Q&A: Peeing through a diaper at night

The title is a lie, because I don't actually have the answer. Michelle writes:

"I have a 21-month-old son who wakes up every morning SOAKING wet. Usually soaked through his diaper (a Pull-Ups overnight, I might add) to his pjs and his sheets.  In addition to feeling bad for my son who has to feel wet and yucky, I feel bad for my husband and I, since the wakings are getting earlier and earlier – he is now waking up between 5:45am and 6:00am (we have a 5 month old too, so sleep is a valuable commodity around here).  I know he would sleep later if he wasn’t swimming in his own pee.

He does drink a lot of fluids, usually two 8 oz. bottles of milk a day plus however much water he wants from his cup.  He loves water, so he gets a lot of refills on that.  I have tried not letting him have the water after dinner (5:30pm) lately, but that hasn’t seemed to make much of a difference.  He does get a bottle of milk at bedtime (I know, the horror!  It’s on my list of things to fix but with two under two I am doing good to maintain relative sanity and order around here – its my new year’s resolution to get him off the baba completely).  Surely it couldn’t be the milk causing him to pee like a race horse all night, could it?

I am just looking for some ideas on how to prevent leaks.  Should I limit the water?  Should I try to get him to pee on the potty before bed, even though he hasn’t really shown any potty training readiness signs? Should I just grin and bear it?  Will it ever stop?

He goes down around 7:30pm, usually falls asleep around 8:00pm (doesn’t sleep with bottle in mouth) and before the soaking through started he would sleep until 7am on the dot everyday.  As much as I love the fact that he is such a  good sleeper the lack of night wakings also means I can’t change a diaper in the middle of the night (*I have tried and we ended up watching his favorite dvd for an hour because he wouldn’t go back down).

He only weighs 30 pounds so the bigger Pull-Ups, Goodnights, etc just swallow him.  I am out of ideas – please help!"

You know, both my kids went through a phase of peeing through their diapers right at around that age. It lasted around 6 weeks to two months for each of them.

When my older son went through it, we were still using cloth diapers at night. We were using pocket diapers, and I kept increasing the stuffing until he was all puffed up like a marshmallow. I tried hemp, I tried microfiber, and nothing seemed to make much difference. Then one morning I just realized he hadn't peed through his diaper in a few days.

Flash forward to my second child. We were in disposable diapers by then (I use Seventh Generation, because I figure if I'm using disposable I'd rather give my money to a company with some interest in the environment, instead of a mega-conglomerate, and they're just as absorbent as the national brands). Same leaking through problem. So I tried three or four other brands of diapers in the same size and a size bigger. No change. He leaked through them all (but out the side with the bigger sizes. Then one day he just didn't leak anymore.

So basically, I have nothing, except that it'll probably stop on its own.

Anyone have anything that actually stopped the leaking? Or did you just try things and then it stopped on its own. Any idea why this happens at this age?

Comments

[&BabyMakes75]

Michelle, I know how frustrating this is. I had the same situation as Moxie, except instead of trying many different diapers we just waited it out. (We've only used Seventh Generation for same reasons she listed.) It lasted about a month, but not every night, and it only meant waking up about 45 mins earlier than usual. It is possible that the following things helped... or it was just time passing...

1. Putting him on the big boy potty just like daddy right before bedtime, (he always went at least a little but he never initiated - had to be asked). Also, first thing in the morning, even if soaked, back on the potty. The thought was that he could possibly associate morning with going to the potty and learn to wait a little. May or may not have worked. (My son is 2 yrs 7 months & not potty trained yet.)

2. going back to sleeping in a onesie crotch-snap short-sleeve tshirt under pajamas. This may have worked under the theory that (a) perhaps he was moving his diaper in such a way that leaks were easier or (b) gave him ... read me... about an extra 15 mins or so before being soaked through all pajamas and blankie

[Heidi]

My short answer: lose the bedtime milk.

Now for the long part. I was having exactly the same problem with my son at around 2 1/2. People kept telling me to move him to a larger and more absorbent nighttime diaper, but it didn't work because he's skinny (he's almost 3 now, and I doubt if he weighs 30 lbs. yet). Perhaps if I'd waited longer, I'd have found it was a developmental blip, but the problem stopped immediately when I gave up the drink of milk before bedtime. I don't think he's dehydrated, because his diapers are quite wet when he wakes up, just not completely saturated.

