Naptime Potty Training

[debit34]

I need help. My dd, age 3 (just turned 3), is starting a new daycare in two weeks and they require kids to be completely potty trained. DD is completely potty trained except for naps and bedtime. We've been putting a pullup on her for naps and bed and she always wakes up with them wet. We've tried to go without a pullup for nap and the first day dd woke up dry but today she woke up wet.

Does anyone have any tips? Is there really anything I can do? I'm so scared they won't accept her at this daycare if she can't get this down. We've already told our other daycare provider that she'll no longer be needed.

Thanks!

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I hate to tell you but you can't train a child not to wet when they are sleeping. When they are ready they will stop wetting. Their bodies have to be ready. If your daycare doesn't know this then I would look for a new one. They are not putting the child first. JMHO.

 

[LaraK]

Having just cleaned up a huge blow out poop my just turned 3 DS put in his pull up...I feel for you. I have no hints as I am failling this process misserably myself. We don't always get a wet pull up after nap (he uses underware at school) but the poop thing is NOT going well.

 

[Beth76]

Will she be napping there? My son just turned 3 and doesn't nap anymore. Are you sure they won't do pull-ups just for nap time? I agree with pp that said unfortunately there's nothing you can do. You may just want to keep her in her underwear during naps and see what happens.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Having just cleaned up a huge blow out poop my just turned 3 DS put in his pull up...I feel for you. I have no hints as I am failling this process misserably myself. We don't always get a wet pull up after nap (he uses underware at school) but the poop thing is NOT going well.

You are not failing at all!!!!!! When he is ready it will all come together. Besides, alot of kids have a hard time with pooping on the potty. You just have to find out what works for each kid. It isn't always an easy process. Don't beat yourself up over it. You are doing a great job!!!!!!

 

[debit34]

The daycare doesn't want to put pull ups on during naps. They do realize that kids have accidents and so they allow you to bring a change of clothes. I just don't want my dd feeling bad or embarrassed for wetting her bed which I know is bound to happen.

They do have a specific nap/rest time but I'm sure many of the kids don't even fall asleep but they are at least required to rest.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

I have to be honest here. I would not be happy with this daycare. I don;t know any children who just turned 3 that are for every naptime and/or overnight. Most kid's bodies are not able to wake for the signals that they have to go. This just annoys me with daycares. I feel like I hear stuff like this all the time. Maybe you could put your DD in a pullup instead of bloomers all day? I personally would not be happy about that but if you have no other choice it may be an option. Good luck.

 

[TerryKitten]

All you can really do is make sure she goes potty before nap and potty right after. That gives her a chance to not be "full" during nap time. One thing I've learn with kids, you can't really force them to learn the whole potty thing, just encouraging them when the do good.

 

[Wishing on a star]

1. That Pull-Up is a license to pee!!!! If naptime is the only time during the day that your child seems to need them, then the 'readiness' is probably there. You may be surprised at how quicky they will stay dry thru nap once you make it clear that they will no longer be needing baby pull-ups, make sure they go before nap, and are given a lot of positive encouragement. PS: I am speaking from personal experience here with my son, as well as tons of conventional wisdom that I have heard. I too also heard that they are 'ready when they wake up dry....' NOT TRUE!!!!! My son had only 1 or 2 little accidents once I wised up and took away the pull-up. These things are a license to pee!

2. My child would also wait for a pull-up or diaper to poop. He learned to old-it. This set up a very huge problem with incopresis. Once a child can stay dry thru the day, I would recommend that once a child has the peeing down pat, that potty training involves pooping as well.

The bottom line is that when the readiness is there, I think it is best to take the diapers and pull-up away completely!!!! It is not going to help to keep allowing them to use these, and by sending mixed messages.

And, as everyone else has said. If they are not ready, then they are NOT ready. No amount of pushing can change that.

