Your baby’s heavy wetting is finally driving you nuts. Your disposable diapers not working. You have no choice but to find disposable diaper inserts for overnight so that your baby can sleep without soaking through her onesies, pajamas, bed sheets and risk catching a cold.
Usually I would recommend pampers swaddlers (the regular ones) for maximum absorption capabilities. However, if that is still not enough for you, then you would have to try adding diaper doublers on top of your diapers. However, before I recommend anything to you, I have some bad news for you.
Disappointment Alert – There’s No Quality Disposable Diaper Inserts
Apparently, disposable diaper inserts, or diaper doublers aren’t as popular as everybody expect them to be. The problem with that is that if they are not popular, then a lot of companies will not invest any efforts into producing them.
It is understandable, because people who uses disposable diapers usually don’t have too much trouble with heavy wetters as long they have good diapers like pampers swaddlers.
However, if they have super heavy wetters like your baby then that is a different story. As for people using cloth diapers, since reduce and reuse is the whole idea, they probably won’t pick up on disposable inserts either.
If you tried searching online, you will find yourself looking at the same products over and over like sposie, flip, charlie banana, gDiaper, and babies r’ us brands. Let me be real with you.
Their disposable diaper liners suck. Most of them used to be good. However, not a lot of people are buying them so they cheapened the production. Babies r’ us disposable inserts used to be the best. They had this sticky on the back that makes it better for them to adhere to your diaper to work around a baby’s movement.
However, they have made their inserts so thin, it is completely worthless now. Some of these inserts are so bad, they oversaturate easily and SAP gel beads explode out of the inserts. Now that is pretty sad.
Another problem with some of these disposable inserts is that they cause rashes. That really defeats the purpose, because if they work well enough, your baby shouldn’t get a rash.
If you are really desperate, you can temporarily use a maxi pad as a disposable diaper insert. Besides, once you purchase any disposable diaper insert, you will realize that they aren’t that different from maxi pads.
Not to mention that some of them claim to be “flushable”. Don’t believe them. As I mentioned in a previous article about huggies flushable wipes, they would jack up your water bill. Even if it can “flush” out without clogging your pipes, it does not mean it doesn’t clog up the sewage system in the end. It does not break down.
I know you want the convenience of disposable inserts, but none of them are any good. There is really no point if you still have to wash your baby’s bed sheets everyday. However, I do have some good recommendations for you. Be prepared though, because this involves non-disposable stuff.
You Should Consider Reusable Diaper Inserts
I know you want the convenience of disposable diaper inserts, but unfortunately no good ones exist. Using reusable diaper inserts isn’t that much more convenient (you have to wash them), but it is way better than soaking up your baby, her clothes and the mattress sheets. You should aim for the following:
- Keeping your baby dry at night (so she doesn’t get sick so easy)
- Keeping your baby’s bed sheets, and clothes sanitary (without having urine on it all the time)
- Doing as little laundry as possible
I am going to recommend a couple of good products later. Check them out and try them. They really help when it comes to heavy wetters. I also include a product that makes washing reusable diaper inserts more convenient and doable.
Let’s Clear Up Some Confusion First
Liner Inserts vs Inserts
On places like Amazon, you will see these “disposable diaper liner inserts” which are sold super cheap. They cost $50 for 600 sheets, or $1 for 12 sheets if you did the math (if you used one sheet per day, it will take 1.5 years to finish using it). However, they are not exactly what you are looking for to absorb pee. They serve a completely different purpose.
Disposable diaper liner inserts are poop filters. They are still pretty darn useful. If you are a cloth diapering expert, then you already know that. When you change a baby’s diaper, these are the daily routine:
- Lay down a diaper (cloth or disposable)
- Lay an insert on top of your diaper for absorption, or extra absorption purposes (cloth or disposable)
- Lay a disposable liner insert on top of your insert
- Wrap your baby, and you are done
For cloth diaper experts, when they change a diaper, they keep all the poopy mess in the disposable liner and throw it in the trash. The purpose of this is to prevent cloth diapers from poopy staining.
