Potty Training at Night. - Lyman,SC

Updated on March 26, 2009
H.N. asks from Ocean Springs, MS
23 answers

My three year old is totally potty trained....during the day! At night we still put a diaper on him! He wakes up every morning soaking wet because he has gone so much even the diaper can't hold it all. He is such a hard sleeper that if we put him in underwear at night he just goes in his bed and doesn't even know it till morning. What can I do to help him through this issue?

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T.B.

answers from Atlanta on

Don't worry. This is normal. Some kids just take longer to be able to hold it through the night. They will eventually grow out of it. Just buy the overnight pull ups and if the size you are using does not hold it all, move up one size. If you need to, you can adjust the tabs on the sides.

You may also need to cut down on the amount of liquids he has before bed.

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C.H.

answers from Savannah on

FYI. "Good Nights" night time pull ups have done better keeping my son's bed dry than the other pull ups available. A little pricier but worth it for me to have less laundry in the mornings.

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L.D.

answers from Atlanta on

Decide what is important to you. To me, it is that my children sleep well at night and take responsibility for getting the sleep they need. One of daughters potty trained at night easily. She was a light sleeper and could get up to pee. The other sleeps hard and is out of sorts if woken up in the middle of the night. It is hard for her to go back to sleep after getting that agitated, too. Her physical development is such that it is only now, with her rounding 5 years old, that her bladder and control can hold till morning. So, until recently, she needed to sleep with a pull up. (It is a good habit to get into to limit fluids and take a mandatory potty stop before bedtime.) Now, she will stay dry till morning, and just uses the bathroom when she wakes up. I'm thrilled she is a good sleeper. Fighting her body and natural rythm was a battle I didn't need to wage. I didn't want to attach success or failure to it. I just celebrated her getting a great night sleep every morning. To me, it is more important that she understands that being a big girl includes knowing when she is tired and her ensuring she gets all the sleep she needs to have a good disposition. It all works itself out. Relax.

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N.R.

answers from Charleston on

Maybe you could try limiting his beverage intake after a certain time.you can also try waking him up at night...goodluck

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K.M.

answers from Atlanta on

Three year olds often can't hold it through the night even though they are potty trained during the day. My first, a girl, could not do it until she was six. My second was three and totally potty trained in 3 days, day and night dry. The childs bladder has to be large enough and their body has to slow urine production at night (this happens at all different ages), until that occurs they will need protection at night! Each child is different, don't worry about it now, maybe if he's 7 and still doing it then worry! Try the nighttime diapers or Good nights pull ups for the night. They hold a lot more so he won't wake up wet every morning! Good luck!

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L.D.

answers from Atlanta on

I too have a 3 yr old and he sometimes wake up with wet sheets and pull up. My friend told me what she did with her sons was she set her clock a couple of times a night to take her sons to the bathroom. (She said they went right back to sleep.) She also said she did not give her sons anything to drink 1 hour before going to bed. I have not tried it yet, (I am waiting until he is 4) but when my son takes a nap, he does wake up with a dry diaper. I hope this helps.

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D.C.

answers from Savannah on

We were in the same situation. Even though my daughter was daytime trained completetly by 3 she still wet at night. We have just mastered this now and she just turned 4 this week. We started by talking to her saying at 4 she wouldn't wear pullups to bed anymore and she needed to stay dry (of course we were aware that for some kids this just isn't possible so if she wasnt getting it we weren't going to make a big dael.) Most of the other advice is good, limit fluids later in the evening, I have also been doing a dream wake where I carry her to the bathroom around midnight to pee then take her back to bed right away. We also made a chart for her (just construction paper) and let her put a sticker on when she stayed dry all night. after 5 nights in a row I took her to the dollar store to pick a prize. She actually told us on her 4th birthday that she wasnt wearing a pullup that night and she is doing great I dont even use the sticker chart anymore b/c I think being a "big girl" is its own reward for her. be patient with your daughter she will get and if not it's common your pediatrition can help you with that but give her some time she just might need to get a little older. Hey just be thatnkful they have pullups for bigger kids now and you dont have to change sheets everyday. Good luck.

