Night Time Potty Trained... What Age?

I had my daughter night time potty trained by 3 1/2. I used the pull-ups but she was still waking up wet. So, I bribed her. I know its awful but it worked. I went to the dollar store got a bunch of stuff that she would like and put it in a princess shoe box in my closet. I told her that if she was able to stay dry all night, wake up go potty on her own and come get me then she would get a prize. It worked about 95% of the time. Good luck!

E.,
This is a very sensitive subject for me. I was a bedwetter until I was 18 years old! My mother was well into her 20's as was my grandmother. My son is 9 and is still wet probably 99% of the time. Here is the response I have given so many other moms. I am not saying this will be your son at all, just giving you our experiences.

"I don't really have any help for you other than to let you know that you are not alone. My son has been a bedwetter since day one, and can tell you that with him the only thing anyone wants to do is give him one of those alarms you wear on your underwear. I had one as a child and my problem got worse so I do not reccomend them at all.

Anyway, bedwetting can be caused by numerous things. Not enough of the hormone that "shuts down" urine production at night, too small of a bladder, an over-active bladder, and on and on. Do understand though that typical bedwetting is not considered a problem until children are about 8 years old (and even then, NOT a big deal until AFTER puberty)!

The urologist we saw said to cut way back on caffine, chocolate, carbonation, and citrus...cut out liquids after 4pm and only small amounts with dinner...make sure he uses the bathroom EVERY 2 hours and sits/stands for at least 2 minutes every time (to make sure the bladder is completly empty), and most importantly that the problem would not change if the child did not think it was a problem. My son is also 9 and wets the bed nearly every night. I have a waterproof protector on his bed and I wash sheets daily (as goodnights are WAY TOO expensive to use every night). My son does not feel his bedwetting is a problem so he is not ready to make an effort to change. So as much as I push, he will not use the restroom every 2 hours, he will not stay in there for 2 minutes, he sneaks drinks well into the evening...so I have stopped fighting. I figure as long as nothing is medically wrong (and we have had many tests), and he is OK with it...eventually he will decide that this is not what big boys do. Until then, I have choosen not to fight this battle.

Sorry I'm not much help. Just wanted to let you know what our experiences have been. Hope you get some answers."

Anyway, hope that helps. Just don't expect too much from him too young. My daughter is 7 and has been dry 99% of the time since she was probably 3 or 4. I guess what I am saying is that it is different for everyone.

I open to advice, too. My 5+ year old still has accidents. We limit water before bed, she has tried the Hylands Bedwetting tablets, and we use Pull ups just in case. Our best nights are when she is able to go before bed.

It seems to help, but we still have accidents. Ironically, she seems rested when she has an accident... so maybe she is doing this when she is sleeping too deep to get out of bed.

For a while I thought she wasn't having accidents, but it turned out she was changing into a fresh pull up. I could tell when she put on panties. She had me going a bit with the pull ups.

I was thinking of trying the Happy Heinies training pant. She potty trained early becuase I was using cloth diapers, but I got lazy on the "night times" pull ups.

I have a couple of friends whose sons still wet at night and have to wear diapers. Yes they limit drinks, caffeine, etc -- all the recommendations. It has nothing to do with "training". Both of them really really hate that they have to wear diapers (they're almost 6). I mean, if you're asleep you're asleep. I'm not sure what training you can do when they're so young. It's a developmental milestone that has more to do with physical maturity and some kids take longer than others. From what I understand from my friends, Drs do not consider it an issue until after 6. I'm not really sure what they do then.

We waited until my son had over one month straight of dry diapers before daring to go diaperless. If your son is at 35%, it sounds like he's getting there and will eventually sleep without a diaper. We waited a while simply because I didn't want to be changing sheets in the middle of the night.

My oldest son, now 6, was a nightmare to potty train. He was 3 1/2 before he was even in underwear during the day. He didn't go to bed in underwear until after his 4th birthday. He still had accidents once or twice a week for the longest time. He's in kindergarten now and has maybe one a month. Usually it's when it's been a very active day and he's overly tired.

My younger son, turned 3 in December, decided one day in January that he wanted to go potty (this was after months of soaking his diapers all night and day). After a week of keeping pull-ups dry, I put him in underwear during the day and at night. He's had 2 night time accidents since he started wearing underwear.

I've never limited their drinks before bed. I figure if your thirsty, your thirsty. I've just made them go potty right before bed. My niece wet the bed until she was almost 12. Each kid is different. I don't think there really is a "right" age for any thing.

