How to Teach My Son to Go Potty During the Hight?

Just wait this one out, and get rid of the pull-ups when he has woken up dry for a week or two. If he could wake up and use the bathroom, he probably would. He just can't yet. Nighttime dryness is not the same as being day potty-trained.

I just took my sons off - explained to him if he needed to go he had to get up. I also put a plastic bed protector under his sheet, and if he had an accident i just washed the sheet.

funnily enough he never did!, he was 2.5 dry in the day and 3 in the night.

I think you need to give your son some more time.

When an adult's bladder is full at night, a signal goes from the bladder to the brain and we are awakened with the need to go. For children, this signaling mechanism comes with age. They cannot be "trained" until their body develops this mechanism. Give him some more time. Watch to see if (1) his diaper is dry most mornings and, (2) you hear him get up to pee during the night. Most pediatricians do not consider night wetting an issue until after the age of five or six.

You can't train his body to give him the signals he needs. That develops over time as his bladder and nervous system mature, and for boys that often takes longer than for girls. If you just take off the diaper, you'll have lots of wet sheets to deal with, and your son could become anxious about training. This slows the process down further.

You'll all be happier in the end if you wait until he has dry diapers in the morning. Could be soon, or another year or two.

If you will scroll back through just the last 36 hours of postings, there were several ladies who have asked similar type questions. Generally speaking, I don't think you can "teach" them to do anything when they are asleep. Their body has to mature enough to wake them up before you can teach them to GET up to go use the potty during the night. Often, that doesn't happen until around the same time as they develop the ability to hold it all night long (bladder growth comes with age too). So there isn't a lot of getting up during the night going on either way, lol.

Try to be patient. If he is fine putting on pull-ups for bedtime, why make it an issue?

Please read some of the previous posts and responses... you will see (from responses and the number of posts about this same issue) that it is VERY common, especially with boys.

Don't rush it, and don't make him feel bad if he wets during the night. He will fully grow out of it eventually. Mine finally did (at 9 yrs old). :))

If you don't want to go the pull up route, then definitely invest in a waterproof mattress pad for his bed, and just before YOU go to bed for the night, get him up and take him to the bathroom and have him use the potty. I had to do this with our son for a while... and they practically sleep right through the whole thing... like sleepwalkers, lol. He never even remembered doing this.

p.s.
Remember that every child is different. I read some of the later posts with moms saying their kids were night trained at 3 yrs old. Great for them! My daughter was too... she's had a GRAND TOTAL of 3, count 'em THREE night time accidents since she night trained at 2 1/2 yrs old... not the case with our son. We didn't do anything differently with them. My son's body is just different than our daughters. He sleeps more deeply and is harder to wake than she is, too. They are just different. And you will hear all sorts of ranges of what is normal. Obviously for your son, his body isn't ready yet.

It's almost impossible to "train" a child to get up at night. You basically have to wait for them to do it. You can start though by checking for a dry diaper in the morning and teaching him to get up and go to the potty right away in the morning, if you haven't already.
After that switch him to a diaper that makes him feel wet. If he wakes up wet at night it might encourage him to get up and go potty during the night.
Outside of that though it's just a waiting game. He needs to be physically mature enough to know he needs to wake up and go and, as another poster said, bed wetting isn't generally considered a problem until school age.
Good luck!

I think the most important thing here is to consider his age. Three years is a very early age for a boy to be potty trained at all. Chances are, he will regress back to pull-ups long before he'll ever be 'nighttime trained'. If there is anything at all that you could be doing to train him for the nighttime, it is to actually get him out of bed in the middle of the night and set him on the potty, then bring him back to bed (of course this requires you to actually get up in the middle of the night which is not pleasant for most). Anyhow, this teaches 'body memory' and is a subliminal trick I used with my kids. I wouldn't expect him to be potty trained 'round the clock fully until he is 7 years old so just keep on using those pull-ups. Pull-ups are there for a reason so go ahead and keep using them.

Night-time bladder control and night-time dryness... DOES NOT occur until even 7 years old.
This is normal.
This is biological.
This is per our Pediatrician and my daughter's school Teachers as well.

Your son is too young for those expectations. It will only make him feel bad.
Keep expectations age appropriate.

