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Nighttime Potty-Learning...?  

post #1 of 12
Thread Starter 
I searched a bit and didn't find anything (obvious) that fell into this niche, so not sure, but I hope this is the right place to start.

Dd is 3 and starts in her own bed every night, rejoining us in the big bed by 3-5 am, every morning.

She is confidently pottying all day, and once in awhile is dry in the mornings. (like once or twice a month, maybe 3 times.)

The smell of her full Pull-Up wakes me before she even gets settled, when she comes to bed.

If she's awake enough, I change her, as much for my own comfort as for hers.

I haven't sought literature on the topic of nighttime potty-learning, yet, but have heard that it's best to wait til they're dry through the night consistently. Here's my issue: I was potty-trained by 18 mo, so says my mother, but was a bed wetter for well into early school years, (possibly due in part to some traumas I experienced), with accidents in school (under the radar, for the most part, thanks to discretion) right up to about the age of 8-9. My mother had no idea how to help me, and behaved about it in a way that left me feeling just awful about myself, til she took me to a ped when I was around 8 yo, to find out "what's wrong with" me. He told her I was probably just a very heavy sleeper, and to wake me at night, each night, to teach me to wake myself up in the night when I needed to go. For obvious reasons (I think?) I don't want to risk that dd might be like I was, and just never hit a point where she's dry through the night.

How do children nighttime potty-learn? Are there techniques and approaches to it? Should I at some point start waking her in the night to go? Sometimes when she does wake up in the night, if she's still dry I take her... it makes her pretty miserable, so I try to be fast and just get her on the pot and right back to bed... should I stop that? Do it more consistently?

Just wondering what you think... looking for input and ideas, suggestions, things that have worked for you, etc. Thank you! (x-posting this in Childhood Years)
post #2 of 12
Moved to childhood years...FBNP is a forum about co sleeping
post #3 of 12
Bedwetting is largely biological - and if you were a heavy sleeper who wet the bed, there's a good chance your daughter will be too.

I have 2 children - ds is 6 1/2 and is still in pull-ups all night, every night. He soaks them every night. He's a heavy sleeper, he's got some sensory issues, and there's a history of bedwetting in our extended families. I'm going to see if he can go without the pull-up this summer, when it's warmer and when changing the sheets/pajamas often isn't such a pain. We're going to try for a week. If after a week he's not dry more often then wet, we'll go back to pull-ups for another 6 mos to a year. Eventually, his body will catch up.

Dd is 3 1/2, and is now fully night trained!! She started by simply refusing to wear pull-ups at night, and we discovered that she was mostly staying dry. As long as she doesn't have enormous amounts to drink at night (the night she had a whole can of root beer , guess what? she wet the bed!).

The thing is to figure out whether she pees in the pull-ups when she's awake or when she's asleep. I know for a fact that my kids view the pull-ups as a license to pee. Dd would often put her pull-up on in the evening and pee in it before ever going to bed! I suspect ds of peeing in the pull-up just before getting out of bed because it's easier.

Given your history and your dd's peeing very heavily into the pull-up, I'd keep doing what you're doing, and when you notice a change in the pull-up when she comes to bed, then maybe try going without.
post #4 of 12
It is biological -- each child is ready in his own time. That said, is it possible that she's waking dry and wetting her diaper before transitioning to your bed?

We co-sleep so night time pottly learning took a leap of faith. When DS went to underwear (his choice) we were still taking 3-changes of clothes with us when we were outside of the house so we were vigilant about waking with him and taking him straight to the bathroom in the morning. When he finished nursing we'd remind him that the first thing we do when we wake up is we use the potty. Also, he used the Bjorn potty while we used the regular one so we used "modeling", too.

Even now (1 1/2 yrs later) if he gets side tracked in the morning we ask him, "What is the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning? Oh, I know, we get our PJ's on to get ready for bed." "No! We go potty!" "Oh, we put on our swimming suits to go out to the pool." "No! We go potty!" It's a routine that keeps it light and takes the pressure off of him.

Good luck!
post #5 of 12
I agree with the ladies, its a biological thing, the child will be able to hold it, or wake up to go in their own time. My son started waking up dry at 3ish and at 3 1/2 we put him underwear after we were sure he was dry 99.9% of the time and he had a couple of accidents here and there, but we didn't do anything to get him to that point, he did it on his own.

