Night Training -- 4 year old

Hi:

I have a question about night training and how things usually progress.

My b/g twins are 4 years old -- closer to 4.5. My DD has been night trained for many, many months (pretty much trained herself.) My DS, however, used to wake up soaked. Now, he is waking up dry about 3-4 times a week. One night, he woke us up to take him to the potty to pee. However, at least once a week, he wakes up with a very wet pull up. He desperately wants to sleep in underwear and we've told him that if he can be dry in the morning 7 days in a row, he can try it. But... he just can't seem get there.

How does this normally progress? If we just bide our time, will he naturally start waking up dry more and more, so that he will get to the 7-day mark? What happens from there? How did you handle situations where, after several dry periods, there was a relapse of bed wetting?

I'm in no particular rush -- just wondering how these things usually progress......

Thanks!

Meg Miller -- mom to 4 year old boy/girl twins

 

Mine are still in diapers at night even though potty trained for 9 months. If I were you and he makes it the 7 nights. I would buy some pads to put under his sheet so when he doesn't make it the clean up is easier.

Another ideas is to take him to the bathroom when you go to bed, then he doesn't have as long to hold it. And he can get used to waking up to go to the bathroom. Also are you limiting what he drinks in the evenings? Mine get nothing after dinner except a small sip of water at bedtime. Just a few suggestions, hope it happens soon.

 

I don't know, I have heard many differing opinions on whether you can actually "train" kids to stay dry at night or whether it's just a developmental stage that they eventually reach where they can stay dry that long. I have had friends who have had some luck waking the child to go to the bathroom in the night at a scheduled time. Other than that, I haven't really heard of anything that works better than just waiting. I feel for him, though, I'm sure he would much rather be sleeping in underwear like his sister!

 

My boys were dry in the morning on occasion for a few weeks. Then, it was a few times per week for another few weeks. But, the 7-day mark was magical for us -- once they hit that, they were done peeing in their sleep. That's not to say they never had any accidents but it's only been one or two each.

My boys are ID and they reached the switching point about two weeks apart. It was very hard on the second boy to not be in underwear like his brother but he simply needed more time. I told him that he can control hurrying to the potty when he's awake but that it was up to his body when he would be ready for underwear while sleeping. He felt much better about it, then.

 

We haven't confronted that exact situation (yet), but FWIW, Amy just started being dry at night in the past week or so. For a few months, she has had the occasional dry diaper, but only once a week at most. Then, suddenly, they were dry for 3 nights in a row, then 7 nights, and now 9. (She's doing her first night in underwear tonight -- we've been on vacation, or we would have let her try it a little earlier.) It did really seem to just "click," and it wasn't anything we (or she) did differently.

 

It took Sarah a long time to get night trained. Allison started using the potty after Sarah was daytrained, but progressed much faster in that she was night trained long before Sarah. Sarah wore pull-ups for a long time, I'm going say a couple of months, before she could stay dry. Even after we took away the pull-ups, she still had occasional accidents, and is still the one who may have an accident from time to time. I, personally, don't see anything wrong with going ahead and letting him wear his underwear at night. Sure, it will probably be more work for you if he has an accident, but then again, it may be just the thing to help him move past the accidents at night and encourage him to come and get you to go pee so he doesn't wet himself or his bed.

 

Aaron day trained just before 3 and finally stopped wearing pullups staying dry all night last week. (he turned 6 in June) It really is just something that develops over time. Like, can't remember who!, said telling them it's out of their control can help. I never made a big deal about it, just cleaned up and moved on.

 

From what I understand, you can't "night train" -- it is part of the child's physical development. DD was out of diapers for both day/night just after 3. DS on the other hand, day trained at 2.5, but wore a diaper at night for another 2 years. FWIW, we stuck with the 7-day rule and the week before he made it, he woke with a soaking wet diaper almost every morning. It has been about 9 months and he has never had a night accident.

 

We still aren't night trained and my girls have been trained since they were a little over 2. They just turned 4 (today :cry so I don't have any advice for you. I have also heard that it is developmental and not a learned skill, although, you can't tell my MIL that.