How Do You Potty Train When Sleeping in a Crib (With a Crib Tent)?

I know a lot of people are against the pull-ups but they worked really well for my son. Once he understood the idea of going in the potty it was just matter of him getting past his stubbornness and the pull-ups allowed him to take control of the situation. When he did decide he wanted to used the potty he could pull his own pull-up up and down and eventually he was keeping dry at night. It saved me from having to take his diaper on and off for him and saved me from cleaning a lot of messes. I really think it just depends on the kid and you might try it especially with them still being in the crib. I would be more concerned about them actually being ready when you wish them to be, it will be really hard to train them if they are not ready mentally as well as physically. Good luck and happy holidays!

I have three boys. Two are older and have been potty trained for quite some time. With both of them, they were day time potty trained for at least a year before they could go to bed without a diaper. My oldest was potty trained at 20 months, but wore a diaper at night until he was 4 1/2. I have heard that boys need a lot longer to get though the night dry. That has been my experience twice now. I have an 18 month old boy that I plan to start working with in the next few months, too.
I think being in the crib tents will not be a problem, but if you decide to go straight to underwear even at night, you will end up with quite a bit of laundry.
Good luck!

I potty trained one girl not twin boys.. but I dont think the crib tent is a big deal.

You are absolutely right to go to underwear - pull ups are a waste of money. My daughter calls them "panty diapers" During potty training she peed in them just like a regular diaper.

Staying dry during the day is totally different than staying dry while sleeping during naps and nighttime.

Once you get your boys trained and staying dry during the day - you can hope they stay dry for naps and nighttime.

STaying dry during sleep is developmental - you cant teach them. They have to mature enough to hold their urine while they are sleeping.

So train them during the daytime when they are awake.. Put them in a diaper or a pull up for nap and bedtime.. When they are stayind dry during nap then stop using the diaper for nap.

My daughter has been potty trained for 8 months.. but she still has a diaper for nap and bedtime. She is almost always wet after nap and in the morning. Last week we had a sitter that forgot to put a diaper on her for nap.. And my daughter ad the bed was totally soaked.. And my duaghter just kept on sleeping...!!My daughter is still in a crib- which she is too timid to climb out of. But she has called me if she has to go potty.

So the nighttime diaper will not effect daytime training. I would just use a daiper - pull ups are expensive.

I plan on keeping my daughter in a crib untill she begs for a big bed. So far she loves her crib and has no desire for a big bed. She will be 3 this week. I also have an 18 month old boy.. There is no reason to have toddler running all over the house..

I know some moms are absolutely against the pullups, but honestly, I've never found them to confuse a child. The child doesn't know that underwear won't absorb the pee but a pullup will....that takes some abstract thinking that they just don't have yet. My veiw has always been that once they are trained during the day, they would also be trained at night *if* they woke up. Here lies the problem...my boys don't wake up to potty. Well, the 4yo does now but when he was initially trained, we used pullups *just in case* and never had a bout of confusion from him. He would get up, go potty, pull his pullup back up and go to bed....just as if he were wearing underwear, but if he didn't wake up and wet the bed instead, I had less to clean up!

I do think it's a bit early for a boy, but my (almost) 2yo goes potty on demand and will come tell me when he needs to pee (most of the time). I still keep him in a diaper though until he's a little more consistent. So, it can be done...every kid is different!

~L.

I am in the process of potty training my daughter and I am not worrying about nap and night time. I figure that if she is dry during the day, being dry at night will come in time. I started with the thick cotton training pants and they work wonderfully, she will not go in them. I tried pull-ups the other day, since at day care she can't have the training pants until she is consistantly dry there, she might as well have had a diaper on. I even bought the ones that are supposed to have the "cool feeling" when wet, and that didn't phase her at all. My suggestion is to do the cotton training pants with the vinyl cover to help keep their clothes dry. As long as my daughter is wearing those she stays dry and tells you when she has to go, even in public. Good Luck!

Completely agree with Lisa. Straight to underwear, and use a diaper or pull-ups for nap and at night. You may be surprised at how quickly the dry during sleep happens once they understand the whole potty thing.

J.,

From my experience the sooner you transition them to a toddler bed the easier the transition. We waited with our daughter (age 2 1/2 years) and found it was much harder on her than it was on our son (who we switched to a toddler bed at 18months and twin bed at three years). But, you need to decide what will work best for you and your family.

We had stairs to worry about our little guy falling down at night. So we put a gate up in the doorway to keep him from getting close to the stairs half asleep.

I agree with the other moms to go with underwear during the day and a pull up at bedtime. Now that our kids are older (7 & 4) we limit their liquids and completely cut them out a hour before bed. They go to the bathroom just before bed and then we wake them up to go again a couple of hours later to go again. We still have accidents occasionally but they stay dry most of the time. They're used to the process and go right back to sleep without any problems.

Good luck and hang in there it will happen.

Hello J., Day time training is the best way to do this. Until your boys are dry during the day, they cannot begin to stay dry while sleeping. Put diapers on them at nap and bed time. When they start waking up dry then then they are ready to start night time training. Good luck and happy holidays.

I know you posted this awhile ago. Finally got a spare minute to catch up on my email. I would not worry about the crib. It will take awhile before your twins are night trained. I would not use pull ups and unless you have too. I only used pull ups at night and when we left the house. I used the naked method with all my kids. My youngest I just Had him run around with no diaper and his pants on. I feel this methods works the best and the fast. I had all my kids within a couple of weeks with this method.

