HELP! Need Night Time Potty Training Suggestions

She isn't ready, and yes, you're doing something wrong by trying to shame her out of it. If she were walking in her sleep, would you punish her for getting out of bed? It's the same thing. She's not responsible for what her body does when she's asleep. Most bladders aren't developed enough for foolproof nighttime dryness until 5-6 yrs. Pad the bed, use the pullups, and relax.

I had my daughter day trained at 2 1/2. I did not push the night time because I have MS and need my sleep. I did not want to change sheets every night. I took the attitude that unless there is a medical problem, all children will learn to hold it or wake up at night. at 4 1/2, she started waking up and going to the bathroom on the toilet and then pulled the pull-up back up. 3 weeks later she came to me and said she was ready to use her big girl panties. That was 2 1/2 years ago, and she has never had an accident at night. Why stress, she is only 3.

N.

H. - as I was reading your post and some of the replies I remembered that when I was little I had a wetting the bed spell - I was 4-ish.

I remember dreaming that I WAS on the potty, so it was OK to pee.
Weird I remember it so clearly, and how relieved I was to empty my bladder - TMI I am sure, but I figured I would share this to illustrate that it wasn't my intention to wet my bed - just something that happened while in a dream state (Reminder to myself too, that they are just little and love us - they aren't OUT TO GET US - or at least I don't THINK their out to get us... lol).

I love that the mama wisdom on this one is to not stress and let her body do the work in it's own time. As a mama, it's nice to have one less thing to stress about! ;-) Maybe focus on the things that she IS a big girl about and give her love there! I know, they are SO big and SO little at the same time, just got to stand back sometimes and laugh, cry, and hand them to daddy (who is standing there like a deer in the headlights) while you take the credit card and go to the spa for a massage! <grin>

Nighttime dryness might not be achieved until age 5 or 6 and this is perfectly normal! No amount of shaming or bribing will make her body physically ready sooner nor will it cause her body to secrete a hormone that aids in nighttime dryness. That is purely physical development. And "she doesn't care" because she's 3 and can't control it. what happens while she is sleeping might as well be a million miles away to her.

Daytime dryness and nighttime dryness are totally different. Relax and keep her in pull-ups at night. No reason for everyone to be upset and having to change sheets in the middle of the night.

Hi there,
I don't think it is because she doesn't care, it's that her body isn't ready to recognize the fact that she needs to go in the middle of the night. It's fairly standard. My daughter is 3 years and 4 months and she is still in Pull ups at night. She has been 1000% potty trained since she was 21 months old. She went a few months with only a few accidents in the middle of the night, and thought we were on the right track. But, in the last month or so, I have had to put her back in Pull ups because she was having to many accidents at night.
It's ok, her body is just to immature. Don't worry about it. Don't make a huge deal by telling her it's gross. She really has no control over it. Don't make her feel bad, it's not good for her confidence.
In time, her body will mature and it won't be an issue. I have a friend with a 5 year old who is still in pull ups at night. Just an FYI. :)
Good luck and take care!

Why are you so convinced that this is willfull? Why do you have to nip this in the bud? Don't make her feel ashamed--tons of preschoolers and beyond can't hold it all night and just don't wake up. It's normal and should be treated that way! I'm guessing she does care that she's sleeping in a puddle, but what else can she do if you don't put her in a pullup and get mad at her for peeing while she's sleeping??

My daughter will be 5 in October and is still not trained at night. She will stay dry occasionally (very occasionally) or wake up to pee. Even if she wakes up to pee, that doesn't guarantee she will be dry in the morning. I have never let her wear underwear to bed so she is in night time pull ups. I feel much less resentful because I am not cleaning up after her every morning. Try not to make her feel ashamed of something she can't control. She is VERY young and reward/punish things will not help her body mature but they will make her feel bad about herself in the meantime because she can see you are not happy with her. Hang in there.

Day time training and Night Time Training are not the same.

The bladder is slow to mature. Most cases a child's bladder can not hold it overnight. And the signal to pee is just not strong enough to wake a child up.

Rewarding can actually make it worse, it can add a level of stress which stress/anxiety can cause bed wetting.

She can help clean herself up, this is NOT for punishment but a way for the mind to train itself.

Having her lay down for about 30 minutes then getting up to pee can help.
Also waking a child up in the middle of the night is not affective because it will disrupt their natural sleep pattern. Plus most of the time the are not fully wake enough to empty their bladder.

Just let it go. She'll stop when her body is ready. If it goes past the age of 6 for girls, then the doctor may suggest other treatments. However if there is a family history, than they will factor that in.

My 8 year old son wets the bed. I did the same thing and it continued till I was pretty old. His doctor isn't worried because there is a strong family history of it. We've given it till the age of 10 and then see what else we can do.

