Potty Training at Night - Los Angeles, CA

With both my daughters we made them go potty right before bed and then we woke them up later in the night and put them on the potty. It may take a little while to figure out just the right time to do it--wait too long they've already peed, too early they won't go. It ended up being about 11:30 that worked. We had to do this for a couple of months, but then they started making it through the night on their own. My 3 1/2 year old still occasionally had an accident, but very few. Also, watch how much she is drinking before bed and don't let her have too much water.

No Pullups C., it gives her the security to wet in them. I have a 2 1/2 year old little girl living with me right now, her mom is in the Navy and she is deployed, at home they always put pullups on her at night, and every morning she would be wet, I have had her since August first, I don't use the pull ups, i put her in panties, and she has been dry every morning except once, a couple nights ago she had the runs in her sleep, and i heard her crying at 3:30 in the morning, I got up and she had already got herslef clean clothes and she was sitting on the toilet, I cleaned her up and tucked her back in, But she stays dry with out getting up to potty during the night, give a drink with dinner, and then only one drink between dinner and bed time, I have her go potty before I tuck her in,and she does fine. Her mom brought a big box of pull ups we haven't use even one of them. Hope this helps. J.

Hi C.,

The only suggestion I can give you, is to wake her up in the middle of the night to have her go potty. Most likely she won't be completely awake but it will help her from wetting during the night. I have a 3 1/2 yo daughter, and I'm very lucky that she is completely potty trained (day and night). After she got the hang of going during the day, I would put a pull up on her at night. Once she woke up dry for a few days in a row, I stopped putting pull ups on her at night. She has yet to wet herself and it's been about 4 months without an accident during the day or night. Good luck!!

L.

C.,

I would first cut out all liquids after dinner. If she insists on a drink let her have a few sips of water. Just make sure she gets plenty of liquids during the day to compensate. I did this with my son when he was first potty trained. He is now 3 1/2 and is completely potty trained even at night. I stopped using pullups once he had the hang of going potty during the day. I let him wet the bed a few times and he didn't like it and rarely does it now. It sounds like your daughter might have a betwetting issue rather than a potty training issue. If she is wetting herself in the middle of the night then I would say it is bedwetting. If she's just can't get out of bed quick enough in the am to go potty then it's more of a potty training issue. I would rush into my sons room in the am when he got up and tell him to go potty right away. She should not be wetting herself while she sleeps. I wouldn't push the issue because a lot of kids have a hard time staying dry at night. She will eventually get the hange of it. Good luck!

L.

It took us a while for my daughter too. I finally just let her wear pull ups until she was physically ready. Night time is so much different than day, especially if she's a heavy sleeper. For my daughter, it just clicked! I watched for dry pullups and once it started happening, we changed to panties and it was like magic! It was like her body needed to be READY.

This topic comes up a lot on Mamasource. From what I've read when potty training my kids, night time and day time potty training are different. Most kids are not night trained until the ages of 5-7. My daugher will be 6 in November, I haven't even given it a thought as she is a great sleeper - why wake her? My son is 3 and I'll keep him in pull ups at night until....

Just my .02.
M.

I have a 4 1/2 year old who still needs a pull-up at night. He doesn't wake up for anything, even when I get him out of bed to pee during the night. However, my 3 yr. old quit diapers cold turkey at age 2 and rarely has an accident. The 3 yr old is also is a very light sleeper and will get up during the night on his own to pee. The urologist told me not to worry about the 4 1/2 yr. old needing a pull-up. . . each kid is different and it's not unusual for some to take a while getting the hang of the night-time thing.