Potty-learning and naptime bedwetting

[prancie]

DS is almost 2.5. He is completely potty-learned when awake but often wets the bed if i don't diaper him for his nap. I have been oscillating between letting it happen and hoping he learns from it, which is how we managed transitioning him from naked all the time to wearing pants or underwear, and thinking that it is not age appropriate and he doesn't have the ability to keep himself from wetting the bed.

What do you think?

[Xerxella]

It's certainly possible that he doesn't have the ability to hold his urine for that long (over naps). We had our son in pullups for the overnight for a few months after he was dry all day. Then he didn't want diapers any more and he started being dry all night, too.

I'd give it time. Then try to go without them again.

[waiting2bemommy]

He might really not be able to hold it yet. My 25 month old has been in underwear for 10 months and still wears a pullup to bed at night. Yes, if I wake him up around 11 PM, and again around 4 AM, he will (usually) stay dry, but the way I look at it, he is ONLY 2 years old. It's really no big hassle....he even goes and gets his pullup after batha dn puts it on himself.

On the occasions where we haven't had any pullups due to being broke or staying over someplace or something, I just limited his drinking the last hour before bed, and pottied him at the times mentioned above. But honestly....would you rather toss a wet pullup in the morning/after nap or change pee sheets twice a day? We are just now getting to where he can stay dry at naptime about 50% of the time. But I'm not ditching the pullups until he goes a whole week dry. I'm 7 months pregnant and I HATE changing sheets.

And, FWIW, I don't think at 2 years old he is really going to "learn" from it. I'm a LOT stricter than a lot of parents on MDC in terms of my expectations but I really don't think it's fair to expect a 2 year old to control what he does when he's asleep.

[sapphire_chan]

Silly questions here, you give him a chance to use the potty before napping?
You check on him during the nap from time to time and see if he's stirring?
You've tried putting him in a one-wet style trainer (e.g. gerber) so that when he starts to pee a little he can feel it and maybe wake up to go finish peeing in a potty or toilet?
You've talked with him about when we dream about toilets it can mean we need to pee?

[sapphire_chan]

Especially the bit about making sure you give him a chance to go before his nap. If she pees beforehand, within the hour, my 17 month old stays dry through a 3 hour nap with no problems. Otherwise, she stirs halfway through and I take her to the bathroom and then she settles back down.

And if he does it "often" it'd definitely be worth watching for a whole nap (lounge with a book ) and seeing when he pees and then just getting him up before that point.

[Michigan Mama]

my ds1 is a bit older than yours - almost 3, and we have just gotten serious about PL'ing in the last week. I was pretty sure for quite a while he was still in diapers that he was dry all night/nap and just peeing after he woke up but before we could get to him. That's been confirmed this week in undies. When we wake him up (I wait until just before his normal time), he's dry and we can take him to the toilet.

So, it's worth watching to see if he actually pees while sleeping, or if it's just after waking.

Good luck!