Daytime potty ability... is NOT the same as night-time bladder control. These are apples and oranges. 2 entirely different things and time-lines.
And dryness during naps... also takes longer to attain.

all the best
Susan

My son is 4 and sleeps in pullups during the night. I have had luck once or twice to check on him since he sleeps bad and fall off the bed at times, to just wake him up and he tells me he has to go and goes. I think if I practiced waking him up in the night to go it might work, but I don't have the guts yet to take a chance on only undies at night.

I read that night training comes 5 months after day training. My daughter night trained at 23 months. She asked to wear undies to bed, and I told her that she had to wake dry 5 times. Can you motivate him with something special?

It isn't unusual for for children to take longer to be potty trained at night. My son is almost 4 and a half still only stays dry over night about 50% of the time. Try not letting him drink ANYTHING past 7:30 and make him use the toilet right before you put him to bed. I would get the night time pull ups just in case and if he's dry when he wakes up, give him a little reward, maybe one of those dollar match box cars or something and if it's dry, you can reuse the pull up. Good luck

I wish I knew, my 3yr old son, sleeps without a diaper ,and uses a diaper during the day. He is a little backwards. Good luck

Is your son asking to go without a diaper at night? If not, then he is not ready. Nighttime dryness is a milestone. A child needs to be ready and WANT to!
For parents that restrict drinks hours before going to sleep or wake their child up when they (the parent) goes to bed, or take diapers away and make your child sleep in his own urine all night, to me, this is CRUEL and UNUSUAL PUNISHMENT. How would you like someone to wake you during your REM sleep? How would you like someone telling you you can't have a drink. This is the most absurd way to help your child stay dry all night and absolutely terrible parenting.
I can virtually guarantee you your child won't be still wearing diapers when he goes off to college. So, why do you care so much about getting him out of diapers NOW??
My best advice is to let him naturally, on his own time and own terms decide for him himself when he wants/can stop wearing a diaper at night. Wearing a diaper is not hurting him, or anyone else for that matter, in addition, it is saving you alot of laundry (from accidents)!!

Yes, take off the diaper at night. Don't let him drink anything a couple hours before bedtime. Also, get your child up to pee before you go to bed. For example: my kids go to bed at 7:30pm. The one that is still having trouble staying dry at night can't drink after 6pm. My husband and I got to bed between 10 and11pm. We get him up to pee then before we go to bed.

Hope this helps

I had the same question when I was training my boys. But I never had a problem with them wetting the bed at night. Nor do I see them getting up in the night to go. I jmake sure they both go before bed and limit drinks before bedtime.
My 3 year old has had several accidents early on ( but only because I forgot to make sure he went before bed). I often thought it was strange that they could hold it all night. I was beginning to think something was wrong.
I would take off the pull-ups after he has stayed dry throughout the night for a week or so , limit drinks, and make sure he goes right before bedtime.

Yep, no diaper or pull up. Get a rubber mattress pad and put towels down between the sheets and mattress pad. Expect accidents, but keep encouraging him. He'll get it!

If you're still having problems, try sleeping in the room one night, and as he gets restless in his sleep, remind him to use the potty. It will help teach him to go to the bathroom when he feels the need.

Best wishes!

This is a long, slow process with most kids, especially boys. An occasional child will suddenly be dry at night, but mine never did. Some wet at night until well into gradeschool or even up to puberty. I know it sounds crazy but if you took a survey, you'd see how very common this is. Three is nothing! You're lucky he's day trained. Not all are at three, for sure! I'd discuss it with him, never make him feel bad about it, and use pullups. If it works to wake him up before you go to bed at 11 or whatever, try it. Sometimes it makes no difference. Be gentle and patient and don't listen to the criticism of others who haven't been through this, M.!

I find it interesting that these days moms are potty training backwards of how I did it 30 years ago. My mom told me to wait until baby is dry at night and the training will be easier and shorter. That is a sure sign that they are able to hold it for a significant period of time. She was right! We didn't have pull ups. We went "cold turkey" to panties. All was well! So, in answer to your question, tell him he is such a big boy he doesn't need the diaper at night and see what happens. I would put a waterproof pad on his bed for just in case. Good luck and keep us posted as to how it is going! I just scrolled down and read all the other posts. WOW! I was shocked to read that pediatricians these days say don't worry about dry at night until they are 5, 6 or even 7...Holy Toledo times have changed!