How to Switch to No Diaper at Night?

2 1/2 is very young to be fully trained at night. Give her some time. She needs to be waking up dry at least half of the time before she's even ready to try it. My 5 year old still cant do it--don't rush things.

J.

I have a daughter who is almost 4 and I still put her in a pull-up at night because of occasional accidents. I am so sick of washing sheets! Her pull-up is nearly always dry but it's a preventative thing. Anyhow, I just asked my doctor about it and he said he would think it reasonable if she was wearing them at night until 7! He said it is just fine. I don't love the cost but rushing them out never seems to work. I would suggest just relaxing and leaving her in them for now, especially with the transition with a new baby in the house. She may regress anyhow...congratulations on the new baby and a potty-trained 2-1/2 year old. That's an accomplishment in and of it's own.

My daughter is 3. She does extremely well during the day, but she can't get through the whole night dry. We use underwear with her all of the time (we gave up on pull-ups, and just use waterproof training pants). She wakes up in the middle of the night wet, takes off the wet underpants, and goes back to sleep. Later on, she wakes up having wet the bed (I said she took off the wet ones, didn't say she put on a new pair). Limiting her liquids in the evenings has made no difference. So it doesn't matter if your daughter is in pull-ups, underwear or nothing, if she can't hold it, she can't hold it. The only way you are going to get dry all night if the child isn't physically and emotionally ready is if you are willing to get up at least once every night to take her to the bathroom. I can't imagine being pregnant and losing sleep on purpose.

She's just not mature enough, her bladder just can't do it. There is nothing you can do to speed it up. It's her body and when her body is ready to go that long at night it will. You can't punish or reward for something she has no control over.

With my daughter we did no water after 7pm. Also make sure that she goes to the bathroom before bed. Even if she doesn't feel like she has to go. Have her just try. We did that for a while while still wearing the pull up and after about a month the pullup was dry at night and we were able to switch to undies all the time. However I wouldn't push too hard, my daughter wasn't out of pullups at night until after she was 3. I would just start trying the no water and going to the bathroom before bed for a while and see how that works. Good Luck!

we had our son start wearing pullups after a while, and started waking him up at the same time every night, usually as we were going to bed, to go to the bathroom. Granted most of the work was on us, and we had to sing a pee-pee song to keep him from falling over and get him to go, but it paid off and it only took a couple months before he was sleeping in undies. Good luck!

I agree with many of the other postings. She will wake up dry when her body is mature enough to do so. If she is soaking wet in the morning she is not ready yet. My first child had a pull-up on at night until she was about four. It really isn't a big deal and not worth stressing over. One day she will start waking up dry or her body will be able to tell her she needs to go potty in the night, until then there is nothing wrong with wearing a pull-up or diaper at night.

Hi R.,

My daughter was potty trained at 2 years old, but it hasn't been unitl very recently that she's had dry nights and she's 4 1/2! This is very very normal for children. Doctors won't consider nightwetting a problem until they children are over 6. The reflex to hold their urine is nearly impossible to control during heavy sleep for under 6 year olds. Don't worry. We used pull ups for the past few years. Your daughter may just get discouraged if she tries for the sticker but still wakes up wet. At 4, my daughter wanted to try wearing her panties at night because she was so upset that she was wearing a"baby diaper" She was VERY determined not to wet at night, but each morning her bed would be wet - she simply slept thru it. She was so sad until we told her that all kids' bladders grow slower than their smart heads and that eventually her bladder would catch up. 6 months later, she's noticed it happen and is so excited.

Best to you!

Hi R. -
I haven't read what others have said but what worked with my children and grandchildren is to not give them anything to drink an hour prior to putting them to bed. Make sure they go potty right before they are laid down also. I also would wake them up early in the morning 5:30am - 6am when I woke up and put them on the potty right away. This seemed to work for us.

Good luck!
D.

She's not ready to stay dry at night and it can take awhile even after they are potty trained during the day. Many kids, including both of mine, are in pull ups at night until age 5 or 6. A doctor won't even consider night wetting a problem until about age 7 or even 8. It's a developmental thing and stickers, rewards, etc. won't help. Just stock up on pull ups for now and wait for the signs (staying dry in her diaper or pull up) that she is ready to make it through the night. And it's great she's been potty trained during the day since age 2!

