Nighttime Potty Training Question
DD3, almost 4, has not made it through the night dry ever. She has my tiny bladder and sleeps like a rock like her father. I have no problem with her in pull ups as long as need be, but she has recently been asking to go without. We tried it two nights of the last week, but she wet both times, which led to chaos in the middle of the night. Her cousins told her that pull ups are for babies, so she is feeling self concious. Both my boys were dry through the night by 3, so I wonder, is this normal? What ages did your kids stay dry through the night? Anyone ever have a similar problem? How did you handle it?
Thanks!
-Jo
P.S. limiting liquids in the evening didn't seem to make a difference
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Diaper at night past age 3
My DD8 was 3 years and 7 months before she no longer needed diapers at night. I know the exact time because we were on vacation and I had forgotten to pack diapers. I had tried to leave them off when she turned 3 but I had to change sheets about 3-5 times per week, sometimes more than twice per night. Couldn't deal with that... Since we were at someone else house, I woke DD up in the middle of the night to go potty. We made it without accidents but I was stressed. When we came back home, I left the diapers off but didn't wake her in the middle of the night anymore. DD had maybe 1 or 2 accidents per month. I didn't limit her drinking because it didn't make any difference with her, either. I don't remember when she stopped having accidents but it's been a long time.
I just got DD2.5 potty trained during the day and I have no intentions to leave her diaper off during the night any time soon. Luckily, we don't have the problem of her getting teased about it. I hope, she will be dry at night by age four. I don't think that there is a lot you can do to speed it up. I think, the problem is that needing to pee doesn't wake her up rather than her having had too much to drink...
I wouldn't sweat it........
Something like one in eight kids wets the bed til age six. So, Relax, buy a couple of those plastic sheet thingies and make the bed twice, then all you have to do at night is pull off the top sheet, and the plastic sheet. There's another blanket, fitted sheet and plastic sheet underneath. Also maybe put her to bed in just a t-shirt and panties so a quick change is easy.
This too shall pass.
HTH
Nicole
edited to add... maybe since the "wet" sensation wakes her up this could be a training tool for her body. KWIM? Like letting a potty trainer go around in just underwear when you know he's going to wet so he gets the connection??
My 2.5yo boy stays dry as lon
My 2.5yo boy stays dry as long as I leave him bottomless. I speculate the issue may be getting to the potty and negotiating the underwear in time. If he's butt-naked, that streamlines the process enough for him to make it. Or, it may be that he's conditioned to wet his pants if he's got anything on below-waist. So far, I have been unsuccessful putting him to bed in his undies. We worked on wearing underwear around the house today, but he still ended up naked by the end of the day after going through three or four pair. I wish I had sound advice, but it seems I've felt my way through every potty training process so far. Waking her to go to the toilet seems the only real solution for keeping the bed dry, but not a fun one.
don't panic!
my 5 1/2yr old son is still wetting almost every night and I've long since given up worrying about it. I have a waterproof sheet on, a fitted sheet and a fleece blanket, and I can change it in the dark and have it washed, dried and back on in the evening (without a tumble drier I might add!). The bigger fuss you make about it the more of a problem it can become. Nicole's right - it isn't uncommon at all, just not often discussed!
one caveat though. If you're concerned, just take her to your doctor and check that there are no physical problems. Doesn't sound like it though - my son's the same... heavy sleeper and small bladder.
best thing you can do for yourself is streamline the bedding so that it isn't something that gets you frustrated, or that will come across to your daughter and make the problem worse!
oh yes, your doctor will be able to tell you what's available as a next measure if you ever get too concerned. There are things that go bleep in the night in response to wetness which is supposed to train them to stay dry. There are options, but I really don't think it's worth worrying about yet, as long as you rule out physical problems.
Kerri.
If she is self-conscious, I'v
If she is self-conscious, I've seen ads for "Good Nites" pull-ups which look like regular underwear; they are designed for school-aged children, who can wet the bed until they are 11 or 12. They might be expensive but you could check.
