potty trainning at night? About This Page:

[genhand]

Hi,
My DD is 3 ans a half and have been potty trained for a yaer now... except at night! I'm going crazy, she still wet her bed every night and I've try all I know. There is no drink after supper, go to the restroom before bed, we even make her go once or twice at night, she as a night light in her room, hall and bathroom so it's not dark and she still wet her bed evrynight! Her pediatrician says that normal and for some kids it's not before 4 or 5 years old!
So help me potty trained her at night if you have any tips please, I know she can do it, it took her only a week to be during the day, so I'm sure she can be at night?

[denwol]

Some Kids are just not physically ready to be dry at night until much later than they are trained during the day. 3 is still young - I wouldn't push her or maKe her feel bad. We just used pull-ups at night until they were able to stay dry......less frustrating for them and for us.

This is not unusual at all, and not necessarily something she can control. Don't worry about it. When she's ready, she'll stay dry.

[wayneava81]

Well sounds like she'll get it one day! YOu're doing better than me. My daughter will be 3 in February and she refuses to have anything to do with the potty that shes had for almost a year. My luck she'll want to start right before our upcoming January trip. Have you ever heard about that bed wetting monitor type thing. Its some tube thing that connects to their underwear and it detects the first sign of wetness and its supposed to wake them up to go. Try onestepahead.com.

[Colexis Mom]

Both my kids were potty trained during the day around 3 YO, but we kept them in pullups during the night probably until they were both close to 5 YO. For me, it was just easier than having to change sheets every night, and the frequency of accidents happened less and less.

[genhand]

To get her trained during tha day, i did what I asways said I wouldn't do... I gave her candy (smarties)... I now it the worst things to do, but it work!!!
She never have candy or chocolat, so she was very excited. Every time she would "pee" she would have one smarties and every time she would have a bowel movement it would be two. After the box was empty, I just told her she was such a big girl now that she didn't need chocolat anymore to go. It work for her, but she's a good kids, very calm and easy, not like her brother, who I'm very nervous for... He is very active and stubburn, doesn't even sit through the end of a 6 pages book!

[Chrissi]

My DS was not fully potty-trained at night until a few weeks before he turned 4. He was a late potty-trainer because he hated waking up wet at night and feared having an accident. Accidents happen. It's so important to just reassure them that you won't be upset if they have a nightime accident and to keep an extra set of dry jammies and sheets right next to the bed for those middle-of-the-night accidents. (I had a hard time myself with those nighttime accidents because it was so disruptive to his sleep schedule to have to turn on the lights, clean him up, redress him, strip the bed, remake it, and try to calm him back down when he was all worked up.)

My DS needed the reassurance of being able to wear pull-ups at night even after he was potty-trained for a few months. At 5, he still has an occasional accident, but much less frequently than he used to (and no pull-ups for the last year or so! ).

We've found that what works for him is pushing most of his daily intake of fluids on him early in the day and throughout the afternoon and cutting back to just a few ounces at a time in the evenings instead of a full cup whenever he's thirsty.

Sometimes he'd still wake up and have to go, but he'd be disoriented from sleep and waking up in a darkened bedroom that he didn't wake one of us to go downstairs to use the bathroom with him in time. (No upstairs bath in our house.) Even with nightlights, he was afraid to get out of the bed to tell us he needed to go. Our solution was a nursery monitor on his nightstand. The other is right next to my side of the bed and it's made me a very light sleeper. I hear him when he talks and laughs in his sleep and I know the second he wakes up and has to go because he whispers into the monitor, "Mommy, I have to go. Can you come get me?"

My advice is to not get discouraged and to try a range of solutions. Is your DD going in her sleep, or waking with too little time to get to the bathroom, or afraid to get out of the bed to go in the middle of the night? There are so many things to consider at night that aren't a problem during the day. It's such a tough transition to make for little ones.

[Grandmasam]

Three is WAY too early to think that she will be dry all night! Use the pull-ups and don't make a big deal about it. As for your son, boys mature later than girls, so he'll probably be later than she was. Again, don't worry about it! Use the disposable items that are out there, and enjoy the kids.

