how does night time potty training occur?

Discussion in 'The Toddler Years(1-3)' started by elhardy26, Jan 23, 2011.

  1. elhardy26

    elhardy26 Well-Known Member

    Can someone explain either medically or psychologically how night time potty training occurs? The kids are sleeping, how can they be trained to "hold" their pee while they sleep?

    both girls wake up at least 1x per week with wet jammies from a leaky diaper overnight and often DD1's diaper feels like it has 5lbs of pee in it when she wakes up. I just don't get how night PTing works...

    thx!
     
  2. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    I have some issues still too... I find our best nights are when we limit water 2 to 3 hrs before bedtime... I'm still learning, though.
     
  3. ldrane

    ldrane Well-Known Member

    Nighttime potty training is not really a learned skill, but rather a psychological development. You can't really 'teach' them to stay dry at night. The things I have found to help: Limit fluid intake at night and have them go potty right before bed. I have heard of others who wake their child during the night (like when the parents are going to bed) and have them go again. I have never done this with mine. I can usually tell if they start whimpering in their sleep, they probably need to go...at least 9 times out of 10 that is the case. They just don't always have the cognitive ability to wake themselves up. They just don't have that signaling mechanism yet (from the bladder to the brain).
     
  4. megkc03

    megkc03 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I know I am in the minority in this...but we successfully night trained my boys. I know many here will say it's not possible-and I don't disagree with them. For us, it just worked, for whatever reason.

    My boys, especially Anthony, would drink and drink and drink. He usually would wake up SOAKED. When doing the 3 day pt'ing, it said to limit liquid intake before bed. So we did. They got their milk with their dinner, and that was it. They usually had another full glass right before bed. We would potty before bed, probably at least three times(between one going, tucking another in, reading this book and that, having to go again, etc.). In the beginning, I woke them before I went to bed-but that probably happened no more than two times because I just didn't want to wake them. And then, I woke them probably twice as well in the morning. And then, I didn't like doing that either, so I stopped. They would wake in the middle of the night saying they had to pee. So dh and I would run up the stairs and take them to the bathroom in the middle of the night. It doesn't happen that often.

    When we did the 3 day-they were day trained in three days. I would say within two weeks, they were night trained as well. Now-they go to bed between 7/8 pm and wake up at 7:30am. And over the monitor we hear, "Mommmmmmmmmyyyy, I have to go peeeeeeeeeee." And usually...he doesn't even go. <_< But if they do in the middle of the night, we just run up, potty, and they go right back to bed.

    We haven't had accidents in bed since they trained. Now, my one son just had surgery on his penis, so we may have to work on the potty training again as he's been using a pull up for a few days....
     
  5. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    Can I ask at what age were they trained? how many months old? I know that you can't compare kids... but I'm just curious since this topic was brought up.

    We do go in and take the kids to pee when we go to bed... and frankly I'm a bit tired of it. I have to laugh, my dd was the one who started staying dry all night... but now I'm afraid she's getting lazy... ahhhhhh...

    I'm also a little confused... do your kids take their last milk/water at dinner? you mentioned "they usually had another full glass right before bed"... is meant to say... used to - as in before PTing? and now they don't?

    sometimes it seems like ours don't pee much at 11p, other times it's a lot. though if I'm truthful, more of the times that they get wet, it's when my dh and I are in charge... on the weekends! during the week 3 days, my nanny gives them dinner and takes their waters by 5:30p... we just always seem to run over the timeline when it's just us.
     
  6. megkc03

    megkc03 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    The boys were 34 months old. And yes, while we were training, they got their last drink with dinner, so they were done drinking by 6 pm. We stretched bed to 8 pm during that time.

    Now, we do let them get a drink before bed. However, it's not the full cup they used to get prior to night training. And some days they forget to ask for a drink so they don't get one. Hth.
     
  7. dtomecko

    dtomecko Well-Known Member

    My son trained at night when he day trained. He just did it himself. He wakes up and tells me he has to go. The flip side is he is an extremely light sleeper and wakes up a couple times a night, even if he doesn't have to go. When he does that, I try to get him to go so he won't wake me again to go potty in an hour, but he won't have it. He'd likely throw a tantrum for making him do something he doesn't want to/have to do, so I don't bother. Several times a week he will miraculously sleep through, and he doesn't have a problem waiting until morning to go - a lot of times he doesn't even go when he first gets up. I think he must have a bladder of steel, because he holds it all the time. I don't limit liquids or anything (though he isn't a big drinker). But with the world's worst sleeper, I figure it's my payback to get something to come easy for once!