My oldest son slept in pull-ups until he was 8 at least; he might have been 9 even. At any rate, it didn’t matter what we did, he would wake up with a saturated diaper or pull-up; and when I say saturated, those things must have weighed 5 lbs. or more. His younger brother (by 3 years) on the other had, was out of pull-ups sooner and had very few problems potty-training. It really does depend on genetics, and the kids; it was nothing my son did on purpose.

My son was night potty trained before 3-1/2 yrs. One night I forgot the pull-up and he didn't wet himself! After that I stopped using them. I was Really shocked! The first month or two he had accidents maybe once or twice a week at most. He is also a HEAVY sleeper. I thought he would never be able to hold it at night. Nothing wakes that child up! Now if he really has to go he will cry in his sleep and I know that means he needs help walking to the potty. But it is very rare that he will cry to go potty. I also limit liquids one hour before he goes to bed and I also make him go potty right before he gets into his bed. I do recomend a plastic cover for your son's bed!

Well, every child is different, but my 10 year old still has accidents. My 8 year old stopped wetting the bed when he was potty trained at 3. So, I would try going without a diaper one night and try it, but if it doesn't happen, don't be suprised. But do explain to him that we don't potty on our bed. I don't think my older son ever understood that, until his brother was potty trained.

When we potty trained our oldest we went cold turkey - day, night, naps. He had 2 accidents ever that I can remember and one was when he was REALLY sick. We never restricted liquids or anything like that. A matter of a fact he almost always drinks a glass of water before bed, but we just make sure that he goes potty before he goes to bed. We do still keep a monitor in his room because he will NOT comeout of his room at night for some reason, but he will call for mommy if he needs to go potty. He typically sleeps through the night unless he is sick or has a nightmare but we haven't had the night time issues. Do you put him in Pull-Ups at night or underpants?

First off, keep in mind every child is different.

My son, age 8, still wets his bed at night even with restrictions on water, going potty before bed, etc. Thank you God for pull-ups in his size. He was hard to potty train as a toddler too but has always slept like a rock at night. My brother, father-in-law, etc all wet their beds until about age 10-11.

On the flip side, my daughter, age 4, wakes up dry 95% of the time. She is a light sleeper but never gets up in the middle of the night to potty. If she does, she calls for me. She does sleep in a pull up though..every time I plan on not using one, she will wake up wet in the morning.

My husband is more frustrated over it than anything but bedwetting is a genetic thing and my son really can't help it right now. My son is just a very deep sleeper.

J. S.

Neither of my sons were potty trained at all until they were over 3. My first was 3 years and 4 months; my youngest was 3 years and 2 months. They both day and night trained all at once and trained very quickly. I think it's because they were ready. I was ready much sooner than they were. ;-) My youngest is almost 4 now, and he very rarely has accidents, but oddly enough his accidents are usually during the day. As the previous poster mentioned, though, it's important to remember that every child is different.

Well, feel good that your son is potty trained during the day at this point! My son turned 3 last July and we still do pull ups at night! He is also a very deep sleeper and doesn't wake up to storms either! I am just not willing to get up with him a few times a night to go to the bathroom at this point! Sounds like you guys are doing great! Do what works for you!!!

Every child is different! It is important that you don't pressure them before they are ready. My son was almost 3 when he was potty trained. He did it all at once: dry during the day and night within a week of each other.

My daughter is 7 and was just dry at night starting 3 months ago. She has had very few issues since then. Her night dryness was NOT a choice. She wanted to be dry but couldn't. She wasn't even completely dry during the day until she was 6. After meeting with a Urologist (believe me we tried EVERYTHING before that), we found that she actually had control issues. She controlled her BMs too much! It caused her to be impacted, which put pressure on her bladder. As a result, she ALWAYS felt like she needed to go to the bathroom so she had no way of telling a real signal from a little fullness. We never suspected because she had daily BMs but she would only release a little. The nighttime wetness was a result of her inability to empty her bladder, again because of the impaction. It has been a long road but we had to keep encouraging her and reminding her that it wasn't her fault. More pressure to be "dry" would only make it worse. The Urologist explained that they must get control of their bowels before they can fully train and a LOT of kids put too much pressure on themselves and end up causing this problem. I never tried to get her to potty train but she was insistent at 2 that she wanted to start. Then the roller coaster began!

Bottom line is DON'T WORRY AND DON'T PRESSURE THEM before they are ready. I wouldn't get worried about nighttime wetness until THEY start saying something. On the contrary, I would keep encouraging him and let him know that it is perfectly NORMAL for kids up to 8 to still be wet at night. Thus the reason for "Overnights". Good luck