My 2 and a half yr old son went through ups and downs in his potty training. He started when he turned 2 because "I don't want diapers" anymore. But then went through phases of wearing diapers to not wearing them. To cut a long story short, he is now in a Montessori where the teacher advised me to quit the diapers/pull-ups cold turkey - even at night. This has helped greatly and he is doing wonderful during the day. But the night times are a problem. I have a plastic sheet to protect his bed but then he wets himself and then sleeps through it without waking up. Sometimes he wakes up and calls out, and I go change him. But more often than not, he is wet in the morning. I feel sorry for him but I dont want to go back to diapers/pull ups. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could do? His room now stinks inspite of washing his clothes and sheets every single day. :-(
I dont know how to add to the comments below..so heres the addition - Thanks all for responding so quickly. I guess I shouldnt have cut the long story short. His Teacher did NOT mean to say he should stay dry through the night. She meant that cutting diaper/pull ups completely may help him have LESS accidents during the day (which was the problem to begin with). After cutting out the diaper at night, he actually improved a LOT during the day. I dont expect him to stay dry at night, I just wanted to know if there was some way to handle the "wetness" without going back to diapers/pull ups and giving him mixed messages again! Susan - thanks for the bed pad idea from Amazon. I will try that!
Thanks so much for all your comments and concerns! I started taking him to the Potty once at night before I sleep and once in the morning when I wake up (an hour or so before he does). IT worked for 2 nights. I dont expect it to work every night but atleast I can try. I understand some mom's concerns that I may be pushing him but I am not (in fact, I dont expect him to be potty trained at night till he's 5-6). I just dont want to put pull-ups on him at night because once we did that he seems to have more accidents in the day. He gets smug about it and just says "put me in a diaper" or "I know you have change of clothes for me". The night time no-pull-ups/no-diaper is working for us and helping with day-time as well, so I am going to keep it like this for now. I got some great tips from some of you on how to avoid the "stink" and I will follow up on that (thanks so much for the bed-pad/vinegar/wool ideas!). Toddler-hood is hard enough for them... he doesnt need additional pressure from me. :-)
Sounds like a heavy sleeper. What about the waterproof pants at night? Just a thought until he wants to get up to go.
Good luck!
How about just using the diapers/pull-ups at night? He still seems pretty young to expect him to go all night without an accident, and he's doing fine during the daytime.
Some kids are solid sleepers, they just don't wake up to go to the bathroom. My nephew was like that, and so they had him set this really annoying alarm clock to go off in the middle of the night to remind him to get up and go potty. He was older though, around 8-9 years old. Personally, I'd rather use the pull-up during the night than deliberately disturb his sleep to get him to go to the bathroom.
You can also try making him go to the bathroom right before bedtime and limiting liquids after dinner, which I'm assuming you're already doing.
Good luck!
V.
My son is 2 1/2 and is also day time potty trained. He wakes up with a full diaper every morning and I cannot imagine that will end any time soon. He sleeps for 11 hours a night and doesn't yet know how to wake himself up to go potty during the night. I don't think there is anything wrong with him wearing a nighttime diaper at night as long as he knows that those diapers are only for night time. If you ask my son when he wears diapers he will tell you "naps and bed". I really don't think there is anything wrong with it and it will save you from changing sheets every single morning and your son waking up in his pee.
Just my opinion....my girlfriends son is 3 and still wears a pull up during his sleep time. I also have a friend with an almost 3 year old and he quit diapers all together (day and night) right away. It really depends on the child. I just wouldn't push yours if he's not ready to be trained through the night.
I would just put him in pull ups at night. It is no big deal to have them just at night time. Some kids just can't hold their pee for that long at this age and they have to grow into it. I've had 2 that could do it the same time they were potty-trained and 2 that could not. I was tired of going in their rooms to clean up every night and the pull ups at night did not confuse them at all. Sometimes their tummy's just can't do it yet--so you just give them, and yourself a break. My 3rd finally stayed dry when he was 4 and my 4th at 4 too-- And before this , I was totally against pull-ups, my first 2 never had them and all my kids were potty trained in 3 days--so I was surprised when my other 2 couldn't do it at night--but every kid is different and the stress for them and you, is not worth it. It really is no big deal and will not affect him. It will probably make the situation a lot less stressful--just be patient and let his body go at its own pace. When he is dry in a pull-up for 3 nights you've got yourself a pattern//habit and you can move to underwear. Get some sleep--I promise you will be so much happier.
PS--I have lots of friends who go through this same thing and have their kids in pull-ups at night too during pre-school years--it is a lot more common than you may think. You are definitely now alone!!! (and the kids are all fine too)
put him back in over nights...no diapers in the day..but he should have a diaper on at night...my son is 3..his preschool wanted him potty trained before he started..had to take him out of diapers and i talked to him about it ..and soon as he started school he just stopped having accidents BUT he still goes in the diaper at night..his school said to go ahead and leave him in the diaper at night..BUT..what i do do is..i put his little potty chair in his room..and sometimes he wakes up w/ a dry diaper and there is pee in the little toilet..are u putting a toilet in with him?
it's ok to go back to night time diapers i would think it way worse to have him peeing in bed. They have small bladders can't hold it all night.
It sounds like he is not quite there yet. You can either keep going the way you have been, or put the pull-up on him at night.
