Night Time Potty Training - Houston,TX

Dear M.,
I have personally never night time potty trained any of my children ( I have three). Every parenting book that I have read says that they will catch on by themselves. My nephew is almost 4 and still wheres a pull-up at night. There is no reason to worry or concentrate on getting her through the night. She will catch on soon enough when her body is ready. Being trained by 2 is a hugh accomplishment! Be patient, wear pull-ups until she is a little older and has been dry for atleast 6 weeks straight (you can reuse the same one as long as she stays dry!! No Worries!!

M.,

I'd be interested to hear what other moms think of this as well. I have a 3 1/2 year old who's been in big girl undies since she was two, but I keep her in diapers at night since she still wets at night. She told me a few days ago that she was through with diapers at night and even gave me her night-time security blanket and said she didn't want that anymore either. So I explained to her that she needed to run to the bathroom at night when she needed to go and put her in big girl undies. She's wet the bed every evening, so we're back in diapers. I would imagine that our babies' bladders are still not developed enough to wake them when they have to go. Perhaps we need to wait until they are around 3 1/2 - 4 years to expect them to be able to hold it? Hopefully we'll hear from mommies who have older children who can shed some light on this subject. :-)

What I did with my 3 kids.

At about that age and stage of potty training we used regular pants, had a waterproof pad between mattress pad and sheet, had another set of sheets between pad and another mattress pad. So in other words we had plastic mattress protector, m pad, sheet, waterproof pad (the large one from the crib works perfect), another sheet.

They often woke up if they wet their bed. I would just clean them up and strip the top layer off, dumping it all in the washer for cleaning in the morning. Then everyone could get back to bed quickly.

I also set the alarm for sometime between 12-2 a.m. Each child is different but somewhere in that time was when they usually wet the bed. I got up, woke them up, and took them to potty. I did this for awhile, at least a couple of months I think. They did fine with it and were soon trained to wake up and go potty. All night is a long time for some kids to be able to go without needing to potty!

One other thing. When they are extra tired, drink extra in the evenings, the house is colder, etc. will tend to effect these things.

Good luck

OMG! No big deal. Accidents happen. Just be sure to tell her it's fine, but try not to go in the bed because then the sheets will be dirty. Also, try to stop her liquids 2-3 hrs before bed time. If she likes to have something, just water and very little, or just make sure she goes before laying down. Maybe read her a book and then say it's potty time and brush her teeth as well. Don't sweat it.

CJR

I think use a pad on top of her bottom sheet and put her back in her panties at night time. She will soon not like waking up with wet panties I think. She has deveolped tremendous body control for her age, so good for her. I am sure you are not making a huge deal out of her "losing it" at night. I mean, shame about that can cause all kinds of problems. Just reassure her she'll get it and you love her no matter what. I think just keep doing what you are doing basically but I wouldn't use the pull ups anymore. (I did use them occasionally if we had a long road trip at those ages)
Best wishes.

My son just turned four a few days ago and he still wears a night time pull up to bed! you've got to do what you've got to do...
most of the time it is dry in the morning, and then he uses the bathroom, sometimes it's not. He told me today he was tired of the pull-ups and wished he could wear underwear to bed, i explained that he had to wait until he stayed dry every night for a 6 weeks, then we would try it. I am marking the days on the calendar for him. oh, reuse the dry ones!
~A.

My son is also 2 1/2 and was potty trained by 23 months. He is dry about half of the week and then wets his pull up the other half. Really, I can't go 12 hours without peeing so I don't expect him to be able to either. Just give her body time to mature. When she is able to get up and use the bathroom in the middle of the night without help, then she is probably ready.

I am in awe--Congrats on your success so far! My 3 year old is just now getting to the point where I can call her potty trained, and my 2 year old is scared stiff of the whole potty experience--her whole body goes stiff when I try to put her on the potty and she screams!! Guess I need to post about that LOL!
Anyway, just wanted to give you a thumbs up--As far as advice, I do have a friend whose 2 1/2 year old is about at the same stage as yours, and I know she doesn't give her any liquids after 6:00 or 6:30 pm.

Best wishes in completing potty training!!

congrats on a two year old being potty trained. my daughter was three. Well anyway my doctor said that if your child is dry more than three nights consecutivly then they should be in panties and they may have accidents at night but not to be consumed by it. Just get a great mattress pad and have extra sheets. I also make my daughter go to the bathroom every night before bedtime whether she feels she has to or not (most of the time she does).

It's unrealistic to expect a toddler to get up in the middle of the night and go pee because they see darkness, are scared and still don't fully comprehend that they are not supposed to pee on the bed no matter how many times you tell them. I left my daughter in pull ups for about 6 months because although she didn't pee in her pull ups, there will be that occasion when they will have accidents. Another thing is that the pull up, since its thicker, might make her feel warmer in that area than her panties because they are thinner material and when you are cold at night you tend to feel the need to go to the bathroom at night time. Don't stress your child is only 2.