Night time P/L question

[CaliforniaMommy]

My 24mo DD is progressing nicely with P/L during the day time hours. I've been following her lead, without pushing or rewards, only asking her if she wants a diaper on or not in the morning when she gets dressed. 99% of the times now she prefers being without, and she will ask to go pee/poo most of the times herself without me prompting her. I do put a diaper on for naps and night-time though.

I just don't know how to approach the night-time P/L... I still nurse her to sleep at nap time, and bedtime. She also still nurses 2-3 times a night as an average. She sometimes wakes up with a dry diaper from her nap, but never from the night, so I'm really hesitant to put her without diaper for those times yet. Is this because she's still nursing so much, and therefore needs to pee more during her nap and night time? Or, is this normal progression on P/L?
Any recommendation would be great.

Thanks!

[serenbat]

You just get her up-when she wakes (easy if you co-sleep) just say, hold on, we are going potty or what ever you say and take her, sometimes it's several trip a night, we go when ever we we wake up. After awhile mine both asked right when they woke up. It's just a matter of taking them.

[Shannie77]

We did elimination communication with my daughter and she was completely dry during the day at 19 months. Nighttime however took a lot longer. We didn't EC at night, but after she turned 2 I would occasionally take her to to the washroom in the middle of the night if she didn't object. A few months after she turned 2 she started staying dry and night more and more. Finally it has been 3 weeks of dry nights and we ditched the nighttime diapers. She only has had a couple nighttime accidents since then.

I was pretty happy with how we dealt with nighttime... basically nothing and just wait until they start staying dry on their own. I do however think taking her to the potty once a night may of helped a bit.

Good luck!!!

[LindsC]

We are just starting the potty learning process with DS in the last month or so since he was totally not ready up until then. We are tackling the daytime hours first and will move on to the night time hours once he is ready. Right now he is staying dry for 99% of his naps and maybe 75% of the nights. I find that he stays dry during the night if I get to him before he fully wakes up for the morning. If he wakes up before I do and I don't go in there right away, that is when he has accidents.

I think the idea of taking her once during the night is a good idea to start getting her into a routine of staying dry throughout the night. A friend of mine used that technique with her daughter. She always went to bed around midnight, so she would take her daughter to the bathroom when she was getting herself ready for bed and that seemed to help.

[CaliforniaMommy]

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it.

If you start taking them to the potty in the middle of the night when they wake up to nurse, does it then encourage them to get in a new routine/habit to wake up and pee in the middle of the night, instead of holding it until the morning? Or, are my expectations too high to have them not wake up at all during the night? Their bladder are still not very big, after all...

Right now, I would LOVE it if she didn't nurse during the night (I'm even considering night-weaning once her 2-year molars are fully out). I would hate to replace the nursing wake-ups with bathroom wake-ups. I would love to have no wake-ups...
(by the way, we co-sleep)

[serenbat]

If you start taking them to the potty in the middle of the night when they wake up to nurse, does it then encourage them to get in a new routine/habit to wake up and pee in the middle of the night, instead of holding it until the morning?

IF they are waking up anyways-why not take them?

Mine only wake up to go at night. It really depends on how much they have to drink, if they have a bad dream, if they are woken up by noise, etc.

For 90% of the nights, they both slept straight thru. I think you will have an issue as long as you are nursing at night.

[lnitti]

Originally Posted by serenbat

For 90% of the nights, they both slept straight thru. I think you will have an issue as long as you are nursing at night.

Not necessarily. We EC'd at night. My dd used to also wake up a ton at night -every 2-3 hour and needed to be nursed back to sleep. She did not need to potty every wake up, and sometimes did not potty at all at night even when she was nursing multiple times.

Now she usually wakes 1-2 time and most times does not nurse, just cuddles back to sleep. She sometimes still potties that first time she wakes up, but not always

But I also wanted to point out that just because a child is daytime potty trained does NOT necessarily mean they are ready to go all night dry. My 6 year old still wears a night time pull up to bed and soaks it every night. She has been potty trained since she was 2.

I would say that being consistently dry for a nap is a prerequisite for being able to be dry overnight. My 6 year old is not always dry for a nap (the once in a blue moon nap she may have).

[serenbat]

Not necessarily. We EC'd at night. My dd used to also wake up a ton at night -every 2-3 hour and needed to be nursed back to sleep. She did not need to potty every wake up, and sometimes did not potty at all at night even when she was nursing multiple times

my point is, you still tried? to see if in fact she had to go?
They don't go ever time but unless you take them you won't know.

Both mine were EC'ed-day and night

[desamom]

I started PLing with my DD starting around 12 months. She was out of diapers completely by 19 months. A few months after that I abandoned diapers at night too because she was always waking up dry. She peed in the bed the first night and never did again...until the last month!

Now I have a potty in the bedroom and when she rustles around (or when I wake up to pee -- often cause I'm pregnant!) I gently put her on it and she stays half asleep, but she always pees.

I don't think nursing is necessarily a factor because she has been waking up with a dry diaper about 90% of the time since she was about a 1 year old.

[lnitti]

Originally Posted by serenbat

my point is, you still tried? to see if in fact she had to go?
They don't go ever time but unless you take them you won't know.

Both mine were EC'ed-day and night

At first she would get upset when I went to take her, so I stopped taking her unless she had trouble resettling. So no, we did not try at every wake up, just the first one or if she had trouble resetting again on subsequent wake ups. She didn't need to go, and I didn't take her.

She was nighttime dry before she was daytime dry.

[serenbat]

I gently put her on it and she stays half asleep, but she always pees.

this is how mine were