My 2 year old stays dry almost every night. Stop liquids 2-3 hrs before bed. If she's had something to drink closer to bedtime, gently wake her before you go to sleep and tell her it's time to go pee pee.
Tell her when you put her to sleep you'll be doing it so she doesn't get startled. This will not disrupt her natural sleep pattern. That is silly. We all get up to go pee and our sleep patterns are fine.
I put a waterproof cloth down in case of an accident. I find that if you put her in pull ups your sending a mixed message. It's not okay to poop or pee your panties in the day, but okay during the night. Go cold turkey. Be supportive and praise her.
Good luck!

My experience of potty training 2 boys both day and night by the time they turned 2 is to cut them off from all liquids except for a teaspoon measured amount in a glass right before bed for 2 hours before bedtime and to make them (with guidance and help of course) wash out their underwear in the sink and strip their bed, wash sheets, and put them back on. Yes, that's a lot work, but it didn't take long to work because they decided it was a waste of time that could have been spent playing. I went out of my way to make sure this interrupted their playing (works great when they get older and get lazy in cleaning their bottoms well, just keep the punishment firm but positive. Also, I didn't let them alternate between pullups and big boy underwear.

Good luck!

Hi H.. I was feeling exactly like you about 3 months ago. I thought that my daughter was never going to be night time trained and that she would be in pull-ups forever. I was eager to ditch the pull-ups as well and just wanted my little girl to be like all the other little girls that were dry at night. I tried some strategies for a little bit but none of them worked to completely get her trained, however I do think each one helped her learn awareness a little bit. One of the strategies I tried was to have her wear panties but put the pull-up on over the panties. If she kept her panties dry for 3 nights in a row we would ditch the pull-up the next night. There were a few successful stretches but on the 4th or 5th night she would pee in her bed. I didn't get mad at her, I just said we would try again another time. Eventually, I just gave it a break and stopped worrying about it. But because of the strategies we tried for a while, IF she woke up dry on her own she would come tell me, show me her pull-up, and acted proud of herself. She also got into the routine of taking off her own pull-up in the morning and putting on panties. Eventually, she just stopped peeing on her own. She just did it and I couldn't believe it. My advice, try some strategies when you feel like it, but don't stress. She will get it when she is ready. Hang in there!

My sugestion is: RELAX! My six-year-old is still in, as we call them, "big girl night time underwear", and the pediatrician said not to worry about it, that every child develops at a different rate, and some children sleep so deeply at night that their body does not send a strong enough message to wake them during the night when they need to use the bathroom. Once I learned this, I felt better. So long as she is not yet at an age where she would be teased at a sleep over, I will not push too hard.

Your child conquered daytime potty training early, so she will surely be fine at night before long. My daughter does well in spurts and is proud of herself when she wakes up dry.

Just stick with the regular things - no liquids before bedtime, using the potty right before going to bed, maybe waking her during the night at a set time to try to go to the bathroom. And give lots of praise when she wakes up dry. So long as she is not having accidents during the day (which can inconvenience others as well as you!), then I would not worry about it.

Hello, The more YOU stress about this the harder it is going to be to help her to be able to wake up dry. My mom used to threaten me every night and I would be so scared to go to sleep, that I would stay awake until I couldn't stay awake anymore and then once I would relax, there it was. She could be so scared of disappointing you that she might be doing the same thing. I'm not saying that you are threatening her by any means, but I would just let it be. I am pretty sure that by the time she goes off to college she won't be wetting her bed anymore.
Good luck with your precious little girl.
K. K.

Same situation w/ my daughter. She's NEVER had a dry night. Pediatrician said that her body isn't ready - and it's not. It's not a choice, she's just unaware of the need to go when sleeping. Get some pull ups and ride it out!

Quick advice - my daughter is 3 too and we put her underwear on underneath her pullups at night. that way if she is dry in the morning you can re-use the pullup and save money. And I think having the underwear on her body makes her more aware that she's not just in a diaper.

I know how you feel. We tried to go without diapers one night, but it just didn't work. I had to just relax and remember that kids night train on their time... Good luck!
R.

I have b/g twins that turned 4 a few weeks ago. My daughter was day time trained shortly after turning 2. Her brother took another 6 months, but then was night time trained right before turning 3. He has only had 2 accidents. She on the other hand, is such a sound sleeper that she was waking up wet every night. Then slowly it turned to every other day, waking up dry, then 4 mornings in a row, a couple wet, etc. She knows she has 5 pull ups left in the basket and then she will be done. She has been dry for the past 2 weeks (one morning she woke up dry and then "forgot" to go potty and then peed in the pull up). We had tried everything, no water before bed, new panties, etc. Each child is different and their bodies mature at different rates. Hang in there and she will get it. At their age it truely is the one thing that the have "total control over". When she is ready she will do it!

One thing that worked for me is to put my son on the potty before I got to bed. So he usually goes to bed around 8, pees before he goes to bed, and then I go to bed around midnight. I'll gently pick him as he's sleeping and whisper, 'let's go to the potty and pee one more time', he's somewhat awake because I have to take off his pajama bottoms and put him on the potty (he sits for this one) but he keeps his eyes closed. He usually pees with no problems, then I pull up his pajama bottoms and put him back in bed and he rolls over and goes right back to sleep. This has definitely helped keep him dry til morning!