If you’ve got a chunky baby then it’s important to get the right nappies for them. This is because some diaper brands will leave red marks on their skin or cause leaks. We’re going to talk about which nappies are best for your little one, whether reusable or disposables, and how they can help prevent any problems!
What problems may occur?
If a nappy is too tight then it can cause some red marks to appear or give a red sore patch at the front where the closures rub against their sensitive skin.
On a newborn nappy having a bad fitting nappy might have more poo explosions so just might not be suitable. Also, it might cause extra bulk.
Chunky babies come in 3 main types. Chunky all over, chunky belly but chicken thighs or slim baby with chubby thighs. Knowing which one your baby is will help fix the problem of nappies not fitting right.
Chunky Babies Allover (we won’t call them Fat Babies)
This is actually the easiest to fix both in cloth diapers and disposable diaper brands. Generally, just go up a size. Check around the waistband and thighs, if you can’t snuggly fit your finger between nappy and skin, you need to move up a size in pampers, or in cloth, just adjust the popper settings.
Slim Waist but Chunky Legs!
My eldest and youngest both had really chunky legs and whilst my eldest was in disposables (before I saw the light), both were necessarily fat babies, they just had ready chunky thighs (rugby players would have been proud of them!).
This is the hardest to deal with in disposables. Diaper brands just don’t seem to realise that not all babies come out in perfect proportion!
It can actually be quite awkward to fit nappies onto babies with not chunky bellies but chunky thighs, but it is easier to do with cloth nappies.
Disposable Options
In disposables, you generally have to go up a nappy size as they just don’t have the same adjustment abilities as reusable nappies. But, here are the biggest issues as you can end up with gaps between the nappy and the baby’s skin, and gaps mean leaks! Every baby has a unique shape and this means they just don’t fit properly.
You can try alternative brands like pampers cruisers, pampers baby dry, Huggies, or little angels to see they might fit baby’s bum a little better. It’s just a case of trial and error to see which disposable diaper might fit better. They all generally offer the same features like wetness indicator and have the same levels of absorbency, so just try different brands and see if you can get a better more snug fit. There is no reason to be brand loyal is our advice!
Reusable Nappies Options
You may have got a chunky baby but that doesn’t mean you need to put them into larger-sized cloth nappies! For one-size nappies, it meant I had to adjust the poppers on the front down to the largest setting. This meant the nappy had more room to go around their thighs and also that it would sit on the better.
Also, you can find with two-part fitted nappies, you can have the inner fitted nappy on more loosely around the thighs which may help.
The best nappies I found for this was any of the bumgenius brand, as they all had super extra stretchy tabs on this. This allowed me to adjust for chunky/trim as needed. They were all one size so the weight range is 8lbs to 36lbs and I found this to be accurate.
I would recommend going for popper closures on reusable nappies as the poppers are more gentle and more forgiving on big bellies. It tends to be the velcro landing tabs that can rub on the belly and cause issues.
Chunky Belly, Chicken Thighs
Again, this is going to be hard in disposables to get this fit right and will lead to many parents being super frustrated with either baby being uncomfortable when wearing their nappies or leaking.
This is the toughest fix and leaking at the legs is much worse than leaking at the waist, generally because there is a lot more to leak out down there. I think I can only recommend getting a super soft disposable diaper that you can tighten without causing too much discomfort. It’s better to have a tighter belly than moisture leaking out the legs. Also when they go to sleep, there should be less rubbing as the belly is more flat. It’s better for baby dry nappies than mums and das being woke at night to change sheets and all!
Reusable are amazing when it comes to adjustment as on most popper nappies you have two sets of poppers, the bottom one to adjust around thighs and the top for waist. Also you can shorten the front panel to make them more snug around the hips. This will save a lot of time and effort.
What about potty training?
When it’s time to potty train your child, the sizing will become less important as you switch to either cloth training pants or disposable pulls ups.
Pants are generally more flexible and this becomes much less of an issue.
Take Away
The best nappies I found for this was any of the bumgenius brand, as they all had super extra stretchy tabs on this. This allowed me to adjust for chunky/trim as needed. They were all one size so the weight range is 8lbs to 36lbs and I found this to be accurate.
I would recommend going for popper closures on reusable nappies as the poppers are more gentle and more forgiving on big bellies. It tends to be the velcro landing tabs that can rub on the belly and cause issues.
This article was written by: Gian MIller – Full-Time Writer, Baby Whisperer & Dad of 3.
Gian spends a lot of his time writing. A self-proclaimed baby whisperer, Gian has been through it all with his own children and is passionate about sharing his hard-won wisdom with other parents. When he’s not writing or changing diapers, you can find him playing the guitar or watching baseball (or preferably both at the same time).