Mine is 5 years old
Jo,
I personally wet the bed until I was old enough to get up and take care of it by myself (I'm not sure how old I was, but probably 8 or 9). My twin sister never wet the bed. My 7-year-old daughter never has wet the bed, by 3-year-old son never has wet the bed, but my 5-year-old daughter would be wet every night if she didn't have a pull-up on. She knows she needs them and prefers it to waking up wet. We've ran out a time or two, and on those occasions I have personally set my alarm to get up with her a couple of times in the night to take her to the bathroom, but she still wakes up wet. In the mornings her pull-up is very full and heavy. My mom told me to just be glad they have pull-ups nowadays, because when I was little there was no such thing (not even disposable diapers), so I'll keep buying them as long as I need to. I have a plastic liner on the mattress, so on those rare occasions when even her pull-up leaks and she gets wet that way, I just get a towel, put it over the wet area, and she can get back into bed quicker that way (and so can I!) after she changes her P.J.'s We just have to wait for their bodies and brains to coordinate enough to wake them up to go, I guess.
TrudyP
www.mo3bk.com
About waking up...
I'd heard a while ago that natural dips in blood sugar during the night, when you're sleeping thus not eating, can make a child sleep too deeply to wake up when the bladder "signals" and that having a little protein before bed, like a big spoonful of peanut butter, can even out the blood sugar and make it easier to waken. Have no idea if this works or not. Some people may just sleep like the dead, regardless of blood sugar levels.
I don't want to make any of the mothers here despair, but my niece, now 14, still wets the bed. It's more rare now, but she had the same problem mentioned above, she sleeps too hard to wake up, and setting the alarm for two or three in the morning to go potty helped, but sometimes she'd wet the bed before the alarm went off. Her father wet the bed until he was nine or ten, and her grandmother wet the bed until she was twelve, so Mom thinks there may be a genetic or other family-related issue going on.
TrudyP, the double sheeted bed idea is sheer genius, though. Awesome!
______
May The Hair On Your Toes Never Fall Out
--Traditional Hobbit Blessing
Night-time potty training
My daughter just decided at 4yrs. old too that pullups were for babies and really begged not to wear them. We decided to help her out by doing the following and are happy to report our extra effort is paying off: 1.) No liquids after 6:30pm; 2.) potty before bedtime; 3.) wake her up when you go to bed or around midnight to have her go again. We are happy to report, she has been staying dry for the past 5 nights since we implemented this!! Hope this helps. We are now just trying to figure out when will we be able to stop the nightly rousings or for how long to implement this step before stopping.
It's nice to see all this
It's nice to see all this discussion about a topic that's been stressing me for weeks. My nearly 4 y/o twin boys are still not nighttime potty trained. One has been trying with his "big boy underpants" for a couple of weeks but has only made it about 3 times. We too have restricted drinks before bed and wake him around 12:30. I feel badly for him, b/c he's trying sooo hard. He's motivated by his star chart and every nite says he's going to do it but wakes sometime between 2 and 5 a.m. crying. A part of me wonders if it isn't better to go back to the pullups and try again in a couple of months. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Will it make him more upset, or give him a chance to build his confidence again?
My other one has absolutely no interest in trying and is happy to stay in a full pullup all night long. That's frustrating too, but I think he actually knows he's not ready so he doesn't want to try. I'm ok with that.
my 3 yo son is having no
my 3 yo son is having no trouble with daytime pottying. He has potty trained there for months. We found the only way to accomplish that part was to take his pull ups away and make him wear real underwear, otherwise he just wet his pull ups 'cause he knew he didn't have to stop playing to go potty, he could just go in his pants. We have no problems at nap time either, but night time is a problem. My husband works out of town sometimes and during those times I allow my son to stay in my bed for the night. He never wakes up wet when he sleeps in my bed, but the second he goes back to his own room, he wakes up with a wet pullup every morning. We have tried limiting liquids, making him go more often in the evenings to the bathroom, nothing seems to be working. I am glad to hear about the two sets of sheets ideas to make middle of the night clean up easier, since we feel our next step is to just take the pullups away at night like we did during the day. Anyone think this is a good idea???
Thanks
I'm glad to see all of the comments on this issue. My 4YO son was a late potty trainer - didn't regularly pee or poop in the potty during the day until well after his 4th birthday. He just wasn't bothered by wet or soiled clothes or pullups - too much to do, I guess. Unfortunately, he's carrying that into his nighttime training, which is pretty much zilch. He's been sleeping in underpants for a couple of months now, and wets the bed 9 nights out of 10. He sleeps right through it, and gets up in the morning and plays in various locations in the house (sometimes sitting on the couch and whatnot), completely oblivious to the fact that his jammies are soaked in urine. We're against putting him back in the pullups, partly because of the cost and partly because I want to believe that he'll train faster at night if he wets the bed than if he can pee without consequences, like in the pullup. Otherwise, we're pretty much at a loss. It's getting REALLY old having to wash his sheets and blankets every single day. My wife and I both work, and having to devote all of the available laundry time to my son's soiled blanket and sheets is growing to be rather taxing.
