Spending the night with Huggies Overnites
Every night on our way to bed, Dave and I whip out our fists and engage in a fierce Paper/Rock/Scissors battle, the loser having to tiptoe into our nineteen-month old son’s room and change his diaper oh-so quickly and quietly. If we don’t change Oliver before we hit the sack it’s guaranteed that when we wake up in the morning his diaper will have leaked.
We’ve got creeping into his room and changing his diaper on the sly down to a science, but when the Parentblogging team asked me if I was interested in reviewing Huggies Overnites, I gave an enthusiastic yes. Admittedly, I’ve always been skeptical of diapers that claim to last the night with no leaks, but we are a Huggies-friendly household and I was curious to see if their Overnites could withstand the test. The diapers – a pack of 31 – arrived in a really cool travel bag and I started using them almost immediately.
The first night didn’t go so well, but I didn’t blame the diaper. Anyone who reads my personal blog knows that at times, my son can be rather, uh…craptastic. When I went into his bedroom that morning I found him pretty much covered in poop – he’d had a total blowout just minutes before I walked in. I chalked it up to bad luck and waited for bedtime to try again.
He leaked the second night and a few other nights he wore the Overnites. I’d say the non-leak to leak ratio was about 70:30 – some mornings he woke up wet and others he woke up bulging, but not wet. It made me wonder what Huggies considers an ‘overnight’ to be. Is eight hours overnight? Ten? See, Oliver usually goes to bed between 7 and 7.30pm. When we sneak in and change him, usually between 11 and midnight, he rarely wakes up wet. He typically gets up between 6.30 and 7.30am, so if I put him in an Overnight at 7pm, that diaper’s on him for approximately twelve hours. That’s a long time and a lot of pee for one diaper to withstand.
I wasn’t all that surprised that Oliver leaked, to be honest, but what did bother me quite a bit was the fact that I couldn’t find the diapers on store shelves in my area. I live in Canada and after a bit of searching I began to wonder if this particular brand of diaper is even sold here. I don’t have a definite answer to that question, but I’ve checked several stores that carry a variety of diapers and haven’t been able to find them. And frankly, that bugged me. What if I really liked the Overnites and wanted to use them on Oliver exclusively at nighttime? I wouldn’t be able to.
So let’s crunch some numbers. Because I couldn’t find a Canadian price for the Overnites, I compared US prices and found that they’re sold for between $10-12.99. When I use the latter price and factor in the exchange rate I get a cost of about $15CAD for a pack of 31.
We buy our diapers at Costco, where a box of 200 Huggies Size 4’s – with Leak Lock – costs just over fifty bucks and lasts about two and a half to three weeks. Am I going to spend an additional $15 for 31 overnight diapers that are hit and miss with my son, on top of the fifty-plus I spend on his regular, everyday diapers? No way. I’d rather tiptoe into his room at night and change him before I go to bed. Sure, not having to do that was nice while it lasted, but with the Overnites, having him wake up dry wasn’t a sure thing and that’s simply not good enough for me. I’d rather wake him up and change him knowing that in the morning he’ll be dry as opposed to putting him in an Overnite diaper and wondering if, come sunrise, he’d be wet or dry. I won’t stop buying the Huggies diapers that we buy now, but I won’t be buying the Overnites.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:57 am
We buy the clubsize diapers at Fortinos and occassionally at Wal-mart for about 35 bucks, we use Pampers though. We’ve never had a leak thru overnight with them, and Lucas tends to have very full diapers in the morning.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:54 am
I took your math further… you are getting regular Huggies diapers at 25 cents each. Two diapers a night is 50 cents with guarenteed baby dryness.
While the Huggies Overnights are 48 cents each but you could be doing laundry in the morning.
I always lose at Paper/Rock/Scissors.
March 30th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
I’m with Jana - knowing that I won’t have to deal with pee-covered sheets and jammies (and worst of all - a pee-covered Lambie) in the morning trumps any economic calculations. CJ can leak through a Cruiser in the course of a two-hour nap, let alone what happens when she’s asleep for twelve hours.
I guess that’s why crib mattresses are covered in plastic…
I’ll get you a definite answer re availability as soon as possible. Thanks for your patience and for giving the Overnites a try. I knew Oliver would be a formidable adversary.
March 30th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
We do use Huggies Overnites every night. I get them at a Super Walmart. My son fills up, but doesn’t leak out of them. He does end up with an overflow diaper in any regular diapers over night. He sleeps from 7-7. Overnites are not designed for pooping - we have to change Henry out of the overnite immediately upon waking because almost any but the most firm poop will come right out the leg holes. Two days ago he had a gigantic 5 am poop that we had to completely strip him and put him in the bath because the Overnite did not contain it at ALL.
March 31st, 2007 at 7:55 am
I have a chronic 5 year old bed wetter… and she pees a lot(in bed from 8 till at least 7)!
We use Real Canadian Superstore’s store brand overnight pull-ups. Totally available in Canada. Haven’t leaked yet, and she does all the time with Pampers pull-up thingys(?) I think they are $14.99 for 27 or 28, but so worth the laundry saved. Know what I mean?
March 31st, 2007 at 4:51 pm
we always had to use the huggies overnites a size larger than needed, and fasten it up tight!
never failed.
also, in our area there’s not really an easy way to find true huggies overnight diapers anymore, but i’ve been having no trouble finding the overnight pull-ups with either buzz lightyear/toystory graphics or princesses.
they’re only supposed to last 8 to 10 hours, but cutting back on liquids an hour before bedtime helps.
April 3rd, 2007 at 9:17 pm
The stores in Canada no longer carry this diaper, because they are stupid. The stores are cramped for shelf space and this FABULOUS dipaer got the boot. The geniuses who made this decision obviously don’t have kids of their own. Pherhaps they would like to come to my house in the morning and do my laundry and apologize to my soaking wet child. MORONS. Bring this diaper back please.
June 4th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
My 18 month old son has been using pampers easy ups for daytime and night time use for 3 months now and i do find on occasion he will wake up wet having leaked through the sides. I would love to start potty training but i feel he still drinks far too much. On a good day he can drink a good five litres of liquid. He will simply not go without ‘joocey’ can anyone help. I live in scotland so most of the brands mentioned i can’t get here:-( ps. I stopped breastfeeding 12 months ago and i still leak help.
June 9th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
For those who have leaky diapers, have you tried upping a size? Often parents are using a size smaler than they should be. My daughter is 17 months old and almost never has leaks over a 12 hour night and I mostly use cheaper store-brand diapers. If I am using Pampers or Huggies, she NEVER leaks. If she does, I often find the bigger size to fix the problem. You of course don’t want TOO big a size though or it won’t hold anything in.
May 26th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I am a first time mom with an 8 month old living in the US. My mother-in-law has been telling me for the last couple of months that I needed to find overnight diapers. I thought they weren’t made anymore because I couldn’t find them anywhere, even Babies R Us which has everything. I did a search online tonight and found a pack of 36 online at drugstore.com for 12.99 with free shipping. My daughter was an excellent sleeper until about a month ago when she started waking up in the middle of the night for a diaper change (just wet diapers). I really hope these diapers help us both get some sleep.