night potty training...and thanks for advice on discipline issue

[pattigirlny]

hi all and thanks for reading...i need some ideas on how to night time potty train my 3 3/4 yr old son. he was potty trained in september..that went really well.....but i have to share this cute story first...i'll be telling this to his wife one day(hee-hee). it was only his second day without diapers and i was taking him on this nature walk at a museum/preserve. of course before it started i brought him to the bathroom...he insisted,"no,no, i dont have to go,mommy",(i should mention that i had him in boxers and shorts, thinking that maybe he'd be able to remember that he doesnt have a diaper on) so we go into the museum to register for the walk...and he says 'mommy,i have to go..." with this look on his face....he WAS going! sure enough a huge #2 drops out of his shorts on the floor(carpet,too)!!! yikes! the lady behind the counter was like, "ok....do you need some paper towels?" i havnt been back there since... anyway....he does great now...but i still have the diaper on at night...we tried 2 times but both nights we all woke up on a wet bed.. we have a family bed... a large king plus a twin next to it..my lil 7 month old is usually on the twin. so how does one potty train during the night? thanks again for any advice!!!

[peggy]

My only suggestion here is going right before bed and limiting drinks to early evening. I wouldn't even try night training until he wakes up dry for a week or two. My 4 year old dd is not night time trained yet. I tried just putting her to bed in panties thinking she'd wake up if she had to go. She didn't: and she was very embarassed about wetting the bed.
Good luck,
peggy

[Missgrl]

Go over to the Life With A Toddler forum and there is a great thread started by Motherdownunder on just this topic...nightime potty training. Go check out my response and all the others!

[Ryan]

My dd is 5 1/2 and is still wetting at night. She potty-trained easily at 2 but night has been a different issue. She is a very deep sleeper and just can't seem to wake up. I put her in Good-Nights and I've stopped trying. Waking up wet makes her feel terrible and when it's a cold morning it's just awful. I don't want her to think it's her fault. Her body is just not ready yet. My pediatrician said not to even worry about it until she is at least 7. I limit her drinks after dinner and make sure she goes to the bathroom before bed but that's about the best I can do. She wakes up dry about once a week. That's it.

[Firemom]

Same here Ryan. Mine was day trained all by herself around 2 and at 5.2 months still is never dry at night. We are waiting until 7 to do anything about it.

It runs in my family as well as my dh. So its not uncommon

[Ryan]

Thanks Firemom. It's nice to hear that someone else isn't letting it bother them. So many of my friends have 3 yo's that they are trying to night train and I sometimes feel like I should worry a bit more about my 5 yo. But, I really don't know how you could force a child to night train. If you are already limiting their fluids at night and making them go before bed what more could you possibly do?

[Firemom]

I agree its really not an issue to force it, because they aren't doing it on purpose.

Also I re read my post but I guess you understood it. I meant shes 5.2 years old not months!!!

[Ryan]

Firemom

Funny, I didn't even notice.

[rsps]

My son's the same He day trained at 2 3/4 but at almost 4 he still wets at night. For the last few weeks he's been in underpants, (we ran out of disposables and the theory was that after waking up wet for a while they'll get the idea.) but it hasn't happended yet. I'm thinking maybe he should go back to diapers. Or does anyone have a cheap source of pull ups? I'm getting a little tired of all the laundry.

[SoHappy]

rsps -- You might wanna try the Dappi "Early Trainer" pants. They're nylon taffeta on the outside, cotton on the inside, and have rayon/poly felt in between. They pull on. They're not as thick as diapers, and wash well. My son called them his "sleep undies". We got them at Target and they were pretty cheap. One note: if your child has thick legs, definitely get the next size up. (My son has skinny legs, and they were a close fit.)

[rsps]

SoHappy,

thanks for the tip. I have a gift card from Target to spend, too!

[Ryan]

I tried the nighttime trainers from Nikki because we always used cloth diapers and these seemed to be the answer for us but they still leaked, even with a thick cloth doubler in between. These are similar to the Dappi's. Nothing has worked for us except the good-nights. And, they are expensive and I don't like using disposables. But, it's the only thing she's used where I haven't had to do lots of laundry too. If you want to check out Babyworks.com they have some cloth alternatives like the Nikki I talked about but the Dappi brand will be cheaper so I'd try that first.

[Linda in Arizona]

Hey Ryan, my 5 year old isn't night time trained either. She potty trained VERY easily about the time she turned 2 and she soaks a pullup every night (she's only had 2 dry nights her entire life). We used to use cloth but they always leaked, no longer fit right, etc.

It is getting really wierd, esp. as she is starting to learn to read. It just seems so out of wack with everthing else about her. She is also old enough to know that most kids her age don't wear pullups at night. One of her friends wants her to come over for a sleep over. I really wish that there were something that I could do to help her with this before it becomes an issue for her.

[mom at home]

Both my 4 yr old or 6 yr old fill a pull-up at night (both were daytime trained around 2). We don't worry about it although I think my oldest would like to be dry at night. We tried various cloth night time pants, but they often leaked and always gave them a bad rash both front and back, anywhere the pants touched, I think from the acidicness of the pee. So, we use disposable pull-ups. Sometimes I've wondered if I did something wrong as so many of their friends, including a couple 2 yr olds we know, are dry all night. But I think it must just be their plumbing and the fact that they are very deep sleepers. It must not be that uncommon judging by all these responses.

Alison

[Deb]

My son is 5 and a half and he still wears a pull-up at night. He usually fills it every night. I have decided not to worry about this yet. I just assume that he's not quite ready to be dry at night. He stopped using diapers during the day at 3 and a half. My niece is 4 and a half and she's just started staying dry at night. I don't make a big issue of it and my son is aware that a lot of kids don't wear pull-ups at night. I believe he'll let me know when he's ready.

[Ryan]

I agree Deb. I know my dd really wants to be dry at night because the rare nights she is she gets so excited. We don't make a big deal about the nights that she's not. I know it won't last forever.

[mimom]

Nite time wetting is a more common problem than you might think, especially when it seems as though no one is doing as much laundry as you!

My son 5 yo is still wetting at least once or twice a night and unfortunately for him will likely continue for some time as males on both sides or our families had considerable problems with night time wetting, including his dad. It is really common for son's to have problems when there is a family history.

We have been using disposable pull-ups as well, but I refuse to pay for micky and minnie on the front! The store brand options we have tried seem to be very comprable, especially the store brand K-Mart carried featuring Bear from Bear and the Big Blue House. The only reason I bring up the character on the front is because we have been able to get these same pullups under different lables at different stores and have used "Bear" to identify them as they are much less expensive than Goodnites and Pullups but have been very leakproof for us.

We just remind ourselves that this part of childhood is very short in the scope of his whole life.