You probably have great reasons for the bedtime drink, so take this for what it's worth. I know that MY main reason for the milk before bed was continuity--I'd been nursing him at bedtime until he was just over 2, and since he's always been a horrible sleeper, I thought that holding him for awhile and having the milk would approximate the routine we were used to. In other words, I was afraid to tamper with success. But giving up the milk was easier that I thought. One night I told him we were going to try not having a drink (I may have lied and said I forgot it downstairs? I've conveniently forgotten which), so I just held him and listened to music in the dark for a few minutes before putting him down. The next few nights when he asked for milk, I said something like, "We don't have a drink before bed anymore, remember?," and he was mostly OK with it. End of wetting problem, and end of my guilt about putting him to bed without clean teeth.

Good luck to you. Several people also recommended buying cloth diaper inserts and adding them to his nighttime diaper, and that was going to be my next resort if the previous method hadn't worked.

[Lily]

I actually once babysat a kid who did this - in a country where it was too warm to stop the liquids. The goal of keeping them hydrated was paramount.

That kid - and it's likely child-specific - used to actually get thirsty in the night, so we used to first give him a fresh bottle of water (which kept him sucking and asleep), and then changed his diaper in his sleep at around 2am.

The timing was based on the fact that he typically got VERY agitated in his sleep at that time, and started fidgeting and kicking - and coincidentally at the time when his diaper was very full - but not overflowing. Being the the same room with him, this flurry of activity woke me up and I was able to perform the bottle-and-diaper activity in a semi-asleep state.

Worked with him... but then, I also didn't sleep full nights for a while.

[Zoe]

I remember my younger siblings going through this. My mom used cloth on us all and so she did as Moxie described with her first and stuffed us up like Mr.Stay Puff. She also used old fashioned plastic pants on the outside of the whole diaper concoction to at least help contain the wetness. Next she tucked a thick towel around the mattress on top of a rubber/flannel pad just to be safe. Also she kept a put together night time diaper by the bed and dressed us in two peace PJ's, that way if she was up anyway with another one, she had a back up ready and waiting for an easy mid-sleep change.
Hope this helps!

[paola]

Sounds like a lot of fluids too close to bed-time. My 2year and 10 month old suffered/suffers the same problem as yours although he has started to hold on and so most mornings his nappy is dry, but the mornings it isn't, his pjs are also wet, and there is often an early morning call and then there is no way to get him back off to sleep. I just limited the amount he drank before going to bed, spreading liquid consumption over teh whole day to keep his liquids up. Still gave him his milk (in a glass) before going down as it is part of his going to bed ritual as he often cries or is uncooperative if he doesn't get it. In winter it was much worse, I might add, when there wasn't much sweating. In summer we didn't really have a problem. I'd try the plastic pants as Zoe suggested.

[heather]

I don't have any answers, but my 14 month old son has been doing the same thing for the last two weeks or so. He still nurses in the early morning though, so I have been changing his diaper then before he goes back in his crib. And went up a diaper size at night.

[Melanie]

Not sure if this would be possible, but what about putting on a regular diaper, then a diaper a size or two larger over top of that. Might be too bulky though, I have never tried it.

[LauraC]

Diaper doublers combined with Huggies overnights! Diaper doublers are like a little maxi-pad that you put inside the diaper to absorb extra fluid. And Huggies Overnites are the most absorbent on the market.

One of my twins is a big night peer so we've had to bust out the diaper doublers during at least 4 phases so far.

[sue]

My daughter was doing this pretty much her whole two-year. Your lucky - your son isn't too big (my daughter is enormous for her age. At 3 she is 42 inches tall and 45 pounds, making diaper finding difficult) Things that worked for us were sneaking in and changing her diaper around 10-11pm right before we went to bed, using Huggies overnight's diapers (they come in sizes 3,4,and 5), and using a diaper doubler - only a few grocery stores carry them. They look kind of like maternity maxi pads and you stick them in a diaper to increase absorbancy.

All those things helped a LOT. What *really* helped was taking away the bottle of milk (she still gets a bottle of water). I know it seems competely overwhelming to face your frantic and hysterical child (especially with another baby in the house - we took our daughter's away when our son was 7 mos. yikes) *but* the drama only lasts a couple of days. really. And if you do it now, you might be able escape the walk of shame we had to do at the dentist a couple months ago (mild baby bottle teeth).

