Night Underwear for Mostly Potty-trained Toddler

My son has also been potty trained for almost 2 years now (he's 4 1/2.) But he still has occasional - not frequent, but occasional - nighttime wetting, regardless of how much fluid we limit, and regardless of whether he pees before he goes to sleep. And I REFUSE to wake him to pee once he's asleep. He's never been a good sleeper, and often when fully awakened, he will have a horrendous time getting back to sleep.

SOOO, we use pull-ups. Like you said, we'll re-use them for a couple days if he's dry. But the other thing I've considered is layering his bedding. They make waterproof mattress pads - not the fitted sheet type - but a protector you simply lay under the sheet. I've considered putting on a sheet, then the protector, then another sheet. That way, if he pees, we change his undies, pull off the wet sheets, and he should have a dry sheet underneath to sleep on.

Personally, I don't really like the option of using the plastic covers over his underwear. I think that would be really uncomfortable on a bigger child.

They also make cloth diapers out of a fleece material - getting quite popular - perhaps they make a pull-up type for bigger kids? Just thinking out loud here, well not really since I'm typing - LOL - but I am going to look into this myself. Would save a lot of money in the long run. If I find anything, I'll post it.

I would recommend buy some waterproof bed pads. This makes clean up easier, on you, and much more convenient.
I got mine from Amazon. I recommend the 'quilted' type. I have 4 of them that I switch out as needed.
I put the bed pads DIRECTLY under my kids for nap/sleep. If they have an accident, then you just have to remove it and put a new one under the child.

Kids, no matter how well they are potty trained for daytime... can still have accidents at night. It is childhood.
Night time dryness, does not even occur until 7 years old. Per Pediatricians. Day and night 'dryness' are 2 different things. The maturation of the bladder etc.

My daughter is 7... and once in a great while, she does have an accident. I use the water proof bed pads under her each night. Just in case.
Much easier.
My daughter, did not used underwear at night, until she was about 5 years old. Until then, it was night time diapers.
"Pull-Ups"... does not hold a lot and it leaks. It is better for daytime.

My son is 4... and he is still wet at night and at naps.

Or, try the Potty Scotty padded underwear. It absorbs real well.
You can find it on Amazon or E-bay.

good luck,
Susan

I would just like to add that investing in a mattress cover that is waterproof is a good thing because my step-son didn't have a mature bladder until he was 8! This saved me a lot of scrubbing! We would also have an extra pair of sheets on hand so we could do quick bed changes.

If you want to try and avoid extra laundry the go to the local pet store, like Pet Smart, and buy some "Piddle Pads". They are plastic backed absorbent thin pads that get thrown away each morning. They come in a variety of sizes due to dogs being different sizes. They are very inexpensive and if your little one doesn't toss and turn then they should stay put, if not then buy the bigger sizes.

I agree with S.H. I have used the waterproof bed pads (I got mine at Walgreens for around $10.00). They are wonderful. You can either put them directly under your son or under the sheet so that he doesn't know they are there. I am in the same situation with my son (2 1/2). For the past 3 nights we have gone with just underwear and used the waterproof pad. So far, so good.

I have also used the "piddle pads" that Gamma G suggested. You can get them at Sams in the incontinence (sp?) section. Just know that they don't stay put as well and with the plastic lining, if your son is warm natured, he will sweat profusely with them. The sweating isn't as bad with the waterproof pads in my opinion.

We had to take away all diapers and pull ups at our house becuase my son would not go poo on the potty and would wait till bed time to poo in his diaper. I was at the end of my rope with it all and by that point a bit of pee would be great!! His diaper was always wet in the morning, but I just didn't care! We did this about 1 1/2 ago and he has had an accident twice. The only reason he was peeing in his diaper was because he could, not because he had to or couldn't control it. I would say go for the big boy undies100% of the time.. you may just be amazed at the outcome. For the first few weeks I was just prepared to change alot of bedding, I had a stack ready to go in his closet. Best of luck!

We let ours just wear normal big kid underware to bed. We then take him to the bathroom right before he goes to bed and then again right before we go to bed. This seems to work for us and for him. We do have an accident every now and then, but not very often. Our doctor also told us to limit his fluids after 6 p.m. which has also helped.

regular underwear with the vinyl cover.

I reuse pullups. I also put a little potty in his room that he can use if he wakes in the night or before we get him up in the morning. Once he figured out that he could use the little potty in his room, he really started waking up dry a lot more. Right now he insists on the pull up because he is afraid of an accident, and some battles just aren't worth fighting. When you start loosing the diapers, eliminate the nap time one first. If he is successful with that, then try the night time one.

The plastic pants are a good suggestion, but it won't completely secure the mess. I would let him try naps without the diaper and see how it goes. I would think that if he's been potty trained for so long it might only take one or two accidents in the bed to get his bladder used to the situation. It would also probably wake him up, which is kind of sucky, but I don't think it would last long. Also, we use pull-ups for bed time (my daughter wears undies at nap time) so they pull up and down like underwear and seem more authentic. They are obviously still disposable, but I looked in all kinds of stores for "old school" cotton training pants and never found them. I'm sure you could look on line, someone has to carry them I'm sure?? but since we're just using them at night, I figure disposable is fine for us.

I use imse vimse potty training underwear that I got from cottonbabies.com.
http://www.cottonbabies.com/product_info.php?cPath=60&amp...

they hold a whole pee accident. I have had a little minor wicking around the legs if my son had a really full bladder. We are not as far along in the potty training and use them at nap time and when we go out. I only have my son is real underwear at home for now. They are a lot more comfortable than a diaper and I just wash them separately in my washing machine with a free and clear detergent. If you use a detergent that has brighteners and fabric softeners then the underwear will not absorb as much over time.

Make sure you check the weight on the undies and I found they run a little big.