I know that some daycares only take children who are at least three and who are potty trained. If this is the case, and this is made clear to all parents who inquire, and they do not also provide daycare to younger children. Then that is Okay. But, if they also accept younger children who would then be graduated to the 3 year old program, then that is compleltely unacceptable and I would find another option. If the daycare has a no-diapers policy, and a parent enrolls a child who is not ready for that, then it is the parents fault, not the daycares fault.

 

[debit34]

1. That Pull-Up is a license to pee!!!! If naptime is the only time during the day that your child seems to need them, then the 'readiness' is probably there. You may be surprised at how quicky they will stay dry thru nap once you make it clear that they will no longer be needing baby pull-ups, make sure they go before nap, and are given a lot of positive encouragement. PS: I am speaking from personal experience here with my son, as well as tons of conventional wisdom that I have heard. I too also heard that they are 'ready when they wake up dry....' NOT TRUE!!!!! My son had only 1 or 2 little accidents once I wised up and took away the pull-up. These things are a license to pee!

2. My child would also wait for a pull-up or diaper to poop. He learned to old-it. This set up a very huge problem with incopresis. Once a child can stay dry thru the day, I would recommend that once a child has the peeing down pat, that potty training involves pooping as well.

The bottom line is that when the readiness is there, I think it is best to take the diapers and pull-up away completely!!!! It is not going to help to keep allowing them to use these, and by sending mixed messages.

And, as everyone else has said. If they are not ready, then they are NOT ready. No amount of pushing can change that.

I know that some daycares only take children who are at least three and who are potty trained. If this is the case, and this is made clear to all parents who inquire, and they do not also provide daycare to younger children. Then that is Okay. But, if they also accept younger children who would then be graduated to the 3 year old program, then that is compleltely unacceptable and I would find another option. If the daycare has a no-diapers policy, and a parent enrolls a child who is not ready for that, then it is the parents fault, not the daycares fault.

Thanks for your advice. We are giving it a go and have been going pull up free for naps for a couple of days now. What do you recommend for bedtime? Should we try naps first and see how it goes?

The daycare is exactly like you described - they only accept children ages 3 and older and they have a published policy regarding potty training. This daycare is located at the preschool my daughter will be attending.

She's napping pull up free right now, I'll keep you posted. It's day 3 and we have a 50% success rate which isn't so bad at this point.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Sounds great!

Get the naps down first...

I think a good nights sleep is also an important factor for bedtime, so you could consider keeping the pull-ups at bedtime for a short while. Just make sure you don't think that she is using it as a crutch.

Once nap-times are consistantly dry, I would suggest moving on to bed-time fairly quickly. However, it sounds like your little one is going thru a lot of changes at once now with outgrowing the pull-ups and starting a new daycare preschool. etc.

It is just a fact of life that many little ones might occasionally wet the bed overnight. So, be prepared to accept that and deal with it. What I did was take a crib sized mattress protector and put it on my sons big-boy twin bed. (invest in a really good one, not the cheap WalMart things) That worked beautifully!!! So much easier than dealing with the full-sized fittetd things. If he ever did wet, it was soooo easy to just pull that off and not have to wash and remake the entire bed.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents.

Both my boys were resistent to potty-training. My firstborn was in daycare, and at age 2 they began potty-training him. We tried for a full year (I pushed on the advice of his teacher, who after all had far more experience in the matter than I did... ) Magically, when he turned 3 and moved into a different classroom with a teacher he loved, he decided to use the potty all on his own. He managed within one week.

My second son is potty-training right now. I was not going to push this time (I'm a SAHM, so no pressure to conform) in hopes that it would go better this time, but by the time summer came and he showed zero interest, I began to get nervous. He is due to start preschool in the fall, and children must be potty-trained to attend.

We are now one week away from starting school, so I contacted the director and explained his current stage: Using the potty well during the day when reminded, but so far refused to poop in the potty. Fortunately, they offered to help us along, allowing him to attend school with the teacher giving reminders to use the potty, and we're hoping to get a little peer pressure in there as well.