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A.J.

answers from Atlanta on

My three year old has had accidents maybe twice. My eleven year old, however, was a wetter until he was 8 or 9. My pedi told me that it was one of two things: his body and intake of food and drink was growing faster than his bladder OR that his hormones that wake him up were not reaching the brain. We got him the hormone, and he was fixed. it will take time for you to reach the point of knowing that something is really wrong, though. For now get a plastic pad for the mattress and try to bathe or shower him in the morning. I did that, and also, my hubby and I woke him up to peepee once a night. When he made it dry, we totally cheered and celebrated his success. BTW, LISTEN TO KATHY> SHE IS A GENIUS!

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L.P.

answers from Atlanta on

Hi H.,

I do not know if anyone has already mentined this, but I highly recommend the "Potty Pager" Our pediatrcian recommended it to us and it worked great. It clips to their underwear and vibrates to wake them up at the first sign of wetness. Just google "potty pager" and you should be able to find it. As far as I know its only available on-line. We were thrilled at how well it worked for our daughter. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

L.

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A.L.

answers from Atlanta on

Hi H.,
Our son had the same issue (slept really deeply and couldn't wake up to go to the bathroom), and he was wearing pullups at night. Basically, we just had to wait until he got older (about 5, actually). We did reduce the amount of liquid he drank in the evening, and that helped a bit, however the only solution ultimately was for his bladder to grow enough for him to be able to go most of the night. The good news--he DID eventually outgrow it.

Good luck, A.

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H.R.

answers from Myrtle Beach on

Don't worry, he'll eventually grow out of it. My sister was like this as a child and now she has a boy that is like that. He is 5 and still has to wear a pull up and night and naps. He is such a heavy sleeper.
My now almost 5 year old just in the last 6 months out grew it. We didn't make and issue of it and eventually she just stopped.
Just hang in there, don't make an issue of it. If you want to try something you can before you go to bed take him potty. Seems like an hour or so after they go to bed they can relax enough that when you take them potty they'll go.
Good luck!

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J.H.

answers from Myrtle Beach on

I had the same problem...when i finally started cutting out his fluids about an hour and a half to two hours before bedtime, we got it under control. He eventually made his way back to being able to drink up until bedtime. He now wakes up to go to the bathroom, if needed.

Another idea I read about that helped in the meanwhile...i "double" make his bed. I put a waterproof cover on his mattress, then a flat sheet. Next, I put another waterproof cover and another flat sheet, and his covers. This way, if he wakes up in the middle of the night and has wet the bed, you can just strip off the top layer and put him right back to bed! Good luck!

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W.C.

answers from Atlanta on

My son will be 7 in May. He still wears a pull-up at night and like your son, leaks most nights. We limit liquid at night and we get him up before we go to bed. But he just isn't ready yet. Everything I've been told is that this is normal. When we go to our annual appointment this summer, I'll just mention it but I'm sure it's all ok. 3 is still pretty young. If you are using diapers, maybe switch to pull-ups and that might help the hold some at least.

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B.W.

answers from Myrtle Beach on

It's vry normal for boys to day train before night training, sometimes by years. One of mine was day trained at 2 1/2 and he is now 5 1/2 and still not night trained. His brother was almost 6 before being night trained. My daughter, on the other hand, did both before she was three. I would say witholding liquids an hour before bedtime helps and is a good routine to get into. Also, there are special diapers for nighttime that are more absorbent or there is also a product called "diaper doublers" it's an insert that looks a lot like a big sanitary pad without the sticky part and you lay it inside the diaper and it doubles the absorbency. I used these for a while with one of my sons when they would wet more than one diaper a night. Then we switched to cloth diapers and my 5 1/2 year old now has cloth "nighttime underwear" that I can stuff with more or less inserts depending on what he needs.

Good Luck!

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M.K.

answers from Atlanta on

My daughter is the same way. We limit her fluid intake for an hour before bedtime,make her use the bathroom before going to bed, and then get her up once before Igo to bed. Also check to see if there are no drafts in the bedroom. If cool air is getting in the room the urge to go in little ones increases. Hope some of this helps.

