Potty Training While Child Is Still in Crib

We trained DS at 25 months and he did not move to a toddler bed until he was about 3-1/2. You just have to accept that if he yells he has to go, he has to go. Good luck.

I know what you mean. I had the same concerns. Our son is usually very good at night, but if he has had too much to drink he does pee the bed. I think it's incredibly common for young ones to not be able to wake up if they have to pee. It's not about potty training, it's about physical development.

Potty training is really about daytime training. Night time is not something that can be trained, it's simply about when an individual is physically ready to be able to wake up. Some kids cannot stay dry the whole night until they are 7 or 8 years old.

So, not sure if you can go without something on your child at night. Sorry! As far as potty training ... go for it!

Here's a most informative website you might find helpful. It gives a few variations on"readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/toilet-training-readiness...

The biggest thing I think you are missing is that day and night trained are *completely* different things. You can't expect that your child will be able to do both at the same time. Some kids do but the vast, vast majority of kids can't. The body has to be physically and neurologically able to stay dry thru the night or wake to go. And the body begins to produce a hormone to assist in this. You can't train that.

I never equated diapers with being a baby while we were training and I'm not a pull up fan either. But I didnt' want my kids to think they were babies because they needed the diaper at nap and night time. We always talked about it being for protection until their body was ready. That way they didn't have to wake up in a wet bed, feel bad about it and none of us lost sleep every night changing bed linens and jammies. When they are night ready they are night ready. Can't rush it.

Day training and staying dry at night are two entirely different things. You'll need to use a diaper at night, anyway, until your child is consistently waking up dry every morning (in which case not being able to get up and go potty is a non issue). You can't really teach someone not to pee in their sleep... they'll do it when they do it.

If he's ready, go ahead and train him now. If he's not ready, the bed he's in won't matter.

My son was in underwear at a week past his second birthday. He was still in a crib. Two months later, he started waking up dry every morning and I stopped diapering at night.

HTH
T.

My son was still in his crib when we trained him. He couldn't pull his pants down by himself, so he always called us for help anyway. We used diapers at naptime initially and still do at bedtime. I'm also anti-pullup during the day, but as another poster said, potty training is all about when they are awake. They have to be physically ready to wake up dry in the morning. Some kids do that well before they are day trained and others will take a couple of years after they are completely potty trained during the day.

I'm beginning to train my 26 month old. Right now the potty is out so he can become familiar with it. He's sat on it a few times with no success yet, but that's fine.

We're setting up his toddler bed over the weekend so he'll be able to get up and go as needed, as it will make things much easier. If your son is in the crib and needs to go and can't it may hinder him from wanting to use the potty when he can or confuse him ("I'm supposed to go but I can't.")

I don't plan to use pull-ups. They're expensive diapers ; )

They should really be out of the crib around 18 months and in a toddler bed or moved on to a twin. They transition much better the younger they are.

In my opinion if you want all the extra work that goes with washing pee sheets, mattress pads, and blankets every day then go with it. I prefer to use overnight pull-ups so he can push them down and pull them up when he does need to go and can do that by himself and I can do something with my day besides wash the same things every day after day after day.....

we used pullups only at night and had no problem potty training when she was in a crib.

We're potty training now and kiddo (3) still sleeps happily in his crib. I'm not ready to rock that boat! I'm also anti-pullups. We use cotton underpants at home and we just getting ready to venture out. I've purchased "potty scotty" washable waterproof cotton underpants, and I'm pleased so far!
http://pottyscotty.com/CTGY/Potty-Training-Pants.html
Note: these run big, so don't order "up" in size.

I'd tackle the waking hours potty training first, then worry about naps and nighttime.

I personally still use a diaper/pull up on her at night... because my 2.5 year old is not quite at the point where she wakes up in time to make it to the potty.. she is in a toddler bed... but if he is in a crib and wakes up and has to go, it will probably be NOW... not in a few minutes after you fetch him. When my daughter has an accident during naptime she can get pretty upset/disappointed about it... I wouldn't want her to stress about it at night while she is still mastering daytime training!

If he is old enough and you feel he would be safe... go ahead and put him in a toddler bed, especially if you want him in underwear at night. You can get absorbent "underpads" in the same section as the women's pads and adult diapers in stores like kmart and walmart... if you plan to go without diapers at night, you could put one of these pads underneath his sheets in case he has an accident. If he DOES, don't make a big deal out of it... it can take a long time for kids to be able to wake up to go to the bathroom and get there in time... Personally, I am saving that for after my daughter is a professional day time potty-er!

Good Luck
-M.

I think it depends on the child. My son night trained first a little before age 3. At that point I knew he was ready to be fully potty trained and he trained competely in about 2 months. If your child is not trained at night (which is usually the last to go for most kids) just make sure he yells to get you, which should not be a problem! Why no pullups? I found them very useful as long as you are using the properly. I think people are negative about pullups because people just use them as expensive diapers just to say their kids are "in pullups". My son used them for about 2-3 months and I thought it worked well.

Day training and night/nap training are different. We used diapers at night for awhile after day potty training. We never used pull ups they are overrated less absorbent more expensive diapers.

If your child is old enough to be potty trained, then they should really be out of the crib. With my daughter we switched her to a twin bed with a guard rail at 16 months old. Yeah, she tested us with getting up every 2 minutes, but after a couple months she learned that she needed to stay in her bed after I would keep putting her back. She got tired of fighting me on it. She was fully day and night time trained by the time she had her 2nd birthday. My son, we moved him to his twin bed at 2 years old (would have been sooner, but we were getting ready for a move and just waited until we moved to set something new up). He took a little longer with potty training. At 3 years old he was fully day time trained, but he is still (at almost 4 years old) wearing a pull up at night. Sometimes he wakes up dry and sometimes he doesn't. Sometimes pullups leak and so we have a waterproof sheet on his bed. But, if he is still awake and he needs to use the bathroom, he can get up and go rather than have to call for me to get him out of a crib.

Part of potty training is the child being able to go to the bathroom when the child feels the urge. If the child is in the crib then the child can not get up to use the bathroom! Especially in the morning or after naps that's when the child is going to have to go to the bathroom the most.
I am also of the "no pullups" group. When I potty trained I did it all in one shot....we took away diapers and were in underwear from the get go. You can do day and night trainig right away. I would say though, that if you are going to go that route, the child should be OUT of the crib.
L.