Potty Training at Night

All kids are different too you have to remember that. My oldest was potty trained at 22 months and immediatly was dry at night too, never had an accident. My youngest has been trained since about 16 months and is now 22 months and still wears his cloth diapers at bedtime, he is just that sound of a sleeper. Though he's not nearly as wet in the morning as he was, I get him up and take him, he still has his diapers slightly wet in the morning.

Each child is different and I do think that night training isn't even close to the same as day training. Try cloth diapers, maybe the sensation of being wet would help her wake up and learn to get up to pee at night.

My daughter who just turned 6 was a bed wetter. We tried everything, We use to wake her up at 1:00 am. She would be so frustrated in the morning if her pull up was wet, so we needed to. When we went in for her 5 year check up, the doctor gave her a nose spray to help her hold it all night. A combination of the nose spray and a few chiropracter visits and all was well. She has had an occasional accident since, but not more than two in the last year. A little side note, i can't remember what the nose spray was but if you don't have insurance it will cost you about $120.00 for a one month supply. Good luck, Ps. The more you stress about it the more she will.

Here's my scenario. I have a boy, now 7, heavy sleeper, slept in pull-ups at night until he was 5. Now we just take him to the bathroom before we go to bed. He still has an accident every couple of months.

Also have a girl, age 4, we stopped the pull-ups on her 4th birthday (she could have stopped before, but we were prepping her for it). She is not as heavy of a sleeper, and same thing, we take her to the bathroom before we go to bed.

I don't think it's a big deal to take kids to the bathroom. It doesn't really interrupt their sleep, they pretty much sleepwalk. However, I don't think there's any reason to do it at 12:30 a.m. (unless that's when your husband always goes to bed) Just before you go to bed should be enough (maybe some accidents at first), and pull-ups are probably okay a while longer too.

E.

My son is also a very heavy sleeper. He's 3 years old and is potty trained during the day, including naps. At night he still wears pull-ups. Personally I'm not worried about it and won't worry about it until he's 4 years old. Then if he is still wearing a pull-up we will either just put him in underwear at night so he learns that it's not pleasant to be in a wet bed or wake him up when we get up to go to the bathroom. I think that by waking them up it's training their bodies that at that time they can go to the bathroom and helps them stay dry the rest of the night. I think after a while you can stop waking her up and she'll wake up on her own at that time and go to the bathroom herself.

My parents woke my little brother at 12:30 every night until he was about 8 years old. Without that waking, he would wet the bed. They decided that it was worth it to wake him, to save him the embaressment of wetting the bed, as well as laudry. Some children (like my brother) sleep very soundly and it doesn't seem fair to me to leave them in pull ups rather than waking them up.

Just my opinion :)

Good luck!

J..

I think the best thing in teaching children anything is giving them positive reinforcement. You want to create situations for your child to be successful and then give them lots of praise. With that said I don't think your daughter's father's idea is such a bad one. As long as it comes with lots of praise for doing a good job. Let her know what a big girl she is for making it through the night without wetting herself. Maybe even keep a calender and let her put a sticker on the days she makes it through the night. Maybe if she makes it two weeks without an accident you can go shopping for something special for her. I did this with my twins when they were 5 to get them to sleep in their own beds through the night and not come into my bed at night. It took two weeks and they kicked the habit. They were so proud of themselves and they went from coming into my room 5 times a week to maybe once a month now if that.
Good Luck - it will happen!

Hi N.! I also have a 4 1/2 year old daughter that sleeps very sound. She is still in pull-ups as well. Our doctor hasa told us that they do not even worry about potty training at night until the child is in about 1st or 2nd grade. Perhaps you should talk with your doctor and see what he/she says about it. Maybe your child's father could talk with your daughter's doctor as well. Just a thought. Good luck!

Hi N.!
My little sister was a heavy sleeper/bedwetter as well as me younger brother. My mom used the "Starry" system with both of them. It's an alarm system that goes off any time it detects any wetness. What it does is train the heavy sleeper to learn to come out of that deep sleep when they have to pee. Within a couple of weeks, both kids were trained. And it's not like affter that they were getting up all the time to go...it had just broken them of the habit. My mom had tried everything else including waking them up late, but nothing worked until then. This is a painless system. I will note though that you have to be committed to waking up for a week or so, but if you are you will have a lot of success! Good luck!

I too have an almost 4 1/2 year old daughter. She is still in pullups at night as well. She doesn't seem nearly ready to be trained at night (although she did wake up dry this morning). I've talked to some of the other mom's in her preschool class and they are doing the same thing. I was waking her up at night around 11:30-1 (whenever my younger daughter woke up) and having her go and then she would always wake up dry. I felt like you though, by me waking her, she's not learing that feeling herself, so I've quit. I really don't feel like it's a problem, I think when she's ready, she'll do it. I've read that some kids bladders take longer to develop as well. I just keep talking to her about it at night when we put the pull up on, and saying how fun it will be to not wear those anymore, and we'll get a special reward when it happens, etc. One of these days!

My oldest son had accidents at night, not every night, until he was almost 5. I talked with his doctor about it and he said not to worry, that it was normal due to immature bladder. I know there is an age to start wondering if things "normal" and I think that isn't until 8 years. Our doc was right, he eventually grew out of it. My middle son is almost 4 and has the same issue. To me, their sleep is more important than waking them up at 12:30. We celebrated with a big "Pee Party" when my son was able to be dry for 10 nights in a row. He was very proud of himself! Eventually it will happen. I would talke with your pediatrician if you have concerns still at her next check-up.

My daughter is also a heavy sleeper....

I limit her fluids a hour or two before bed and no matter what make her go potty before bed. If she falls asleep on the couch or falls asleep coming home in the car I will wake her up and make her go potty. That's all I do and we have no accidents in the middle of the night, once in awhile she will sleep walk or stand up in bed and be completely out of it, because she still sleeps with me I wake up immediately and take her to the bathroom. If she was in her own bed I wouldn't wake up and she would most likely pee in her pants because she's sleep walking or out of it.

I guess if I had a nightly problem with it, I'd put her in pull ups. I don't think I could wake up in the middle of the night to take her potty every night that is just hopping into another habit to me. And I need my sleep. I don't think a child should have to wake up to go potty they should learn how to hold it. I think it's normal to occasionally wake in the middle of the night but not every night.

I've heard bed wetter's is mostly due to weak, underdeveloped bladders. I think it's a maturity thing and they eventually grow out of it.

My brother was a bed wetter til maybe 11 years old or so and he just eventually grew out of it.