i so want to be done with pull-ups....HELP!

[downvalleygirl]

my dd will be 4 in march and she is wearing a pull-up at night.  i always told myself i wouldn't "worry" about when my babies potty train, stop wearing pull-ups.....but, i guess i'm tired of buying them and supporting the petroleum companies!    my thinking was i'd just wait for her to consistently wake up with a dry pull-up and then do no pull-ups but she is still soaking the bejeezus out of them.  we hit the potty before bedtime, too.  i do give her a sippy cup with water in it, maybe 4 oz or so, to have by her bed but i don't want to stop doing that because we live at 7,000 feet and it's so easy to get dehydrated. 

another thought - anyone ever seen a "cloth pull up"?  or made one?  i'm not very sewing machine inclined.........

thank you!

[Alyantavid]

As much as it sucks to buy pull-ups, there isn't really any way to force her to give them up.  She won't be wearing them forever. 

[Baby_Cakes]

We use cloth trainers at home, but not out and about.  At least this way i'm only using pull-ups maybe once or twice a week, and not all day at home.

If she still soaking them... hmm, maybe her tiny bladder just isn't ready?  I have no idea.  But thought I'd throw cloth trainers out there as a suggestion?

[gmvh]

My daughter is 6.25 and still in them, though the number of dry nights is s-l-o-w-l-y increasing but when she's wet, she's soaked.  How independent is your daughter with taking care of things?  We have a drawer she keeps them in, I buy several packages at a time, she pitches them in the morning and tells me when she's almost out.  I also do not let her keep them on in the morning, if we're hanging out at home.  Even if she's dry, I insist that they come off ASAP.

I agree with "she won't be in them forever."

[chattyprincess]

Dd was 4 at the end of july last year and around may I had reached this point too. We had done successfully pants off potty training. (basically stripped her naked and set her on the potty periodiclly at set times throughout the day....it worked AWESOME) she was day trained at around 2. That said she had never been night trained and it was driving me batty. I knew it was just laziness at that point because sometimes she would wake up dry come in bed with me but then be wet a bit later...she just didn't want to take herself to the bathroom.

Plus she was fighting me tooth and nail about no more PULLUPS...she hated them lol. said they were for babies etc....So I set myself up knowing I was going to have a week of changing sheets at 3am and started. I would have her pee after story time and then tuck her in. No panties or pjs with bottoms, only night gowns so in her sleepy state she wouldn't forget. When dh and I went to bed at ngiht we would take her in and carry her to the toliet and have her pee and then put her back in bed. she wet the bed a few times...probably 4 out of 7 nightsthe first week and then was better with only 1 accident a week for a while. I think she just really needed to associate that peeing in bed was peeing and the pullup was hindering that by sucking it away so fast...does that make sense? she wuold pee but not really realize it so by having nothing on her she would realize she was peeing right off. She would always wake up the moment she peed the bed as well and never slept through it.

She did really good after the first month and only had 1 accident in 3 months all summer. These days she will occasionally on those weird nights that she up to late, exhausted or has been out having fun etc start peeing, stop and call for us and she will have only done a drop or so and caught herself. She is 4.5 now and yeah its nice lol.

[ElliesMomma]

well, have you asked her if she will just "try" one night to hold it at night and go without a pullup? no pressure. put the protector thing on the mattress and give it a go. if she wets the bed, it's OK. (but tell her to try not to.) she might surprise you!

my DD i let her wear pull ups to bed for a little while after she potty trained at age 3. then i said (as above), let's give it a try. it worked!

ps: before this, she always had a very wet pull up overnight too. but was able and ready i guess to hold it in, just needed to be asked to do it!

[kittykat2481]

I'm right there with ya. Well, DS is only 3, but still PullUps are expensive! And sometimes he pees right through those, so I wonder what the point is. Like yours, he's been day trained since before he was 2. I'm hoping for some natural progress in the next year, or I might consider trying the cold turkey thing. I've learned from the rest of his development though, that if I don't rush things, he does them in his own time. I'm sure this will prove to be the same. It's always right before I'm about to do something about it that he does it on his own lol. And when he does (whether it be walking, talking, etc) he's usually more proficient than I even hoped for. :p Go figure.

