Night time dryness?

[lovesea]

My 3 and a half year old has been potty trained for nearly a year now. He was easy to potty train and has never had many accidents. Lucky me! At the time I felt he wasn't ready to go through the night. Plus I have a younger child who I was getting up at night with frequently so I didn't want to have another reason to have to get up. Now, somehow a year has gone and he is still showing no signs of being ready to go all night.

I've talked to him about not wearing diapers at night and he rejected it. I've bought him pull-ups thinking I could encourage him to get up and use the potty but he won't wear them. He has never woken up with a dry diaper on but sometimes he comes into our bed in the early hours and he does seem to be dry.

So my questions are: When should kids be dry all night? How do I get him to make this transition. TIA for any advice or comments.

[lyterae]

I don't have any definite guideline for you, my dd potty-trained very easily at 2.5 and has just turned 4 and still needs a pull-up for overnights. She stays dry about 3 out of 4 nights. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it and she occasionally wakes up in the night to use the bathroom.

[Alyantavid]

It varies alot. My oldest was potty trained at 2 and was always dry at night. He's wet the bed a handful of times since and he's now 7.

My 3.5 year old was also potty trained at 2 and still rarely makes it all night. Right now, he goes to bed at 8 and goes potty and then dh gets him up around 12 to go again. Then when I get up in the morning at 5:30, I take him again and then stick him back in bed with dh. It's a pain, but he completely refuses diapers now and I really can't handle washing sheets daily again.

[MJB]

Both my kids were potty trained before 2. My oldest son is now 7 and still wets the bed several nights a week. My 4 yr. old doesn't wet the bed so it's a source of embarrassment for my 7yo. At his 6 yr. checkup our pediatrician said it was still very common at 6, and as it turned out, 3 of 4 boys in his cabin at summer camp wore pull-ups at night. We go for his 7 yr. checkup in a couple weeks and want to work more on finding a solution, but up until now didn't worry about it. I wouldn't worry about it even now if he wasn't worried about it-- he didn't care at all at 6 but he wants it to stop now.

[Red Pajama]

My twins (boys) turn five tomorrow. One has been nighttime dry since 3 1/2. The other is still in nighttime diapers or pull ups, depending on what I purchase. He does prefer a diaper.

I used to wake him up in the night to go pee, but I haven't been lately. I have heard him the last few nights getting himself up to pee. He's still wet in the morning.

A friend of mine has a boy a year and a half older who is still in nighttime diapers.

[LynnS6]

I had one child who was dry at night before she was 3, and one who was dry at night just after he turned 8. No way would our son have been able to stay dry at 3 1/2.

It's largely biological. If he's sleeping heavily and waking up soaked, he's probably not ready. If not, he may just prefer the convenience. You can try going without for a few days and seeing what happens.

[lovesea]

Thank you all for your replies and for sharing your experience. The message I'm getting is not to worry about if for now. The thing that I wonder about though is how much I should intervene. I mean, I'm all for waiting until he's ready but if I always put him in diapers, will he ever be ready? Kwim?

[windorabug]

Gosh I feel the same way & have been wondering the same thing - my dd has been potty trained since she was 18 months +/- (on her own) she is now almost 3.5 & wakes up wet every morning. If for some reason she has a pull-up on earlier than bedtime & she has to go she will just go in the pull-up when she clearly knows how to use the potty & she knows she can pull down the pull up. So I do wonder if it just easier for her not to get up & I wonder how that would ever change! I would rather not get up
Anyhow my thought has been that she will figure it out eventually (fingers crossed) & for now she remains in pullups. The few times we have tried to sleep with out a diaper she wet before 12 (with going potty right before bed at 8!)

[ecoteat]

DD has been potty trained for a year and a half, but she is still wearing cloth pull-ups at night. She wakes up wet every morning. I was recently wondering when and how that would change. And then just a week or so ago, even though she's still waking up wet everyone morning, she has to go to the bathroom as soon as she wakes up. It seems like she's starting to hold that last sleepy pee until she's awake, which I'm pretty excited about. One little step to dry nights, I think!

