Nighttime Potty Training While Still in Crib

nighttime dryness is totally different from daytime dryness.

you cannot train or teach a child to be dry at night . they are sleeping.. it is a developmental thing they have to learn to wake up whenthey have to go potty.

so I would work on daytime dryness first.. get that undercontrol some kids will be dry at night as soon as they are trained but others will not.. my daughter is trained but wet every night... (she is 4) my son is not trained but he often wakes up dry..

I would not bother to night train, but I would put him in a regular bed. If he is day trained and he wakes up and needs to go to the potty, he needs to be able to do so. I never tried to "night train", waking them only makes you all more tired and does not train anything. When they are ready to wear undies at night you will know because they will wake up dry several nights or weeks in a row. Until than, just use pullups at night. But do not let people tell you he is too young. If he is showing signs of readiness than go for it. My oldest son trained at 18 months, and my youngest started at 24 month, but due to a hospitalization had to be postponed, he than finished training at 29 months when he was fully recovered and showing interest again.

Nightime training isn't about waking up at night to pee, it's about the bladder growing and maturing to the point that it doesn't need to be emptied at night. I really don't think a toddler who is 2 and a few months needs to be without a diaper at night if he still pees at night. Why would you even want to, as you said, if he even wake up want him to call you in the middle of the night, you have to get up, scoop him out of the crib and take him to the bathroom? Night training is not related to day training, where he learns to be aware of the feeling of needing to go. He should be sleeping deeply enough NOT to be aware of it. I would keep him diapered at night and not give it any thought unless he wakes up and does call you to go. When he's older, you can take off the side rail of the crib or wait til he's bed age, and keep a potty in his room so if he does have to go, he can do it himself.

He is very young to be potty trained at night. In fact most boys don't potty train during the day until between 3 and 4 yrs old. I'm not saying your son won't - every kid is different, but don't be surprised if it takes more than three days! Most kids his age have the mental understanding but have very short "notice" from their body that it is time to go. My daughter is 3 1/2 ad potty trained around 29 mos and still takes off in a dead sprint for the potty occasionally, with no time to spare. It just isn't a lot of time to wake up and make it to the potty, much less wait for Mom to get you out of a crib. But it's only 3 days so it can't hurt to try right? But stand by with some extra sheets! :) Good luck.

I don't think there is such a thing as "night time potty training". Your son is still very young and probably not physically capable of staying dry all night. Focus on daytime potty training. Put him in a diaper or pull-up at night. Most kids are not physically able to stay dry all night until the age of 4 or later. Waking up dry in the morning will come naturally when his body is ready.

From all I've read, it takes boys til age 7 approximately to sleep dry through the night. I work on potty training during the day, and ignore it at night completely. If my kid wants a pint of water at bedtime, I am not one to deny him, especially since he sweats that much. I use pull-ups. there is a device on onestepahead.com that alerts at the first time of moisture, but since my kid is 5, I am not so worried about using that, I'd rather he get a full night's sleep. I am inclined to worry about his health before the cost of diapers. Studies show that most parents try to night train too early and it just causes more headaches than it's worth.

It is perfectly normal, per my friend who is a pediatrician, for it to take up to between age 5-6 for children to be night trained. Like Mindy T. said, their body has to have the growth and maturity to be night trained. I'd worry about the day training for now. He's not even 3, you don't want to go limiting liquids and waking him up to pee. I can imagine that turning into a nightmare quick-wake a perfectly sleeping toddler to pee, who is then confused and begins crying and upset when you want him to go right back to sleep. I have been following my daughter's potty training lead since she was 17 months old and even now at 21 months as well as she does during the day I would never mess with her sleep!

Your son is too young to potty train, unless his body is showing obvious signs of being ready to train. Toddlers also do not train for both urine and feces at the same time because their bodies are not mature in both parts at the same time. And boys mature later than girls.

Do you have written information aboutthe 3 day potty training approach? Does it list for you the signs of maturity that indicates physical readiness to train? I've not read their literature but I have heard that it doesn't work until the toddler is older. Yes, a toddler can be trained in 3 days but not if his body is not ready for it.

The daughter of one of my friends trained in 3 days, without using this program, when she was 3. She had a little potty in the bathroom and her mother took her in with her when she used the toilet. She had books and toys there also. That is all her mother did. For a few weeks the child mostly played and whether or not she peed was not important. When it came time to go to daycare and needed to be potty trained her mother told her that it was now time to always use the potty as a big girl does. In 3 days she was consistently dry. It took awhile for her to be dry at night.

It is important to not make potty training a big deal. You can try it at 28 months but be willing to accept that it might be too early. And please don't expect your little one to stay dry at night too. Take it a step at a time. Too much pressure on both of you will create difficulties that could be long lasting.

