Night time training - a few questions

My DC is almost 4 years old. I know that my DC is just about ready to stop with the diaper. We make sure that DC goes to the toilet before bedtime and try not to have too much to drink before then, but how do I know that DC is ready or not?
By what age is "normal" to be trained at night?

And how does one do that training?

Gold Member Joined: Feb 13 2006 Posts: 1122 Location: uk

every child is different. is your childs diaper wet in the morning? how wet?
for example. my 5.5 yr ds old is still in pull ups at night because every morning its quite wet, whereas my 3.5 yr old ds is out of them cos I noticed that his were basically dry so I just took it off. bh he goes right through the night completely dry and occasionaly takes himself to the toilet at night bh.
I am planning on trying to take off my 5.5yr olds pull up cos iv had enough and think that theres an element of laziness going on.... so wel c what happens!

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

I'll tell you about my recent experience. It might help you. My DS, age 4, was still wearing a diaper at night and taking a bottle of water to bed and waking up with a saturated diaper. He was even getting sticky from it and I didn't have time to shower him every morning. I had tried training diapers that change color when wet and things like that, but it made no difference at all. I wasn;'t sure what to do because I didn't know for sure that he could be dry. He started asking DH how you stay dry all night. DH started taking him to the bathroom at about 11 pm each night and we found that he was dry until then but still woke up wet in the morning.

Then, on Shabbos afternoon he was tired so he took a nap (doesn't usually) and, naturally, he had no diaper on. He slept for no less than about 3 hours, and the bed was perfectly dry afterwards. So, we decided that night, he would go to bed without a diaper and he decided, with encouragement, not to take the bottle of water to bed either. We woke him up twice in the night and took him to the toilet. He was so nervous that he wouldn't sleep for several hours and kept getting out of bed to go to the bathroom. Eventually, I realized he was nervous and told him that the only reason we are doing this is because we know he can do it and reminded him what had happened in the afternoon. Then he felt reassured and went to sleep. On the first night, at about 3 in the morning, he did wet the bed and was a bit traumatized, but then he was dry from then until the morning. The next night, he didn't make at the 3 am wake-up and was dry through the night. Tonight is the third night, and I think we will drop the 3 am wake-up.

So, our experience was that two things helped: 1. wanting to do it, and 2. not wearing a diaper.

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

Some kids are not ready yet at that age even if they want to be. They might be deep sleepers, and/or have small bladders.

I think wake-ups are necessary for the first night or two, especially if the kid sometimes has a full diaper by morning. You can start with 2-3 wake-ups and decrease / extend the intervals as necessary. Kids who sleep deeply will be harder to rouse, but are also sometims more likely to wet the bed. Those with smaller bladders or those who drink right before bed - it can be very hard for sensitive kids to fall asleep thirsty - will probably have to woken up and taken to the bathroom for longer than just a coupke of nights, but will eventually learn to go by themselves at night. Expecting them not to is unfair (remember your last trimester? imagine if someone expected you not to go the whole night?)

It helps to set things up for the kids to be able to go on their own right away, even if you're still taking them: leave the bathroom light on all night, have toilet paper within reach, step-stools available if necessary, pjs that the kid can take off and put back on all by themselves (no snaps or sleepers), etc. One night they might just surprise you!

Also - though your post seems to indicate that you do - reassure your kid that you believe in him, but won't get upset AT ALL if he has an accident. Really don't get upset, even though you have to change the sheets in the middle of the night.

Get really good mattress protectors.

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

Last edited by kalsee on Mon, Feb 20 2012, 6:23 am; edited 2 times in total

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

Diamond Member Joined: Feb 15 2007 Posts: 3234

Diamond Member Joined: Jan 14 2011 Posts: 2726

I found that the children who toilet trained with fewer accidents also are ready for no diaper at night earlier. one child just had a really hard time with training, and had frequent accidents. this child could not wake up dry no matter what we tried, no drinking, waking up in middle of the night, etc. another child toilet trained early, had very few accidents, and stopped wearing a diaper for sleeping a few months after toilet training.