Potty Training Advise - Spencer,IA

Does he usually wake up dry? I would say to him "until you are dry for 2 weeks in a row", we aren't going to do it. Maybe make a sticker chart. 2 1/2 is very young to be dry consistently at night. Especially for a little boy. My son was in pull ups at night past 4 and still had the occassional accident after that. It is such a mess and so much work when it happens! It always seems to amount to 3 or 4 loads of laundry with the mattress pad and the various layers of bedding. My daughter was dry at night almost as soon as she was trained. They're all different. I'd definitely recommend a waterproof mattress pad if you're ready to try. I also know people who make their child go to the bathroom at 10 or 11 before they go to bed. If you're willing to do that, that may help a lot. Good luck!

Hi S.

Both of my kids on their own, like your son decided they didn't want to wear pull ups at night anymore, so we were done and I think we only had maybe 3 accidents.
The first thing to think about is if the pull ups are dry in the morning when he wakes up? If so then you know he can hold it, also limiting fluid before bed will help with this.
Another thing you may want to try (which I did with my son because he was so little and young) was to wake him up before I went to bed to take him potty, he usually did this in a trance like state and went straight back to sleep, mind you it depends how late he goes to bed, my kids go to bed a 7pm and I'd wake him up at 10pm to go potty, then he had an empty bladder to sleep the rest of the night.
Also maybe pick up some thicker training underwear, Hanna Anderson have them in their store and online, they look and feel like underwear but they soak up accidents.
Good luck

When I potty trained my now 6 year old he was about 2 1/2 also. We didn't use pull ups. His bed had the plastic type mattress to help with accidents, but with regulating his fluid intake towards bedtime, we rarely had any accidents. He loved having his big boy undies on and when he woke up it helped him to remember to use the potty right away. In my experience, pull ups make them feel like they are still "babies" because they are pretty much like diapers. If he doesn't want to use them, I say let him wear his undies.

I was unwilling to withhold water and definitely not interested in waking my son up in the middle of the night (everyone in our family likes to sleep through the night. I just waited until he had a dry diaper almost every morning and then started letting him sleep without it. He was 3 and one month. He rarely had accidents after that, usually only if he was sick or his sleep schedule has changed. I may be missing something here but why does everyone always want to go through such an effort to "night train" their child when it will simply happen on its own when the child is ready and has a great enough bladder capacity.

Take him out of his pull ups and go ahead and place in big boy pants. I have a 3 year old son that has accidents about once a month and I have rubber sheets under his sheets. It saves the bed. I have heard people putting on a rubber sheet, bed sheet, and then another layer of rubber and regular sheets. that way you aren't spending too much time haveing to make the bed in the middle of the night. He is learing to wake up to go to the bathroom. I have read from others to wake him before you go to bed. Don't. He has to learn his own bodly ques and waking him will not help. He will get it, don't worry. Boys badders are more inmature then girls so it takes them a little longer.

Like others have said: if he wants to wear underpants at night, you should not discourage him!!!

One great tip I got was to put two (or more) "layers" of waterproof pad & fitted sheet on the bed, so if they do have an accident, all you have to do is change your son, take off the first "layer" of sheet/mattress pad, throw it in the washing machine, & go back to bed! It was much easier than wrestling with bed making in the middle of the night. I only had one good waterproof mattress pad & used the crib-size "piddle pad" - just flat, no fitted edges - for the second layer.

We just went through this with our 3 year old daughter. I had heard about not drinking after 7, and waking them up to go to the bathroom before you go to bed, I even heard about the high protien snack before bed (This one would not work for us, then she would only want to eat and not sleep, that and she wants to have a drink when ever she eats something). I have done those (the no drink and the waking up before I go to bed)and they work great. The other thing that I did that has made a difference for her is I told her about how she got to be a big girl that night and wear her panties to bed. She got very excited. That night I think I woke her up like 4 times to make sure that she didn't have an accident and so that I could see what times she did need to go to the bathroom. After that I have only had to take her once at night because I figured out when she had something that she needed to get out. There have been a couple of accidents, and she almost cries when she has them because she feels so bad that she had an accident. I just remind her that it was an accident and then go help her change the sheet and blankets on her bed. It has worked wonderfully. I hope some of it might work for you. Good luck!

