A "Potty" question....regarding Sleeping Through the Night

Updated on June 12, 2007
M.R. asks from Pierson, FL
9 answers

My daughter has been potty trained for well over a year now. She has just been wearing pull-ups through the night. It wasn't until recently that I actually realized how long she had been potty trained and STILL pees while sleeping. My husband and I thought it was high time to get rid of the pull-ups for good. We have tried on several occassions to let her sleep in panties, and the nights that we get up in shifts and make her go to the bathroom, she does fine. That is exhausting for both of us, though. But on nights that we don't wake her up to go, it never fails, she wets the bed. Are we just going to have to keep getting her up in the middle of the night until she gets the idea???

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J.C.

answers from Daytona Beach on

I have the same question and problem...my girl will be 4 yrs old in sept and still wears a pull up at night...she does fine(no accidents at nap time daily) but we can't seem to shake the night time thing.... I think it is a half asleep and I'd rather not get up thing with mine...she wakes up on her own, I hear her on the monitor in the night around the same times that she always woke for feedings as a baby, I hear her move around, but not get up...if I go to her she will get up and go potty, if i don't we wet the pull up or wet the bed! I am trying to be patient and not push it for fear of going backwards...if you get any good advice let me ____@____.com..i'd love some help too! other than that I will just wait and see.....thanks

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K.G.

answers from Las Vegas on

M.,

Though I've haven't had to worry about this with either of my kids yet, I would think that waking your daughter up in the middle of the night wouldn't be good for her sleep cycle. Everything I've read on the potty training issues say that it will take time for their bladder size to catch up with the rest of them or for their brains to trigger the "gotta go" response enough to wake them up. The sleeping in shifts thing is tough on both you and your husband from the sound of it. I'd wait it out a little longer and talk to your pediatrician about when to expect her to sleep dry through the night. Good luck.

KarynG, mom to Jamie(12) and Brady(2)

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D.H.

answers from Orlando on

I had the same issue when my daughter was young I let her stay asleep in her wet bed for one night and she never wet the bed again

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A.S.

answers from Melbourne on

If you dont give her anything to drink after 6p.m. and make sure she goes right before bed she should be o.k Also make sure you get up early to have her go again.
Oh yeah one more tip. Leave the bathroom light on in case she gets up to go in the night.

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K.W.

answers from Orlando on

I have a 6 and 4 year old girls! And we still have to wake them up when we go to bed at 11! Some nights we forget and they are still dry in the morning. Yahoo!
Our 4 year old is actually better about getting up in the middle night and going (bathroom is right outside their door). But our 6 year old has always been a really really deep sleeper. And if we have a busy day swimming and park playing, we know we have to remember to wake them up to go. ((We bought those matts for the bed, so that we don't ruin the mattresses.)) But the doctor said they will grow out of it (mainly my 6 year old -- still waiting -- but she has gotten a lot better). We don't make a big deal about it, and they are old enough they change themselves and either find another bed to sleep in our fix the bed to sleep in. Around Christmas or any exciting time (doesn't have to be a negative time), our 6 year old has increased accidents. I would say at least two times a month we have an accident. Just waking her up is what I would say. They do grow out of it. It has gotten better with my 6 year old, and my 4 year old rarely has an accident. We tried to limit liquids before bed and so forth -- but it is tough when they are thirsty. And to have them go potty before bed and then 10 minutes later we ask. Of course, they love delaying bed, so they both get up to try.
My husband won't admit it comes from his side of the family:)
Our 6 year old said she is soo comfortable sometimes she just doesn't want to get out bed. But then she is realizing OOPS - she'll have to get up to dry herself anyway and that's a bigger production. We stopped buying the pull-ups after 4 1/2 because that was making even more accidents since they didn't have to get up and change.
Some kids just have bladders that are a little small yet - -or they sleep deeply. Any kind of negative connotation that you put on it --will make it worse. Your daughter is very little, so the pull-ups might still be needed.
She might be too little to change herself in the middle of the night -- so that won't help you. Remembering when YOU go to bed to have her potty is probably the best way. A habit may form where eventually in 6 months or so, it will work.
But don't give up or make her feel bad. It is just the way some kids develop.
p.s. our 6 year old has been fully potty trained since she was 3 and our 4 year old was so early -- fully potty trained since she was 2 -- the second one usually picks up everything more quickly

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R.C.

answers from Port St. Lucie on

don't give her ANYTHING to drink 2 hours before bed and have her go potty right before she lays down..

reward her in the morning with a big girl star on her calender chart:)

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J.S.

answers from Orlando on

Try cutting out any liquids atleast 2 hours before bed time and make her go potty right before bed, this has worked great for us. It never fails if we let our son have a drink right before bed, he wets everytime, if not he wakes up dry.
Good Luck!!

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L.W.

answers from Orlando on

I posted a similar inquiry last fall regarding my 7 year old. I got many recommendations, but most of them pointed me to using a bed wetting alarm. Since they're in the $100 range, I thought I'd post a request on www.freecycle.org to see if someone had one they'd be willing to give away. Thankfully, I got it for free and within a month, my daughter was dry for the night. I then freecycled it to someone else.

While we were doing the training, we restricted her fluid intake after dinnertime. We also woke her up to go potty when we were going to bed (11pm or so). There were several accident nights, and I did a lot of laundry those 2-3 weeks, but she was old enough to strip the bed and help. I never yelled at her for the accidents. Just tried to encourage her that she'd do better the next night. When she had a dry night, we put a smiley face on the calendar and when she had 5 smileys in a row, I took her to the dollar store to pick out a prize. The prizes tapered off after 2-3 months.

Good luck!

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