If someone does know of a super bullet-proof cloth pullup though, I'm all ears!

[ecoteat]

I've been thinking about doing something like this, but then I think that every other time we try to take an active approach to encouraging some developmental change, we just frustrate ourselves and it doesn't actually change anything.

When dd was about 3.5 I found some cute cloth pull-up-like-things that I loved. DH thought they were silly because they were so bulky and they leaked occasionally. But then they were not getting as clean anymore (we got a new front-loader since ending the diaper days, and I never really bothered getting the hang of cloth diapers in it) so they were causing occasional rashes and they were starting to get too small, so we went back to pull-ups. There isn't anywhere to buy chlorine-free ones locally, so I order them by the case from Amazon or Diapers.com. Every time I order a new case I optimistically think this will be the last one, which is silly because she has NEVER not peed in the night. So, I've just accepted the fact that we'll be doing them for a while longer and while I hate throwing one out every morning, the years of cloth diapering was still a really positive thing.

Originally Posted by chattyprincess 

Dd was 4 at the end of july last year and around may I had reached this point too. We had done successfully pants off potty training. (basically stripped her naked and set her on the potty periodiclly at set times throughout the day....it worked AWESOME) she was day trained at around 2. That said she had never been night trained and it was driving me batty. I knew it was just laziness at that point because sometimes she would wake up dry come in bed with me but then be wet a bit later...she just didn't want to take herself to the bathroom.

Plus she was fighting me tooth and nail about no more PULLUPS...she hated them lol. said they were for babies etc....So I set myself up knowing I was going to have a week of changing sheets at 3am and started. I would have her pee after story time and then tuck her in. No panties or pjs with bottoms, only night gowns so in her sleepy state she wouldn't forget. When dh and I went to bed at ngiht we would take her in and carry her to the toliet and have her pee and then put her back in bed. she wet the bed a few times...probably 4 out of 7 nightsthe first week and then was better with only 1 accident a week for a while. I think she just really needed to associate that peeing in bed was peeing and the pullup was hindering that by sucking it away so fast...does that make sense? she wuold pee but not really realize it so by having nothing on her she would realize she was peeing right off. She would always wake up the moment she peed the bed as well and never slept through it.

She did really good after the first month and only had 1 accident in 3 months all summer. These days she will occasionally on those weird nights that she up to late, exhausted or has been out having fun etc start peeing, stop and call for us and she will have only done a drop or so and caught herself. She is 4.5 now and yeah its nice lol.

[Llyra]

Nighttime wetting isn't something you can force, and it isn't something that training will really help at this age. There are two developmental milestones at work here-- one is the production of the hormone that suppresses urine production during sleep, and the other is the change in sleep patterns that allows the child to wake when the bladder is full. Neither of them can be rushed. Some kids reach that stage early-- by 2, in many cases. Other kids don't until age 10 or older. In fact, the rate of adult bedwetting is about .5% to 1% depending on the study.

I would encourage you to read up on bedwetting, to understand this more.

That said-- yes, you can get cloth "pull-ups" We use Mother-ease bedwetting pants. They're expensive, but you really only need two for each child. (I have three kids still wetting at night. We throw them in the washing machine in the morning, and run a prewash cycle. Then I wash them along with the regular laundry for that day. I have two for each child, so that if I have an off day and don't get to wash, there's another set for the next night for each kid. So if you're really conscientious about washing, you could even just have one for each kid, and keep a pack of pull-ups on hand for backup.) The downside of cloth seems to be an increased tendency to wetness-rashes, especially for heavy nighttime wetters.