could be worse
My 5 yr. old boy is totally trained during the day, but during the night he is still supposed to wear pull-ups. Some nights, though, he decides to take them off and exchange them for underwear. I think it bothers him that his 3 yr. old sister is dry at night but he's not. He will wet the bed and not wake up until morning-- hours after the accident. After doing this several times, I have started checking for his pull-ups every night after he falls asleep to make sure they're on. But, yeah, really gross.
potty training baby boys
I started infant potty training with my son off and on from 6 months to 21 months part-time during the day. I wanted him to associate a sound with release. This has worked great for us and he is completely dry all day long at 22 months. He does still wake up wet from naps and night-time, though. He used to not tell me that he had to go but about 15 minutes after drinking something he would usually be ready. If he has to go he will go sit on his potty willingly and loves putting stickers on his chart. Just yesterday he let me know that he had to go at a friends house and he peed and pooped. I do put a diaper on him when we go some place because sometimes I can't get him to the bathroom when he needs it. I'm looking forward to more constant verbal communication when he has to go. It is so cute how very proud of himself he is after he uses his potty.
Help for an older child still bedwetting
I have 4 children, 3 are teenagers and all sleep dry
All the advice posted sounds great...and take comfort as you know that time is your best friend.
But,I want to speak to the few for whom this doesn't just pass easily. My son was the hard sleeper, small bladder type, too. We used big boy disposables for years with not a single dry night. We finally switched to cloth underwear exclusively, and double made the bed--wonderful advice my grandmother gave me! By the time he was 7, we'd still never had a single dry night. The pediatrician recommended that we try the star alarm system with rewards and all. Well, he slept so soundly that the whole family would be awake, while he slept peacefully unaffected. Plus, it didn't alarm until he was already wetting...This went on for weeks until I finally gave up, very sleep deprived, and returned to the "cloth, wake and change routine." We tried to keep things very neutral, I just made him responsible for carrying his pad to the washer in the morning, and I'd wash it daily. More time passed, and now he was reluctant to go to the Dr, b/c he was embarrassed. Still, never a dry night. No physical problems per MD, though he suggested a pediatric urologist--but when we learned his name was Dr. Wiener (really) my too-old son refused. More soggy time passed, and at last, we needed something to help him be able to go to camp. He'd already missed one year due to this. He was probably 12 or 13. We were prescribed a nasal spray of DDAVP. He took 1 sniff/spray in each nostril at bedtime. We refilled the prescription for at least 6 months--hmm maybe longer, but gradually we weaned it to 1 sniff a night, and finally we tried it with no medicine unless he was visiting someone overnight. Would you believe that there have been NO ACCIDENTS ever since? We went from not a single dry night to not a single accident. I just knew he would "grow out of it." and really wanted to do things "naturally," but if I had it to do over, I would have looked into the medicine earlier. Hindsight is 20/20 but I hope our experience helps someone. I'm not recommending this for a young child, but once they're old enough for it to affect their self-confidence and self-esteem, it is really a God-send. At least it was for us.
Re: I wouldn't sweat it........
This is a fantastic idea... maybe I'm clueless (cuz I don't read a bunch of books or ask a bunch of questions - I'm more doing this all by my gut) but I had not thought of this... I'm going to send this advice to other potty-training friends!!
My DD2. is also successfully potty-trained by day, but I ahve not made the attempt to go without diapers at night - was wondering hen to start... I think I'll hold off for a while, and then try this with the beds. Do you all use diapers during nap time? I was thinking I would start with no diaper at nap and see how that works.
bedwetting alarm
My daughter wet during the night until 5 1/2. We spoke with the doctor, who said not to worry about it until she's 7 or 8. She was getting so discouraged though and felt bad about herself. I bought one of the alarms from the Bedwetting Store (www.bedwettingstore.com) that has lights and bells and changes each time the child wets so they don't become sensitized to the alarm. That "heavy duty" alarm is recommended for kids who are very heavy sleepers, like my daughter. It worked great for her. We used it for about 3 months. Once they're dry, you keep it on for a few more weeks just to ensure that they're settled. We did a "star chart" to go along with it. Her confidence really boosted when she saw the change from most days not having a star to almost every day having the star. --KOB
Gerber makes a plastic liner
Gerber makes a plastic liner to go over training pants or cloth diapers. You may see if their biggest size would fit over your son's skivvies. It may help contain the pee at night (but then again, if he pees alot, it may not do much good either).
