Hey Moms!
My daughter has to take medicine before bed each night with food and its mixed in at least 4 oz. of liquid. The doctor explained that the more food and liquid in her belly it easier on her stomach (i.e. no cramping). She will be taking this medicine until further notice and right now it will be at least another six months.
She is three. Now how the heck do I potty train her at night with these instructions?!
Right now she goes to bed with a pull up and is very wet in the morning. I would love to continue teaching her to be potty trained at night, but with the medication instructions it seems like I'm setting her up to fail.
At what age did your children have the most consistant success with staying dry through the night?
I'm trying to get an idea of the age to encourage night time potty training.
thanks!!
*real quick note- the meds have to be at bedtime so they stay in her system as long as possible before she urinates again. she had a kidney infection and this is to prevent another one until her doctor can tell if she has grown out of the condition or needs surgery. :)
My son was day trained at 3 1/2 but he was 7 before he could stay dry through the night.
Some kids are 11 or 12 before they manage it.
Leave her in pull ups till she wakes up dry for 2 weeks in a row.
If she's on a medication for 6 months, focus on that and on her getting better.
Don't worry about wetting the bed right now.
Some kids do it on the earlier side but many do not - and it's all perfectly normal.
You cannot train, for night time dryness.
She is so young.
Daytime pottying and night time "dryness" are 2 different entirely separate, things and processes.
Night time Dryness... is not something that occurs, until even 7 years old. It is not the child's fault. It is all about PHYSIOLOGICAL development... of the brain/myelin nerve sheath/bladder development.
This is normal.
Using pull-ups for night time is useless. Because, it does not hold much and it leaks. Just use night time, diapers. Huggies.
My daughter was already 7 and still had night time accidents.
My son is 5 and still wet at night and wears night time diapers for sleep/naps.
Normal.
ALL of my daughter's Teachers... from Preschool and Kindergarten and 1st Grade... ALL unanimously said: that kids these ages, still have night time accidents/are still wet/ and use night time diapers. It is, normal. But the parents are embarrassed about it. But it is normal biological development of children these ages.
She's still pretty young, so don't worry too much. Also, 4oz of liquid is not much. What are you giving it to her with? Perhaps you could give her some peanut butter crackers or toast to ensure her belly has something in it.
Ensure that she gets to empty her bladder before bed and that the medication in liquid is all she gets for a couple of hours prior to going to sleep. If you can, try to get up about 15 minutes before she usually wakes on her own and get her to the potty. I found that both of my boys were wetting their pullups RIGHT when they woke up, so if I could get them right then, they were often dry! It's worth a try.
Best of luck!
The good news is it doesn't matter that she drinks a little before bed. Nighttime "training" isn't training at all. Her body will know when she can make it through the night dry and learn to wake to go. This development happens differently for all kids. Some kids are out of pull ups at night at 2 - others at 10. My pediatrician told me to be patient and wait until she starts to be dry at night before taking away the pull up.
She is still very young. Don't worry about it. Before you go to bed, get her up and put her on the potty. that will help.
When she is older, she will learn to keep dry. Keep her in diapers til then.
you cannot teach nigth time dryness.. it is developmentat.
the brain and body matures adn the child is dry.
my son was dry at 3.. dry every night .. he wakes up to pee if he has to.
my daughter is almost 6 and is wet every night soaked... rarely (1 time per month) she might wake up dry..
if you daughter has kidney bladder infections.. that will make it harder to stay dry.. do not even think about night time dryness.. she will be dry when her body is ready.
Can you administer the meds w/ dinner (or afternoon snack) instead of close to bedtime?
I've been getting my 4-yr-old up at night just before I go to bed (about 3 hours after he goes to sleep) and having him stumble sleepily to the bathroom to go potty. Sometimes he is already wet and he doesn't have anything left for the pot, but if he is still dry then we usually have success. I'm hoping the association of getting up in the middle of the night "for him" will eventually start t stick. Kiddo stumbles back to bed each night after trying and falls right back to sleep.
That said, I wouldn't stress yourself (or your LO) out about night-time training while this medical need is being addressed. Pull-ups are pricey but the cost is really small potatoes in comparison to physical health and emotional well-being (yours and hers!)
B., I read your SWH. It seems to me that the medicine is a ton more important than potty training at night time. So don't worry about it.
I hope that this thing with her kidney will get completely resolved without surgery. Believe me, there are kids who don't get through the night until they are teens. And they don't have your child's problem. So don't feel one bit bad if she isn't able to potty train. It's going to be a process - you just want for her to get well.
All my best to you both,
Dawn
There is no such thing as potty training at night time. It happens when the brain starts producing the signal to the kidneys to stop urine production during the sleep cycle. It is not something you can fix or change.
Just keep her in a pull up and let her have whatever she wants, drinks and/or food. It does help for the bladder to be full too. If she feels the fullness while she is sleeping she may wake up and go, if it's too empty she will just sleep through the night and urine will happen no matter what.
My son was night time trained at 27 or 28 months. We just took him out of diapers and put him in underwear. We have NEVER withheld liquids. In fact he has always had a glass of milk or water before going to bed at night. I don't see that 4 oz of fluids is going to be an issue.
He was rarely dry in the morning when he had a diaper at night. He had maybe an accident a week for 3-4 weeks once we switched to underwear and then we were done. I think if we waited for morning dryness we would still be waiting (he is almost 6 now).
