My daughter is two and she is potty trained during the day and at nap time. I can't seem to get her to get up in the middle of the night to go potty. We have tried pull-ups, regular underwear.
NO ONE should have to get up in the middle of the night to go potty unless she is pregnant! ;)
As mentioned, she is probably just too young to go through the night dry. And disrupting the sleep of a 2yo is asking for trouble. Do you both a favor and make peace with the pullups.
Night peeing is different than day peeing: the bladder releases involuntarily at night when blood sugar drops. Most toddlers will not wake up when they have to pee at night ~ so the goal is to get her bladder to not release.
Monitoring her night time blood sugar by giving her a high fat, low sugar snack before bed is the trick. This will keep her blood sugar from dropping in the night and she will be dry when she wakes.
High fat/low sugar snacks include: cheese and cheese sandwiches (or crackers), nut butters on toast or crackers, beans, avocados... The more she can eat at bedtime the better.
Also, DO NOT WITHHOLD DRINKS AT BEDTIME! Dehydration acts the same way on the bladder as low blood sugar. The brain is hungry for water and will send a message for the bladder to release.
So a good high-fat, low-sugar snack with water at bedtime should do the trick.
And remember J., night time bedwetting is not a training thing ~ it is a physiology thing. She will get a better night's sleep all the way around if she is well-fed and well hydrated before she goes down, even if she wakes up wet.
I wouldn't worry about it too much if she is trained during the day and for naps. When she is ready to make it throught the night she will wake up to go or wake up dry!
My daughter is almost 4 and still wets at night. She has to wear a pull up. She can't stay dry. I was told by the Dr. not to worry until she is over 5. She sleeps very hard and is wet every morning. This is different from our other child who was wearing underwear at 2 to bed at night, but she stayed dry. I would not push it right now or worry until then. That has been hard for me, but we just have to let it go. We try to have her go right away in the morning or she will just pee in it until she gets dressed for the day. She is kind of lazy with taking the time to go potty. During the day we still have accidents once in awhile. Just wait. She is still so young.
If she's only 2 and dry during naps she's doing really well! My oldest potty-trained really well at 2, but it took quite a bit longer to get him to be night dry. I think part of it is age and part of it may just be that she's a heavy sleeper. We finally told him he HAD to wake up and he did. He's 5 1/2 now and rarely has a problem, but we take him potty before we go to bed, just to make sure. He's not always completely awake for it, but he wakes up enough to get the job done.
This is how I trained my two girls at night: right before you lay your head down to go to bed, take your sleeping child out of their bed to the potty and pull down their pants and set them on the potty (help them not lose balance and fall off!). This is a subliminal trick to get them used to going potty in the middle of the night. You will have to keep it up for a few months, depending on the temperament of your child. It is much easier than having a whole bed-full of blankets and stuff to launder each day. I like to think of it as training their brains/bodies to use the potty in the middle of the night. Often they are such good sleepers, but this can be rudely interrupted with a bed full of pee. Oh and then they climb into bed with you and they are covered in pee. Yikes!! Good luck. I hope it works for you as well as it has worked for my kids!
When my son was little we would take him to the potty before we went to bed and then my husband would take him in the early morning when he got up. Eventually, his bladder grew to where he could hold it all night long. I do reccommend using a pull up for accidents.
she is only two. she might be able to stay dry that long at night.
There really is no "potty training" to do for night time. Their body just needs to be ready for that and the age for that varies GREATLY. My daughter was completely daytime trained by 2 years old, but needed pull-ups at night until she was five. Our doctor told us that many kids are still wetting at night at that age. Don't worry and don't worry your child about this, it is normal. Pull-ups are a wonderful invention. My daughter is six now and no more night wetting!
Let her sleep and enjoy your sleep as well. When she is ready to make it through the night she will. When their bladders are big enough they will sleep through the whole night without needing to go to the bathroom.
She's not ready for night time training. It varies by child but it can take months or even years after they are trained during the day. You can't really "train" them either--it's just when they are ready for it. A pediatrician will not consider night time wetting a problem until age 7. Both of my kids wore pull ups at night until kindergarten. It's great she's potty trained during the day!
J.,
WTG on potty training your 2 year old. I have the same problem as you are having. My daughter has been potty trained for almost 1.5 years. She will be 4 the end of May. She is trained during the day and naptime and was pretty easy to train. Only occasionally has she woke up dry at night time. She also wears pull-ups to bed. I always figure she will basically "grow out of it" and just be dry at night sometime. I also have 2 older children and never went through this with them so it is new to me. We call our daughter's pull-ups "specail panties" because we don't want her to feel she is doing something wrong. We also try to be encouraging, reminding her to try and get up if she feels the need to go. We tried limiting the fluid intake at bedtime also and it didn't seem to matter so if she wants a drink she gets one and we take her potty before bed. My husband gets up early (3:15) for work and would take her but she would only trickle. So we stopped. I did read the other responses before replying to you and I think I am going to try the low suger. It makes sense specially when you think about what your child has for dessert. I probably didn't help much, but I want you to know your not alone and to be encouraging and it will happen.
Wow I wish I were in your shoes. I think she is doing awesome if she is trained during the day and at naptime. She's in a good place with the potty training. You shouldn't rush it. You're very lucky.
If she is potty trained at 2 you are well ahead of the game! Do not push it at night. She may not be developmentally ready to go that long! Talk to the pediatrician. Mine says that the nighttime can take much longer to train than the daytime.
She is still very young. I would just keep with the pull-ups until she is staying dry at night. At 2 many kids are not potty trained during the day, so you are doing just fine. She might not be physically ready to be night trained.
J.,
She shouldn't have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, just make sure she stops drinking fluids about 2 hours prior to bedtime and to go potty before bed.
