Night Time Potty Training - Morrisville,PA

Updated on November 17, 2009
M.D. asks from Morrisville, PA
15 answers

My almost 3 year old has been completely potty trained for about a month. He wears underwear alll day, including when he takes his 2-3 hour nap. But night time is not as successful. He sometimes wakes in the middle of the night to go potty but even then he rarely wakes in the morning dry. He has no liquid 2 hours before bed. I put him in a pull up at bedtime. My question is should I put him in underwear at night and allow him wetting the bed to teach him to stay dry at night, or do I just keep doing what I'm doing and eventually he'll consistently wake him dry. Just wondering if I wait it out, or get ready to do some laundry? Thanks for you ideas.

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D.P.

answers from Pittsburgh on

He may or may not be able to hold it all night at this age. What I did was use pull ups at night til he was dry all night for a week. O. evening he told me he wanted to wear underwer at night and I braced for some sheet changing. But you know what? He never wet the bed, even once. You'll know when he's ready. I'd use a dry pull up for a week as an indication he's ready to try night time undies. Good luck!

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M.C.

answers from Albany on

I had a similar situation w/ my daughter, who will be 3 11/29. She was dry all day, during naps and would soak a diaper /pull up at night. I just kept putting a diaper on (or a pull up) until she started waking up dry every now and then, and i have to say that on it's own it just started happening that she was dry every morning. It took close to 10 months for this to happen, but i let it take it's natural course, didn't make a big deal out of it and she just gained the nighttime control on her own. It's been about a month of dry nights!!! I truly think kids do better on their own timeclocks and not on the way We think it should happen. good luck!

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K.B.

answers from Harrisburg on

The bladder at night will train on it's own. He can try to control it during the the day but not at night. He will only wake after he's wet which will just make him feel bad and not help at all. The bladder at night can take much longer than during the day. That's a long stretch of time plus he's sleeping. I would suggest leaving the Pull UPs, or a less expensive brand, on him at night until you start seeing him dry. It can take a few weeks to several months before the bladder is ready at night. Don't punish. After all, he's asleep! LOL Just keep encouraging him. If he's getting up during the night to pee then he's on the right track. It'll come.

With my 5 kids they are varied. My 22 year old took a few months. My 14 year old took less than a month. With my triplets, my daughter took less than a month, almost immediately dry at night after immediately day training. (lucky me!) The second triplet seemed to night train a hand full of months after day training, but then reverted and took another several months to be dry again, which the doc said was not unusual. The third triplet, who took forever do anything, took about a year! So the bladder at night will do what it will do. You can force it at night. And all of my kids fell in the normal range cuz there's no right way for night training. Just have patience. If the day is going great and nap too, be thankful and be patient for the night. After all, he won't be in college wetting the bed, right? LOL

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

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E.W.

answers from Philadelphia on

M.;
I am a mother to three little ones and have found that potty training is up and down. It is good for awhile, then it can change. I have found that waiting it out is just the thing. Diapers at night is good for everyone's morale and less laundry for you. They grow out of it. Keep in mind that based on the brain wave changes as they sleep, they are less inclined to 'know' when to get up to use the bathroom. It just takes time.
E. w.

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F.B.

answers from Harrisburg on

Don't go to underwear at night yet. Your son isn't ready for it yet. Urinating at night is an involuntary response for him. He cannot control it yet. When he wakes up consistently with dry pullups, I'd say for at least two weeks or more, then you can try putting him in underwear at night. Until then, keep using the pullups. Most pediatricians won't even consider bedwetting an issue until age 5 or 6. So my suggestion to you is to relax and let it happen in your son's own time.

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J.J.

answers from Allentown on

My daughter was daytime poty trained at just after her 3rd birthday. She potty trained in one day, boy was I surprised! Never had an accident. Stayed dry for naps after about a month and unfortunately still wears pull ups at night. I have heard it is normal. She wakes dry about 2 to 3 days a week, the rest she is wet. I had issues with bedwetting until I think I was around age 6 or 7, so I suspect it may happen to my kids. My grandmother would pin a towel on me under my underwear when I stayed at her house overnight LOL! I guess my point is like others have said, it will come in time and I wouldn't push it.

