Nighttime Potty Training

So my boys will be 4 next month, they have been potty trained for about a year (during the day) but still wear pullups at night. Most mornings their pullups are wet, but I started to wonder if they were just peeing in them in the mornings out of laziness, so we did a trial w/ no pullups a few months ago and they both wet the bed in the night several nights in a row. So....a few weeks ago I told them if they kept their pullup dry for 5 days I would buy them a toy. No go, still wet every morning. At what age should i start to worry about this or really push the issue? Any suggestions for dry nights? i'm tired of buying pullups!

 

Both of my kids night trained when they were ready. I did not do anything special with my daughter, she just did it herself. As for my son, we did the 3 day PT program and initially we cut back on the liquids about 2 hours before bed and had him go to the bathroom 1 hour after going to bed and 1 hour before waking for the day. However, he usually did not have to go an hour after going to bed, so one of us would check on him in the middle of the night and then eventually he did not need that.

 

Yes, make sure they go potty right before bed. Limit liquids (grandma had a HUGE issue with this one UNTIL she had to change her nightgown, sheets & jammies of my son who she was sleeping with who was wearing a pull up.)

Peeing at night for those who sleep soundly is just that.. They have no control. My son was 5.5 when he was able to be dry overnight. It's not the end of the world. He just did not have the control at night. He was great during the day. My rule was when they could keep their pull up dry overnight for X number of nights, off came the diaper. I just sold 2 big boxes of pull ups that I had been stock piling because my youngest trained over night earlier than expected. He was just about 4 when he day trained and maybe 4.25 when he night trained. Who would have thought...

So, be patient. MOST of the time it is not them doing it on purpose. It'll happen.

 

To be honest the term night training is a complete misnomer. Night time pottying, unlike day time pottying, is very much a developmental milestone and really can't be taught. It will happen when all the different pieces are in place for your kids. As others have mentioned, there are some things you can do to help the process along but it's not really forceable. From a medical standpoint, they don't consider night wetting a problem until like 6 or 7 years old I think. And even then it has to be pretty consistent night wetting, not just the odd accident.

 

I agree it's not really something you can teach them, their bladder has to recognize the sensation of "Oh I'm sooo full", which has to send a signal to their brain "You need to wake up and pee right now", which has to be able to wake the child with enough reasoning that they can figure out "I need to get up and PEE". None of which can be taught. My older two kids were about 4 when they night trained. My twin daughter was just before she was 3.5. My twin son is a little over 3.5 and still not even day trained let alone night trained.

I would just continue with pullups until they are consistently being dry. Even then though, i prefer to keep a waterproof sheet on the bed, because accidents can still happen.

 

I think night time potty-training is different with every child. I'm currently potty-training our youngest DD and while she's not wearing pull-up at night, I know I have to cut her liquids off no later than 5:00pm or there WILL be a wet bed in the morning. My oldest DD never peed in the bed, ever, (no matter how much/how late she drank) from day one of potty training, but with my DS, up until a couple of weeks ago, would take him to the bathroom before we went to bed to keep him from having an accident and he's been potty trained for almost a year. I also have friends have five and six year olds that still wear pull-ups at night and they're just now working on night time potty training. I think whatever causes the least amount of stress for you and your lo's is the way to go. It will happen eventually and I think every child reaches that milestone in their own time.