Good luck! I feel for you!

[Shanna]

Switching to overstuffed pocket diapers (from Seventh Gen disposables) worked for us, but then again we are dealing with a 10-month-old (this was about a month ago), so wetting patterns may be different.

[Cat, Galloping]

no answers, just commiseration. we've had this for as long as i can remember (my son is 25 months), so it doesn't seem like just a phase! i'm going to try the diaper doublers, though. last time i went to buy them, i read terrible reviews online so abandoned the idea, but it's worth a shot!

[Tara]

I will add another plug for the diaper doublers. My mom swears by putting newborn sized diapers inside of the bigger ones. She said it was the only thing that kept me from soaking through when I was little. I'm saving our leftovers from that time for just this purpose.

[Julie]

No ideas other than what has been mentioned. But I am very happy to learn about the diaper doublers - I've been meaning to find the leftover maxipads I used post birth. Our son, 17 months, has this problem on average half the week.

[casey]

Perhaps you should go a bigger size at night only? I have heard of that helping a lot of parents in similar situations - maybe a size 5 regular diaper would do the trick just at night.

[cagey]

When my son went through this (at around 21 months also) a friend said that she had read around that time, kids starting "holding it" for longer periods of time. When they sleep, they are letting it go since they are relaxed. Supposedly, it is the beginning of being ready for the toilet, I guess.

[Leah]

What about putting him in longies? we use them as a cover over cloth diapers because they absorb extra wetness but don't smell after drying so you only have to wash them every couple of weeks.

A set of recycled wool longies and a sudz n dudz bar for washing would probably only set you back $25 max. Feel free to email me for more info...

[Leah]

oh and I forgot to say - you can put them over disposables. I used them over disposables when we went to Germany for a vacation, and they worked great - no leaks even when she peed right through her dipe because we couldn't find anywhere to change her for too many hours!

[cagey]

Sorry, meant to mention that our solution was using a Huggies Overnight diaper in size 5 (our kid is skinny, weighs around 28 lbs and is now just over 2 years)

[neutral]

my daughter is only 8 months, but it took us FOREVER to find a diaper she wouldn't leak through at night. i am a cloth user, but was using disposables at night and she leaked through those too. like moxie, i tried many combination of giant pocket diapers stuffed with hemp and whatever else i could find. nada.

i finally found the solution, and it's never leaked. a BumGenius pocket diaper (on it's highest setting it should fit your 21-month old), i add an extra very small, thin fleece booster inside the pocket, and top it all off with the Stacinator wool cover. the cover is the element that's most important! it's stretchy and comfortable, but holds moisture in like nobody's business. and it rarely needs washing, most days i just air it out and it's fresh by evening.

[medea]

I would try fleece longies. They're easier to wash than wool but with the same properties, so at least the bed will stay dry. Old Navy has some thick enough to work, or look on hyenacart.com for someone who makes them with Malden Mills fleece, which is the best.

[SarcastiCarrie]

Diaper doubler (available at Toys-R-Us and elsewhere) inside a Huggies Overnite, Size 5. And then polar fleece jammies because wet fleece is not cold. The wetness goes right through so it stays dry-ish near their skin.

[Jen]

My dd is two and a half and we have had this issue before too. The thing that helped us was those old-fashioned potty-training underpants things. They are heavy duty plastic on the outside and terrycloth absorbent on the inside. We put these over an overnite diaper. I would suggest you go back to overnite diapers and not overnite pull-ups, diapers fit more securely and in my experience tend to leak less. The only reason we did this was because she was having tummy issues for several days and had diarrhea for several nights in a row that would leak out of her diaper, through her pj's and onto my bed because we were still co-sleeping at the time (sadly, this was only a few months ago) I HATE POOP ON MY BED! This worked for us.

[Jan]

With the Munchkin, I used a disposable with a cloth diaper (prefold) and wrap (prorap) over it and it solved the problem.

The problem probably is the milk at bedtime. Think about pouring that whole 8 oz straight into a diaper. You'd get a leak!

Good luck. And good wishes for the two-under-two time -- it's crazy, but mostly in a good way, and it passes all too quickly.