    My daughter is barely day trained, so I'm not even thinking about night yet. She's a big drinker and a heavy sleeper, so probably a hard combination to train.

    There was a big difference between potty training my daughter and my son too, which I think is why my son is night trained. He just got it, immediately. We didn't have problems with accidents after he was trained, I never even bother asking him if he has to go. He just knows and does it.
     
  8. kingeomer

    kingeomer Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I agree with Laura, I think for most kids it's just something that they have to be ready for physically and psychologically. My DD night trained herself in August and has not had an accident at night since (that would have put her at 32 months). My DS, however, is pretty steady with night training but we have to limit his liquids, check on him an hour after he goes to bed and then an hour before he wakes up because every once in a blue moon (like last night) he will have an accident overnight.
     
  9. becasquared

    becasquared Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I decided last week that since Alice was waking up with a dry pull up every morning, I'd put her in underwear overnight. So far, so good. I still can't even get Royce to wear underwear without pitching a huge fit.
     
  10. sharongl

    sharongl Well-Known Member

    I have one who was day trained the September after he turned 3. He didn't stay dry at night until he was almost 5--and he really wanted to try and stay dry, it just didn't happen. The other one trained 6 months later, and the day he was day trained was the last time he wore a diaper, and stayed dry at night from that time on. Ironically, it was the one who stayed dry at night earlier who still has occasional accidents. The one who didn't stay dry at night until later, never has accidents.
     
  11. Becky02

    Becky02 Well-Known Member

    I think I am one of the lucky ones that didn't have to do anything for them at night. All three of mine once they were fully day trained were good at night (maybe a month after being day trained but not long after). I did limit liquids before bed but never woke them up to go. I waited until they were dry at night for about 2wks straight. Two out of my three kids are also light sleepers and the other is in between not a light sleeper but she also isn't a deep sleeper either. I feel when they are ready then they will be dry over night. I know you can wake them up but for mine I felt if I woke them up then they wouldn't want to go back to sleep. My son still wakes up every now and then and says he has to go potty but it's rare usually he can wait till morning and even then he doesn't always go first thing when he gets up.
     
  12. elhardy26

    elhardy26 Well-Known Member

    It seems really frustrating that some kids just hold it all night and other kids pee in their sleep...
     
  13. mhardman

    mhardman Well-Known Member

    My 2 were potty trained at 2 yr and 3 mo. I kept thinking that they would slowly be dry at night once in a while and it rarely happened. DD has never woken dry. DS has a few times but not consistently. About a month ago I ran out of diapers and tried to go for it. With waking up in the night 1 time DS was dry for 3 nights and DD had only one accident. Then it went down hill from there. By the end fo the second week, it had gotten worse. After DD having 3 accidents a night for 3 nights in a row, I gave up. I tried DS a couple more nights but after 2 accidents a night I gave up. Being so pregnant and with DH working nights I couldn't do it anymore. I wish I could make it happen before the babies get here, btu I don't know how.
     
  14. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    I do find that our best nights are the ones where we limit the water before bed. we have to have last water with dinner... at 5:30p otherwise it really is a disaster. I also still wake them up for one last pee at 11p or after when I go to bed... I tried last night to leave my ds and not wake him, but he woke at 4:30a w/an accident... poor little guy.

    personally I'd rather do laundry and take them to pee at 11p than spend money on pullups/diapers at night... I know that's a choice we've made as a family. I cloth diapered and can't stand spending money on that! I probably need to just get them some cloth pullups or convert some of their cloth diapers somehow... but for now if I limit water to the 2 to 3 hrs before bedtime it works pretty good.

    and yes, it's frustrating that kids are different. my ds is better at staying dry (if we take to pee at 11p) than my dd... but she did stay dry last night...
     
  15. ktfan

    ktfan Well-Known Member

    It's both psychological and physiological. Some kids are ready to be "taught" how and others can't be helped until their bodies mature. Four of mine night trained within a few months of day training. One is 6 and still in pull ups at night. It is what it is.
     
  16. Leighann

    Leighann Well-Known Member

    I totally agree with this. One of my DDs trained completely all at the same time (3y2m). My other DD completely day trained at 3y1m, but just recently night trained (3y10m). Before that we'd bring her to the bathroom before DH and I went to bed. Now she wakes up on her own (around 3ish most nights), goes to the bathroom and then right back to bed.

    Both girls get milk at dinner (around 6ish), then a small drink of water between dinner and bedtime only if they ask for it (its rare), and go to bed at 8.
     
