I'm nervous! My daughter is 4.5 (almost) and has been daytime trained for almost 2 years. She's been wearing Pull Ups at night. In the last week, she's woken up dry almost every single morning. The only exception was when she had a stomach virus and slept for over 15 hours straight. I think she's ok to make the leap to panties, but we're both a little nervous! We've tried this before and it's never worked. She's a very heavy sleeper and doesn't wake if she pees the bed. The last time we tried to do the panties, she peed and got it everywhere. It was on her face, in her hair, not to mention her entire bed was soaked. GAG! :P I think she might be a little afraid that she'll get in trouble if she wets her bed. We only have one bathroom and it's downstairs (bedrooms are upstairs) so she won't come down if she has to go potty.
I want this to go well for her. I don't want her to sleep in pee all night either. I think it's time to take the leap, but I'm nervous. Is there a good way to ease both our minds? Or should we leave her in the Pull Ups for awhile longer?
Thanks everyone!! She does have a potty seat in her bedroom that she can use if need be. Her mattress has the plastic sheet on it as well. I can't wake her up in the middle of the night to take her to the potty. For some reason, when I wake her up, she will scream and cry for over an hour. It's almost like she's doing it in her sleep. Her pediatrician said it's just because she's such a heavy sleeper.
We had a talk with her about it last night. We explained that if she does have an accident, it's not a big deal. She just has to make sure to wake me up so I can get her clothes and bed linens changed. She said that she's not quite ready to be out of Pull-Ups just yet. We set a date on the calendar, this weekend, so that way she knows how many nights she has left in Pull-Ups.
I have friend who also only had one bathroom downstairs, while all the bedrooms where upstairs, so she put a little training potty in her daughters bedroom for night time issues. Worked for her.
I think you should make the leap, if not now, soon. I think at 4.5 she should be able to go downstairs, which I get is certainly not ideal, to use the bathroom. My Parents As Teachers woman said that when they are dry for about 2 months at night then it's time to make the leap, but I always thought that was a generous rule. My daughter was night trained (luckily!) within a week of day training, so I must admit I don't have a lot of experience in this, but I think the summer is a good time to give it a whirl.
Two things I thought of were to wake her up when you come up to bed and have her go potty then and you can kind of supervise her and help her if necessary. The other was to put a potty chair in her room during the night and she can use it as a chamber pot of sorts! It might gross her out to do that but maybe it would help bridge the gap between pull-ups and having to go all the way downstairs! You could maybe do that for a few weeks telling her that you're going to move the potty chair out on this day and she'll have to go down to the bathroom.
Good luck! Potty training is stressful!
Oh yeah, I was going to add about using a waterproof pad too, like Denise said. I have a liner over my daughter's mattress then a waterproof mattress pad and then sheets. Worst case scenario in the middle of the night I strip all the way down to the liner and put on clean sheets and if she wets again the mattress will still be protected. (I actually have two mattress pads, but I'm a bit overly cautious when it comes to that)
I don't think there is a rush and neither of you want to deal with the "aftermath" of an accident. How about she wears panties to bed with a pull up over them. That way if she has an accident she's fine and if she doesn't have an accident then the pull up can be worn again because it was over the panties and not her skin? I would want to see at least 2wks dry at night before letting it go.
I would say if she has a week or two of dry mornings...ditch the PullUps.
Layer sheet/waterproof pad/sheet/ewaterproof pad to make it easier if she does have an accident.
Night time dryness isn't about "training" it's about physiological development of the bladder.
Good luck!
you mention two separate issues, her being a heavy sleeper and her not wanting to go downstairs at night to potty. Part of that could be solved by a potty chair in her room. sure it's nasty to have to empty it in the morning, but it may make her more comfortable, knowing she CAN use it at night. Also invest in a waterproof mattress pad to save the mattress if she does have an accident.
When my kids were at the "big girl underwear at night" stage, I would make up the bed with 3 layers: fitted sheet, then incontinence pad (throw away kind from CVS that is about a yard square, centered on her bum area) with another fitted sheet over it, and then another pad/sheet layer. That way if she does have an accident you can simply strip a layer in the middle of the night and get back in bed. Also just have her wear underwear and a camisole or t shirt at night, so you don't have lots of PJ's to wash. If she is consistently dry at night (and I mean for many weeks) I would switch. Why switch early and cause yourself and her stress and work? Alternately, I thought about trying incontinence underwear or just super pads in underwear, but I am not sure if that feels any better than a pull up. Perhaps the first few nights for added security? I prefer Always since they are the softest, and if you get a ultra-thin super it should be able to hold a lot of little girl pee. My daughters also both wanted to wear pantiliners when they started going to school "just in case I drip some pee or don't make it to the toilet" and since they don't cost much and it made them feel secure and it trains them for having to do this later when they get periods I thought why not? If I were to do it over again I would not rush things.
I would leave her in the pullups for at least another month or so. If she is not waking up or able to go to the bathroom she needs the success of being dry every morning for quite some time first.
I have a 4.5 year old daughter & a 2.5 year old son, both are fully potty trained ( we started at night with pull-ups). We just put a potty seat right in the bedroom until it became routine to wake up and use the bathroom when needed. I know it isn't the most appetizing thing but if you make sure it's cleaned out quickly that seems to have worked really well for us.
I would definitely not recommend using pull ups any longer. The longer you use them, the more of a habit it forms. We used pull ups with my son for about 2 months, all before the age of 3.
Here is what I would recommend:
1. They sell waterproof mattress pads at bed bath and beyond. Vinyl on the bottom, cotton on the top. Not noisy, uncomfortable or embarrassing. Like old school plastic sheets.
2. Carry her to the bathroom in the middle of the night so she can empty her bladder. Lessens the likelihood of accidents.
3. If she starts having accidents, make a sticker chart. Reward a dry night with a sticker, be neutral and matter-of-fact about wet nights. Never criticize or scold for an accident.
4. Be prepared to do an extra load of laundry here and there. Accidents happen.
Good luck!
-Sarah
my son was not able to hold it with underwear... but when he had nothing he stayed dry... so he went from diaper to just pjs with no underwear...
you might try training underwear, so it at least soaks up some if she does go...
