Nighttime Potty Training.... - Greenwood,SC

My 4.5 yr old has been wearing a pullup at night for nearly 2 yrs. If he wears one, he ALWAYS pees in it. So, I thought he wasn't ready for night time training. But, about 3 weeks ago he told me he wanted to sleep in undies. Since I knew I had clean bedding for him if he wet, I let him. He woke up dry!! So, he's been pull-up free for a few weeks now, and about 70% of the time wakes up dry. If he does, he gets a treat after breakfast (before he goes off to school.)

As for the water--I do allow him to have a few ounces before he sleeps, and then he has to go to the bathroom afterward just to get the last few drops out before he sleeps. So far it's been working. Looking forward to having all the nights be dry ones!!

Either his bladder signals him to wake up and go or it doesn't. It does NOT matter if he drinks a gallon of fluid as he goes to sleep or not. Either his bladder sends the signal to his brain to wake up or it doesn't. If it doesn't then there is nothing you can do to change that. Limiting drinks does not effect bed-wetting. The kidneys/bladder work and stop urine production while sleeping when they are mature enough and this is not a choice, it is biological...I am sure you have heard it all before.

I think with the 90% it would be a, wish you could see my hands because they can make the words understandable...I am talking with my hands....lol... Anyway90% is pretty good and I might think about going to undies at this time too but it would depend on a lot. If it was still warm at night so getting chilly is not a factor (Plus extra blankets to wash from pee), if he has plastic covers on the mattress, if I had a light schedule and could add in all the extra laundry if needed.

Sounds like you could do it and not have too much more work.

I am a couple steps behind you. But I wanted to say that I went to the grocery store yesterday and went to the 'Depend Undergarment adult diaper' section and bought some pads for the bed. I guess they're like a huge flat diaper. I have layers on my son's bed: mattress, mattress saver, pad, sheet, pad, sheet.

So I would suggest you go buy some of those for his bed. So if he pees in his bed, just take off that top later of pad and sheet and his sheets will be dry so he can go back to sleep. I also looked at the puppy pads and I got a better deal with the adult diaper section. (18 large pads for $5.99. The puppy pads were 5.99 for 14 and likely don't hold as much liquid.) Check both sections and buy the better deal for you.

We had an issue with my daughter staying dry at night and figured it was the juice at bedtime, so we began to institute the "swallow" before bed. Instead of leaving the full glass of juice or water in her room at night, she got her "swallow" before bed and she seemed fine with it. She slept all night and didn't really mind not having the whole glass there. She usually downed the whole thing before going to sleep anyway. Also, we began to suspect that the times she woke up wet, she likely wet her pull up AFTER waking up, because she was sleepy and warm and didn't feel like getting up! Once the pull ups were replaced with big girl underwear at night, she never had an issue again. That said, my older daughter didn't stay dry at night until she was about 6 or 7. This is also normal and shouldn't be cause for concern. Many children have this issue due to the part of their brain that wakes them up from a sound sleep to tell them to go to the bathroom not being mature until later. My dr. said that this was likely hereditary and one of us also had this issue. I blame my husband! LOL! Anyway, we just had her wear pull ups at night and when it became important to her to learn to stay dry at night, about the time she started to get invited to sleep overs, we used an alarm in her undies that woke her when she began to pee. After about a month, she was cured, mostly. I think she still had occasional small accidents for a while, but for the most part, she was good. If this is the case, we were strongly advised to not make a big deal out of it. Don't punish or yell or make them change their own sheets or whatever. It just makes them feel worse about something they truly have no control over. If they could stop, they would. Hopefully you will not have this issue, but I threw it in just in case! Good luck!

My son was ready at that age, but not every kid will be. He asked to not wear pull-ups. We transitioned to Hanna Anderson training underwear that are thicker to absorb pee in case of accident. Initially my son woke up to use the bathroom. We went through a stage where he wet often up to 4 x a week. I spoke with my pediatrician and she said that until 6 or so that bladders are not fully developed so there can be wetting issues. We never made a big deal out of it tried to limit water. He used to sleep with water on his nightstand. Just have extra waterproof mattress pad covers and sheets and you'll be good to go...

He sounds about ready to me. Just discuss with him that he is going to wear big boy undies at night and that means if he needs to go potty, he has to wake himself up and go potty at night.

Buy two waterproof pads for his bed. Put one under the sheet and one over the sheet that he will sleep directly on. If he wets the top pad at night, you can just remove it and the second one is already in place underneath - that way you don't have to mess around changing the bed in the middle of the night.

You don't have to entirely do away with a drink before bed. Just limit it a bit. The very few times my son has wet the bed since transitioning to underwear have been when he's consumed a LOT of water before bed.

Good luck!

Why do you have to take his water away if he is dry 90% of the time? If he were wet 90% of the time then I would think that the water at bed time was sabotaging his efforts. I think that once he has on underwear and he wets them a few times he will get the hang of it. That is how it worked with all 3 of my girls.

To protect their matress I went to the drug store and got a bag of disposable mattress pads. They are about the size of a towel and you can put one under his sheet at the spot in his mattress where his bottom would be.

Good luck.

As long as that cup isn't full (4-5 oz is plenty) you are good there. We started night training with our boys at the same time we started potty training. Still took a long time to perfect but the routine was in full gear.
We put the boys to bed at regular time, cup of water, etc. When we went to bed about 11pm or a little later, one of us would go in and get the child up, help him walk to the bathroom (usually zombie walking) and help them open the toilet, pull down underpants, etc. Pee, and praise softly. We would then pick them up and carry them back to bed, tucked in and done. Once they got the daytime down pat, the nights were pretty quick. I think 6 mo tops for both boys. They are 7 years apart and it worked great for both of them...but we were persistant as well.
They would remember walking to the potty, peeing and going back to bed and it became routine for them to get up and go. When we knew our mornings would be laid back, we would let them sleep all night and pray. Usually worked.
good luck!

Both my children have a drink before bed. It has never caused a problem for either of them. I wouldn't deny my child a drink before bed or during the night if they are really thirsty. If their bladder is ready for nighttime sleep with no accidents then they will wake up and go to the bathroom.