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Nighttime Potty Training?
Hey everybody! So, quick question: what's the deal with nighttime potty training? The little man turned 4 in March and still wears pullups to bed, and fills them, and has zero night waking. I'm content to just keep doing the same thing until it seems like he's progressively wetting less at night, but it's been about a year at this level, thereabouts, and not much has changed. Should I be approaching this milestone with any intention or planning, or is this one they just figure out on their own?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Diggy on -
Ours just figured it out and the oldest was actually older than that. But, the usual things apply, have him go right before bed and we were told to stop giving him anything to drink after 6pm. Which is really hard in the summer months when they are out playing and getting thirsty. All three of ours just sort of happened, but it did take much longer with the oldest. And he had the fewest accidents after we got rid of his. You might also talk to your son and see if knows he is doing it and try and get him to stop.
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Permalink Reply by ks on -
I don't know, honestly. I think it depends on the kid, because we had both.
With N, we gradually weaned him off night wearing of pull-ups, and it mostly included talking up being a big boy and making sure he went just before bed and all that. He only had a few accidents after we stopped and then he was fine. But he was in pull-ups at night until he was at least 4, maybe even a little after.
With A, though, when he was just past his 3rd birthday, he told me one day that he was a big kid and he didn't need diapers at night anymore. I actually fought it a little bit, because I didn't want to have to change sheets at 3 am, and his pull-ups were wet in the morning still, but he insisted and Mr. S gave in. He'll be 7 in June and he's never had a single accident since he decided he was going for underwear.
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Permalink Reply by Mommy Monster on -
Wild Thing is 9 and still has the occasional night time accident. He consistently wore pull ups through the night until he was probably 6. Our neighbor has two boys, one who never had accidents at night and one who was more like WT. I think it really just depends on the kid. I know I was a wetter until about age 7. Maybe genetics? Our pediatrician said not to stress on it, and I never did.
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Permalink Reply by Herasmus B. Dragon on
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Ebay is 4 1/2 and still pees at night. When she's up, she doesn't think about going. I'm OK with letting her wear pullups until she's waking up dry, and she doesn't have any "babyish" connections with them.
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Permalink Reply by Boring User Name on -
@Mommy Monster: I do recall reading that genetics play a role.
It seems very normal to still be wearing pull-ups at 4 at night. And these stories and the pull-up aisle at Target seem to indicate that many kids wear them for a few more years. From my babysitting days, I know that it's always been the case--it's just nice that there are products designed for older kids now.
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Permalink Reply by mightyninjamom on -
My two are night and day. B started waking up dry at 14 frickin' months old! The Little Miss still has accidents, and she is going on 8 this year. I think just be open minded about what may happen? I knew there was a possibility that we would have this problem, because it runs in AG's family. We've narrowed down her accident time to between 9pm to midnight. For some reason, she just can't wake up in time during that part of her sleep cycle. After midnight, she is fine and will get up to go. We have an alarm clock set for 10 pm. We go and get her up and walk her to the bathroom. She doesn't remember it in the morning, so even though her eyes are open, she is, essentially, sleepwalking.
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Permalink Reply by DLBK on -
My son just turned 4 and he's been free of night-time diapers for 4 months. We went on a vacation last November and realized that he stayed dry for the entire week, despite not doing so at home. At Christmas time we told him that there would be no more diapers at night and that he should try not peeing himself. He had one accident the first week (maybe he forgot there was no diaper there?), but that has been it. Had it not been for that vacation he'd still be in diapers, as he filled him on a semi-regular basis and I didn't want to deal with changing him and the entire bed in the middle of the night.
The other 4-year olds around are in diapers of pull-ups at night, so I don't think it's uncommon at all. Do you want him to give them up? You could always try talking to him about it and offering prizes if he stays dry and then give it a try. If he can't do it physically, I can't imagine there would be much to do about it at this age.
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Permalink Reply by TommysMommy on -
Herself is 29 months and has out of diapers completely for just over a month. She does wake at least once or twice a night though and we always make her pee before putting her back to bed. The first week was a lot of sheets but she hasn't had a problem since then.
Himself wasn't potty trained until he was a month shy of 3 because we were pregnant/selling our house/lazy. He needed to be for preschool so August long weekend, guess what we did? He had lots of nighttime issues for a couple of months. For both kids we limit the amount of liquid after 6 pm and make them do a couple of visits before bed.
About the genetics thing: my brother had a resurgence of bedtime wetting when he was 6-9 so we will have to see if that makes its way through the generations. I think it is different for every kid and every family.
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Permalink Reply by mcglory13 on -
Small person stopped wetting the bed at night when he was 4.5, I think. He still has occasionally accidents during the day when he's too busy/lazy to go to the bathroom but he's ok at night.
We tried earlier and it was a failure. It was definitely a wait until he was ready thing.
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Permalink Reply by Jersey on -
My youngest is 6 1/2, and would soak the bed every night if it wasn't for his pullups. He is a very deep sleeper and the few times we tried to go without the pullups thinking that he would wake up if he was wet, he just slept right through it and never felt it at all. He has been potty trained since about 3 1/2 and doesn't have any problems getting to the bathroom in time when he's awake. But when he's asleep, all bets are off. We try to always make him go to the bathroom before anything that might put him to sleep like long car rides, movies, etc. We've learned the hard way unfortunately. We leave him alone about it and don't make it a big deal, so he's not embarassed. But I know from things he says that he wishes he didn't have to wear them, but he'd rather wear them than end up needing to get cleaned up and have his bed stripped in the middle of the night. I figure he'll eventually grow out of it, so I try not to stress about it. Occasionally he'll wake up in the morning and his pull up will be dry. That's big news in our house, but those mornings are few and far between. I think it sounds like you're doing the right thing. He might just not be capable of waking up, and from what I've read it takes some kids longer to reach that milestone. At 4, he could be almost there and may just surprise you soon, or it could still be a few years off.
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