I need some help guiding my 3 1/2 year old to staying dry through the night. I think the problem might be that she sleeps so hard (due to no napping during the afternoon), she does not feel the messages her body is sending in the middle of the night enough to wake herself up and get herself to the bathroom. Every morning she wakes up wet, between 5am and 8am, even though I get up at around midnight to take her to the bathroom in order to prevent an accident. I have also eliminated any fluid intake after suppertime. This situation involves me washing sheets, waterproof pads, and PJ's every single day - which is getting very old. I am concerned about going back to pullups, but wonder if doing so might serve 2 purposes - to save the labor of excessive laundry, and show her that she has a bit more progress to make before going without the pullups. Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Pull-ups, Underjams, etc.
Stop worrying and doing all the extra work. Continue with the cutting off fluids and slip the little one in a Pull-up type panty.
I would stop the midnight walk to the bathroom. She's not able to do it on her own and it isn't helping keep her dry. She'll get there.
Mine is 7 and still in Underjams. Many nights are dry, but many are not.
S
Hi G.,
I feel your pain. I m potty training my 2.5yo son while i have a 2 month old baby. UGH! My husband lives in LA 3-4 days every week for work so Im doing it ALL ALONE. My baby boy isn't sleeping through the night yet and my older son still wets through his pull ups at night. Even after he goes potty before bed and no fluids at night either. The pulls were a joke as he wet through them every night and I ended up changing his sheets every monring. I agree with Love R 100% with what she had to say. Kids will go when they are ready. My son goes on the potty 90% of the time during the day. What I was told by a friend is try putting underpants on them and a pull up over them so they will feel wet. However, for my son he could careless if he is wet. I put him back in diapers at night as the pull ups are expensive and leak through the night. Boys are harder to train as I have been told but every child is different. I also bought my son a sheet protector from onestepahead.com to limit having to wash sheets so much. It works great and I don't find myself changing sheets in the middle of the night. Good luck to you. All you mother's pat yourself on the back. As I tell myself every day.....this too shall pass.
Im a SAHM but feel like s single mom with a super active 2.5yo son and 7 week baby boy that doesn't sleep. Im so tired but love being a mom.
My daughter had trouble @ night until she was 7 and she was a deep sleeper. So, I can relate to the labor and lack of sleep. Girls take longer to potty train; and, honestly, pull-ups are not that bad. Plus, you're not using them through the day; so, you'll still be able to potty train during the day. Should you wake up in the middle of the night and happen to find she hasn't wet her bed; then, you can take her to the bathroom, but I doubt she's remembering - it's she who has to wake up and remember to go to the restroom, not you.
GO GET THE PULL UPS, GET SOME SLEEP AND STOP DOING SO MUCH LAUNDRY! Good luck.
I don't understand why everyone is so uptight about the staying dry at night thing. My six year old still sleeps in a Goodnight pull up at night. So, does my three year old. I don't worry about it. When they mature enough to wake at night to go potty they will. My six year old has Autism, and it's not good when he wakes at night. Then he won't go back to sleep.
A lot of kids don't master this until elementary school years (our son's behavioral therapist told us this after we asked), so I think you're doing fine. We're actually going through this with our five year old. He was staying dry for a while at night, so we ditched the pull-ups. But after months of washing sheets every day (which consumes paid work time for me at home), we made the call to go back to the pull-ups to retrain. The first night, he soaked it, second night it was dry. He's motivated to lose the pull-ups, so we told him if he stays dry a full week, back to underwear.
I know you're technically not supposed to back track and go to pull-ups, but for our own sanity and real-life needs, we made the call to do it. I think you just have to do what makes sense for you and your family.
Good luck!
M.
honestly what happens in her sleep is out of her control..
so just put her in pull ups and you can try getting her up to go pee.
My oldest still wear's pull ups, we are dray maybe 1/3 of the time in the morning.
I second, third and fourth the suggestions for putting her back in pull-ups and not stressing about it. Night-time control is so much different than daytime. After a sucessful week or two of nighttime dryness, then you can go back to underwear. There was a year gap between our daytime and nightime dryness for my son. One important thing that I did was eliminate any sippy cups before bed. They can have a cup of water (which they tend to drink less of), but no more sippy cups of milk - which can even NOW cause a night-time wetting experience (age 4 and 5 1/2). Good luck!
Hi G.,
My daughter just turned 3 in July and has been potty trained during the day for a few months. When we saw her doctor for her 3 yr check I asked him when to expect her to be potty train during the night too. He said they don't even worry much about night until 6 yrs old. He said that in the mean time to keep her in pull ups or diapers at night and to not pressure her. He advised to NOT limit fluids or wake them up to go potty, all it does is disrupt their sleep which he feels is more important. Basically he said that night time potty training will happen when it happens and is only a possible problem after 6 yrs old. I still put Paige in a diaper at night as pull ups leak on her.
Sincerely,
L.
I'd have to say that at 3 1/2 I'd go back to pullups. I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but my son was where your daughter was at her age, and was around 10 before he was dry every night. We stayed in pull-ups until it was too embarrassing for him. When talking to other moms, it turns out he wasn't alone (his best friend also, but we couldn't tell either of them.) I have two suggestions. I tried the wake up at midnight and that didn't work at all. He never really woke up. I realized he was wetting right before he woke up (it was still warm). Try waking her up eariler, about a half hour before she gets up. Also, as she gets older, give her responsibilty over it. She helps strip the bed and throw the sheets in the wash, etc. Not as a punishment, but as a responsible consequence. It gives her a little power over the situation. Mostly know it's not her fault, and she has little control.
Don't go back to the pullups because then she cant feel the wetness. My sister did that and still does and her daughter is almost 6. You will You might need to get up again at 4 to take her to the bathroom even though that is hard on you too or just keep washing the bedding and everything every morning.
Go back to pull-ups and spare yourself and your time.
My son just turned 8 in July and he still wets at night, my daughter is 4 and still wets at night. Their pediatrician said not to worry about either till about 6-7, then we could try other methods (he advocates the Bedwetting Alarm, not medication). We had our first dry night with my son last night. Whoo hoo! Some kids just take longer for their bladder to develop the right muscles, and some are very heavy sleepers. (both my kids are heavy sleepers.)
If you are both losing sleep over this, and doing the laundry every day, go back to pull-ups if you can afford them. For some kids, this is a motivator in and of itself. They don't want anyone to know they are still in "diapers". My son is at the age now where a sleep over is possible and he doesn't want to be embarrassed about it.
You need to do what works best for you and your daughter. Sometimes it is by trial and error! Good luck.
