Baby Poops in Their Sleep at Night: Change Diapers Or Not?

What if a toddler or baby poops in their sleep at night and doesn’t wake up… Should you wake the baby to change diapers?

Read this dad’s question, our answer, and other parents’ views here.

Pin

Dad’s Question:

My one-year-old baby has bowel movements early at 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.

Jack

Baby Poops in Their Sleep: Change A Poop Diaper At Night – Yes Or No?

Reasons to Change Diaper (or Not) for Sleeping Baby

Whether to change the diaper at night or not when the baby continues to sleep depends to a large extent on what is in the diaper and what time of the night the “accident” occurs…

Many new parents 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 my and my baby’s sleep for no good reason.

Today’s diapers can certainly hold a whole night if using the right size. (Of course, if your baby has a bad diaper 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 at night especially if the pooping happens early at night. Your baby is likely to otherwise sleep with dirty diapers for several hours.

The type of poop does matter, as well as your baby’s age. Young, breastfed babies often poop after every feeding and feed frequently. In such a case, you could probably wait until the next feeding at night if the baby happens to fall asleep while nursing – it will only be a couple of hours, and breastmilk poop is often not very irritating.

However, a 1-year-old baby has started with solid foods, and the stools will be much more irritating for the skin.

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

How to Change Diapers 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 sleep through the night. But if your daughter just fell asleep, she might be in a deep sleep, and if you’re lucky, you may be able to change the diaper without waking her up. Have you tried that?

Here are a few tips to avoid waking your baby up when changing diapers at night:

• First, check if your baby is in a deep sleep by lifting a leg and see if she reacts. If she doesn’t, chances are that she is in a deep sleep, and then the risk is a lot lower that she will wake up by the diaper change. If she is not in a deep sleep, consider waiting some 10 minutes and see if she is in a 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 a case, try to arrange a changing table really close to the bed instead.
• Use a baby sleeping bag instead of a pajama or blanket. There are sleep bags with zippers that open at the bottom first so that the sleep temperature of 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 a last feeding earlier, and maybe she’ll get her pooping done before falling asleep.

Here is another discussion among parents with babies that poop at night.

I hope this helps!

Paula
If your baby poops in sleep, what do you do? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment below!

Paula Dennholt

Paula Dennholt founded Easy Baby Life in 2006 and has been a passionate parenting and pregnancy writer since then. Her parenting approach and writing are based on studies in cognitive-behavioral models and therapy for children and her experience as a mother and stepmother. Life as a parent has convinced her of how crucial it is to put relationships before rules. She strongly believes in positive parenting and a science-based approach.

Paula cooperates with a team of pediatricians who assist in reviewing and writing articles.