My Toddlers Drink About a Gallon a Night!

My 4 year old always likes to have a drink before bed, she has been fully potty trained since she 3, (she turns 5 in Nov). I let her wet her bed 1st off.. she didn't like that at all. (I have a rubber thing protecting the mattress) But I just put my foot down and say no.. if you know they have had enough to drink through out the day.. and are not in danger of dehydration, than you have nothing to worry about. And with the neighbors, well I am sorry your kids are more important than them. So just let them have one drink before bed (like 1 hour prior) and see if that works. My daughter now only takes 2 sips of her drink before bed and is all set. :) If I can do it so can you.. be persistant.. and don't give in. :)

L.

Hi, J.!
This is a tough one alright! My boys are also a year apart and when they were younger I had the same problem. I was sooo tired of changing them both 2 or 3 times in the night. It got to a point that we kept a cooler at the side of the bed with 3 6 oz. bottles for each boy at night so we didn't have to keep making trips back and forth to the kitchen to keep grabbing them out of the fridge. My husband and I, on the advice of one of my closest friends was to have a bottle tossing ceremony. We prepped the boys for about a week, letting them know that next Tuesday was gonna be Big Boy Day and we were gonna throw a party so the big boys can throw all their bottles in the garbage. It was hysterical. We danced and sang and had baloons and the whole bit, complete with cupcakes. We put the garbage can in the middle of the kitchen and pranced around it like a bunch of fools and one by one the boys threw their bottles into the garbage. Yay! Hooray! No more bas, only big kids cups for big boys!!!

Don't get me wrong, they cried the first and second night. They whined for a few more, but they knew the bottles were gone and weren't coming back. I think by day 5 they were falling asleep without asking for a bottle. My daughter, the 4th child, is 2 years old and she was really really close to giving up her night bas but when I gave birth to baby #5 she decided to regress. My problem is that I'm not ready to deal with her fussing just yet. I'm currently nursing the little one at least 2x at night. It's only the 1 bottle when the 2 yr old goes to bed. I'm sure she will wean easily but sleep is a precious commodity for me right now and I'll allow her this battle in the meantime. LOL

For most children the next big step is never an easy one whether its potty training, bottle weaning or accepting a new brother or sister into their lives. Hopefully we can make it less traumatic for them, maybe even fun. As for your neighbors, if you are that concerned, perhaps as the transition is going on maybe you could drop them a thank you note or a basket of muffins for their patience? It's very considerate of you to think of them, but I'm sure they understand.

Best of luck!

Hello J., Mabeye have a talk with the neighbors downstairs and let them know you appologize when they whine but let them know you need to break them of their habit. Try putting the kids to bed an hour earlier so mabeye the whinning wont bother the neighbors so much. Just dont give them anything to drink at night. If you have a baby, thats understandable. The toddlers dont need it. You'll save $ on diapers too. Its tuff and will probably take at least a weekmmabeye two. Try to stick with it. I just broke our 19 month from sleeping with us. We are a single home and the neighbors on the one side heard her. LOUD!!! It took 2 1/2 weeks but it happened.
Take care, K.

the crying can be hard but you need to stand firm on them not getting drinks after bedtime..plus once they learn they will not be getting that they & you will sleep better ie. no diaper changing in the middle of the nite..if you feel bad bout them whining explain to your neigbhors why they should understand if they have kids & they may haave some helpful hints

Hi J.! I'm in the same boat! My 3 year old daughter drinks fluids like there's no tomorrow - it makes it really hard to potty train her (yes, she's still not completely potty trained) when she urinates so much because she drinks so much fluids!! I'm slowly trying to ween her off of the fluids - if I give her any, its only 1/2 cup before bed....that's even more than what I want to give her!!

Hi J. my hubby and i had the same problem. We finally got to the point that we just told our son you can have one drink before you go to bed and thats it. Its hard to stick to it but within a week he was broke of the habit. Now that he is 7 he knows one drink before bed its enought. Lucky for us he has only had about 4 accidents since then. Keep working on it and good luck.

S.

I don't know if you tried this, but I started only filling my son's cup 1/3 full before bed. That way he gets a bit of a drink but not a full cup. If they want more during the night only give them 1/3 cup. That way you may not have to change so many diapers?

i hear ya on the whole feel bad about the neighbors thing. i have a three year old who tries to pull this also. only thing ya have to come to grips with is that they are stallin goin to bed. i'll tell ya i give my girl a couple sips and then that's it! plain and simple! she whines for a little bit; plus also comes up with a hundred different things that she "needs" before bed from a certain blanket or a stuffed animal, what have you. point being, your neighbors know that you have children, if they have a problem, then it is their's. ya have to establish bedtime to them ( yor children). i hate to say it but i have had no problem with my child, since she has potty trained, wetting the bed. and she was absolute terror to get potty trained.
i know it sounds harsh but stick to your guns and be the parent, don't let them take control!

Set a time limit. My 4yr old is not allowed anything to drink after 7:30 pm. I cut her off an hour before bedtime and I make sure she goes to the bathroom before she get's into bed. You just have to be firm, Even when they cry.

J., how much do they drink during the day and how often do they run to the bathroom?

As a wife of a dentist, I am well aware of just the risk you are posing their dental health. A suggestion, is to just give them water, tell them they can have it or nothing at all (yea easier to tell you that then do it) they are old enough to bargain with as well, leverage something they really like (ie sponge bob story at night, or 10 minutes extra tv time) and try different cups with sippers that are impossible to get drink out of.. what I am talking about is the take and toss cups from first years, their take and toss sippy cups are rediculously hard to get liquid out of, you see where I am going with this. When they whine, ignore them, I know, it is hard and the guilt kicks in when they cry mamaaaaaaaa but stick to your guns. Kids are smarter than most adults, and know whining gets people to respond, start a conversation with the one who is not whining, or pick up a book and start reading and enjoying iy. When they want to know what you are doing bargain with them. Good luck!

Hi J.. I really don't see any solid workable advice here. The warning about the dental damage was A-1 though. I want to point out several things I noticed from your request and the suggestions. I always sound like a snob but I'm just being blunt and I don't know anything. A problem here isn't the habbit but that it's interupting there sleep. At that age they need 12 hours a night plus at least a cat nap (5-20 minutes)in the day. The juice might be perpetuating the problem too. During the night the body cleanses and detoxifies. I doubt the nieghbors are bothered if your walls are solid. Something that works wonders for nightime potty breaks is to take a week to wake them up three hours after they go to bed (unless they are in REM sleep stage) for thier pee break. Give them a bit of water then and that should start them on an inner alarm for potty time. Of course you can't mess up the timing or it won't be an alarm - just someone telling them when to go potty and that's sensless and irritating. As with adults however, if they consume fluids before or during sleep they will always need to eliminate. This seems like a big problem but these suggestions even mine seem to only touch on the problem. Well, maybe it will be enough. By the way how is potty trianing going during the day?