[Peony]

Originally Posted by Llyra 

Nighttime wetting isn't something you can force, and it isn't something that training will really help at this age. There are two developmental milestones at work here-- one is the production of the hormone that suppresses urine production during sleep, and the other is the change in sleep patterns that allows the child to wake when the bladder is full. Neither of them can be rushed. Some kids reach that stage early-- by 2, in many cases. Other kids don't until age 10 or older. In fact, the rate of adult bedwetting is about .5% to 1% depending on the study.

I would encourage you to read up on bedwetting, to understand this more.

That said-- yes, you can get cloth "pull-ups" We use Mother-ease bedwetting pants. They're expensive, but you really only need two for each child. (I have three kids still wetting at night. We throw them in the washing machine in the morning, and run a prewash cycle. Then I wash them along with the regular laundry for that day. I have two for each child, so that if I have an off day and don't get to wash, there's another set for the next night for each kid. So if you're really conscientious about washing, you could even just have one for each kid, and keep a pack of pull-ups on hand for backup.) The downside of cloth seems to be an increased tendency to wetness-rashes, especially for heavy nighttime wetters.

I second everything, awesome post! Night time dryness happens when it happens. You *could* take the child to the bathroom before you go to bed but that doesn't mean they will be able to stay dry the rest of the night, and I think personally it just leads to less sleep for the child, they will stay dry when they are physically able to. I had one child dry at night at age 2, and now I have a 4y that SOAKS a dipe at night.. I don't se her being dry at night for quite some time. We don't use pull ups at night but regular diapers, for a heavy wetter pull-ups are not enough even the night time ones. And like Llyra mentioned cloth and a heavy wetter can mean rashes which DD2 is very prone to. 

[revolting]

Does your daughter go to bed before you? Get up after you? Do you get up during the night for some other reason? I used to wake my daughter up to use the bathroom, often when I was up for some other reason. She'd go right back to sleep. I did this from when she was an itty bitty baby until sometime before she turned three and could go the whole night consistently without having to pee.

[littlehoneybee]

I was tired of buying the pullups too.  DS was wetting five and six times a night and soaking the bed through the pullups  I finally bought a bedwetting alarm that attached to ds's underwear.  The alarm wasn't cheap, but neither were the pullups.  It took a few months with DS ( reading the reviews, most parents said it took about two weeks), but he is now completely dry at night. 

[Llyra]

Originally Posted by littlehoneybee 

I was tired of buying the pullups too.  DS was wetting five and six times a night and soaking the bed through the pullups  I finally bought a bedwetting alarm that attached to ds's underwear.  The alarm wasn't cheap, but neither were the pullups.  It took a few months with DS ( reading the reviews, most parents said it took about two weeks), but he is now completely dry at night. 

Responsible health care providers do not typically recommend bedwetting interventions like alarms until the age of 6 or so, in most cases, so I would urge you to research the alarms and their use carefully before deciding to try one. In most cases, nocturnal wetting in children younger than that is simply developmental unreadiness.

[downvalleygirl]

Originally Posted by Llyra 

Nighttime wetting isn't something you can force, and it isn't something that training will really help at this age. There are two developmental milestones at work here-- one is the production of the hormone that suppresses urine production during sleep, and the other is the change in sleep patterns that allows the child to wake when the bladder is full. Neither of them can be rushed. Some kids reach that stage early-- by 2, in many cases. Other kids don't until age 10 or older. In fact, the rate of adult bedwetting is about .5% to 1% depending on the study.

I would encourage you to read up on bedwetting, to understand this more.

That said-- yes, you can get cloth "pull-ups" We use Mother-ease bedwetting pants. They're expensive, but you really only need two for each child. (I have three kids still wetting at night. We throw them in the washing machine in the morning, and run a prewash cycle. Then I wash them along with the regular laundry for that day. I have two for each child, so that if I have an off day and don't get to wash, there's another set for the next night for each kid. So if you're really conscientious about washing, you could even just have one for each kid, and keep a pack of pull-ups on hand for backup.) The downside of cloth seems to be an increased tendency to wetness-rashes, especially for heavy nighttime wetters.