Oddly, both my boys have been dry while sleeping (naptime and overnight) well before they had it handled during waking hours.

 

[disney1990]

1. That Pull-Up is a license to pee!!!! If naptime is the only time during the day that your child seems to need them, then the 'readiness' is probably there. You may be surprised at how quicky they will stay dry thru nap once you make it clear that they will no longer be needing baby pull-ups, make sure they go before nap, and are given a lot of positive encouragement. PS: I am speaking from personal experience here with my son, as well as tons of conventional wisdom that I have heard. I too also heard that they are 'ready when they wake up dry....' NOT TRUE!!!!! My son had only 1 or 2 little accidents once I wised up and took away the pull-up. These things are a license to pee!

2. My child would also wait for a pull-up or diaper to poop. He learned to old-it. This set up a very huge problem with incopresis. Once a child can stay dry thru the day, I would recommend that once a child has the peeing down pat, that potty training involves pooping as well.

The bottom line is that when the readiness is there, I think it is best to take the diapers and pull-up away completely!!!! It is not going to help to keep allowing them to use these, and by sending mixed messages.

And, as everyone else has said. If they are not ready, then they are NOT ready. No amount of pushing can change that.

I know that some daycares only take children who are at least three and who are potty trained. If this is the case, and this is made clear to all parents who inquire, and they do not also provide daycare to younger children. Then that is Okay. But, if they also accept younger children who would then be graduated to the 3 year old program, then that is compleltely unacceptable and I would find another option. If the daycare has a no-diapers policy, and a parent enrolls a child who is not ready for that, then it is the parents fault, not the daycares fault.

A relative of mine, who is now in his 40s, wet the bed well into elementary school. Back then there were NO pullups -- he was in regular underwear. He wasn't allowed any drinks after dinner and he went to the bathroom right before going to bed. His parents even made him change his bed every morning, but it didn't make a difference. He just wasn't ready until he was older. He was probably around 7 or 8.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

1. That Pull-Up is a license to pee!!!! If naptime is the only time during the day that your child seems to need them, then the 'readiness' is probably there. You may be surprised at how quicky they will stay dry thru nap once you make it clear that they will no longer be needing baby pull-ups, make sure they go before nap, and are given a lot of positive encouragement. PS: I am speaking from personal experience here with my son, as well as tons of conventional wisdom that I have heard. I too also heard that they are 'ready when they wake up dry....' NOT TRUE!!!!! My son had only 1 or 2 little accidents once I wised up and took away the pull-up. These things are a license to pee!2. My child would also wait for a pull-up or diaper to poop. He learned to old-it. This set up a very huge problem with incopresis. Once a child can stay dry thru the day, I would recommend that once a child has the peeing down pat, that potty training involves pooping as well.

The bottom line is that when the readiness is there, I think it is best to take the diapers and pull-up away completely!!!! It is not going to help to keep allowing them to use these, and by sending mixed messages.

And, as everyone else has said. If they are not ready, then they are NOT ready. No amount of pushing can change that.

I know that some daycares only take children who are at least three and who are potty trained. If this is the case, and this is made clear to all parents who inquire, and they do not also provide daycare to younger children. Then that is Okay. But, if they also accept younger children who would then be graduated to the 3 year old program, then that is compleltely unacceptable and I would find another option. If the daycare has a no-diapers policy, and a parent enrolls a child who is not ready for that, then it is the parents fault, not the daycares fault.

Not trying to be rude but this bothers me. You can talk to any child you want but if their bodies don't send them a signal to wake up to use the potty it doesn't matter if they are in bloomers or pullups they will wet the bed. It is true that when they are ready they will wake up dry. I agree that pullups during the day is a license to pee but at night they have no control. Why stress the kid out if they are not ready? If it worked for your child then it was because his body was ready for that not because you had a pullup talk with him. Sorry if this comes across as rude as that is not my intent.

