Night Time Potty Training - Bakersfield,CA

I say don't worry about it. Be happy she's already day potty trained - some aren't until they're 4! Nighttime potty training is totally different - some kids are hard sleepers and can't wake up; some don't have strong enough bladders yet to be able to physically hold it. Give it time. There's no rush. Use pull=ups until she's ready.

Nighttime just takes time. She has to grow enough to be able to wake up at night. In the meantime you can "train" her to wake up at the same time every night as close to the time she usually wets the bed. That way you don't have to limit her drink consumption which has it's own worries in the summer.

Hi C.,
My oldest daughter was daytime potty trained by 2 years old, but she had trouble at night up until 4.5 years old.

She was very upset about it by about age 3, so we asked our pediatrician about it and he said that there is some chemical in the brain that signals the body to stop making urine at night, and really little kids sometimes don't produce this chemical, or not enough of it. Also sometimes their bladders are small in proportion to their bodies as they grow. In other words, it is not always within the child's control to be night time potty trained.

With our younger daughter, she became daytime and night time potty trained all at once! We didn't do anything special to make it happen, she just apparently has a big enough bladder and enough of whatever chemical in her brain to be successful with night potty training.

So, you could do one of two things. You can wake your child up in the middle of the night and sit her on the potty, or you can put her in pull-ups at night. I picked the pull-ups option because I figured that sleep does more for me and my child than staying dry at night! They do eventually become night time potty trained, don't worry.

When my daughter was at this point, my mother told me that I would have to wake her up at least once during the night and take her to the toilet and sit there with her until she used the potty. This was to train her body so that she would wakeup if she had to go potty. I did that and it worked. It was hard at first (harder on me than on her), but it worked and it only took about 2 weeks. Her bed time was 8:00 PM and I would wake her up between 12:00 and 1:00 AM. (Unfortunately, I had to set my alarm so that I could wakeup at that time; but you do what you have to do.) After about 3 days, she didn't even complain about me getting her up. Also, what was probably as important, I made sure that she didn't drink any liguids at least an hour before she went to bed and that she always used the potty right before she went to bed.

Good Luck!!!!

First I would say be patient. The night time potty training may not happen right away.

I have a son and potty training came much later than for you and I didn't even attempt night time. It was just matter of fact that he wore a pull up at night. Then days and weeks would go by with staying dry at night, but there were still some pretty wet ones now and then. Finally one night he asked not to wear the diaper at night, so we made sure there were pads under his sheets and off he went. We have had a couple of accidents, but he is doing great.

What I do if I can is of course have him go potty right before bed, but then I will get him up to go right before I go to bed a few hours later. My mom did this with me as well. I think it helps a lot.

Good luck!

From everything that I've read, night time dryness is a physical milestone and they can't do it until they're bodies are physically ready. It's medical not a training thing. So if her bladder isn't ready to hold that much urine overnight, she can't do it on her own. You'll have to wake her up or use Pull-Ups until her body can catch up. It can take months to years for their little bodies to be ready for full nighttime dryness. Don't worry too much unless you feel there is something medical going on and then, talk to your doctor. A great resource for potty training that talks about nighttime dryness that I found is "The No-Cry Potty Training Solution". Hope this helps! Take care!

For the 2 1/2 year old do not give her anything to drink after 7 p.m. even tho she may ask still be strict on her drinking after 7 p.m. see how that works and I promise it will

Night time will take care of itself. Children that age don't have the ability to wake themselves up to pee. With one of my kids the nighttime dryness happened months before he could get through the day dry. With another one of them the daytime happened as a matter of course but he was wet at night for several more years. This is all completely natural.

C.,

Most children are unable to stay dry at night until 3+ yo. Unless she is concerned about it, which is a signal that she is ready, or you want to train her by waking her up in the middle of the night, I would do pull ups for the next 6-12 months. Praise her when she is dry and reuse the dry pull ups to save money.

If she cries out at night, she may be wetting or feeling the need to pee, so you should get up and take her potty if she is crying out.

Once she is over 3 and can understand, start explaining how she needs to get up at night to go potty and begin working with her on it.

Our son potty trained at 18 months. He stopped wearing a diaper at night by the time he was two. What we do is before WE go to bed, one of us takes our son to the bathroom and he pees and we put him right back in bed. It helps him to sleep at night and he doesn't have accidents. Now (3+) he gets up during the night on his own, but if he is super Tired he may keep sleeping. We have found this to work really well for us

Good Luck,
N.

When my girls were potty training i would have to wake them at night. it makes you lose sleep. It worked for my girls. We only had to do it for a little while. hope this helps you be patiant they dont stay in diapers for ever thank god.

Some get it right away and some don't. It's still too early to tell, I think.

My daughter will be 7 in July and half of the week she wakes up wet. Thank goodness for Pull-ups. She was working on 3 dry nights in a row last night, but I suspect it was a miss.

Trick is to really empty the bladder before bed. Unfortunately, mine just doesn't want to. Still trying to figure that one out.

Be patient...as in years of patience.
Stephanie

Give her more time. 2 1/2 is young to be fully potty trained. Accidents will happen for the first year of potty training. If your daughter is already telling you when she has to go - you're on the right track, her body just needs to catch up.

Besides limiting her liquid in take before bed time you might have to put her in pull ups for awhile. Her muscle wont be completely devloped until she is 3 or so....

Hi Casandra,

There's 2 things you can do that will help tremendously! First, make sure she goes potty right before bed. Second, if you go to bed a couple hours after her, wake her up, and take her to the potty. This helps to train their little minds to wake up for that urinating sensation. It'll take about a week, but it does sink in, and she'll get used to being woken up to use the bathroom at night, which will help her down the road. She'll learn her body's signal, and begin to wake up if she needs to go.

Good luck!

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I am 34, and am happily married to my best friend. I am a stay at home mama to 4 boys ages 9,6, and twins that are 4. I love to sing, cook, hike, camp, and spend time with frineds and family!

My almost 5 year old still wears pull ups at night. He is almost always dry and even gets up to go potty in the middle of the night. He probably doesn't really need them but we are all more comfortable just in case. Night time training will just come with time at 2 1/2 she is still really young and I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Don't stress about the night time, that can take a long time. Let her have diapers when she sleeps, it can take quite a while.