Some kids just really have a hard time at night. We had a friend stay the night once who was 8 and still having some problems at night. She wore GoodNights just at night (my DD didn't and still doesn't know this. The little girl's mother and I kept this very quiet so it wouldn't "leak" out at school. hehehe, pardon the pun!). The bladder control just wasn't good enough while sleeping. Pullups or goodnights (or generic versions of either) only at night may be cheaper/less time consuming in the long run than the expense and time taken to change the sheets and blankets and shampooing the sofa (or ruining the sofa). Just my 2 cents.
pottytraining twins
I have twin boys as well. Mine just turned 6. I was reading this forum because one of my guys is still having issues at night. Both guys were potty-trained at around 4 years old. The "older" twin pretty much did it himself. I had tried several times before suggesting potty training to them - but they just weren't interested. I asked our (wonderful!) pediatrician and he said the most important thing when potty training is to not rush it because you will make many more problems for the kids. I guess I let them tell me when they were ready. Again, every so often I would ask them if they thought they might be ready to try. I got very matter-of-fact "no's". I also got a lot of grief from the grandparents. My advice for this - ignore the grandparents and trust the pediatrician with the medical degree. I did - and it has worked out very well. The "younger" twin waited another couple of months to be interested in potty training - but when it was his time it was effortless.
As far as your little guy who wants to potty train at night. I would just keep putting pullups on until he is completely dry every morning for one straight week. That is the milestone that we set for our older guy - and it builds a lot of confidence when that pullup is dry in the morning. If during the week he wakes up wet - the week starts over. We just made a big deal out of how many days our guys did stay dry - and then we put that as our goal - to do one more day than the last try. I think all these moms have great advice - if you make a big deal out of it so will they - if you act like it is okay no matter what happens - then there will be no issues.
Godspeed to you in your potty training efforts - and congratulations on having twins!
Shelly
nightime diaper
I have a 5 year old that I adopted he is a bed wetter. You just deal with it you dont yell or scream they do not potty on purpose. for the lady who's child wants to wear underwear put them on her then put her pull up on top. just explain to her that it is alot of work to change sheets in the middle of the night so lets work together you can have your underwear but i get pull ups also.
Now to my problem my 5 year old is alergic to diapers except nightime pull ups he has started pottying through these also. I bought the goodnights for bigger kids the problem is he is not a big kid and even with buying smalls the leg holes are huge and he pottys through those also. any suggestions of what to put on him.
Almost 4 and still wear a pull up at night
My little girl who is almost 4 still wears a pull up at night. She sleeps like a rock and when we try to wake her when we go to bed, she is a zombie. We try to make her pull her own pull up down and sit on the potty, but she just stands there crying. Sometimes I just want to get the show on the road and pull them down myself. Then she just sits on the potty basically asleep and cries. When she wakes, she actually goes to eat breakfast without a care in the world....meanwhile her pull up is soaked. I have to actually tell her in morning to take it off and put on panties. I am desperate! So after reading all the comments, I am gonna put her to bed in panties and a tshirt only. I am also borrowing the double make the bed idea. Wish me luck. I swear potty training is one of the top reasons I stopped at 2 children. It is the worst for me.
4.5 and still soggy nights
My daughter is 4.5 and is still wetting at night. She is baisically dry during the day. Granted I have just started the night time training, but I can see that it won't be as easy as I had hoped. She also sleeps like a rock and just pees and pees all night long. I have done the plastic mattress protector, however I found that the sheet between the her and the plastic protector just isn't enough protection. Apparently the sustained wetness causes her to have an enormous rash in the morning everywhere there is wet underwear touching her. I have to put a rubber sheet material and a towell underneath her to give her enough absorbancy to not rash up. Of course this isn't fool proof with as wiggily as she sleeps.
At least after reading this I don't feel quite as alone in my quest to find the best way to keep her dry. I wish I had wonderful advice. I don't dare put her back in pull-ups, though, because she seems to know that with pull-ups she doesn't need to even try. This is the same issue I had for the times I would use them for emergencies during the day too. Ah well. I guess I need to be more patient, hopefully it will come soon.
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