[vsonnier]

My pediatrician was shocked to see that I'm already working on potty training DS. He said the average age for potty training is 3.5 and being dry all night closer to 4.5. So instead of stressing over it we have just had the attitude of "every time he goes is just one less diaper to change" and we haven't pushed it. Of course we give him TONS of praise every time he goes but 3 seems so young to stress over getting them to stay dry all night. Instead of putting pressure on her I would let her wear pull ups at night and just shower her with tons of praise every time she makes it all the way through the night.

One other thing...DSIL was having a nightmare of a time with DNephew. She did a chart with him and told him that when he had gone 14 days without an accident the potty fairy would come visit him. They didn't freak out when he had an accident...just quietly started over and reminded him about the potty fairy. He was SO beyond thrilled when the potty fairy finally left him the toy fuel pump he had been begging for (he's a strange kid )

[genhand]

I'm not very stressing over it, it's just I tought that she would be ok a night by now! All my kids friends have been both at the same time! When she woke up at night because she wet her bed, I'll just change her bed in the dark and wash her bum (she has very sensitive skin in that area) and new pj, no yelling or crying, just clean bed and pj plus kisses and she goes back to sleep. I think she has profound sleep and doesn't wake up in time... So I guess, I stick with pull-up at night

[Jookiba]

If you haven't already done so, they sell plastic mattress covers to protect your mattress from being ruined by being soaked with urine. I would suggest buying one (it goes over the mattress, then you put the fitted sheet over the plastic cover) and when she has an accident, just wipe the plastic with either a wipey or a cloth with cleanser on it, dry it off, and voila-a new clean sheet over it and you're done. No dealing with a soaked mattress and wondering where to put her.

[eff051102]

Our foster daughter had this problem while she was with us. According to her mom, she had this issue for a long time and it was almost normal???????

She was 10 when she came here and I had her wearing Goodnight Pullups during the night. Her issue was twofold, 1.) she wouldn't go during the day at school or at home and would hold it so long that her bladder would only release at night, 2.) she was such a heavy sleeper, that she never woke up when she needed to go.

Her doctor started her on pills that will help her not wet the bed, we started no drinks after 6 p.m., and she wore a digital watch and when ever the peeper went off during the day, she had to go to the bathroom and try to relieve herself no matter what. After 2 accidents at school, she started going to the bathroom more often at school and by the time she left here, she was 11 y.o. and had almost stopped wetting the bed. Her doctor said that sometimes if the parent wet the bed, the kids will also. Don't know if I agree with that, but I guess I will find out with my DD.

[Belle*]

Ryan is 3.5 and has been potty trained for almost a year during the day. He still wears pull-ups overnight. He started getting up at night by himself one night and we just went with it. He wakes up dry most mornings but you can tell he has been sleeping hard when he wakes up with an 8 pound pull-up. It was just something he had to figure out by himself and I imagine we've got quite a while before he is out of pull-ups completely. He does wear underpants through his nap and, knock on wood, has not had an accident during nap for a very long time.

[DrDolphin]

My niece had issues with this. We were told by her Ped that it IS a genetic thing in some children - their bladders just don't grow big enough, fast enough to deal with that volume of urine. She used Good nights and that fixed the problem.

[LBAK]

Both my DD's now 21 & 12 were bed wetters. I stressed with my 21 yo as there were no pullups or goodnights then but there was really nothing I could do. My 12 used goodnites and finally she went on meds. and she was fine by the time she was 10. Try not to get DD stressed over it and as long as everything is medically OK I wouldn't worry yet.

[Tink and co.]

My younger daughter was actually potty trained durning the day before she was even 2 (liked to keep up with big sis), but wasn't completely out of pullups/diapers at night until she was almost 7. We did the plastic cover for the mattress, and had to actually diaper her at night, because the pullups/goodnights weren't absorbant enough. We were told by the pediatrician her bladder hadn't grown quickly enough, and she was a very heavy sleeper. One day, she was just able to do it. My other kids were 3.5 and 4 when they were dry through the night, but it was something they just sort of did on their own. Once they were waking up dry, we talked about going to the potty first thing in the morning, and I helped them with that initially, and that was it.
She'll get it.