  17. Minette

    Minette Well-Known Member

    Both my girls day trained around age 3 (give or take a few months). At age 4.5, Amy started waking up with a dry pullup -- first just every once in a while, then frequently, then every morning for a week. At that point we started putting her in underwear at night and that was that. We didn't change anything else -- she doesn't even necessarily go potty right before bed.

    Sarah is still in a pullup at age 5+ and I don't see it changing anytime soon. She has enough issues, poor kid, with constipation and urinary irritation -- I'm not going to push this.
     
  18. nateandbrig

    nateandbrig Well-Known Member

    I agree with a lot of the PP...

    I did both day and night training at the same time a month before they turned 3 and my dd got it right away. Never even wore pull ups until last week and that has nothing to do with her ability to go... My ds on the other hand.. oye. The first 2 weeks were awful and he woke up every morning wet and or had pooped at some point in the middle of the night. He only woke up when the poop got in his EYE! :crazy: So I put him in a pull up at night and since then he's had one poop accident and no pee accidents and has been dry in the morning for a week.
     
  19. lharrison1

    lharrison1 Well-Known Member TS Moderator

    I am kind of thrown off by this night training ordeal...my older dd night trained first-she started waking up dry every single day before we even started potty training so that was easy!!
    Now these two we have had to work rather hard to day train, they are finally there but they wear pull-ups to bed and its hit or miss if they are dry in the morning or not. I think we are going to continue with pull-ups and start limiting liquid before bed and have them go once or twice before bed and see how that goes-if that works and their pull-ups are consistantly dry-I will consider them night trained.

    Good luck to you!!
     
  20. TwinxesMom

    TwinxesMom Well-Known Member

    This is how we night trained. Seven days dry we went to panties with very rare accidents
     
  21. Mellizos

    Mellizos Well-Known Member

    I know this won't be popular, but I think it's cruel to limit liquids. If a child is thirsty, they should be allowed to to quench that thirst. I don't want to teach them to ignore signals from their body. (Of course, this doesn't apply to kids who use the drink of water to keep from going to bed, etc).

    In our experience, once kids day train, they desperately want to night train also. After all, diapers are for babies. One of ours night trained right away. The other took more than a year. We didn't do anything to train them to stay dry at night. I won't wake a sleeping child just to take them to the bathroom. And I won't keep them from drinking when they need to. They will night train when they are physically capable of either holding it all night or wake themselves up to go to the bathroom.
     
  22. sullivanre

    sullivanre Well-Known Member

    FWIW Cathy, I think there's a difference between denying a child water, and limiting liquids. I just decided a few weeks back that we would not offer the boys anything to drink after dinner. Now if they ask for a drink, I'll give them a few gulps of water, but I try my best to keep the idea of liquids out of their heads.
    You know about 2 weeks ago I figured it couldn't hurt to offer my boys 10 yogurt raisins if they woke up dry in the morning. Eli has been dry almost every night since then. I think I'm going to take away his pull-up or "Tico diaper" as he calls it.

    I personally don't think it can hurt to offer a reward for this kind of thing.
     
  23. TwinxesMom

    TwinxesMom Well-Known Member

    I never limited liquids either. They have water bottles beside their beds all the time
     
  24. lemongrrl53

    lemongrrl53 Well-Known Member

    Mine night-trained themselves, right around the same time they were day-trained. I did pull-ups at night for about a month but they were never wet so I left the undies on and we've never had a wet bed, knock on wood. I don't limit fluids either, they have sippie cups by their beds. I know I am one of the lucky ones!
     
  25. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    wow, that is great that so many of you have kids that can drink water in the beds... I just know that wouldn't work with ours. I just try to get them to drink lots in the afternoon and say bye bye to it at dinner. Of course if they are thirsty we give them a few sips... but otherwise the glasses are put away so "out of sight out of mind"...
     
  26. maybell

    maybell Well-Known Member

    I loved the idea of offering a reward... we did that last night and I said if they stayed clean & dry they'd get a Mandarin Orange first thing in the morning! They'd just had some and loved peeling it... anyway, they woke up dry and were mumbling "oranges"... YAY! We did take them to pee at 11p... one day we'll quit doing that too... but for now that's not so bad to do. hopefully we can keep up the excitement. I've also been asking every now and then this morning "who was clean & dry?" and they are excited to tell me!
     
Loading...
Similar Threads Forum Date
Rolling over question--when does it stop at night? The First Year Feb 12, 2010
What time does everyone put their babies to bed at night? The First Year Jan 18, 2010
Does DH help at night? The First Year Nov 17, 2008
What time does your 2 month old go to sleep at night? The First Year Sep 25, 2008
Does formula really make them sleep longer at night? The First Year May 19, 2008

Share This Page