Originally Posted by ElliesMomma 

well, have you asked her if she will just "try" one night to hold it at night and go without a pullup? no pressure. put the protector thing on the mattress and give it a go. if she wets the bed, it's OK. (but tell her to try not to.) she might surprise you!

my DD i let her wear pull ups to bed for a little while after she potty trained at age 3. then i said (as above), let's give it a try. it worked!

ps: before this, she always had a very wet pull up overnight too. but was able and ready i guess to hold it in, just needed to be asked to do it!

i suppose this is the meat of my ponderings.......if she is physically ready then maybe all she needs is some encouragement from me to say bye-bye to the pull-ups.  i just don't want to turn it into an issue.  i sort of think she's ready but with the addition of her new baby sister, maybe she's holding on to the whole "diaper" thing (forgot to mention that - lol).  the other thing is, i really don't want to be up at night more than i am (5 month old) so to try no pull-ups will be a commitment on my part to get up and deal with the drama (and there will be drama).

and if the whole thing backfires i will look into the cloth trainers.  

thank you all!

[littlehoneybee]

Originally Posted by Llyra 

Originally Posted by littlehoneybee 

I was tired of buying the pullups too.  DS was wetting five and six times a night and soaking the bed through the pullups  I finally bought a bedwetting alarm that attached to ds's underwear.  The alarm wasn't cheap, but neither were the pullups.  It took a few months with DS ( reading the reviews, most parents said it took about two weeks), but he is now completely dry at night. 

Responsible health care providers do not typically recommend bedwetting interventions like alarms until the age of 6 or so, in most cases, so I would urge you to research the alarms and their use carefully before deciding to try one. In most cases, nocturnal wetting in children younger than that is simply developmental unreadiness.

Sorry!  I misread the original post and thought the child was older.  OP if your child is only three, I wouldn't recommend the alarm either.  I used it when my son was five.  Before that, he wouldn't have been ready.  At age three, I wouldn't worry about it yet. 

Also, it wouldn't be unusual at all for potty regression when the new baby comes.  It happened with my son, but luckily only lasted one or two months.

[cschick]

I second everything, awesome post! Night time dryness happens when it happens. You *could* take the child to the bathroom before you go to bed but that doesn't mean they will be able to stay dry the rest of the night, and I think personally it just leads to less sleep for the child, they will stay dry when they are physically able to. I had one child dry at night at age 2, and now I have a 4y that SOAKS a dipe at night.. I don't se her being dry at night for quite some time. We don't use pull ups at night but regular diapers, for a heavy wetter pull-ups are not enough even the night time ones. And like Llyra mentioned cloth and a heavy wetter can mean rashes which DD2 is very prone to. 

Right. My kid is 4.5 and fortunately he still has a small enough butt that we're able to use the bum genius 2.0s I bought when he was a baby; I simply stuff two stuffers into them to help draw the moisture away.

[pianojazzgirl]

My ds is 3 and uses the potty during the day but wears pull-ups at night.  Funny, I was just having a conversation about it yesterday with my friend.  Ds was in cloth diapers until he outgrew them (motherease one-sized) which was pretty much right when he potty-learned as well.  We then started using sposie pull-ups at night time, but, just yesterday, as my friend was putting a cloth dipe on her babe, I decided that I was going to try cloth pull-ups.  I realized that I had been stupidly thinking I'd need to buy a whole new "set" of diapers, but really I can just buy one or two, as I do laundry every day, and it's only the one dipe per day needed.  Ages ago I came across the recommendation for Snap-eez.  I'm going to go look at their website and (probably) order one right now!

[averlee]

When I got sick of the pull ups, I got the gerber waterproof training pants. They only hold one pee, though, so probably not great for an overnight heavy wetter.

[downvalleygirl]

update on us....dd has gone two nights w/out pull-ups!  elliesmomma, i went with your advice and added one incentive - new big girl underwear.  she went for it and i am super psyched.  thanks for all the great input everyone!