OT - nighttime potty training

[heather13]

I guess it's kind of "on topic" too though, since we leave in a month and I'm not sure whether to bring pull-ups

Any tips or advice for potty training during the night? DD has been fine during the day for quite a while now, but was still going every two hours so I didn't even try at night since I figured she couldn't physically hold it any longer. Now she can wait much longer during the day so last week we began trying nighttimes again. I make her go right before putting her in bed (around 8pm), then before I sleep she's awakened just enough to try again (around 11pm). It's pretty much been like clockwork that she wakes me at 4am having wet the bed. Any tips for having her wake up before it happens? Or is she just not ready yet?

FWIW, at WDW we'll have a w/d and I'm planning to bring her puddle pad in case of accidents.

 

[hgeisler]

I think this is just something that comes on its own. My DD was fully trained during the day around 2,and she didn't make it dry overnight until around 3. I just put her in pull ups,and eventually she was dry in the morning. Now,at 4,she gets up to go on her own
My DS,2,is also fully trained during the day,but is still wet in the morning. I figure it will work the same with him as well.

 

[heather13]

Since DD is 4 and so many of her friends are PT during the night, I guess I'm feeling the pressure also. I wasn't this paranoid about daytime training, and my other DD just did it automatically without any help (she was dry at night even before the day!) so I have no experience here.

Thanks for the reassurance that it will happen - just hoping I can help her a little

 

[MSSANDRA]

I firmly believe that you can not nighttime train. It is simply a developmental milestone that kids reach. Yes, most do have it by four but not always, and even night time "trained" kids may on occasion have an accident. I am not a fan of waking young kids to go to potty, and if she is going at 11:00 and still having an accident by 4am, I would simply go back to pull ups or diapers and wait till she starts waking up dry most mornings.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

I agree with the PP who said that you can't train at night. They're either ready or they're not. I was lucky and both of my children were able to stay dry at night almost immediately after potty training in the day. I was very surprised by this because both I and DH ( he doesn't admit to it but his Mother tells other stories ) were bed wetters. I think I wasn't dry at night until I was close to 9.

I would just keep her in a pullup or other night time type diaper until you notice that she wakes up dry on a consistent basis.

 

[LuLuO]

I agree that they are either ready or they're not. DD was in Goodnights until about age 4.5. She'd been out of daytime diapers since she turned 3.

 

[mjkacmom]

Well, you can night train, but not this early! I don't think pediatricians want parents getting the alarm until the child is 8. Until then, just use the pullups. Waking them up to go isn't training them at all.

 

[dragonfly08]

I firmly believe (and my kids ped. does, as well, FWIW) that night time dryness has very little to do with potty training and everything to do with bladder control. Until your child has that, accidents will happen. Both of my girls were fully potty trained for months before they reached the state where they could either recognize the need to go while sleeping and get out of bed to use the bathroom, or hold it all night without an accident.

Some people do wake their kids up on a schedule at night to use the bathroom. IMO the only person that "trains" is mom or dad, plus it potentially gets the child so used to waking at that time that even once s/he can control his/her bladder, you still might have residual sleep issues. I just stuck with the pull ups until my girls were ready.

 

[momof3ds]

my oldest is 10 and still having the occasional accident. We tried an alarm 2 years ago and she slept right through it.
The accidents are less frequent now, thank goodness!

 

[Sheaboys]

I have done this 5x, each child is different. The first 3 boys were text book, potty trained at 3 during day, nighttime took about 3-4 after, using pull ups.

Ds4-still wets his bed at night, he is 6. Finally stopped wetting during the day, and that has only been in the last 2 months or so, but it was not every day, he would go 2-3 weeks no accidents then have 3-4 days in a row with accidents. He has not had pull ups since he was 4, I put the Huggies puddle pads on his bed, I also took them to disney last month.

DS5, has been day time trained since he was 2.5 and has never worn a pull up at night, has never had an accident at night, never an accident during the day, he is now 3.5.

I have also never woken up my kids to go to the bathroom, but I know parents that have and swear by it that it works. I would say she just is not ready for nighttime.

 

[marmalade]

My DS is 5, turning 6 in October and in 1st grade and still wears "night night undies" to bed. My DD had no problem with night and would get up to use the bathroom and never had an accident. My DS however wakes up wet more than he wakes up dry.

He isn't embarrassed about it at all, so I am currently not concerned and will just continue to buy Goodnights underwear until he no longer wakes up wet.