Also remember that teachers do not know *everything* - I would do what works for you and your family, not necessarily following a teacher's suggestions. I know of one Montessori teacher (who has no kids of her own) who insists that all children can and should be potty trained at the age of 18 months - which most people would agree is ridiculous.
Hi V.,
Try a wool cover on the bed ... wool repels pee!!!
Smiles,
J.
Google the "Potty Pager". It worked miracles for us.
I agree with what everyone else is saying. I would go back to night time diapers/pull-ups. With my son we went cold turkey for the day andgave him a pull-up at night. We called it bedtime underwear. I think using the word underwear instead of diaper helped him not be confused about it. He was 5 yrs old when he started staying dry through the night, and his ped said that was perfectly normal. So good luck in whatever you decide to do. As far as his sheets smelling I would try putting vineger in when you wash them, it should help.
Hello, I would just get him the night time disposable pants for bed. That way he is not having his whole bed. I don't think it would effect his daytime potty business.
Good luck with your precious son.
K. K.
I would try stressing going potty before bed every night and limiting drinks an hour before bedtime. I know of people who woke their kids in the middle of the night to go potty, after only a few times of doing this the accidents were less frequent. Good Luck to you!
I definitely think the day time cold turkey is the easiest way, but I disagree that your school should suggest night time readiness at this age. Even when your child is consistently clean and dry all day, it may take several more months, or even years, for him to stay dry all night. The reality is that some 3- or 4-year-old's can't wake up in the middle of the night reliably to go to the bathroom. My 4 year old Son has been diaper free for, gosh, almost a year now, but he still wears pull-ups at night. We try every couple weeks to see if his body is ready yet and he still wakes up with soaked smelly sheets and clothes. And night time readiness really isn't an issue for your school to worry about! You can't do anything if his little body isn't ready to control itself during sleep, he is only
2 1/2! Sounds like he is doing great during the day though....congrats on that and good luck!
V.,
Since he is doing just fine during the day, probably you should slow down in his drinks at night time and taking him to the toilet before he goes to bed.
For example if he goes to bed at 8pm probably he should have his last drink 1 hour prior to go to bed so he can go to the toilet and he will be just fine.
Good Luck
At 2 all my kids still wore diaper at night. I am sure it is helping....but, I hate pee sheets.
what i would do is cut off liquids after dinner. make sure he pees before bed time. then what i would do is before you goto bed wake him up and take him potty. this will help him i think. also take him potty even if hes wet.
Night time is a totally different animal. I used diapers with my son only at night for about a year after he was completely potty trained. Stopped using them at night when he consistantly woke up in the morning with a dry diaper. He wet once in a blue moon. I stop giving him fluids about an hour and a half before bedtime and make him pee right before he goes to bed.
We got those waterproof panties - they look like underwear (although pretty bulky!) but are absorbent - still need to be washed every day and whatnot. The pull-ups (either during the day or at night) didn't work at ALL for my daughter, because they were too much like diapers, but these ones at night did (we used normal panties during the day). Anyways, just a thought!
Your son is SOOOOOO young to be expected to have FULL night-time dryness, ALL night.
Keep in mind: FULL night-time control, is attained at 5-7 years old. So, to expect a 2 year old to do that... is jumping the gun.
Toilet training (daytime) and Night-time 'ability" are TWO different things. It does NOT happen at the same time.
Even in Kindergarten... kids still have night accidents... and some wear night time diapers. Even my daughter's Teacher reiterated that.
Even in Preschool, MANY kids still wear night-time diapers, and/or have accidents... but the Parents won't admit to that.
So, your son is NORMAL.
DO NOT pressure him.
And yes, just put a waterproof bed-PAD under him. I do that with my kids. Its NO big deal. Don't use a plastic sheet, it does not absorb anything. You can find 'waterproof bed pads' at Amazon. www.amazon.com That is where I got mine.... I have 4 of them. And my kids sheets never get soiled, just the pad. I put the bedpad directly under them... not under the sheets.
Keep in mind, that some kids sleep SOOOOO soundly, that they don't even "know" they have to pee, or they won't even wake up first.
My 6 year old daughter... even had a dream once that she WAS on the toilet... but then she realized she was 'wet' , but she said she thought she was just dreaming. Its NO big deal. I just changed out the bed-pad & put it in the laundry basket, and changed her pajamas, and she went right back to bed. No problem. No need for a 'drama' about it.
My daughter was 5 years old when SHE was able to not use night-time diapers anymore. No big deal. We didn't pressure her, we didn't put expectations on her, we didn't lecture her about it, we didn't compare her to others, we didn't interfere, we didn't 'withhold' liquids at night. BECAUSE we knew that when SHE was ready, she 'could' go without night-time diapers and wake up herself. It is a BIOLOGICAL based development.... not one that goes according to what the parents or others want them to do.
I totally disagree with your son's Teacher.
To expect your son to be PERFECT about night-time "ability' and dryness is WAY to soon. AND anyway, its none of your Teachers/the school's business, if your son has pee accidents at night. And its none of their business if he wears night-time diapers or not.
Even my friend's 6 year old son, STILL has some night-time accidents. AND HE IS NORMAL... and even the Pediatrician says this.
Don't pressure your son. Don't give in to external pressure or worry about what others may think. ALL kids have night-time accidents... especially at this YOUNG age.
Your poor son, I feel sorry for him.
All the best,
Susan