Good Morning J.... My son potty trained at 18 months. Only during the day. He stayed dry for naps but had diapers for bed (they didn't have pull-ups back then). So, I think it is perfectly normal to use diapers at sleep time and training pants for daytime. Don't change their sleeping situation yet. Too much change is too stressful and some kids don't adjust well to ALOT of change at once. Little steps create the biggest success.
Good luck...E.

You say you plan on potty training them in a couple of months. How do you figure this is the right time? The right time is when they are aware of the need to use the potty. I trained my son (actually myself) by the time he was 2. Make sure the boys are ready and not just you.

A.

Dont use pull ups! I found they slow the process way down and there more expensive for less product. My daughter used the pull ups just like a reg diaper. The best thin is for u to go strait to undies and let them feel the wetness when they have an accident. The embarrasement of her having to tell me she had an accident was enough for her, it took about 2 days after i spent about 3 months on the pull ups! Then at night i used a newer product called over nights, the go up to 80lbs. We call them her "magic panties" She thinks they make her not have accidents in the bed, and only occasionally has she woken up wet. I dont use them everynight, just when i feel like she's had too much to drink or she cant potty before bed. Hope this helps!

I'm not sure wht a crib tent is....but, I wouldn't start any training until they are DRY AT NIGHT to begin with. This is the sign that they are physically ready to hold it. I would go straight to underwear, forget the pull-ups as they can be confusing not to mention expensive. My girls all trained at 2 1/2, but from friends that have boys, they say boys typically train a bit later. Potty training is not just being aware of the process. It is a physical development too. I find the other responses interesting. My girls are 30, 27 and 25...I guess the "dry at night" thing is showing my age, as the other responses all say dry during the day, then work on the night-time thing. I did it the opposite way I just followed what my Mom told me way back then and it worked fine. I do have to say I was fortunate to not have any bed-wetters. Maybe waiting for the dry at night thing was the key.

J., well first of all are they soaked when they wake up, if yes, then you will need some sort of something to keep from getting everything wet, a good mattress pad might be needed, dont be afraid to wash sheets, and things, keep things out of bed, to eliminate washing more stuff, there are great books out there that followed you can potty train and stay potty trained, if they are dry you should be good to go, usually the peeing at night occurs early in the morning, once you find out what time it is they pee, you can wake up and take them potty , sometimes around 5 am, every child is different, any way , pull ups are good for our minds, but they dont seem to help the child, they tend to potty train longer with pull ups, i would get the training pants, kinda like a thick padded underware, and then you can buy plastic pants, that cover those this allows them to feel wet, and know to get up , and they learn to go potty, some kids are very deep sleepers, they dont wake up no matter what you do, i would protect the mattress, and use cloth underware, with plastic pants, and then maybe some cute underware during the day, either way its work, pull ups, can come off just like a diaper, so not much difference except its a bit harder with pull ups than a diaper, my experience any way, have a good day , and enjoy life, D. s

Boys tend to sleep harder at night than girls. So little boys may be potty trained all day and still wet the bed at night. I don't think your plan to potty train during the day and pull ups at night is a bad one at all. Best of luck to you.

J., I'm not a mother of twins (bless your heart and everyone else's with multiple births)but I don't think it'll alter the process of potty training them just because they're in cribs (though I don't know what a crib tent is). You're correct by putting them in underwear (with the plastic pants) and Pull-ups at night but once they've gotten the flow of things. Have both, but use the Pull-ups first for awhile then switch to the underwear. They really shouldn't have to use the bathroom as long as you cut off their drink intake at night. Make sure that they use the potty before going to bed. Since they sleep on a different floor it wouldn't hurt to keep a monitor and teach them a word to let you know that they need to go potty.

Just as each pregnantcy and child birth is different, so are the learning experiences. Pay close attention to their learning behavior and how they respond to sitting on the potty. You have 6 months to do it, and I think you can! I hope this assisted you in some way.

Thanks,

A.

I think especially to start out you can keep them in their crib tents (my 2.5 year old is in a bed, and I'm wishing she was in a crib tent still for all our sleeps sake!). When we starting potty training we did underwear during the day and a diaper at night and we explained that it was hard to know to go pee pee in your sleep and that accidents happen a lot. She's been potty trained over 6 months now and we still use pull ups at night. We switched to pull ups when my son was born to distinguish she wasn't a baby. Now she's dry most nights so we treat them as underwear in the morning. My intention is to start a sticker chart to keep track of how many days in a row she wakes up dry. I just don't want to lose sleep changing sheets in the middle of the night before she's ready, I think it's a whole different skill than being potty trained for school.

Good luck with the potty trainig!

Hi J.,
I have a 3 year old daughter who decided at 2 years and 9 months old that she was done with diapers. We did not use pull-ups at night. We just made sure she went to the bathroom before she went to bed. She has been potty trained for 4 months now and has never had an accident... not at night, not during the day. A big clue in using pull-up at night, or in even beginning the process is if they have dry diapers in the morning. My daughter never wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, but in the morning, she is a jumping jelly bean who swears she doesn't have to potty (haha). There is not a one size fits all answer to this question. I was actually surprised how easy it was and that truly it was her decision to wear undies... we planted the seeds, but she had to decide to go potty on her own. Once she made that switch... it was a cinch.
Good luck.