I could have totally written this last Friday! My son is 28 months and still in his crib and we started the 3 day potty training on Friday. :) The first night, he peed the bed. The second night, he peed the bed. But nights 3 and 4, he has woken up completely dry. He is a restless sleeper, so I figured he would wet continuously until we moved him to the big boy bed, but nope. He wakes up and when he is ready to go he calls for me to come get him.

I firmly believe that in my case the all at once approach worked the best. When we didn't do it all at one time, he would hold it and pee and BM in the bed only. All I can say is hang in there. He may not be TOTALLY ready yet if he can't stay dry all night even with limiting liquids 2-3 hour before bed.

It worked beautifully for us. Act confident because I think that they can smell fear. :)

You've gotten some wise advice already...at 28 mos, don't expect him to be anywhere NEAR nighttime dry. You can either:

1. Use Pullups or diapers at night

or

2. Change sheets every day!

Most likely his bladder will not be able to hold it all night and I doubt he'll wake up when he has to pee through the night.

Yes, put him in a twin or a toddler bed first. With both of my kids I never woke them to potty in the middle of the night. Also, my kids were no where near ready to potty train till they started staying dry at night on their own (not waking to pee but holding it all night). I started with my son at around 2yrs old and it took him about 6 months to get it. He would do good for a week or so, then not want anything to do with it for a few weeks then go back at it again. He woke up in his Nan's house our first morning there for Christmas telling me he had to go pee. 3 days later I was out buying him undies cause I only had pull ups, diapers and his potty chair with me! Your son will get it when he is ready to get it, 3 days or 3 months. Just be patient and don't force him to sit on the potty if he doesn't want too.

Good luck
S.

We too are potty training our 29 mo old son- we cut off his fluids (or VERY limited if he truley needs a drink) 1 hr before bedtime- he is waking up dry in the morning for the last 2 days (been working on potty training for about 5 days) we put a diaper on at nap and bed time and explain to him we are doing this for bedtime. we out him on the toliet about 30 mins after he wakes up from nap or night b/c he needs some time to wake-up.

we aske hime about every 20 mins, but if hasn't tried w/in the last hr we tell him it is time to go and he is doing great (only 1 accident the last 2 days). We have a sticker chart for him and also using M&M's for his treat (just givinh him a few when he does go) .

when he go out we put on pull-ups and tell him they are his special big boy underwear since he are leaving- he has even used the potty (with us holding him on the toilet) at target on day 3, and at they gym last night :)

We took him to the store and let hime pick out his own underwear (reg kind, not the thick trainers) and let him run around the house in his shirt and underwear-we only put pants/shorts on when we leave)

We also tell him it is time to go potty right before bed

He is also in a twin bed, but we converted his crib to a toddler bed first (upgraded him to a twin since we are expecting our 3rd in about 4 months to give him time to adjust to his big boy bed and not feel he was loosing his bed and a new baby was getting it)
Hopes this helps and Best of Luck to you in your venture :)

Obviously you have to do what works for you and your kid. We did the 3 day potty training with my daughter at 29 months and it worked pretty well, although it go much harder when she had to go back to daycare after the three days. However, we did not even attempt the nap and betime part. We use pullups at nap time and overnights at nighttime (we don't call them diapers because we "threw away" all the diapers). In my case, she's still in the crib and I didn't feel it was reasonable to try it until she is able to get up and go when she needs to and I'm not ready to move her out of the crib yet. It's working for us. Do what works for you.

I read that until a child can pedal a trike, they cannot be expected to "hold it" in. If he's ready to train during the day, fine. However, nighttime is different. Granted, my kids were at the farther end of the spectrum as far as nighttime wetness (they were all at least 8), but if he's a heavy sleeper, he'll sleep right through the body's cues to wake to pee. Some kids can stay dry at night at 3 or 4, but come cannot. Their bodies will tell you when they are ready. Good luck!!

not dry at night till seven, really? holy cow don't tell my son that! first off we had him in a toddler bed around age two, and didn't start potty training till he was almost three. he wasn't ready. once he was, there were no headaches, a couple accidents, and it was done. no, "all" kids don't train for poo and pee separately. we never differentiated between #1, and #2 - if ya gotta go, great. no matter what it was. he did both at the same time. the thing is, all kids are different so don't let anyone tell you "they do this" or "they do that". there are no rules, but for us, the key was doing it when HE was ready. i never pushed nighttime pt because i was just so thrilled he was doing so well on daytimes, and ONE pullup a day was acceptable to me, financially! (lol!) in the end he was waking up dry pretty much every night, with no pressure, a couple months after his third birthday. once he went a week waking up dry, i switched to undies, which he by that time knew, we try to keep dry. he did great. and all i did, literally, was praise him like crazy when he'd wake up dry. i think there is a natural progression to these things, and when done on their own timeline they happen quite effortlessly. i'm not sure why you would be potty training your child if you don't feel they're ready for a "big boy" bed. fall is so far away! my advice would have been to wait till he was ready, but also, switch to the toddler bed first. it's not really logical to teach him to go potty, good boy, you did it all by yourself, etc, then lock him in a crib at night so he can't get out. seems to send mixed signals, to me. and i'm an adult.

