Night Time Potty Training - Port Saint Lucie, FL

Hi D.! My daughter potty trained really quickly, but it took a long time before she slept through the night consistently without accidents. I'll echo what others said, my husband would take her to the bathroom before he went to bed, which gave her a chance to empty her bladder again before midnight. She never had a problem going back to sleep, actually sometimes it was a challenge getting her there! :)

I, too, got a zippered mattress cover, put a padded cover over that, and also bought the flat waterproof pads. Sometimes I would layer flat pad, fitted sheet, flat pad, fitted sheet so that if she had an accident, all I had to do was remove the top sheet and flat pad, and her bed was made for the next night. That's assuming she stayed in the middle of her bed. :) Anyway, that helped me through the frustration of washing sheets every day since I didn't have to totally strip her bed. I never let her sleep at night with her twin size quilt, just a smaller blanket over her, so that reduced the amount of laundry (quilt and fitted mattress pad usually stayed dry).

Good luck!

If he woke up but didn't want to get up to go, then this is a training thing. My own son sleeps VERY hard and wouldn't wake up during the night. But I didn't keep him in pull-ups during the night past about 3 1/2 (maybe less, can't remember he is now 11 yrs). What I did, was wake him up about 2 hours after he went to sleep (usually just a little while before I went to bed myself) and take him to the potty, then right back in bed. Don't worry about waking him to the point of having to go through the bedtime routine again, that isn't a problem... they just want to be done and crawl back in bed--- trust me.

My own was so asleep that he rarely even remembered the 10:30 pm trips to the bathroom. But it helped him stay dry at night without pull-ups. One hour of withholding liquids is not really long enough for him to fully empty his bladder before bedtime. But it would be very difficult to withhold liquids sooner than 6:00 pm...
So, if you wake him up (if he sleeps heavy like my son, you will have to pick him up and practically carry him, then stand him up in front of the potty and help him with his shorts, too). Once he was done, my son would flush, rinse his hands and almost run back to bed... was right back asleep immediately (if he even was truly awake). My daughter would wake and run to the potty --- still will. My son never does. He goes a few times before bed... and makes it until morning now... but goes within 3 minutes of getting up in the morning. My daughter will get up and eat breakfast and play sometimes before having to go. Kids are all different and you have to work with the individual child, but if you wake him up an hour or 2 after he has been asleep and take him potty, he should be able to avoid the "embarrassment" of using the pull-ups.
Good luck and try to stay positive with him. Fussing about any of it just makes him feel bad and accomplishes nothing...

I would say if he KNOWS he has to go but is too tired to get up, he's being lazy. Night-time training, with my experience just happens. The child knows he/she has to go and either holds it or gets up. Have you tried a reward system for staying dry every night? You might have to "reward" him, though some will view this as bribing but a reward for staying dry may be the incentive he needs to get up. What I did with my first daughter was have her use the bathroom before going to bed and before I went to bed, often an hour or two later, I would wake her up and have her walk to the bathroom so she could void. It's worth trying since he's almost 5. Good luck.

I must admit that I had a problem wetting the bed until at least 12. I slept so soundly that I did not wake up. I didn't have much bladder control during the day either and found myself rushing to the bathroom as soon as I got any inclination I had to go. I wish that my parents would have taken me to a doctor instead of making me feel ashamed. (I can recall when my mother announced to our whole extended family that I had a problem wetting the bed when I wouldn't run to the bathroom 'on command' at the age of 13.)

If I were in this situation I would explain to your son why he is wearing Goodnites. (If he doesn't wear them it makes it necessary to wash his clothes, sheets, etc...) I would involve him in this 'cleaning up' process. (Let him gather up all of the clothing and sheets.........place a step stool in front of the washer, etc...) Use a plastic liner for the mattress to protect it. Show him how to re-make his bed. He may decide that the Goodnites are an easier solution if he has to be proactive in cleaning up after himself. Good luck!

My boys are 3 and 4 and they will have accidents if we don't wake them up to take them potty. The boys go to bed a couple hours before my husband and I so we make sure to wake them and take them potty before we go to bed. Also my husband gets up between 4:30 and 5:30 every morning so he usually takes them at that time too. They don't have accidents when we do this.