[Althetrainer]

It depends on the child

My son got trained when he turned 3 but he still wet his bed periodically until 6 years old. No matter what we did, restricted water, mid-night bathroom trips etc, accidents still happened. We considered making him wear pull-ups at night but was afraid that might backfire. We decided being patient was the only way to deal with the situation; no big deal. He finally grew out of it when he turned 7.

I believe each child is different so there's no rigid time line in terms of how soon the kid should stay dry at night. All we can do is to deal with it with patience and hope for the best.

Al

[lovesea]

Update: Well ds proves once again that the best policy is to wait until they're ready! Here was I wondering if he'd still be in diapers at night when he was 6, thinking this is the area where he'll be lagging behind his peers. Out of the blue on Thursday, he declared that he wanted to wear underpants at night. So of course then I was filled with anxiety, perhaps he's really not ready, think of all the pyjama and sheet washing etc, but knew I had to let him do it. So we went ahead. Now five nights on and not one night time accident. And interestingly, he has been staying in his own bed all night, whereas before he'd come in with us around 1 or 2am.

[lonegirl]

It really depends on the child. My son has fortunately been dry through the night since I switched him to pull-ups at around 14m. We did pt time EC with him and had him go pee right before bed. as we co-sleep I would notice when he started getting squirmy in bed and would bring him to sit on his potty in the middle of the night. Now if he is uncomfy he will wake me up to tell me he has to go pee (this is very rare). Also the very first thing we do in the morning is go have morning pees.

[busymama77]

Originally Posted by lyterae

I don't have any definite guideline for you, my dd potty-trained very easily at 2.5 and has just turned 4 and still needs a pull-up for overnights. She stays dry about 3 out of 4 nights. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it and she occasionally wakes up in the night to use the bathroom.

Our DS is the same way and DH and I were just talking about this the other night. He turned 4 back in January and there are times where he can go 5 to 6 days with a dry pull up in the morning - he 'tries' to go before bedtime, but acts silly about it and never goes. We limit fluids right before bedtime - maybe a little water or warm milk, but nothing over 3oz.
DH is taking DS to get his 4 year check up tomorrow and this will be one of our questions. Should we start putting him in undies at night and just deal with the accidents and he'll eventually get tired of wetting the bed, etc., Does it really work that way? So, OP, I def know what you're going through.... DS has been potty trained since right before his 3rd birthday. I know that there are some kids that wear pull ups at night until age 5 or 6 - it depends on how their little bodies respond to going at night.

[s_kristina]

I can remember being in 2nd and 3rd grade and still waking up in a wet bed at times. I would never make a 4 year old just deal with being in a wet bed. There are many reasons why children can be dry all night including genetics. As we know both and my dh's brother wet the bed later than average we try to be very easy going about pullups or diapers at night. Our 4 year old is in goodnights for bed as they are the only thing that fit him at this point. I know he had a few dry nights before his birthday, but none since then. When he is ready to be dry at night he will be just like when he was ready to speak to people other than family he did. To me it's just another thing that kids do at different times.

[octobermom]

As a whole I think kids stay dry when theyre bodies mature enough to do so for many thats generally somewhere between 2-4 years for others much sooner or much latter. I didn't fully night train till way older because of medical reasons even though aI fully day trained with ease by 18 months...Some kids though yes will treat diapers as there convient all night toliet if "allowed" I might just try a trial period of ending the night time diapers and see what happens you'll have to be prepared for lots of accidentls lots of washign sheets ect but honestly if they are ready you'll soon enough see an improvment if there not eaither phsycically or emotionally it wont work.. Neither will denying water using alarms multiple wakening ect...

Ohh BTW if you do take this step make sure you are open with your child say we want to know if your body is ready or not and we need to give our bodies some time to really know don't shame the wetness or act like its inconvient having to help change sheets at 2am ect and if they seem frustrated step back. SOme kids do need the push so they can see that yes it is possible but be gentle.

Deanna

[Bug-a-Boo's Mama]

DS has been PL'd since he was 2.8yo. He is now 4.2yo and no where waking up dry. Super soaker to the extreme. But then DS is the one who asks about underwear and if certain friends where diapers etc. I just tell him that when he is ready he won't need diapers anymore at night.

I've heard that it can be a year or two after they are daytime PL'd before they are nighttime PL'd. And up to six isn't unheard of.