Since I am recommending you to buy reusable diaper inserts, I highly recommend you buy disposable liner also, because the liner will protect the diaper insert from poop, making it a lot easier to wash and clean.
You Have To Size Up
When you use inserts on top of your disposable diapers, you have to size up. In other words, if you are using a size 5 normally for your baby, you have to switch to size 6. There are two reasons you have to do this:
- You have to have extra room to include the diaper insert
- The bigger disposable diaper has more SAP to absorb liquids
Now that is out of the way it is time for my recommendations for you. The recommendations I have below are normally what cloth diapering parents use on their babies. However, I personally do not believe that cloth diapers are environmentally friendly. They are also the worst at preventing pee from leaking back out.. However, when you combine them with disposable diapers, they become extremely good.
Don’t Use Diaper Ointments Or Creams With Reusable Liners
You can not use ointments or cream on reusable liners. It will make it less absorbent. Please remember that!
You Have To Prep Reusable Liners
A cool thing about reusable liners is that the more you wash it, the more absorbent they get. On the other hand, the first time you receive it, it will be not at maximum absorbency potential. You have to prep these liners before you use them. In order to prep them, you can wash them a few times or you can boil them to remove their natural oils that reduces absorption.
Using Prefold “Diapers” As Inserts
Prefolds is fancy name for a giant square of cloth made entirely of unbleached cotton as I mentioned in my cloth diaper article. They absorb pee very well but they can not hold the pee. The end result is that pee will go right through them.
That seems pretty pathetic but when it comes to using them as inserts for heavy wetters, there is nothing coming close as being as cheap and as efficient. Having pee go right through them sounds stupid but that is exactly what you need.
If your baby use prefolds as inserts combined with a good disposable diaper, the insert will act like some kind of semi absorbent cover that lets moisture reach into the disposable diaper and block it from coming back out. Of course, this is still not all the benefits of prefolds.
First benefit of prefolds
You can easily stack them due to their lack of bulkiness. If your baby still leaks after using one prefold as an insert, you can use two.
Second benefit of prefolds
They are very easy to wash and dry. They are not bulky so they dry very quickly. If you hand washed one today, you can literally use it the next day after line drying it overnight. Of course, this depends on humidity of the environment you live in also.
Third benefit of prefolds
They are very cheap. You can buy ten Gerber prefolds for $14. If you need more, you can buy more. However, if you hand wash it and line dry it everyday (kind of like washing your own face towel), seven should be than enough. If you suspect that your baby will be especially more than usual, then you have three extra to stack with if needed.
However, there are two small issues with using prefolds as inserts.
First issue of prefolds
They aren’t as absorbent as other kinds of inserts (I will tell you about other inserts later). However, when you combine it with something like pampers swaddlers, that shouldn’t be an issue.
Second issue of prefolds
You have to fold it into insert shape yourself. However, that is rather easy. You simply fold your insert into something that looks like an envelope shape looking thing that can fit into your diapers.
Here’s a summary of prefold inserts:
Pros
- Very cheap
- Very easy to wash and dry
- Can be stacked together due to their lack of bulkiness
Cons
- You have to fold it yourself (not difficult, but requires an extra step)
- Not as absorbent compared to other more expensive reusable inserts (more on that later)
There are other brands of prefolds that can be used as inserts too, but they are at least four times as expensive. Their quality is slightly better. However, that is not necessary. You are not converting to only using cloth diapers. You are only using prefold cloth diapers as a reinforcement for your current disposable diaper.
Besides, if you wanted something that is better quality that is only slightly more expensive than the Gerber prefolds, there is something better.
Charcoal Bamboo Reusable Liners
If you want better quality than prefolds without going broke, there is a way. Try charcoal bamboo reusable liners by Naturally Natures. There are also many benefits to this one.