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D.H.

answers from Atlanta on

He will eventually grow out of it. There really is nothing you can do. You can wake him up, etc., etc., but he will still continue to do that. You can withhold drink (thirst him to death), but he will still do that. He will just have to grow out of it. Heavy sleepers do that. I have a friend who did everything and I mean everything to get her firstborn to stop wetting the bed...he had to wear 'diapers' until age 11.

I understand that's normal. I've been lucky because all of my children wake up with a dry diaper at age 18 months. They drink til they go to bed, take a sippy cup to bed and they don't pee in the bed, as long as they go potty before they go to bed.

Just let him know that it's not his fault, but he will grow out of it eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

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J.F.

answers from Macon on

First, make sure he doesn't drink a lot after 7pm (it depends on when you put him to bed). Milk goes thru them. Pull-up, plastic sheets help. My son wasn't trained at night till later. Even then, he had a divitula (outpouching) of the bladder and one of his tubes wasn't long enough. Age 5 we took him to doctor and found this out, as he was still having accidents. He had to have surgery. Limit drinking, put pullups and sheets on.

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A.D.

answers from Atlanta on

I have the same problem. My daughter is 23-months old and potty trained completely during the day. She keeps on drinking water throughout the evening, and drinks bottle-full milk just before sleeping. I have to get up in between the nights to change her diapers, else she has itching and redness problems the next day. I cannot keep her from drinking milk or water during evenings. I too am looking for some solution for this. Sorry for not suggesting one!!

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M.H.

answers from Atlanta on

Don't know if this will work for you but my son was the same way until I invited an older cousin, that he admired, to spend the night. When I put the diaper on him his big cousin said "You still wear a DIAPER!!!". The following day my son refused to wear the diaper and did not wet himself. Over the last year me slipped once or twice. Hope this helps.:-)

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K.P.

answers from Atlanta on

Okay, my response is going to be a little different than the rest. When we decided to potty train, we tossed diapers and pull-ups altogether...and it worked...on all five of our boys. In the evening we layered the mattress (plastic and then mattress sheet, plastic and mattress sheet...as many times as we felt necessary)...left the good blankets off the bed and used things that were easy to take off and put in the wash. We'd put our boys in long t-shirts without ANY underwear so they could feel when something happened. The first few nights there were ALWAYS accidents until they got the hang of it. They would always wake up annoyed and sometimes crying but I would lovingly and patiently get them up, have them take off their wet t-shirt, take off a layer of the soiled bedding and have that child walk it to the laundry room...(I would not do these things for them other than to lend a helping hand.) The idea is to inconvenience that child (let them feel a little bit chilly, a little bit uncomfortable.) My boys couldn't wait to get back in their nice warm, DRY, bed...they LIKED DRY. They didn't like cold and wet which we sometimes protect them from w/ pull-ups, or doing the work for them. I always had to make sure 'I was ready for this' so I could be patient, calm and loving (especially when you're woken up in the middle of the night)...but this worked every time.

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B.B.

answers from Atlanta on

I think this was stated.

No liquids after a certain time is probably a good trick to work with. And send him to the potty one last time before putting him to bed.

After getting my daughter potty trained and my six month old is sleeping through the night, I have no desire to have my sleep interrupted if I can help it. My toddler refused to put on a pull-up even at night.

Always good to ask the doctor what his/her thoughts are.

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T.W.

answers from Atlanta on

OK I know it might sound mean..... 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning---- help him out of his bed & sleep walk (ya I Know haha) to the potty... He WILL go..... But to help you out before that-------- cover his mattress in a shower curtin. Use the bed garters to hold it in place.... IT WORKS and I know because I am a mother of 5 daughters and 13 grandkids....... It really saves on mattress & you can only wash a plastic cover so many times & you can buy shower curtin liners from a 1 dollar store for one dollar.....yea for gramies hahahah......PS PLEASE DON'T MAKE HIM FEEL BAD ABOUT IT..........

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K.M.

answers from Atlanta on

Hennightather you can start getting him up at least two times a night that has worked for me and a lot of my friends. good luck.K.

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