www.incontinentsupport.org

Many people find that disposable diapers leak when sleeping on your side, but there are others who report positive results. I can think of two reasons disposables are worse that cloth.
1. there isn't much padding on the side so gravity draws fluid to the place where there isn't much to absorb it.
2. disposables aren't really sealed on the side so fluids leak out before the get absorbed, unlike cloth which is always worn with plastic pants.
It might help to wear plastic pants over the disposable. Even Using a diaper with a bigger overlap of the sides might help.
Who has been successful & why?

I use disposables and sleep on my side. I don't have too many issues as I use the tena slip maxi (plastic backed) and I find these absorb very very quickly. I found getting a good fit is what is needed and making sure your member (if male) is pointing down. I use to get issues with other cheaper brands but I found them and the abena m4's too be perfectly suitable, so far no wet sheets

Cycling_guy, I am a side sleeper and share your frustration at leaks.

Basic strategies:
1 - Choose the right diaper. You may need faster absorption. A diaper with more fluff is good. Try a Dry 24/7.
2 - Add a booster pad to the diaper for more absorption.
3 - Tape the diaper more snugly and reinforce the tapes so they will not pop off

More complex strategies:
4 - Wear two pair of plastic pants - the first sized for disposables and a larger pair on top. The elastics of the large pair should make contact with the thighs below the elastics from the first pair. This should keep a couple of ounces from leaking out.
5 - Double diaper with slits cut in the shell of the inner diaper. I use a Dry 24/7 over a Seni. Works great but increases the cost.
6 - Wear a day-weight cloth diaper over the disposable. Works great and you only need to wash the cloth diaper if there is a leak from the disposable.

Best strategy:
7 - Wear cloth diapers

I have done all of these but now wear cloth exclusively at night, except when on travel.

--John

Same here, also a side sleeper. I did use cloth diapers for a while, but found them to be a pain in the but to clean, and the extra padding was becoming a literal pain in my hips. Now I use disposables with a few other techniques. All combined I almost never get any leaks in spite of staying extremely well hydrated.

1. Diapers. I only ever use the best premium diapers for overnight. For me this means confidry24/7. I don't expect every inch of the diaper to get used though. Any diaper is only as good as it lasts before it leaks. If it can't last without leaking overnight, then it isn't good enough.

2. Boosters. This will help extend a diapers capacity, but technique can also mean extending the time before you diaper leaks. I actually cup a baby diaper over me, as just using a flat booster will still allow pee to run off the sides before it can get absorbed. After this I then tape on the confidry. This cupping acts as a sort of "wetlands" (pun intended, but also quite literally). It is able to absorb any flooding I might produce, but then slowly overflows into my confidry. This in turn gives the confidry more time to absorb and wick my pee before it would otherwise leak. Additionally, the cupping will redirect pee to the center of the diaper to begin with. It does extend the overall capacity, but more importantly will greatly extend the time before I leak.

3. Position. After some knee surgeries I've learned to not sleep with my knees touching. Instead I sleep with one knee forward of the other (and both lying flat on the bed). The sleeping position is called the "portal" if anyone wants to look it up. It's called this because your shoulders are positioned for normal side sleeping, but your feet are positioned more as if you were sleeping on your stomach. I quickly found this position also rotates my hips forward, so my pee wont run straight down to my side, and instead runs down the diaper where its much more likely to get absorbed.

4. Flip sides. I tend to wake every 2-3 hours. When I'm awake, I make it a point to flip over on to my other side. Being able to use both sides of the diapers padding obviously doubles its ability to absorb without leaking. Though this only works when I wake up enough, which probably only happens half of the time for me.

4. Bed protection. This should go without saying, but any diaper will eventually fail. Not if, but when. I use a cloth waterproof mattress cover. I got mine from walmart for pretty cheap. You zip it around the mattress, then put your normal bed sheet over that. It still breathes too so I can hardly tell its even there. After that, I also sleep on top of a washable bed pad. I have two so if I wake up in the middle of the night with a leak I can switch out the pad real easy then just flip over and go back to sleep. Again though, this happens very seldom. I'm more likely to wash my bed pad as a part of my normal laundry than because it got wet.

All combined, I've been very successful with using disposables overnight, even as a side (portal) sleeper.

You can get the cloth liners and use them inside, definitely helps side sleepers in disposables, and yes, they make them in adult sizes too! Puffy

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Puffy
BC, Canada
Fighting the "Bladder Battle" since 1995

J.D. Is right, cloth is the best at night if you are a side sleeper. When we travel I use one size larger diaper, boosters and extra tape to keep the bed dry.

I too side sleep, and wear the ConfiDry 24/7, I've had no real issues with this and rarely leak. Don't really do anything special, a mattress cover is about the extent of it and boxer briefs over my diaper to hold it in place.

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