[lisa]

We have this problem occasionally with my 20-month old. He wears a size 4 Huggies Overnight (which are becoming hard to find...has anyone else noticed this?) He does tend to wake up earlier if he's really wet, but not always. It's amazing how much those diapers contain, but one of these days, I'm convinced that the diaper (and his pants) are going to just fall right off him because they're so heavy!

I've never heard of diaper doublers but I'm sure going to look for them now!

[Nole]

My son (now 16 months) had this problem from 5-10 months old. We found a product at a grocery store called a diaper doubler. It looked like a really big maxi-pad and went right in the diaper. If you can't find it exactly, I'd use the largest maxi-pad you can find. Some of them can be very absorbent.

[veggiewarrior]

Pull ups (even the "overnight" variety) are less absorbant than diapers so you might want to switch back to diapers at night. You could also try adding a maxi pad to the diaper. It also helps to put them in PJs that are heavy fleece or wool. They don't leak as quickly and will stay warmer once wet. It does help to switch from milk to water before bed. Try to gradually water down his milk if you think this will cause him meltdowns. I don't know why water vs. milk makes a differnce but it does! Good luck. We went through a long stage of soaking wet mornings so I know how frustrating it is for everyone!

[Charisse]

No experience with this at night (call me when he's waking up hysterical with wettings in his undies) :) ...but I think what cagey said may be a good clue--my daughter went through a phase of peeing right through her diapers in the daytime, a few months before she potty-trained for good. What her daycare teachers helped me figure out was that she was dry for quite a while, and then once she let go with several hours worth of pee, it completely overwhelmed her pull-up. So that was a great clue for us for daytime training--obviously it's going to be harder to work with at night, but do take it as a potential sign of growing, um, capacity and readiness.

[Lemon]

My son is a super soaker too - he pees more than any child I have ever heard of. That's actually how I found Moxie a while back - I think I googled "excessive drinking" or something similar.

Cut out the milk & other drinks after dinner- it won't be nearly as hard as you're afraid of. Substitute with an ounce or so of water in a sippie cup in his crib. If he asks for a drink after dinner & before bed, it could be just from habit. You can do another activity to distract - give him a toothbrush with a little toothpaste on it - not quite the same as a drink, but involves the mouth and has worked for me.

Make sure that his penis is pointed down when you put the diaper on. If my son's is pointed up... the urine will come out the top part of his diaper first.

Go up a diaper size, but make sure that the diaper is not too big. Sometimes the top part of my son's diaper around his belly button will fold down just 1/2 inch, but it turns his shirt into a wick and he ends up soaked by the morning.

I totally understand your desire to not rock the boat with 2 under 2 - my guys were 13 months apart. My experience over the last year has been that my anticipation/anxiety of changing things up and possible sleep or behavioral disruption has always been worse than the actual change. (That being said, I'm terrified of taking away the pacifiers!!!)

Good Luck!

[Aletheia]

Two things not mentioned yet come to mind:
1) Teething. I know it is late, but is your child possibly teething? We EC at night, and others who do have also noticed that nighttime peeing goes way way up with teething. I actually read somewhere that there is a theory that when the body is dealing with inflamation it doesn't produce as much Antidiuretic Hormone, which is what makes us not pee so much while we sleep.

2) A possible low-grade food allergy. EC has also shown me that my babe pees a lot more in general when he is exposed to the foods to which he is allergic. You might consider dairy, wheat, or eggs as possible culprits and reflect on whether your child has had any other strange unexplained symptoms, from periodic irritability, rashes, flushed cheeks, diarhea, or hyperactivity. The low-grade allergies can be hardest to catch, but can make a big difference when figured out!

[Carrie]

2 words: DIAPER DOUBLERS. They sell them at Safeway (they are made by Safeway, actually) and they look like a big maxipad that you put in the diaper at night. In fact, not sure why you couldn't just use a real maxi, but I haven't tried that. The DDs worked great with my son along with regular, generic diapers. I don't see why you should waste your money on Pullups at his age - isn't that more for kids to pull up/down themselves while potty training? I find regular diapers a lot more absorbant, and the cheap generics (Target, Walmart) were just as good as the name brands.

So get to a Safeway, pronto!

[paola]

Interesting Charrise!! This confirms that Noah is definitely toilet training.

[Julie]

I am right there with you....we often have the same problem. Haven't read the comments yet, so if I repeat, sorry.

