I Have Potty Training Problems! Help!

My 3-year old had this problem too. I think it was just because she is a heavy sleeper and doesn't wake up in time. She did really great for a long time then suddenly I was changing sheets in the middle of the night. I started putting her in a pull up ONLY AT NIGHT and after a few weeks (I don't think I even bought 2 packages) she got a lot better. (I don't really condone pull ups as an effective potty training tool...they are too absorbant and they just don't make the kid uncomfortable enough to do something about it, but in this case, it really worked.)

She still has an accident, but not nearly as often and when she does, it's usually on a night where we had a late dinner and she had a drink too late so really it was my fault.

Best thing to do is buy a plastic sheet to protect the matress and have extra clean sheets on hand. You're doing piles of laundry anyway, what's a set of sheets :)

Good luck!

My son started potty training several times (on his own)and then stopped. This is not uncommon. I have heard this happen time and time again with other parents. Night time wetting is suppose to be the most difficult to stop. I have friends with 3 year olds and I even know a 4 yr old that is not completely potty trained. Do you think maybe your expecting too much from your 2 1/2 year old? My son finally decided at 3 to potty train himself and stopped all by himself. Night and day. So it may be that he is not completely ready yet?

Lots of good suggestions. I have had same problem with my 3 year old. Sometimes he would wet in middle of night so I would wake him at 2 or 3am to go again. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didnt. I did some research and read that kids who have rough play - even a little - anytime during the last hour before they go to bed are more likely to wet the bed (especialy true in boys). Sure enough - if my little 3 year old boy, who potty trained at 2 - plays even a little wresting with Dad, or running around the house chasing the ball, before bed, he wets for sure. So now, 1 hour before bed, I cut off all food and drink, turn down most of the lights in the house, turn off the TV, and we take a bath, brush, etc.. and read books. Seems to work for us. Hope it helps.

You might want to try a reward system, for example if he goes to the potty give him something he really likes, and if he wakes up dry do the same thing. My children respond very well to this. You also might want to try putting cherrios in the potty and get him to "dunk" them my sons both loved do that, and it also helps to improve their aim. I hope this helps!!

I tried to potty train my son at 2 1/2 but he wasn't really ready. We put the pull ups on him did everything we were supposed to. His pediatrician said 3 is the usual age. Sure enough about 2 months after his 3rd birthday he was ready and all the problems were gone. Maybe he's just not qutie ready. I also had a friend who had the same problem. I told her what happened to me and she gave him more time. Well of course you know what happend. Yep, shortly after his 3rd birthday potty training was no longer an issue.

Well try to get he's daddy to show him. Tell him it's good thing to teach he's son between the two that you can't do. A good son and father thing. I had to put a calendar on the wall in front of the toilet, so when my son went to the restroom and sat on the toilet he would see what he has achieved. I put little sticker on the days he pee and then when he did #2 He got to put big stickers on it. And if he got to do really good all week I would telll him he's surprise he get if he did good.

Jerry,

Does your son sleep really soundly. Like is it difficult to wake him. We had to set our alarm clock far enough ahead to allow time to wake my son, and get him alert, whick was somtimes like 5 to 6 minutes. Rubbing him calling his name, shaking him.

My son (Who is now 17) would wake up wet when he was a toddler, 2 years old. This carried on with me, cutting off his liquid supply 3 hours before bed, and going thru the ritual of setting my clock to get up and take him to the potty throughout the night. Our pediatrician told us to give him time. Some kids were slower. Needless to say, this was hard and I barely slept, waking him every 3 hours. Sometimes he would still wet.

When he started kindergarten and the problem persisted, I spoke to my pediatrician who told me to have him practice holding his "Pee" until he could not hold it anymore, and than let him relieve himself. This she assured me would stretch his bladder. She told me sometimes children have small bladders and they don't mature until later in life. I was also told it's hereditary. My mother in law said she wet the bed until she was 13, and my x-husband until he was 9. I would investigate and see if any of that applies in your case.

The pediatrician also asked us if he slept "really hard" or if we had difficulty waking him. That was it. I got the alarm thingy, that goes off when its wet. It woke up everyone else in the house but him. LOL I slept in the room with him watching him, and sure enough he went pee. I called his name and he didn’t respond it took a bit to wake him. It all made sense. He slept so hard he didn't get the signal from his body to wake up and go to the potty.

Well...years later, like 8, my son finally had dry nights. We went thru endless amounts of mattresses, plastic covers, and cleaned the carpet an awful lot. We were frustrated and I would punish him by taking away sweets and toys whatever. This stressed him out more and made him cry. I stopped punishing him and helped him by giving him brownie points he used them for buying toys and snacks. We kept a dry erase board on the bathroom door with each dry day showing brownie points. If he woke up wet. I reassured him I knew how frustrating he was and told him to try the next day.

Once I accepted that he had no control over it and just found ways to make it less stressful for him, we would have dry nights more often. Not every night but once in a while.

Don't forget...as embarrassing as it may get for you. It is way more embarrassing for him.

I hope this gives you a few ideas. Talk to your pediatrician too.

S.

This is what worked for me....I kept a "pepe goodies" jar in the bathroom. It was always full of cheap toys & candy. Everytime my son went to the potty w/out an accident he got to pick a treat from the jar. We made potty training a game & he was potty trained w/in 1 week. This game really seemed to help in the training process & i have a lot of friends who have tried & said it worked for them also. Good Luck!

My 3 1/2 year old still wakes up wet and she has been potty trained for well over a year. She does have an occasional sip here and there through the night of water....but if you find the answer pass it on!! All kids are different....im sure you are doing great with him!!

You have to find out what the father is doing to see if that is the problem cause some people just dont want to stop what they are doing every 5 minutes to let them try to poddy so they quit asking so accidents start up. I know my daughter was starting to get the hang of it then she started wetting her pants and peeing the bed alot. With her she just wasnt ready to poddy train. If your son is in daycare seeing the other kids should help it along alot faster than if there is no other kids around.