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L.H.

answers from Philadelphia on

Everyone has been giving fantastic advice! Yes, being able to hold the bladder at night is a completely physiological issue. No amount of punishment/shame or reward will make it happen any sooner, so yeah- lots of encouragement and keep using diapers or pull-ups at night. And if it takes longer than you think, still don't worry about it. Some kid's bladder control muscles don't begin to mature until the very earliest pubertal changes, which can mean age 9-11. If this is the case, it's not a big deal- there's nothing wrong with them and they aren't doing it on purpose. They are just late bloomers in this respect.
No worries! Good luck!

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J.Y.

answers from Philadelphia on

I agree with the other posters who said to stick with the pull-ups at night until he stays consistently dry for a week or so. When my daughter was 3, she was potty trained during day time, but still urinated overnight for a few more months. Eventually she was dry every morning, so we switched her to underwear overnight, and she never had an accident after that. She's now 4 1/2.

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J.G.

answers from York on

My son was potty trained durring the day at 21/2, but at night he was older than 3. He wore pull ups for a while, then I let him wear underwear and put rubber pants over them. He hated the rubber pants, so he learned not to go at night real quick after i switched. I got the rubber pants at babies r us.

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K.C.

answers from Philadelphia on

I ended up needing to put my son in underpants. He couldn't tell that he was wetting the bed since he was used to REALLY feeling wet with underpants on. What I do though is before we go to bed, about 2-3 hours after he does, we leave all lights off and carry him into the bathroom, stand pull down the pants and tell him to go. He stays asleep but goes potty and then right back into bed. We RARELY have accidents at night and he does wake himself up if he needs to go again usually. But that one last trip seems to do the trick most nights. I know lots of parents who do this, all with the same result! Good luck!

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C.J.

answers from Harrisburg on

I would say to continue to use pull up for a while. At least until she is dry for a week or so. It may take a while. My daughter potty trained herself with positive help from me in 4 days. In the beginning, she was staying dry all night, but then the comfort set in, and she was waking a few nights a week in the middle of the night soaked. She did this for about 2 weeks, then we decided she was too big to drink out of those sippy cups with straws, and she needed to drink out of a reg cup. Ever since then she has not wet the bed. We are going on a month now. She will have a cup of milk with dinner(like a 1 cup measurement) then around 2 hrs before bed, she may have 4 sips/drinks of water. She will go potty before bed, and we are good to go. Do not stress yourself out. Let him lead a little.
I am potty training an almost 3 yr old and a newly 2 yr old at this time(none of which are my children), and they are doing very well. Going on week 2. :)

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A.W.

answers from Philadelphia on

My son was closer to 4 before he didn't need to wear a pull up to bed at night and for a few months there we went back to putting him in diapers at night to help keep him dry. They have such small bladders at this age that it's hard for them to stay dry through the night. He won't learn by letting him wet the bed b/c he just can't help it at such a young age. Give him a few more months and just use the diaper at night.

B.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

M., I used pull-ups for a while on my girls after they were potty trained at night. He will, on his own start to wake up dry in time. He hasn't been potty trained all that long. So keep using the pull-ups at night until he asks if he can wear his undies at night...that's what we did and we had no wet beds ever! And we potty trained three girls! Best wishes.

M.L.

answers from Erie on

We did the same as denise did with the pull up dry for a week, then moved to undies again. he's had some accidents, but not very often now. potty training i think is the most frustrating thing i've ever done but they get it eventually! but keep the washing machine empty, just in case! lol

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J.B.

answers from York on

my daughter will be 3 soon too. she was potty trained for a while, but i still wore pull ups on her at nap time and bed time. then i backed off at nap time once they were consistently dry. it took a good few months where i would have considered her potty trained, to wake up dry in the morning, so she wore night time pull ups for a while. most times were no accident. but when we went to the beach over the summer the change of scenery or something was a set back for her so we wore them at night a little longer than i wanted. i think he will sort of let you know when he is ready. if he is still having accidents at night but ok during the day, i think its probably just out of his control at nights. you are doing great by stopping fluids earlier. i would also make my daughter pee downstairs a little before bed. then pee again upstairs just before bed when we brushed our teeth and stuff. that helped. and then i would sit her on the potty first thing in the morning whether she was dry or not. it feels like forever ago already going through that, so don't worry... it will pass before you know it! good luck to you. congrats on your potty trained little guy :o)

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