep guide here!
When babies get a little bit older, in the 4 to 6 months range, now their feedings are spaced out a little bit more and they often start solids as well. When babies start taking solids that’s going to change the consistency and the frequency of that poop. And when you eat more during the day your circadian rhythm, or that body clock, starts telling your intestines to poop more during the day when they’re having more meal times during the daylight hours.
That leads us into talking about some different tips that can help your baby set that circadian rhythm and have their body pooping more during the daytime!
Top Tips:
- Look at meal times– we know that mealtimes are something that stimulates your gut and when you’re taking food in either breast milk, formula, or solid food it’s going to move through your system. So typically if your baby has to poop after a meal time you aren’t going to want to put your baby down for a nap immediately afterwards. Example, say they’re on a 1 nap a day schedule and they’re going down right after lunch and then they’re pooping at same around dinner time, you’ll want to find a way to move those meal times a little bit earlier to give them more time to digest.
- Elimination communication – try and communicate with your child when they’re needing to poop and that may not be with words. It may be with you keeping an eye out as a parent to see that they are always going in a certain position right before they poop or going on a certain area of the house. Maybe when they are holding onto a crib rail that allows them to be in a perfect position therefore try to replicate that in a different area around the house
- Keep it dark– if it’s 345 am it’s still night time and not time to get up so you don’t want to make a big deal of it. Keep the lights low and put them back to sleep again just after changing the diaper.
- Look at expectations – if you’re finding that your kiddo is good at bedtime, but having a 5 a.m. poop then you’ll want to protect the bum. Layer on night creams and things like that so then when they do have that early morning they’re protected and you don’t have to immediately go in and grab them right away! Set some expectations around that, if you know if they poop every day at 5 a.m. you’re going to want to wait 15 minutes then 30 minutes and keep extending that waiting until it’s time to wake for the day. Of course change them right away when you first wake up and this is not for young newborns or young babies.
I hope these tips are helpful for you to try to eliminate those overnight and nap time dirty diapers!
If you addressed all the strategies above, but are still hitting hurdles then please book a free 15 minute discovery call here to discuss how I can help your little one sleep well soon.
If you’re more of a visual learner be sure to check out the video on Solving your child’s nighttime and nap time dirty diapers below! Pop in your air pods during a night time feeding session or during your commute home for sleep tips on the go!