 

[MickeyMom2Boys]

I agree that you can not train at night! My son is 5 1/2 and I just took him to the Dr a couple of months ago thinking something must be wrong. The urologist said this is VERY VERY common and they just aren't ready yet. Its not even as much a bladder maturity yet as brain development. He explained the whole process and it made a lot of sense (although I don't think I can accurately reiterate what he told me). He said not to make a big deal of it and either wake him up before we go to bed or use the pull ups. We opted for the pull ups because we didn't want to interrupt his sleep.

Since he started Kindergarten in August, he has really hit a new maturity level on many different things. This is one of them. He decided he was not wearing the pull ups anymore and we didn't make a big deal of that either. So far he has not had an accident.

However, I have noticed in the past that if he was extremely tired, he was pretty much guaranteed to wet the bed. I will probably bring a few pull ups along when we go to Disney in October just in case.

 

[heather13]

Thank you everyone for the reassurance! She'd been really excited about wearing underpants at night, but I asked this morning if she wanted to wear pull-ups instead and she does. It's also nice to hear that some school-aged kids have nighttime help. Takes off a lot of the pressure for a while.

 

[Celidh]

I agree with some of the pp about not being able to "train" kids for being dry at night. Another part of being dry at night depends on how sound they sleep. My oldest son still had accidents until he was around 10. Not every night but enough that I kept a plastic sheet on his bed. I did wake him up at night because he was such a sound sleeper he just slept through it. I think he also had a small bladder because some nights we would wet twice, even when he would go before bed and with limited liquid intake after supper. He does have other factors, he is a boy and is ADHD and both of those are more common in older night time bedwetting. He was day trained by two and a half.

DS #2 was day trained just before his 3rd bday and able to go the night a few weeks after that.

DD was also around 3 but was longer four being dry at night on a consistent basis.

All of my children were more prone to having night time accidents when they weren't feeling well. Also if I know they had not went to the bathroom often during the day.

I would suggest giving him more time.

 

[msmama]

A friend of mine just recently started putting the panties on OVER the pull-up for her daughter. So that might be an option if she really wants the panties.

Some days I feel like I'll be sending my son off to college with his night time pullups so I'm really no help (he's only 4.5)

 

[1stvisit0909]

My girls both were late night trainers. My pedi said not to worry until they were 7, and right before my oldest's 7th birthday I bought the alarm. It worked so well I didnt have to open the box. I called the company and explained how awesome their product was - they gave me a full refund and I tickled the lady on the phone so much she waived the restock fee.

It was like a switch flipped on her birthday, I kid not. 100% dry since. They had been day trained for years - they are just heavy sleepers.

My youngest she was about 6 and 1/2 when her switched flipped, but I was an old pro by then so I didnt even stress. We have enough to worry about, they never seemed embarrassed or worried, so I wasnt either.

 

[laughinplace199]

I agree with the PP who said that you can't train them at night. It really depends on how soundly they sleep.

DD was in Pull-Ups at night until she was 5, DS was 4, and youngest DS was 3. DD was my heaviest sleeper and youngest DS was my lightest sleeper, so it makes sense. The more soundly they sleep, the bigger the chance that they just won't wake up when they need to go. There's nothing you can do about it right now and really, there's no need to. Lots of kids are in the same boat.

Also, both of my older kids had night time accidents on WDW trips, even when they were beyond the Pull-Up stage. They were just so exhausted from the parks that they didn't wake up in time. Youngest DS was 5 on our last trip and I brought Pull-Ups for him, just in case, since he was sharing a bed with older DS. I put the Pull-Up on him over his underwear, so he still had his underwear on. The Pull-Up was dry every morning, but we all felt better (especially older DS )knowing that if he did have an accident, it would be contained.

 

[mrsap]

The BEST advice I ever got was one week training. No diapers for one week straight - not for naps not for bedtime, nothing. I waited till the day of DD's 3 rd birthday to start. She had two daytime accidents the first two days and the first night wet the bed. By day 3 she knew to run to the potty and did so at 4 am. By day 4, no more accidents day or night! We even went to Babies r us on day 4 and she told me she had to go. I think after feeling how yucky it is to have an accident, they try their best to hold it in. I recommend the training undies (you can get them at Target - NOT he diaper kind, as they are confusing) they are thicker than regular undies. Also, make sure you put a waterproof pad under their sheet in the bed/crib if you don't already. One more bit of advice, no drinks right before bed!! It eliminates the chance of accidents! It really was so easy and it worked! Good luck to you!!