Potty Training at Night - Bay Shore,NY

I just finished potty training my daughter. She was about 2 1/2 when we finished. One of the signs I looked for was waking up with a dry diaper. Once that started happening, we went full steam ahead. I thougt the same thing - we should be consistent between day and night. However, the thought of the consequences of no diaper and an accident in the middle of the night made me want to give her a diaper at night. Also, some of her potty training story books include the kids wearing diapers at night. We only did that for about a week or so. She continued waking up dry. So I got over myself and we just went for the underpants. I would say that once he's waking up dry consistently in the mornings, you probably won't need the diaper at night. Good luck!

Hi Jen,

My little guy is 2 as well...I haven't officially started potty training b/c they say boys are slower and it can wait till they are a bit older...I have started putting him in PULL UPS (so he gets used to "big-boy" underwear and I have introduced 2 potties (but he hates them!) He knows when he is going to the bathroom, he will even tell you...I'm going PEE PEE but takes off his pull-up and pees on the floor...so the doc said he's NOT ready. Wait until he doesn't fear the toilet...lol. So maybe keep the underwear going and do a PULL-UP at bedtime and just keep the potty out and keep reminding him. Then when winter comes and you are stuck inside ALL DAY really go for it!!!
I'm a stay at home mom too but the winter is the only true time we are here ALL DAY to really put the POTTY to the test...Hope this helps!!! Don't worry so much..little boys take a while longer...:).

My daughter is almost 5 and she has been potty trained during the day since she was 2-- and we use pull ups at night still-- our pediatrician told us that night training is pretty difficult until the kid is a little older and most of her patients aren't ready until then....

Half the time we wake up with a dry pull up-- and this winter we are going to start the wake up at night......

I think this topic is the most talked about topic there is. I took advice from all mother but the best advise I got was...LEAVE THEM ALONE. From the time she turned 1 1/2 I started asking her and introducing her to her potty. So for a full year the potty was a big deal to me. I thought something was wrong with her because she turned two and wasn't trained. I stressed big time about it and stressed her out too. Then I took the last advice I got...leave them alone. Fast forward to 8 months later and my daughter saw her cousin (which my daughter sees as younger eventhough they are the same age) use the bathroom. The next weekend I sat down and ask her if she would like big girl panties. She said yes and we went out and got them. She was excited and I showed her what to do. The first week was messy but by the next week she was completly potty trained. With no help of my own if she has to go in the middle of the night she wakes me and I take her to the bathroom.
So if he is scared now just leave it alone. When they are ready they will let you know.

Hi J., I have two daughters and a son and I found that it took my son a little longer to train then the girls. I did find, however, that shortly after they got the idea of potty training in the day that the night training did follow. I did put pullups on them in the very beginning but I would pick them up before I went to bed and have them try and go on the toilet then. I did that until I felt pretty sure that they could go all night. I would also limit fluids close to bed. Some kids are just easier to train the others. Just be consistent with it. Don't go back and forth between diapers
and underwear. I have a friend who did that and it took forever for her to train her two sons. She didn't do that with her daughter and she trained so quickly. Good luck,
D.

Have your son in a pull-up at night isn't contradicting. He is still young, so don't push him. That makes the process longer. Trust me I know! LOL! My son in 3 1/2 and he is pretty much potty trained during the day. But at night he knows that he gets a pull up. He is in a big boy bed, but still wears pull ups at night. I make him go before bed, and usually he is dry in the morning. Even during nap-time he wears a pull up. He's rarely wet when he wakes.

First I want to say that my son initiated every phase of toilet training himself.

My son started with a small potty that sat on the floor, then he moved to the toilet with an insert so he didn't have to hold himself up, then at some point he ditched the insert and potty himself. We would also let him run around the house without any bottoms on. We would put the incontinence pad on the floor for him to sit on and yes, he had a few accidents but he was aware of them moreso than if he was wearing pants. He was in underpants and trained during daytime and diaper at night for almost a year before HE started night time training. His diapers were still soaking wet every night, but one night he refused to wear a diaper. So a couple times after he went to bed we would literally scoop him up, sound asleep, put him on the toilet and he would usually pee. If we tried to wake him up to go to the bathroom he would throw a fit, so sound asleep worked. After a few weeks, he would wake up crying, we would go in and scoop him up and carry him to the bathroom where he would pee. this progressed to him waking up crying, opening his bedroom door and we would walk him into the bathroom, then eventually he would wake up and run in on his own. We did buy a washable incontinence pad at a medical supply store to put on his bed. And the scooping the sleeping child up advice came from some nighttime potty training book I got from the library--don't remember the name.

We also did a whole sticker/reward program. We got a calendar and phase one was every time he went on the potty and was productive he got a sticker on the calendar. This progressed to getting one sticker on days he didn't have an accident for a full day, and after 40 dry days he got a big toy he chose at the outset. Then when he started nighttime training, he got a sticker every dry night and got a toy after 40 dry nights in a row, which he did almost immediately because he really wanted the toy! He was 3 years 2 months when dry during the day, and almost 4 when dry during the night.

Your son will most likely train easily if you let him initiate it, but you can still have him pick out a potty "for when you are ready so we have it", get a potty book and read it to him every day, point out all the cool big-boy underpants to choose from at the store. When he's ready to start nighttime training, if you are still in the same living situation maybe you could put a small potty in his room for him to use. Be patient and it will happen!

I would just do potty training for day time and a diaper or pull up at night. I didn't even have to train my daughter at night. She usually goes all night with out having to go to the bathroom (7:30pm to 8:00am). Once he is trained durning the day I bet you will find his diaper dry when you get him in the morning. If my daughter does have to go in the middle on the night then she will come and get me. He will just call you if he has to go.