First benefit of charcoal liners
They are very absorbent compared to prefolds. If you use these along with your disposable diapers, there is pretty much no chance you need to stack them. Besides, they are too thick to stack anyway.
Second benefit of charcoal liners
They are dark in color. Let’s say you decided not to purchase the liners I mentioned earlier to block poop. The darkness of this liner will kind of camouflage the fact it is poop stained. This way, you won’t feel so guilty about staining it.
Third benefit of charcoal liners
They require absolutely no folding. You simply use them as they are. It is a minor convenience, but when you are stressed out, minor details are very helpful. Charcoal liners are awesome, but there are also issues with them.
First issue of charcoal liners
They are harder to dry compared to prefold inserts. They are thicker after all so that is unavoidable. If you are in a hurry to use them, you can dry them quickly with machine dryers.
Second issue of charcoal liners
They are not the cheapest option. However, they are only a little more expensive than prefolds. They cost $32.97 for 12 of these. That is only $2.75 per liner. The gerber prefolds costs $1.40 per liner. So the charcoal liner costs $1.35 more per liner. However, they are much thicker, so you can consider them to be roughly the same in terms of quality per dollar ratio.
Third issue of charcoal liners
Their quality has dropped slightly over the years. In the past, they were a lot better product. Don’t get me wrong, they still absorb very well. That hasn’t changed. What has changed is that the outer cover is slightly lower in quality. As you wash it more, the threading will come a little loose. Honestly, it is a bit disappointing, but overall it’s not that bad. If you want, you can buy the charcoal reusable bamboo liner here.
Conclusion
No matter what kind of reusable insert you use, they would be very helpful for keeping your baby completely dry for the night. You don’t need to use them during the day, because you simply have to change your baby’s diapers more often.
Don’t trust disposable diaper inserts, because they are a defective product that does not work. They either leak or cause rashes. It is a waste of money. I hope this was all helpful to you. If you have any questions, please leave it in the comments section below.
I have actually never heard of disposable diaper inserts before. So far I have not needed them but sure would be a great thing to have if you had heavy wetters overnight. Our youngest son’s diaper is very full usually but so far not over full.
Thank you for sharing this!
A pampers swaddlers is more than enough to stop any heavy wetter. However, if you have a friend who has an “ultra” heavy wetter, then a disposable insert would be very helpful.
Oh no! You mean to tell me that there are ZERO quality disposable diaper inserts. Woah! I can’t believe that parents don’t buy them buy the truck load.
As the mother of two small boys, I was constantly worried that the babies would wet their pants and cry in the night and I would have to get up and change them. I was so sleep deprived that I think I even imagined it once or twice!!
the charcoal bamboo reusable liners that you mentioned seem really cool. Thanks for sharing this.
No problem. They are very absorbent. They are nice and dark so it is hard to look dirty with them. Don’t be so stressed out by the way. I know it is hard taking care of children.
Honestly, I’ve never even heard of diaper inserts. I’m having my 4th now and this is really good to know. When my oldest was a baby he was so tiny that the nappies always leaked- his legs had barely any fat on them. To solve the problem of him leaking I used to put 2 nappies on at a time. it worked like a charm! It’s good to know about these nappy liners, although I think reusable ones are a tad too much for me!
Thanks for a very informative article!
Hey buddy, try the reusable inserts. I know washing them is a pain in the butt, but wash them along with your regular laundry if you buy enough. If I didn’t recommend the disposable ones because they cause rashes and they explode from being slightly wet.
By the way, the liners are a charm because they block poop from touching your diapers. They are more for cloth diapers, but I am sure you can see their usefulness. If anything, get those. They are super cheap anyway. $1 for 12 sheets.
I didn’t know about the cheapening of the disposable liners, and I’m sad to hear it. If cloth diapers were as absorbent as pampers, I would convert to cloth diapers right away. They are really good with blowouts so I am often on the fence about this. However, using cloth diapers (the prefolds specifically) to combine with disposable actually sounds like a pretty good idea.