All of my 8 kids were trained around 2 yrs. and 8 mo. and only one had problems staying dry at night and she was off and on with it. We found that to be a very good age to train them, they were in bed beds and could call us or get us if they didn't want to go alone. Maybe waiting until he's in the big bed and a bit older would save you a lot of work and stress especially if you are moving. Sometimes the move sets them back anyhow.
That's just my thinking but he may do fine.

I read somewhere that night training just follows day training by a few months. With my daughter, she was dry during naps immediately, and then, 3 months later, she trained during the night. She gets up to go pee maybe once a month. She just goes right before bath and then right before lights out.

And yes, as soon as she wakes up, I have her on the potty. I also bribed her....She really wanted to wear undies to bed, so I told her she had to go 5 nights without peeing in her cloth diaper and then she could wear undies to bed. It didn't take long. She was 23 months, btw. Studies have found a link between parent motivation and kids training (unless there are physical problems). So, kids are NEVER too young, if you ask me. Learning to use the potty is like learning to walk, they need practice and patience.

Potty training is a consciencious act that is initiated to the child and verbally talked about so that the child understands that this is something very important to learn because it is part of growing up like the other children that he may know, to learn of the advantages of wearing regular pants and not being a baby anymore, (any positive comments will help your child through his conscience to make the right decision about growing up ). Potty training needs to be consistant, if you do not show an interest, neither will they, unless they develop a rash.
Hints: if your child is on the potty and can't go, give him some juice or run the water from a bathtub or sink.
Little boys always like to play games. I know of a mother who threw some "donut-shaped cereal" in the toilet and asked her son to "sink the battleships!"
If your child needs to go and it is going to take sometime, I suggest that you read a book with him, go though some flash cards, or do something that will keep the child occupied and relaxed.
Night time: The first three hours of sleep is very important; however, somewhere between 2-1/2 hours - 3 hours get the child to the potty and give him a little warm milk, or drink of water, and more than likely he wil "go". Also, in the morning, at his first sound, jump out of bed, tell him that he is a very good boy and ask him to hold it for the his favorite TV show and get his drink to the potty chair which is set up before the TV. It is a little "tricky", but works very well to establish good potty habits...I never had any stress problems with any of my three children. I was just consistant. Good luck and have fun!

I didn't try to do nighttime with our daughter until after she had daytime down. It didn't even occur to me to try, though. I thought it would be too much all at once, but I it makes sense. She is in a bed, but she's not allowed to get out of it after lights out until morning, so now when she needs to go after that point, she'll yell for me. Usually it's a stalling tactic, but sometimes it's not. We just finished potty training her for daytime about a month ago (she was 30 months), and she's woken up dry the last few mornings starting with one night when we forgot to put a pull-up on her. I think she's ready to be done with them now. I'd say try it and if it seems to be a bit too much, wait on it. Night is a long time for them to have to hold it. Good luck!

If your telling him he is a big boy now and going to the potty like a big boy then it's time to also get him into a big boy bed not the baby crib just FYI when there is a change they most always revert backwards with potty traing you mentioned moving in the fall why not wait till then to get him trained now is good to if your wanting him to climb in and out of the crib for potty during the nite.It takes time and patience for potty training the 3 days are you serious it's going to take more than.Start with day time potty traing he has to get to know himself when he has to pee and poop.As for nite time if your not cutting off liquids having him pee before bed time and let him wear underwears and he still is waking up wet then I would suggest pullups or your going to have lots of stinky wet sheets and the mattress.For me with nite time I would wake up to check on them after they have mastered the pullups and they are in underwears and see if they peed or not wake them up fully but ask if they needed to potty sometimes yes and they went or no and it was held till morning I have had my share of accidents my daughter is 3 and on occasion wets the bed she knows it because she'll get up and change out of all her clothes.

My son wasn't waking up dry either. We did the 3 day method and he woke up dry from then on out. You just have to get him on a schedule and be consistent. Never forget to take him potty before bed. I made that mistake and he wet himself. I think if you just teach him to yell for you when he has to go you should still be able to keep him in his crib. My son is where he goes right before bed, wakes up dry and has held it all night. I think at that age they're physically able to hold it for that length of time. Good luck!