Hi D., I know this is very frustrating because I have been there. My son who is now 12 wet the bed till about 9, 10 years old. After a while we had a routine. He refused to keep wearing pull ups or anything like that at night so I went and bought one of those plastic zipper up covers for his mattress so that we could preserve the mattress. I always had two sets of sheets so that it was easy just to switch them in the morning. Now the smell of urine on the clothes was tough to deal with but I discovered that if you put vinegar in the wash (about a cup) it gets rid of the urine smell. I felt the same way, I though maybe he was being lazy but it turned out (especially in boys) that they develop much slower. The message from the brain to the bladder wasn't in sync yet. Having sleepovers was the hardest. I would send him with his own sleeping back, a plastic bag and wipes so that if he had an accident, he would know what to do without having to be embarrassed. Also the other thing that led to the bedwetting was he would sleep so sound, he wouldn't even realize he went in his pajamas. I hope this makes you feel better, you are not alone.

L.

Well I hate to say it but I was actually a bed "wetter" until I was about 12. But when I stayed at grandma's house a NEVER had an accident.
Grandma gave me a small drink of water before bed, let me sit on potty before I laid down and about 30 minutes after I went to bed, I got taken to the potty and again around half way thru the sleep. If you can develop a routine and keep it quiet and relaxed, it may help you with Matthew.

I keep my 4 year old's drinks to a real minimum but do not cut them off, it is way too dehydrating here in PC.

In potty training him, I see that occasionally we have an accident but only when he drinks too much before sleep. A couple of smooth accidents where it is not made a big deal, just talked about as "we use the potty when we pee, just call mommy if you are too scared to get up" and after a couple accidents they seem to get tired of waking up wet. I just quit using the diaper and said those are for babies, praise him for every little thing that makes you proud. Let him feel like a big kid. At 4 they supposedly do not want to be treated like a baby, even tho mine acts "pretends" like he is one sometimes and I play along as long as he doesn't get serious with it lol.

Hi D.,

Lucky you your son goes to bed so early :) My guess would be that he sleeps through till morning, and twelve hours can be a long time to make it without a bathroom. You may want to try waking him just before you go to bed, take him to the restroom and put him back to bed after. While some kids can go this long in their sleep, many others can't. Good luck.

Have him checked by a doctor. If his bladder is fine, then it's really just kazyness on his part. then it's gonna be up to you to encourge him to get out of bed: positive reinforcement, charts, little gifts for however many days he goes without an accident, ect...
Also, he might just not be ready for night time cleanliness...
Good luck!

I have not seen the other replies so I do not know if this has been mentioned but a friend of mines son was having the same problem. As it turned out, he was going into to deep of a sleep to realize he needed to go potty.

You said that your child knows he has to go but is too tired. I would mention it to the doctor, put plastic under his sheets and put him in underwear. Since he nows that he that the good night pants on, that may be why is "too tired" to get out of bed.

Good luck

Try setting aside one week - set your alarm clock if you need too - when you get up in the middle of the night - try keeping it the same time so it becomes routine - and wke up your son and walk him to the bathroom.

I just took my son for his 3 year check up and the doctor told me that boys usually have a problem with this up to 5 or 6 and that it is just natural for them. I would ask your doc if you would feel better and then just not worry about it. Our doc said that if he is dry for days in a row it is a good time to try it but don't push it.

give him more time. if he's truly tired of the pull-ups he will get up and do it. my son was like yours, maybe not 4 & 1/2 but not too far off. we went with him waking up dry a few days in a row and then HE asked not to wear them...leave it up to him. have a sit-down and discuss it very matter-of-fact and no-big-deal just to let him know that when he's ready you'll try no pullups, but it's up to him. I wouldn't say he's lazy. his subconscious KNOWS he's wearing a pullup...

when you're ready for no pullups I HIGHLY recommend one of these (2 of them so you have a spare when one is in the wash):
http://www.amazon.com/Saddle-Style-Waterproof-Mattress-Pr...

I've always thought that staying dry at night was more of a biological thing than a training thing. My daughter (3) was a pretty heavy night wetter until just last week. My pediatrician said not to worry about wearing the diapers to bed until she turns 6. So even though my daughter was completely day trained, she still had to wear diapers at night. We just told her when she woke up with dry diapers in the morning for a while we could try her in underwear. My husband and I are just too lazy to change sheets at night. So last week I noticed her morning diaper was dry and I made a big deal about it the next few mornings. Finally, 2 nights ago we let her wear underwear and she's been doing great so far. I don't think he's lazy. When he can hold it all night long and he's really motivated to get out of pull ups, he'll do it.