BTW, my son at 2 is still on the bottle - don't feel guilty about that. I had huge guilt about it for a long time and then I just realized that he will not be going to his first day of kindergarten with a bottle. And if he does, he probably won't be taking it with him on his second day.

That being said, we also do a giant 8oz bottle right before bed. Fill up the tummy, get him nice and soothed - b/c that's what the bottle does for us, it soothes. I understand you are relucatant to wake him up to change him.....but it could also be the timing of the wakeup that does it. If it's too close to his usual wake up time (ie: between 3 and 7) you might have a problem going back down. If you do it a bit earlier - ie: between 12 and 2 you might have better luck. Also, if he gets a big bottle before bed, give him another one if you decide to wake him up to change him. Change him first, then bottle and back to bed. Also, get everything ready before waking him up to minimize the disruption....and the obvious stuff like keep the room dark, no talking, etc. Perhaps you've already tried this, and it doesn't work, but just thought I'd share what works for us. It doesn't really solve your waking-up problem, or keeping him dry all night.....but at least it might buy you a little more sleeping time in the morning. If you're up around that time with the 5 month old, it might be worth a try.

We use the Huggies overnights in size 5 (the largest size out there). We make sure to put the front of the diaper up over his belly button, and that "he" is pointing down. Which can be hard when "he" is about the size of a small mushroom.

Good luck. For some reason I've found that my friends with boys have this problem much more frequently than my friends with girls. Go figure.

[emily]

Reading this entry, I realized that we used to have this problem ... and lo and behold, it was right around 21 months. With us the big issue was POOPING out the sides of the 7th gen. diapers and down his legs. Since then it has stopped happening with any frequency. Thanks, Moxie and Michelle, for helping me see it in perspective!

[Sidney]

I have learned from experience that it's the milk. Our body processes milk like a sugar (I am not a Dr. I don't know the exact process) When you drink sugar you pee more. I stopped the bottle and it stopped the leaking at night. Water is simple, it runs thru the body faster. The bottle isn't as hard to stop as you think. And from experience (I weaned my eldest daughter from her Passie at (gulp) three!) the sooner you wean the bottle the better. It's all about breaking the habit.

[Rachel]

One thing about the diaper doublers--I wouldn't suggest using them for a girl. We used them for a while with my daughter, who was leaking through the Huggies Overnights, and I am pretty sure they were the cause of a yeast infection.

[stacy]

Two ideas for you that have worked for us...
1) cut back on the milk. We limit after-dinner fluids to 1/2 of a sippy cup. No more than that.

2) Add an adult diaper (like Depends) to his diaper. It's like a big maxi pad. It works.

Good luck!

[preschool mom]

Another vote for Huggies Overnights here. They REALLY work.

[pnuts mama]

i was wondering why he's wearing pull-ups at night? i'm pretty sure the point of the pull-up is to be *not* absorbent- thus the use during potty training. if he's wearing regular diapers all day, why not keep him in those at night as well and see what happens? if not, maybe buy a pack of regular diapers for nighttime only?

our kid is 28 months and i haven't even considered a pull-up yet (not there yet for potty training)- she still wears pampers cruisers day and night. everyone i know who has a boy swears by huggies, however, something about where they are more absorbent for boys, vs. girls. maybe you "splurge" for the super brand of huggies and see what happens at night? good luck!

[fahmi]

My son had this problem from about 20 months or so. At 23 months, it's not everyday, but it still happens every so often. We've cut down on the amount of liquids he gets after 5pm (to about 4 or 5 ounces of milk) which is okay in the winter, but I am glad we didn't have to worry about it over the summer.

We moved up to size 5 diapers before we felt comfortable, and it didn't help at all. He is already potty training, so we put him on the potty before bed, but that hasn't really made much of a difference either. Since it's no longer everyday at 23 months, we are just waiting it out.

[alchemilla]

No help to give - but I'm fascinated by the answers, since my boy is coming up for 21 months and most mornings has a nappy positively bulging with wee.

We still give him 8oz of milk from a bottle too, just before tooth brushing, story and bed (although I have a little voice inside that tells me it's time to give the bottle up, not too sure why). Moxie, what are the 'baby bottle teeth' that Sue mentions and do you have any thoughts or past posts on this topic?