Maybe you're already using pull-ups. But, that's a good way for them to get more ready for the transition. They have different ones - some where it doesn't necessarily wick the wetness away - making it easier for them to know they just wet. Other incentives is to not have the princess pictures blur (if it's dry). I think there is another one that gives a cool sensation after wetting. My daughter (who was potty trained at 3 and is now 5 1/2) just became nightly potty trained this summer - when she turned 5. We did have an incentive program for her with stickers but we didn't focus too much on it (being excited when she was dry but didn't react much if it was wet) b/c we knew she wanted to be a "big girl" and forego the pull-ups. She hated waking up with a wet pull-up and quite honestly couldn't help it. She is just a heavy sleeper. I know she has at least one friend that still needs to wear pull-ups at night b/c she too just can't wake up to go to the bathroom. Unless you want to wake up every night to change sheets - I don't think it's necessary to have kids be "night potty-trained" until their bodies are actually ready. This is also what most dr's would say to you b/c I asked them almost every visit too. I've heard some of my co-workers talk about their school-age boys still struggling with bed-wetting. Sometimes I think the more pressure, the harder it is and that's the last thing you want them focusing on at night. We waited until she had a complete month of dry pull-ups. That made me feel more comfortable. Since then, we've had one or two instances but it was either because my dtr forgot to go to the bathroom before going to bed OR because she was sleep-walking and confused. We have had her use pull-ups when we've been traveling or staying over at someone's house - b/c I didn't want her to be embarrassed. It's worked great!

Night time wetting is more of a developmental thing and out of the child's control. Giving her less water before bed will help, but I wouldn't recommend shutting her off totally. Be patient and when her body is able, she will not wet at night.

Hi R.. I have to say that my first son potty trained during the day before he was 2 1/2 yrs old. However, he is just turned 5 years old and for the last few months has been dry during the night. He was such a hard sleeper and couldn't make it through the night dry until then. I let him tell me when he was ready to go without an overnight pull-up. I tried numerous times when he was 3 to send him to bed with undies on, but he just about always woke up wet in the middle of the night wet (one time went 2 weeks with a wet bed every night). My son told me when he no longer wanted to wear a pullup at night, that it was for babies.

There is just no way to do this with a 2 1/2 year old. She is so young! It's amazing you have her potty trained. She will just eventually start waking up dry when her body is ready.

I agree with Deb L, however her bladder may not be ready to hold it for 8-10 hours a night. My son is 3 and he usually wakes up dry but can't hold it long enough to make it to the bathroom, so we still put him in a pull-up. I would try Deb's idea, but keep her in a diaper or pull-up until she is ready.

R.-
We just finished potty training our 4th child and they are all different. I would say that 2 1/2 is on the young side to be worried about staying dry all night. My kids are big water drinkers and I think that is a good thing, so I don't really limit their liquids. What we did do is get them up to got potty before we went to bed (around 10:30/11:00) until their body got used to waking up on their own. One of my daughters only required this for a few weeks, where another daughter a few months. The pediatrician said that there is something in a child's brain that needs to be mature enough to send a waking signal when they have to go potty. Some children reach this earlier (we've been as early as 3 and as late as 5)
Best wishes!
H. :-)

2 1/2 seems pretty young to be dry at night. I think that physiologically, she's just not ready, and it's not in her control.

I would give her pull-ups to wear at night, stop mentioning the subject to her altogether, and in a year or two when she starts waking up dry, then you can make sleeping in underpants a goal.

There's nothing you can do except wait for her body/bladder to mature. My oldest son wore a Pull Up to bed til he was 6. His bladder was just not mature enough to make it thru the night, combined with the fact that he's a deep sleeper. Just be patient.

Hi R.. This is R.! :) When my daughter was 2 1/2 I wanted to do the same thing and my grandma said, "Just don't put one on". She said that is what she did with all seven of her kids. I thought it wouldn't work and I'd have a mess to clean up in the morning, but she has only wet the bed once since then - she is seven! Good luck!

There is really no way to rush the process. For many kids it takes a lot longer to stay dry overnight. Try to be patient and before you know it she will being staying dry at night. The only thing that may help her stay drier at night is limiting liquids in the evening.....no water after 7 or something. I did that with my daughter and it did help a bit. She also took awhile to be dry at night, but I think it was at least an additional six months or so before she could stop wearing diapers at night. Good luck!