 

[debit34]

A relative of mine, who is now in his 40s, wet the bed well into elementary school. Back then there were NO pullups -- he was in regular underwear. He wasn't allowed any drinks after dinner and he went to the bathroom right before going to bed. His parents even made him change his bed every morning, but it didn't make a difference. He just wasn't ready until he was older. He was probably around 7 or 8.

I also had this problem as a child, I wet the bed well into grade school as well - I'm thinking age 10 or 11 so I understand completely. I have vivid memories of waking up soaking wet in my bed. It's something I just eventually outgrew...

 

[debit34]

I also just want to say thank you all very much for your responses!!! I've gotten some good ideas here. It's clear that each child is very different.

 

[shirleyb]

1. That Pull-Up is a license to pee!!!! If naptime is the only time during the day that your child seems to need them, then the 'readiness' is probably there. You may be surprised at how quicky they will stay dry thru nap once you make it clear that they will no longer be needing baby pull-ups, make sure they go before nap, and are given a lot of positive encouragement. PS: I am speaking from personal experience here with my son, as well as tons of conventional wisdom that I have heard. I too also heard that they are 'ready when they wake up dry....' NOT TRUE!!!!! My son had only 1 or 2 little accidents once I wised up and took away the pull-up. These things are a license to pee!

I agree with this. I really think pull-ups are the reason kids take so long to potty train, since I'm not sure kids understand the difference. I'd let her get wet a few times during her nap, and see if that helps her make the connection.

I was lucky with my youngest, when she was about 20 months old, she started staying dry all night, so I potty trained her in a matter of a few days. Wish the older two had been that easy!

 

[Wishing on a star]

Thanks!!!

I know that an earlier poster kind of took issue with my comments. And, after repeating that the child must be 'ready', (you can't force it) I do firmly believe that in many cases, diiapers and pull-ups are a license to pee. And, there are a large number of parents who have now realized this.

I had always heard, "when they wake up dry, they are ready". NOT TRUE. I was using the diapers at naptime, and my son would wake up soaked every single time. Once I realized that he was ready, and was staying dry during the day, I knew I had to take the diapers away. He was using them as a crutch, and was waiting until he had one on to poop.

I think he wet the bed all of two times before he was staying dry thru nap.

 

[Alex2kMommy]

It is just a fact of life that many little ones might occasionally wet the bed overnight. So, be prepared to accept that and deal with it. What I did was take a crib sized mattress protector and put it on my sons big-boy twin bed. (invest in a really good one, not the cheap WalMart things) That worked beautifully!!! So much easier than dealing with the full-sized fittetd things. If he ever did wet, it was soooo easy to just pull that off and not have to wash and remake the entire bed.

I did this as well (crib mattress pad underneath DS's sheet.)

Even once my older son was potty-trained, every once in a while he'd go through a phase where he'd have a string of potty accidents or begin wetting his bed at night. Usually we could point it back to some developmental or emotional cause, but not always. He just turned 7, and I think his last incident was close to a year ago, so this continued for about 3 years off and on.

As for my younger son, yesterday he informed me he needed to go potty, so we rushed to the bathroom!

I keep encouraging him to put his poop in the toilet, but he hasn't done it yet and looks aghast at the thought.

I talked to older son's former daycare teacher about the younger son's potty-training, and she said some kids, especially boys, will withhold their pooping, they don't know why. I have him in training pants during the day and a diaper overnight, and he often poops as soon as I put the diaper on, or has a big blowout the next day.

We'll just keep trying until he gets it.

 

[mickeyboat]

Wishing is right about the Pull Ups. They made potty-training so much harder for us.

Our day care person insisted on Pull Ups at nap time, even after the kids were day-trained. I understand she didn't want her beds to get wet, but she was postponing the process, not helping. Emily would hold it until she put on the Pull Up, almost every nap.

Finally I told the day care person that Emily didn't need naps anymore because she wasn't sleeping at night. That solved the problem for us.

Good luck!

Denae