Go for it! My son at 18 mo. started showing interest by 2 he was fully trained and we just put towels down for a week on this bed and gave it a try - sure enough he stops drinking about an hour before bed, goes potty before hand and has only had two accidents both while sick and drinking excessive fluids. I truly advice it...especially since he wants to do it - that's most of the battle! Good Luck!

http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...

This is a sort of mini-mattress pad that you just tuck under your kid, so if he has an accident, rather than having to remake the whole bed, you just change his clothes, pull out the pad, put in a new one, and you're good to go.

If he's asking to be in underwear all the time, follow his lead. If he has a lot of accidents, he may be willing to go back to the pull-ups for awhile. If he gets frustrated, you can explain to him that while he's sleeping (especially at his age) it's not a matter of will, but of whether his body is developed enough (hormonally and mechanically) to keep him from peeing while he's sleeping. But for the moment, follow his lead! Good luck!

Honestly, I do not believe in pull-ups unless you are staying over night somewhere other then home for some reason. Pull-ups are just like diapers, and if they have an accident at night, they really don't know about it until the morning, because it will not get the bed wet, and it will not wake them up. With my 2 1/2 year old decided that she was no longer going to wear diapers, and only underware, I did put a diaper on her at night for the first week, because she was not potty trained, she woke up one morning and decided that she was going to wear her big girl underware and that was that. So I just wanted to make sure that this was something that she was going to do for sure and not just a phase she was going threw. After that first week, I stopped putting a diaper on her and just reminded her to go potty before she went to bed. The nights I didn't remind her, she ended up having an accident and that only took a few times and before she quit having accidents. Not to say that she will never have an accident again, but she has not had an accident for a good two months now and she has been wearing underware for 3 months now. I have even hear her get up at night a few times to go potty. Good luck

My daughter goes to bed at 9:00. I do not give her any water to drink after 7:00. She does however have a glass of milk before bed. Ever since I stopped giving her water she has not had one accident. Of course if she asks for a drink after 7:00 I give it to her but I do not leave her cup available for her to drink. I also make sure before bed she goes to the bathroom.

Hope this helps however if your child is a big night time drinker this may not be for you.

Feed him a high fat/high protein, low sugar snack before bed: Peanut butter toast, grilled cheese sandwich, cheese and crackers, bean and cheese burrito... the more fat and protein the better.

The body gets the urge to pee when blood sugar drops. The more protein/fat he goes to bed on the less likely he is to inadvertently pee during the night.

2 1/2 is pretty young for night-time training, but my oldest daughter did it when she was 17 months of her own free will, so it is possible.

Try the snack and put a waterproof liner between him and his sheets (after he falls asleep if he is resistant to it).

I would try those pull-ups that look like boxers. If that doesn't work, I would make him wear them - or start waking him up every couple hours to take him to the bathroom.

If he doesn't want to wear pullups, don't make him! That's great. For my daughter I'll get her out of bed before I go to bed (around 10:30) and put her on the toilet. It has worked great so far. I also bought a mat that fits a twin bed over the fitted sheet that has been a lifesaver for accidents. If she wets the bed I'll just pull that off at night and not have to worry about changing the sheets. (I got it from Target online and it's the best $15 I've ever spent.) Good luck!

Maybe try putting on underwear and then a pullup over top the first couple nights. I also have a 2 1/2 year old i'm trying to potty train, but we aren't to that point yet.

I just finished potty training my 2-1/2 year old sons and it seems to work if I limit their fluids after dinner and make sure they go to the bathroom before they go to bed. They literally went from waking up soaking wet a few weeks ago to being dry every morning now. Good luck!