We did make sure he went potty as the last thing on his way to bed and that helped him, plus in the AM he immediately goes straight to the potty when he wakes up, that may be smething to do as well.

Or you know if you want to know when she pees, if you ever get up to pee, go and check her pull up, see if there's anything there, maybe you can get an idea in regards to when she's going.
post #6 of 12
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ORxPlant View Post
<snip>
...in the morning we ask him, "What is the first thing we do when we wake up in the morning? Oh, I know, we get our PJ's on to get ready for bed." "No! We go potty!" "Oh, we put on our swimming suits to go out to the pool." "No! We go potty!" It's a routine that keeps it light and takes the pressure off of him.

Good luck!
I love that! Thanks!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Blueena View Post
<snip>

Or you know if you want to know when she pees, if you ever get up to pee, go and check her pull up, see if there's anything there, maybe you can get an idea in regards to when she's going.
Thank you, that's a good idea too!

So re; the biology of wetting the bed.. I had never considered that it was biological. Due to the manner of trauma I experienced when I was this age, I always presumed the bed wetting was directly associated, so wasn't sure how to apply my history to dd's development, being uncertain about how I might've developed had I not been abused.

Thanks ladies! I will be patient, and vigilant!
post #7 of 12
DD(7) told me she didn't want pullups any more, she was 3. She potty trained at 18 mo. DS(5) potty trained at 3 and is 5 now and still soaks his pull-up. DH says he thinks that he was like that too. We don't push him or pressure him, I just remind him to potty before bed and I guess he'll figure it out as he gets older. He's borderline ADHD & ASD and has sensory issues so I think when we see the developmental ped in May I'm going to bring it up to see if it all ties together somehow.
post #8 of 12
Thread Starter 
Dd doesn't seem to have any developmental or behavioral issues. She has no problems during the day, whatsoever, regulating herself and getting herself to the bathroom if she needs to go, etc.

Dh says he was dry overnight and good to go by 3.

I wonder if part of the problem isn't the availability of Pull-Ups? I mean, our folks didn't have them... Heaven knows my mom would have put me in them if they were on the market back then, just to save on laundry!

So, do you just take the leap at some point? Someone mentioned waiting til summer when there would be "less laundry"...

thoughts, ideas?
post #9 of 12
Once my dc had dry diapers for one week, we would try no diapers at night. That worked with just a few accidents. Ds was potty trained in the day time at a little after 3, and at night probably almost 4. Dd was trained in the day time at 2, but not at night until about 4 1/2. We never used pull-ups (too expensive!).
post #10 of 12
As I did with potty learning, I allowed DS to take the leap on this one. Just waited until he gave me the word. It was several months after he'd trained I believe, 4 or 5 perhaps?

Early on when he trained he was still mightily wet when he awoke in his pull-up. Overtime, that changed and one night he just said no more pull ups, that he'd be fine and he was. We've had nary a problem with it in 4 years.

Biological for sure!

The best mama.
Em
post #11 of 12

My nearly 4YO has been dry since we removed dairy from

his diet. He has been dry during the day (but not necessarily for naps) since he was 2YO. About three and half weeks ago we took dairy out of our family's diet and after about five days he was dry at night and at naps. We challenged with dairy on Sunday and Monday of this week and he has been wet both nights since as well as at naptime.

Before we tried the dairy-free diet we thought that he was just a heavy sleeper. From what I gather after looking further sleeping heavy is the symptom of a dairy sensitivity and wetting himself was just a side effect of not waking.
post #12 of 12
My 3year 4 month old son was born with kidney issues, although as of recently he is normal range. He just had an appt with his urologist last week and I asked him this same question. He's been dry all day since just before 3 years. He is dry at night maybe once every 8 days?

I asked the uro this and he said just let him be. Most kids are dry at night by 5. Up until that point, he does not advocate waking them up or restricting fluids in the evening until then. They get it when they get it.

Those of us with mid of the night wakers (mine too somewhere around 1-3), may work to our advantage down the road with being able to pee in the middle of the night. I suspect at this point that one of the reasons he is waking is because he wakes when he pees. I dunno.
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