Potty training is really one of those things that is easy if you wait until the child is ready, mine trained at 2 years 3 months and 2 yrs 10 months they had already started holding through the night waking up with dry diapers. With both of them I used underwear during the day but then we used night time underwear(a Pull Up, generic brand) most of the time they did not get up to use the potty and held until morning and we only had to wear it for about 6 months, with very few incidents. To date they still do not get up to go to the bathroom. We do a snack and drink 1/2 hour before bed then brush teeth and potty. Good Luck!

I think it's totally normal to have him in underwear during the day and then a diaper at night. That's what I did when I was first potty training my son ~ and then he got to a point when he didn't want to have to wear a diaper any more at night either. I tried to get him to wear a pull up to bed and that worked for a little while but then he even fought me on that. Now he wears underwear all the time. (He's three and a half now.) It was maybe like a month or two that he wore the diaper/pull up to bed. But I have a friend who's son has been potty trained during the day for probably nine months or so (he'll be four next month) and she still puts him in a pull up at night.

But I also think that if he's not ready to start potty training then you're just going to be making yourself crazy trying to get him to do it. If he's not ready, just wait a month or however long and try introducing him again. When he decides he's ready, he'll do it. If you try to make him do it before he wants to, it's going to be a really long drawn out process. Good luck!

My son will be 3 in January, and God bless you if you get your almost 2 year old trained now! :-)
As for the potty training at night, once he gets the hang of it during the day, move him to a toddler bed and buy a little potty and keep it in his room for now!
That's my idea.

What's the rush? Usually they are not ready for potty training at 2. specially boys.Is he showing signs of readiness? I think it would be ok to be in diapers/ pull-ups at nights, and potty train during the day if he's ready for it.

Pull ups would be your answer.

Like alot of the other responders, I was told that potty training was early at the age of 2, which was foreign to me b/c my grandmother always bragged that I was trained at the age of 1. Now I am like how the heck at the age of 1-impossible!

For my daughter, I let her pick her toilet cushion. They had all kinds decorated with characters. Just a little insert so that she could fit on the toilet comfortably with handles and a step stool.

In regards to the gate at the top of the stairs, we put ours on the bedroom door (Even flo Plastic-I think you can adjust the rods at the top and bottom). She was in a large pack-n- play til 2. Then we gave her a toddler mattress on the floor b/c she didnt like the switch. Plus I didnt want her fall off the bed. ..that went well

Anyways, my daughter learned potty training but the night time was definitely last because she couldn't control it at night. Her body wouldnt wake her up to tell me she had to go. She wore pull ups/diapers at night. I would explain to her why she wore night night pants (is what i called them) She wore underwear over her pull ups during the day. Until eventually panites when it was no longer an issue.

Other advice I had gotten was to wake her up at 12am and 4am and put her on the toilet and she would just go....but I just didnt have the heart to wake her up.

Oh I had forgotten, we didnt give her much to drink before bedtime-that helps for success.

Concentrate on getting him potty-trained during the day first. When he is ready for overnight, you will notice that his diaper is still dry when he wakes up in the morning. At that point kids can usually go most nights without needing to use the bathroom, providing they haven't had a lot to drink, and they've used the potty right before bedtime! Good Luck!

I would concentrate on day when he is ready and not worry about night. There really isn't any night training that you need to do. Ideally, kids aren't being "trained" to get up at night and empty their bladder - the ideal situation is that eventually their bladder becomes mature enough that they don't need to urinate at night anymore. It's not good for kids' sleep to be interrupted and if you train them to need to get up to use the toilet, that's what their bladder will get used to, rather than growing out of the need to pee at night. So, you will know that he is "ready" to go without his diaper at night when he is waking up with a dry diaper in the morning.

With my children they wore Pull-Ups at night. They are more like underwear yet still keep the bedding dry. There are different brands so check them out and see which ones are the best. Good luck!

Not a problem. We do this. We have stairs as an issue.. and he sleeps soundly.. so we use pullups at night. IT doesnt' hurt anything.

2 is quite early for potty training. My two daughters were toilet trained at 3 (and it took all of a couple of days, with only a few accidents for a couple of months afterwards). However, the older DD slept in diapers until she was 5; the younger one (3.5 right now) sleeps in diapers and I am in no rush to "train her at night". I will see when she is ready.

Is your staircase wider than 12 feet? If not, let me know and I'll send you a link to a super wide gate that works wonderfully. I got mine at Babies R Us.

Your son is young yet, but if he's ready to potty train that's great. Put a pull up on him at night. A big indicator that your child is ready to potty train is if he wakes up dry. Most dont' get up in the middle of the night to go. Good luck.

Hi almost 2 is way too early for potty training, especially a boy (average 3 years old)- girls on average train earlier (2.5-3). Although it's nice to introduce the potty, forcing the potty can actually cause problems later (fear of the potty/failure to want to sit on it) when it actually comes time to potty train, which can overall prolong your training and cause avoidance and hiding behaviors. I would suggest to place the potty out fulll-time in your bathroom (so he can get use to seeing it (although my new favorite is the regular toilet seats that come with the flip down child rim) and leave the bathroom door open so he sees you and encourage your little guy to sit on his too like mommy & daddy but with a diaper (pull-up is better when working on potty training) on first, just to get use to the idea of sitting as long as mom & dad does. When he can do this then encourage him to pull down his diaper to go like "big boys do" but I stress don't force it on him, a relaxed potty visit will lead to success. Good Luck in the future training.