Just wanted to see if any of you have this problem.. I have a 2 1/2 year old son. He sleeps pretty good overall, but every once in a while he goes thru this stage where he gets up crying in the middle of the night for a drink of water. We are trying to potty train right now. He's only went one time in the potty. Most of the time he'll just sit on the potty. He just doesn't get it yet and I know that'll come. I don't want to make it a "thing" or he'll never want to do it, so we don't force him, but we'll sit there with him and everytime we'll go, we'll say we went to the potty, etc.. and he'll say it as well. The whole thing about getting up in the middle of the night, I don't think is about water.. I think it's more about having me in the room to, I guess, reassure him. But he won't go back down unless he gets a quick drink of water. I'm just concerned that when we are really doing the whole potty training and giving him water in the middle of the night to make him want to use the potty even more, kinda worries me... like we're creating a bad habit with him. Does anyone have any ideas??
I don't think denying him water would be good for either one of you! :) Plus, when he is ready, he will be fine even with water. My child always has had a glass of something to drink in her room at night, she had some accidents, everyone does, but she never had any problem wetting the bed. Just thought I would add my two cents! :) Good luck!
Hi K.,
You are lucky your son can verbalize his thirst in the middle of the night! It took my husband and I some time to figure out why our oldest son woke up crying in the middle of the night and we finally, when he was 16 months old figured out it was because he was thirsty. Since then we have always kept a sippy cup with a little water in his crib, and now on his nightstand next to his bed. He is now weeks away from his 4th birthday. He usually wakes up at some point during the night and takes a sip of water and goes right back to sleep. Regarding the potty training thing, you are probably still using diapers/pullups at night, I would guess since your son is still only 2 1/2, so don't worry about the water at night. We kept pullups on our son until he was about 3 1/2, and then went through a couple months of getting him out of bed (and he would sleep through most of this) in the middle of the night to pee, until now he is able to hold it through the night, even with drinking a sip or two of water around 2am. Good luck!
You are right this could be a bad habit forming or it could be that he wakes up and is scared and knows that he can ask for water, and you will come. this may be a hard habit to break because it sounds like the first night you gave him water he figured it all out. Kids are cunning creatures and are smarter than we parents often give them credit for. One thing we have done with our daugther is we put a cup beside her bed with a little water and if she wakes up she can take a drink, but she usually doesn't use it, you might be able to try something like that, maybe a no leak sippy, and that will help you determine if it is the water he is wanting or just mommy and then you can address it from there. Good luck.
I have a 3 year old who is just starting to really want to go potty. I started the whole process when he turned 2, but he is just now able to tell when he has to go. The best peice of advice I can give is don't force it and buy Elmo Goes Potty Video. My son, in only 2 weeks, started showing a real interest in the potty, and the video teaches them proper hygeine, like washing their hands. I am not big on letting my son watch a lot of TV, but I will let him watch this video anytime he asks. I have even watched it with him!! As far as getting up in the middle of the night, my son still does that, too. Our pediatrician told me not to be worried because as long as he isn't wanting a whole lot to drink, it could be that he sleeps with his mouth open and it gets dry. I wouldn't be too concerned yet, and keep in contact with your child's doctor! Let me know how it goes!! Good luck!
