Accidents at Night

dear C.,
DONT worry! all children are different. i have three girls ages 7,4 abd 2. my first child was daytime potty trained 3 month after her 2nd birthday but wore pull ups at night for a year and a half after that. she still had accidents sometimes up until the age of 5. the culprit....she is a heavy sleeper. my second child was potty trained day and night 4 months after her second birthday and did great until she was 3 then starting wetting the bed. i spent a lot of time in the pediactrics office and we did things like cut out foods with red dye in them (this can cause bladder spasms), cut out drinking after dinner, blah blah blah. i even took her to a specialist to have an ultrasound on her bladder and kidneys. everything was fine. she is in pullups at night right now as we speek and is doing better. its just something they grow out of. my two year old has no interest in potty training yet so i will wait until she is. bottom line, dont worry. this too shall pass.
C.

Hi C.!

My son is 3 1/2 and he is dry for most of the majority of nights, but I don't sweat it anymore! He does wear the good-nites or pull-up for night time and most of the time he is dry, but I quit making a big deal about it because if he is going to the restroom during the day, THAT IS THE MAIN THING!! Like I said, he is usually dry in the morning, but I always put the night-time pull-up on at night. He knows that is just what we do in case of accidents. He does go every moring when he gets up, so I know he needs to.

We kinda backed ourselves in a corner, because he goes to bed with a sippy cup, but we have learnt that when it is transition time for him, (pacifier, bottle, sink to tub, crib to toddler bed, etc.) he will do it in his own time. Taking things away just doesn't work for him. You have to find what works with your kid. Also remember, some kids sleep really deep at night and just don't, or can't wake up enough to go, so I would not worry about it, buy the night-time pull-ups and praise, praise when they are dry in the morrning and say, oh well, we will try for tonight for dry when they aren't. Don't sweat the small stuff, (gulp, coming from me) it just isn't worth it!!

Good Luck!

G. B.

My daughter potty trained at 2 3/4 for day time and wore a pull up until 4 at night. She's 7 1/2 and this school year wet her bed. She dreamed she was on the potty. Now my 3 yr son potty trained day time at 3 and night at 3 1/4. Go figure. They are all different. I wouldn't worry about it until she's past 4 or 5. I know some boys who are 6/7 and still wearing pullups at night. If she's a heavy sleeper it will take longer for her to realize she has to wake up and go.

Hi, C.. We have a 3 1/2 yr. old and is fully trained as well; however, we put pull ups at night because of accidents. I feel that when she is ready, she'll wear the panties at night eventually. At this stage, I'm not too worried about it.

Our pediatrician said she doesn't expect night time dryness until AT LEAST age 4. Definitely make sure she goes potty before bed. But keep those pull-ups in stock! If you use the ones with fading designs, you can be sure to offer praise for when the pictures haven't faded.
Using the ones with "wetness liners" might help her wake up to take care of business.
You might check to see WHEN she's going to the bathroom at night. If she's dry all night but then wets herself first thing in the morning, she might just need some help getting up and going in the morning. If you're already up, messing with the baby, making noise, etc. it could be waking her up enough to pee, but not enough for her to realize she needs to get up to go! Maybe focus on getting her up and around before you get too distracted.

You have half the battle won. Don't worry about it. Just have her wear pull ups at night until she stops. It's not regressing. You getting her up at night is not necessary, it's only going to disturb your sleep. Some kids don't stay dry unti they get much older. It's very common for a child not to stay dry at night until they are 4 or 5 years old.
Lonie

We use to pick our daughter up and carry her and put her on the potty before we go to bed, she would go basically in her sleep. Then we would put her back in her bed. It worked for us. Good Luck!

I'm having the exact same problem with my 3-year-old daughter. I got tired of changing the sheets every night so we just put her in pull ups. It doesn't affect her pottying during the day, so we're going to keep doing it until her pull ups start to become dry in the morning. We have a potty in her room that she uses during her "quiet time" so if she needs it, it's there. I'd also love any suggestions anyone has!

This is completely normal, children's bladder are not mature enough until around 5 years old to hold a lot. You are doing all the right stuff.

Three is pretty young still to expect full time night time dryness. You are not going backwards or furthering a bedwetting habit if you use pullups at night. (We call them nighttime underwear). Your daughter does not want to wet, or be wet, and will get up at night to use the potty if she wakes up, pullup or not. I had a lot of trouble with nighttime accidents when I was little, and it was terrible to have someone yell at me when I didn't do it on purpose. I already felt horrible, and they didn't have pullups for big kids then. Use pullups, just shrug it off if she's had an accident at night, and she'll get there. You have a young baby in the house, too, so your older girl needs your support and attention, not pressure to be big.

C., I have an 8 year old daughter that trained very early but would still have nighttime accidents. Being younger and more immature I tried everything to get it to stop. I'm ahamed to admit that I would even get angry with her (I never spanked her for it but she knew I was angry). A very dear and honest friend helped me to understand that she wasn't doing it to be "bad" she just couldn't help it. It was then that I decided that changing the sheets a few times a week was not the worst thing in the world, it was just a stage in her little life. With that being said, I will tell you that even as late as this summer before turning 8, she would still occasionally have a night time accident. She said she would dream she was going to the bathroom but in that state of semiconsciousness I guess it gets all confusing. It's been several months since she has had one of those accidents and I know that she has been waking herself up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom because her bathroom light is on when I go to wake her up for school. So, I guess my point is, don't sweat it too much, she may go weeks with a dry bed and then poof have two or three nights in a row where she wakes up wet. Keep encouraging her and praising her on those good mornings and on those wet one's, have her help get the wet sheets off and move on to the dry one's. I always try to remember that one day when I'm 75, I won't remember all those irratiating little things I had to do as a mommy (like changing wet sheets :-) ) Hopefully, I'll will remember that it was a blessing to have the honor to change the sheets for my little child - some women wish they had these little problems! Have a blessed day doing laundry on those wet sheets!

My son went through this at about age 4 and it lasted for about 4 months. I just continued to make sure he went to the restroom right before bed and watched his intake of liquids. One day he started waking up and running straight to the bathroom. W ehaven't had an accident since. I guess what I am saying is maybe it is true what they say about just letting their little bodies catch up with themselves.