Night Time Potty Training/early Wake Ups

Updated on April 29, 2010
M.W. asks from Beachwood, OH
3 answers

Hello ladies. My 31/2 yr old has been day time potty trained for a good while now, and is slowly but surely showing readiness for nighttime training (he still wears a diaper at night). We always make sure he goes potty before bed and have recently started putting a pull-up on him instead of a regular diaper so if he wakes and needs to go he has 'easy access'. A few days ago he woke up soaked at 5am without his diaper on, we found it (dry) in the bathroom and pee in the pot, so evidently he got up on his own at some point during the night and went potty. The problem (finally getting to the point) is that for some time now, he has been getting up a lot at night and coming into our room for one reason or another. I know some of this is normal, but am starting to wonder if pee is waking him up. Problem is he is peeing before or as he is waking (I think), so it's waking him, but too late to get him to the pot. Lately he's been getting up around 5am and wandering in our room, his pull up is soaked (and warm, sorry, gross, but like he just went) but I take him to the pot anyway and then get him back to bed. 10 minutes later he is back and has to poop!!! Help! Then we are just up for the day (though I do put him back to bed) as adrenaline (and frustration) has kicked in for me and his little brain wants to play. We have started to limit his water in the evening (which is when he tends to guzzle) but I don't know what else to do. I am not a happy early riser (and neither is his baby brother who inadvertently gets woken up with all the commotion). He normally gets up around 630/7 so can't understand why he's not as exhausted as I am with the super early wake up (he does still nap, which is a whole other subject as I have considered axing the nap for more morning zzz's...maybe he just doesn't need as much sleep). Anyone have success with waking their kid up to go potty at some point during the night, like before I go to bed? Perhaps this is just another passing phase and I just need to suck it up? Appreciate your help!

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J.F.

answers from Philadelphia on

What I did with my kids is not let them have a drink an hour before bedtime. Now that they are older we don't do that anymore but you don't want him soaking himself. My middle daughter has Autism and is still wearing a pull up so we still limit her drinks before bedtime. Also we ALWAYS make sure my middle daughter is freshly changed before she goes to bed. This way if she goes at night she doesn't soak the bed.

Oh just a thought if your son is wetting through a pull up you way want to go a size up. If he is so close to potty training don't buy a huge pack.

Joanna
Mom to Mara 9, Cate 7, and Olivia 6

1 mom found this helpful
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D.T.

answers from Muncie on

I can share what helped with my daughter. Walmart sells plastic sheets that can be put on your son's bed. These really help with accidents. Try to make his last drink at dinner time, if he says he's thirsty any time after that limit him to a sip or two, just enough to take care of his thirst. Make sure to keep making him go before bed. I make my daughter go before bath and before bed. What might help is adopting a breastfeeding type of schedule. Waking him every 2 hours taking him potty then back to bed. Keep track of when he actually goes then adjust the routine accordingly.
Unfortunately, you might just have to bare with it until his system matures and he can sleep through the night. It's not uncommon for boys to still have accidents late into elementary school. Their systems just mature slowly.

Good luck.

1 mom found this helpful
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G.D.

answers from Cincinnati on

Our daughter wore pull-ups for several weeks though she was daytime potty trained. She would wake up soaked (and sometimes soaked through) in the morning, but she was otherwise a good sleeper. We slowly started restricting drinks and snacks so that she had nothing to eat/drink within at least an hour of bedtime and within a week, she was dry all night. If the pooping-thing continues to be an issue, you might try changing the way he eats during the day - making lunch the bigger meal instead of dinner to help regulate when he goes. Good luck!

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