Potty Training at Nap Time and Bed Time

After going in underwear just a couple of times, they should stop. I would quit with the diapers imedieately. Those aren't helping at all.

I would suggest letting those little tiny kids be little tiny kids. It's not as if they're adults and messing with you on purpose. Just because a little kid is intelligent enough to speak and do cartwheels, doesn't mean that he is able to have 100% control over all his bodily functions.

Let them outgrow the diapers naturally. In a few years, you'll be shocked that this was even an issue for you.

My neighbor had the same problem of her daughter pooping in the pull up instead of in the potty simply because she could. One day she decided to get rid of the pull ups and it fixed itself. Something that my sister in law does is to stop giving them drinks after dinner. That way they don't have so much water in their bladder. This is something that works for her and they will get all the drinks that they want during the day so no worries about dehydration. If you do get rid of the pull ups be aware that their will still be accidents. So waking up at least around mdnight to take them to the potty simply helps them learn to wake up to go potty. Remember that for 3 1/2 years that has not been an issue for them. It is for some kids a learned behavior. Plus studies show that it can take boys a little longer than girls and they will outgrow it. Teach them to change their own sheets and maybe invest in some water proof mattress covers. Good Luck.

HI Kristen,
I have a three year old thats ptty trained in the day time too. but at night time I put her in a night time pull up. she has accidents when she sleeps. but I dont worry about it . because I think when she gets older she will grow out of it eventually. instead of putting them in diapers get the night time pullups . they will hold till morning. if they poop take them potty like usual in the morning and dump it in the tiolet and throw away the diaper. that what i do . good luck hope this helps.

Hi K.,
I had a similar issue with my 2.5 yr old. She was so good at staying in bed, she just never thought about getting up to go to the bathroom instead of going in her diaper. After explaining to her a few times (repetition is key) that she could get out of bed to go to the toilet, she finally got it.

Although it was frustrating for me, I have to remember that it's HER bodily process, under her control. I can feed her information & instructions, say "isn't it nice to be clean & dry?" Understand that a toddler is still learning everything, even things I take for granted.
Hang in there and good job mommin'!
A.

I do not agree with punishment, that makes it stressful and will become a power struggle!!!
Night time training can take a long time and you have to be patient. Kids that are sound sleepers cannot wake themselves up to go. You can give them more fiber filled foods in the early part of the day to hopefully speed things in their digestive tract along but that is about it.

Putting pullups on night is just something a lot of moms have to do for a long time. You CANNOT train them to hold it or go poop before bedtime, you can sit them on the potty before bedtime and see if they go. If they do great, if not well then that is just their body, not them doing it. Do not put them in underwear at night until they are going all night without any messes!! Saves your sanity and theirs. Don't pressure them at all either. You just need to relax a bit and let their bodies learn to que them up to poop or get up to go.

The other option is waking them before you go to bed to put them on the potty but that disrupts their sleep and they may just not be able to help it. I did this for a few months and it did help my son. He was out of it, but he was asleep a good three or four hours by that time and I got him up, set him on the potty to pee. He has never pooped at night but it helped him. You say you think they know they can poop in their diapers so they do, reallY? I doubt they are doing it on purpose if they are asleep. If they do it upon waking, put a baby monitor on and if you hear them at all run in and put them on the potty before they can.

Go with night time pullups at night, so if they have to go they can get up and go easily. Diapers shouldn't even be an option at this point. Put underwear on them during the day, take them often to the potty, put more fiber in their diet early on in the day and just be patient.

When my daughter was potty trained we put pull-ups on her during nap-time and bedtime. They don't really have control over it when they are sleeping. They just reach a developmental stage where they can stay dry. When she was about 4 monthes before her 4th birthday she just stayed dry one night. To encourage her I gave her lots of praise and gave her a treat everyday that her pull-ups were dry in the morning. But if she didn't she wasn't in trouble and I didn't pressure onto her. Just by giving her praise and a treat when she did stay dry seemed to do the trick.

Kids potty train during the day much earlier than at night. Their bodies may just not be mature enough yet to stay dry when they're asleep. It's ok to keep putting them in diapers at naptime and at bedtime. If you don't want them to poop in the diapers try to get them to the bathroom as soon as they wake up. But it might just be, again, that their bodies aren't quite ready for the transition from sleep to awake while holding in biologicals.

I wouldn't get them up unless you can wake them up completely. I've heard, and I don't know where to know how reliable it is, but supposedly if they go to the bathroom when they're not completely awake it can cause bedwetting. Something about it fits into a dream, or something. Anyway, I hope you get some good answers!

What we've done with our 3 boys is: use up the last of the diapers, and use no more! It's a big resolve but the only one that will work eventually. My kids take naps and go to bed at a certain time each day, so I just stop their drinking an hour to an hour and a half before they go to bed, with maybe a small sip of water before they go to sleep. Then before I go to bed, which is usually 2 -3 hours later, I get them up and set them on the toilet and have them go, then put them back to bed (their usually not even conscious for that :)). As far as pooping, well that's when stern warnings and your chosen discipline come in (and watching them...they tend to disappear for that). For our first son, it took a year, for my other two it took about 1-2 months for the potty training to be complete and even then they will have small pee accidents...but nothing that isn't easy to clean up. Expect mistakes and praise successes!