Overnight Potty Training - Morrisville,PA

You can try one of the remote nighttime alarms. In this case, you'd be using the alarm to find out what her peeing patterns are, not to train her.

In my son's case, the alarm let us know that he was peeing 3-4 times per night. With this information, it was clear we could choose a good night's sleep or a dry bed, but not both. There was no contest: sleep.

If the alarm had revealed he was staying dry all night and wetting the bed first thing in the morning, we would have tried waking him up 15 minutes earlier and carry him directly to the bathroom.

I think I would give it a shot without a diaper but just make sure the mattress is protected and if she wets then ask her to help you clean it up.

If you want to try undies at night, you can do what we did. We bought large incontinence pads and made up the bed with 3 layers: pad and fitted sheet, pad and fitted sheet, pad and fitted sheet. That way if she wets the bed at night you can strip a layer and have a dry clean bed again (assuming she does not have the comforter between her legs too). But until her diapers are dry at night she will not be ready. My daughters were dry at night before they managed going in the potty during the day. I have no experience with the padded underwear and plastic overpants. We just used diapers, not even pull ups since they were much more expensive than diapers. Good luck, getting rid of diapers is such a nice milestone. We carried a little potty in the car and the girls would use it in the middle of the back bench on a towel in case of emergency.
You could also put a potty in her room for the nights so that she does not have to go far.

My pediatrician told me you can't nighttime potty train. He said it's purely biological and physical. Their body's stop going, when they can go that long without. My two year old is nighttime trained (lucky, I know. However, we are having a heck of a time daytime training!!) and we did nothing to try. We just noticed his diapers were dry in the morning. His body was simply ready to hold it that long.

I agree with Bug that it does just happen when they're developmentally ready, but if you think she is and maybe not motivated to get out of bed then why not just try no diapers for a few nights and see what happens? Put on a waterproof mattress cover. I also bought a few absorbent pads (sold in like the crib bedding section) which I used to put down around the middle area above the sheet so that if he wet the bed there was a good chance I could just remove those and he could keep sleeping without having to change the sheets. Maybe she'll surprise you and not go without the diaper on or get the hang of it quickly. But if not I wouldn't scold her.

I would wait to make any changes until she wakes up dry, while wearing a diaper, for several nights in a row.

I didn't take away the overnight diapers/pull-ups until my daughter woke up dry several nights in a row. She continued to occasionally, less and less frequently, wet the bed until she turned nine. This is not unusual. I don't think at 4 she is consciously "deciding" to go in her diaper while she's sleeping or just waking up. Limiting fluids in the evenings has NOT been shown to help. Some doctors even suggest increasing fluids, so there is no doubt that they can feel the need to go.

We cut out drinks about an hour or so before bed time. Then made sure they went before they were put in bed. My 5 yr old only took about 1 wk to get it, however it took our 4 yr old alot longer. We would get up in the middle of the night to take them, when they would cry out (we did not ever wake them). We just used pull ups. When we thought they were ready (staying dry at night) then we switched to underwear, but kept matress protectors on their bed till we knew they wouldn't have accidents.

I LOVED the Potty Patty underwear for my daughter!!!! You can get them on Amazon or Ebay (new of course) The outside lining of them kept things dry but SHE knew she was wet. In the very beginning of potty training we'd wear them out of the house. Then just at nap time and bed time. In the middle of the night when she didn't get up in time to make it to the potty I didn't have to change the bed! I always put her on the potty just in case so then I'd change her underwear and PJs if needed (many times I didn't need to change her PJs) and right back to bed. This was the BEST thing for her to wear to learn to know when she had to go. Good luck!!

Hi, J.:

Does she wear little girl pants during the day?
If she does, let her wear them at night and see
what happens.

The specialist say to don't give children anything t
drink after 6 p.m. so they won't have an accident during the
night.

If she doesn't have a problem with accidents then she can drink
to a later time.

Just a thought.
D.

It sounds like you're doing everything right. It sounds like you understand that her bladder to hold urine for many hours over night will be ready when it's ready. No one will know if your daughter is being "lazy" by not getting up or if it's all truly her bladder, except her and maybe you.

I 100% agree with NOT waking a child in the middle of the night to go to the toilet. That is nonsense. If the bladder isn't ready, it isn't ready.

One thing to remember though is that diapers are meant to pull urine away from the body and to help keep a baby from feeling all wet and uncomfortable. I think you need to do away with the diapers. I think your next step is to switch to Pull Ups, at least for a while, to see if it is partly her. A Pull Up is meant for the child to feel the wetness, so they can feel that sensation and know to get up and go to the bathroom, to help with the transition.

I would try Pull Ups for at least a month and see what happens. It may not be the miracle cure but she will start feeling when she's wet more than with a diaper. Training pants are more mess and work, but costs less. If you can afford Pull Ups then go with those. If not, then try the training pants. You'll know better if she's sleeping through because she's used to the diaper wetness she's had from birth or not.

Also try offering an incentive to get one Skittle or one M&M if she wakes up dry. Do not punish if she's wet. Hopefully soon you'll see her less wet as her bladder strengthens and a dry morning here and there. Once you see her dry for at least 2 weeks straight take away the Pull Ups and try regular panties. Once she's dry for a straight month don't buy any more Pull Ups. She may have an accident once in a while after that but she'll soon be fine.

Just remember, she won't be wetting the bed in college, lol!

K. B
mom to 5 including triplets

*I wanted to add, if she's still taking naps, focus on nap time first as that's just an hour or two of time. Don't worry about night time, except do put the Pull Ups on her of course. She should start staying dry during nap before night time since it's a much shorter period of time.

My son used underjams until he was about 4 1/2 and then he refused to use them and I tried to put him in thick underwear. He refused plastic pants. We put a pad under him but he hated that and would often remove it. He just turned 5 and sometimes he still wets his underwear (I think only slightly because the sheets aren't wet anymore) and he changes himself when this happens. I only know because he comes out of his room in different pjs and underpants than he went to bed in. For my daughter at that age, we put a small potty in her room that she could use and a night light. She didn't like walking out into the hall into the big bathroom in the middle of the night. My son wouldn't use his and the few times he did his aim was so bad we wished he hadn't. Honestly, I would take the diapers at this point now, because he wakes at 530 to go to the bathroom and can't fall back a sleep. He then wakes everyone else up and is grumpy because he didn't get enough sleeping. So be careful what you wish for, it will happen soon enough.

She needs more to drink so she can feel the urge to go and may start waking up during the night.

But in reality it won't matter, her bladder is tiny, her muscles don't clench when she falls asleep, so no matter what you do right now she is going to wet. When she is able to wake up week after week dry and has no accidents then move to panties.