I'm seeking any tips and advice from those of you have experience with night potty training. I have a 4 year old girl who has been day potty trained since she was 3, but has consistently used and peed in pull-up at night. For months we have limited he liquid intake a few hours before bedtime and she uses the toilet before she goes to bed. For the last 2 nights she has gone without pull-ups and has used the toilet after she's been in bed a few hours, when we go to bed. The first night she had 1 accident and the second night 2 accidents. Here is where I need tips of how to proceed. Should we keep doing this for at least a week or more and see if it improves or back to a pull-up with us waking her up when we go to bed to see if the pull-up is dry in the morning? Thanks!
My son is coming up on 7, and still not night trained - he even wets through his pullups if he's had too much to drink.
My understanding is that there are 3 or 4 physical developments that have to happen, and we're just not there yet.
Back off, try again in a couple months.
My 4 1/2 year old is still wearing a diaper to bed and wakes up wet. She wears a one-piece sleeper to bed, so I figure we'll wait until spring before pushing night time training. I think it's completely normal to not be night trained at this age (although most of her peers are).
Just wanted you to know you're not alone. :-)
Good luck,
J.
Its completely normal at this age for a child to wet the bed. Go back to pull ups and I would say when she consistently keeps them dry then go to underwear which is what we did with both of our kids. Our youngest was never a good sleeper so we expected him to night train quickly.
Put the pull-up back on until she is dry for a week. She's not sleeping, you're not sleeping, and you're up to your ears in laundry. Some kids just don't get this until later - it's not a defiance issue or anything else. The stage at which the brain gets the "bladder full so wake up" signal varies in every child - it's neurological and developmental, not behavioral. So you can't train them out of it. She's still pretty young so don't worry. My son was evaluated for this at 5, and there is a condition called "nocturnal enuresis" which means night time bedwetting. He had to go on medication until he was about 11 - it was no big deal, although I'm not usually a big advocate of meds when something else will work. When he was ready for sleepovers and later for overnight camp, this medication was a lifesaver. The pediatric urologist we met with said there were no side effects, and he even had kids in their late teens using it. I don't think you're anywhere near ready for this, but it's out there, just so you know.
When our son was little, we didn't have the good-nights diapers for big kids, so once he physically outgrew pull-ups, we were on our own. We tried those alarms, and they were horrible and unhelpful. You really don't want your daughter waking up 3 times a night to go to the bathroom - she needs her sleep more than she needs to be using the potty. I really think you need to look at the likelihood that she cannot be "trained" out of this. Limiting fluids will help her not be so drenched, but I wouldn't keep waking her or doing sheets!
If she tends to leak out of the pull-up, you can do what we did - put a waterproof mattress cover on, then a fitted sheet. Then we put a waterproof sheet (from the crib - it's just a flat piece, no fitted corners), then a 2nd fitted sheet. We kept a packet of wipes next to his bed. If he wet the bed, we only had to strip off his pjs and wipe him down, strip off the top sheet and the crib liner, and he had a fresh dry sheet ready. I've also heard people now use an absorbent pad available in drugstores with the adult diapers. You could try any of these methods if necessary.
Good luck!
I have a 4 yr old who has been potty trained since three as well. I am not pushing the night training at all. I figure it will come when it comes. I have enough to worry about without adding this to the list.
I'd say if she is still wetting in the pull ups at night, she's not ready yet. I have an almost 4 year old boy who potty trained closer to 3.5 but we went to underwear at night rather quickly since he decided that he didn't want to be in pull ups. So if she's willing to wear the pull ups still, I say stick w/ them until she's waking up dry. We spent many nights getting woken up at 2-3 am w/ wet sheets & doing laundry a lot. It will come w/ time. Good luck!!
You might want to try getting a couple of cloth pullups -- then she'll feel it when she pees at night. It will mean a bit more laundry, but not as much as if she were peeing on the sheets.
If you can deal with the idea of potentially cleaning her & changing sheets a 1 or 2 times the next couple nights or more then go WITHOUT the pullups. In my experience with my son, putting the diaper/pullup on at night for an otherwise potty trained kid, he almost always woke up wet -- I feel --- because his body knew he had the diaper on & that's what it's always done. When I let him sleep in his underoos, however, I reminded him several times before bed that if he feels peepee at night that he should call mommy and I'll take him to the bathroom. Short of a couple accidents, this has worked for about a week now. I still make a big deal about what a big boy he when he gets up to pee, even if he's half asleep. I should mention that until I stopped the diapers at night I would sometimes have to change him in the middle of the night because he'd pee so much. It's as though his body also recognizes now that if he does not have a diaper on, he must wake up if he has the sensation to pee. He'll be 3 in February so I am thrilled that this is working. Obviously every little one is different. My daughter needed pullups at night alot longer. Good luck!