[Jennifer]

Wow! This started happening for us right at 23 months and I thought it was just a fluke. I had no idea that this was predictable. It lasted about a month. I did cut back some on the milk at bedtime, but didn't feel comfortable eliminating because she doesn't eat much at all at dinner. I'm glad to see all of the tips if this problem re-emerges.

[Julie]

@Alchemilla, I once googled "baby bottle teeth" because I was kind of worried. The pics are horrible, but give you an idea of what to look for. I'm no dentist, but I think it's a form of tooth decay caused by babies sleeping with bottles in their mouths, or going to sleep right after drinking milk without a sip or two of water to rinse the mouth out. Maybe Sue could give us more information about her situation and what her dentist said because I am kind of curious too.

The teeth formation is another concern....but for us, I don't think the 2 bottles he has a day for about 5 minutes each time are really going to make or break anything. It's the pacifier use that will probably send us to the orthodontist in about 12 years...

[maman_du_petrus]

Our son is 27 months and we are slowly going over that pee-overflow-phase described by Moxie. I just want to say that our son does not and did not have a bottle of milk at night before, during or after the worst part of the phase so it may happen independently of fluid intake in some children. That would fit with the hypothesis that they are gaining better control of their elimination but that at night while sleeping they are not controling so everything that built up during the day goes out in the night diaper. Our son interest in the toilet started around 23 months (not using it on a regular basis yet) and I would say that its exactly when he started soaking his diaper and waking up at 5h30. Just another data point. On this topic, our son gets only one milk bottle a day and its in the morning, sitting with us in our bed and our pediatrician told us to "stop that because he's too old for a bottle". But I must say that I don't care what she thinks, he can have one in the morning until he goes to college if he likes it, he will be all grown up and not wanting to sit for 10 minutes with us pretty soon (booooring), and he is such a reasonable and calm, almost adult-tempered type of little boy that has no blankie, no pacifier...so why hurry to push him in the "big boy world" for the only thing that still makes him a baby?

[Maureen2]

I have to go with the recommendation for the Huggies Overnights as well - they come in many sizes. I have twin 2 1/2 boys and those diapers are more than full by the morning and we don't typically have leak issues. A friend of mine with similar aged boys was having issues with having to change her boys in the middle of the night or early morning and she switched to Overnights and I think they now sleep a little later. We've used these since they were little and I don't know what we'd do without them.

[Jen]

How about getting him out of bed and putting him on the potty or toilet right before you go to bed? We do this with our 2 1/2 year old and he often stays asleep through the whole process. Sometimes he will wake up enough to sing while peeing and then instantly fall back asleep, which is hilarious.

If your little guy doesn't use the potty during the day, you can still try this -- experiment with cuing him for this night time pee with a "sssssss" sound or running water (elimination communication style).

[jesse]

I hope this isn't a highjack (i am justifying because I am the 45th post?) but does anyone out there use G-diapers? I just want to make a pitch for them as an alternative to disposies and cloth-- they are great-- they have a cloth over-diaper and a cotton-ish diaper insert which is flushable AND throwable (if you are in a drought and don't want to flush too much, as we are here in Atlanta) and they biodegrade like mad in the landfill (the company has a photo). Although, my down side is i have the same problem of pee-through as the poster alot of nights. Maybe I will double the inserts as suggested.

[Jill]

I wouldn't just use a maxi pad or adult incontinence pad in a diaper. Stick with the Diaper Doublers. The others have a wetness barrier to keep underwear dry. The goal at night is for the doubler to soak through to the diaper-- which can then absorb also. The plastic exterior of the maxi and pad may prevent that. I used doublers at the end of every size diaper before moving on to a larger size.

[Courtney]

I would say since it's a lot of trouble to lose the bedtime bottle right away then I would change to three bottles with less milk in each and maybe even only 4 oz at bedtime. But I would also start working on losing the bedtime bottle. Just my two cents.

[Amy]

Huggies Overnights saved my sanity during this time. Sure Huggies are the devil- big corporation, Disney characters...but I HAD to have some sleep...and everything else left him, the bed, his clothes soaked.

[Karen]

Maybe these have already been mentioned (I didn't read all the comments), but:
1. Use GoodNights *plus* a Diaper Doublers pad (in the baby section at most Safeways)
2. Discontinue the late-night milk, which does, in fact, make them pee more at night. Go figure.