I will buy around seven to twelve of them (since they are so cheap anyway). By the end of the week, I will wash them together with my other laundry. The liner insert you mentioned is ingenius. If I have that, then I don’t have to worry about dumping poopy stains into my laundry.
You mean those disposable liner inserts? Yea, they are awesome protector of your cloth inserts. It makes the process much smoother to be able to use the diaper insert and then dump then in the wash. The only problem I see here is that you probably have to use baby friendly detergent for the inserts.
If that is the case, you probably have to wash them separately from your adult clothes. However, you are probably washing your baby clothes separately anyway. You might as well wash your baby clothes along with the inserts.
My eldest son went through a phase of peeing through his diaper and clothing and I just couldn’t figure out what to do until I heard of these diaper inserts.
At first, they were great but after a while, I would have to keep changing them as they would also get full.
Could you use more than 1 at the same time or is it recommended to only use 1 over the diaper?
No don’t worry about that. These diaper inserts are going to be used on top of your normal diapers. They exist to let your baby have an “extra padding” to absorb pee. You don’t have to change it all the time. I mean, during the day you simply have to change your baby’s diapers more often. You don’t need to use any inserts. At night, your baby has to sleep like six to eight hours which is the reason he leaks in the first place.
Simply use the inserts at night. You don’t need to wash more than one or two a day.
Hi Win Bill,
This is a very great post. I wish I read it before to make up my mind on whether to use cloth diapers or ordinary diapers. Right now, I am using disposable diapers, because it is simply more convenient for me. However, it seems like cloth diapers (the prefolds you mentioned) have their advantages too. I can use them as inserts.
These inserts that you mentioned are made of cotton, so they will most likely be excellent for summer use. During the summer time, my baby gets a rash pretty often. She’s also a heavy wetter your idea of combining a reusable insert with disposable diaper is exactly what I am looking for.
My second baby is coming soon. I will buy some prefolds like you mentioned. Thanks a bunch.
Hey, it’s never too late. Not to mention you can apply this stuff to your second baby. However, don’t forget to buy the “liner inserts” I mentioned. If your baby pooped then at least these insert liners will keep your prefold inserts from staining. Good luck.
Hi WinBill
Many thanks for your really interesting article.
When my children were very small, I always used reusable diapers – not the refold ones but the shaped ones which have an outer waterproof cover and which very rarely leaked.You could also get specially thick night-time diapers.
However, if I had had a particularly heavy-wetting baby, I think that I would definitely have used the charcoal liners which you recommend, they sound like a really good solution.
Thank yo for this information
Chrissie 🙂
The charcoal inserts works like a charm and they are nice and dark too. It’s really hard to “stain it”.
Thanks for the interesting article. Like a lot of the other readers I have never previously heard about diaper inserts. We have been using regular disposable nappies and changing them regularly during the day. Night time have become more of a problem recently with our toddler waking frequently. I suspect that the movement is making it more likely to leak. It is hard to tell but some of these occasions may be nappy related. I will definitely look into the inserts. Do you know if they are available in the UK?
Actually, cloth diapering might be more popular in the UK. Inserts are a common thing for cloth diapering. You should definitely be able to buy it there. You can probably buy it cheaper because it is so popular. I am not sure if you will find the charcoal inserts there. However, using pre-folds as an insert is definitely possible. Good luck with your walking toddler.
Hi there
Omg there are such things as diaper inserts?
I have been going nuts washing sheets because my toddler is such a heavy wetter. We have tried 2 and 2 sizes up and some nights it just doesn’t hold!
And now with winter coming up its harder and harder to get those pesky sheets to dry.
Thanks for your recommendation I might have to try these reusable diaper inserts. Sounds like a life saver!
Winter is almost coming for you? It sounds like you live in the southern hemisphere. For us here, winter is almost over. The inserts are pretty good. Instead of washing your sheets like crazy, you just need to dump your inserts in your regular laundry every week. I wish you good luck.