N.

In my experiences with my two that have been potty trained, my daughter I let her wear diapers to bed and pull ups and she was always wet, I finally took away the diapers and pullups at night and she didnt wet. My son I did potty training cold turkey, one weekend I told him that our new baby needed the diapers and that he needed to potty from now on in the toilet, He never wet the bed. I think that having the daipers on at night only. or even at naps, confuses them and lets them think its ok to pee. Do you have a water proof mattress pad, its going to happen, but buy one and if she pees she pees, its bound to happen. have some extra sheets in her room.
I also would not let them drink anything after dinner, if they wanted a little drink before bed that was fine but after dinner no more liquids!! That really helped, Good Luck :)

R.,
I'm very surprised by all the responses you are getting that say a child your daughter's age doesn't have the physical maturity to stay dry at night. That's contrary to what I've heard, but also what I've been experiencing with my own two daughters recently.

My girls are 2.5 (she'll be 3 in March) and almost 4, but the older one has Down syndrome, and developmentally is smaller, and less physically mature than her sister. I potty trained both girls over the long Thanksgiving weekend using the "3 day method". At the beginning of the day (Friday) we threw away all the diapers. I told the girls it was up to them to keep their panties dry. We "practiced" and spent three solid days reinforcing "dry" and being disappointed when they had an accident.

At night the method suggested limiting liquids after dinner (of course), having the child go potty before they go to bed, and then waking them up a half hour after they've fallen asleep, then right before you go to bed and then wake them up before they would normally get up in the morning. I did this with both girls the first three nights - and haven't done it since. They were both so sleepy they would sit on the little potty chair (which I had in their room) but really be sleeping to the point where I'd have to steady them so they didn't fall off. Only once in all three nights did either girl actually go on the potty when they were that sleepy, but I think the idea is to teach that if you have to go, you can and should wake up to go.

It's been nearly a month, and I think each girl MAYBE has had a nighttime accident once or twice. They are doing great, and I'm here to tell you it CAN be done!! One thing you might try though (this I heard from the mom's group at my work) - just to save yourself if/when your daughter does have an accident at night, is layer two sets of waterproof mattress pads and sheets (waterproof, sheet, then another waterproof and another sheet) so if it happens in the middle of the night you can easily strip off the wet set and put the child right back to bed.

We also keep one little potty chair in the room in case either of them wakes up and has to go (we've always kept their bedroom door closed with a handle guard on the inside so they can't get out on their own). In the morning if they are up before we are, they can and do go by themselves on the little potty.

Good luck!

When I was potty training my daughter and we got to this point (actually, it was about the same age)... About an hour or 2 before bed time she was allowed one "last drink" before she couldn't have anything to drink anymore. Had her go potty before bed, and she rarely wet at night when we started limiting the liquids at night. She's 5 now, and gets drinks before bed time, because she wakes up in the middle of the night to go potty now.

You can't make a child be dry at night. Their bodies need to grow into that. She is only 2 1/2, cut her some slack. My son will be 5 in February and still wears pull-ups at night. Don't make a big deal about it with her or she will get a complex and feel like something is wrong with her.

K.

The best way that I found was to just take the diaper off.
Tell her that your so proud that she's a big girl now and that she can even go to bed without a diaper on. Then in the morning, have something special for her.

Now, it sounds scary, but, as soon as I did this with my kids, they maybe wet the bed once or twice, but they didn't like the feeling of wet sheets and jammies, and they were done wetting the bed. 2 of my kids didn't even have any accidents at night. I have even put a towel under their sheets and just not told them why it was there.

Good Luck! :)

IMO, she is not ready for night without diapers. My first one trained pretty good but could not get over the hump of being dry at night until about 3 1/2. I think it has something to do with her bladder and her ability to hold it. She is 6 and is just a kid that needs to go to the bathroom a lot. My 2nd one trained right at 2 and soon was dry at night. She is a kid that does not have to go to the bathroom that much and has an "iron" bladder.

Once she is waking up dry then start trying underware or pullups. Keep talking about it too as she may be able to wake herself up to go potty. I dont think her little body is ready to hold it all night!