Night Time Potty Training - PART 1

I have had several emails and comments about night time toilet training.

So, lets address it!

image from Googleimages

Kids are potty trained during the day waaaaaaay before they are potty trained at night.

It is a lot easier for kids (and parents) to identify their body signals when they are awake. Usually because they are in the middle of something when they get the urge to do the dance or "hold it."

Toddlers sleep very soundly and usually wet the bed for months after they have been day trained because their brain and their (potty) muscle aren't in sync yet.  Statistics show that 60% of toddlers are both day and night trained by the time they are 3 - BUT - even by age 6, 15% are STILL having wet accidents.

What is the question? How do I night time train?

I do it a couple of different ways. When I am teaching classes to parents I tell them to wait till they are day trained before tackling the night training because we want to emphasise the success of the day training.

The biggest issue with night training is that they don't know they are wetting or eliminating as they are doing it, it is only after (sometimes) when they are still wet that we all realize it has happened.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

ONE

Do you have a mattress pad?

Do you have thick training pants?

If not, do that first. Pee stinks!

Also, doing this lets your child know you are serious about night time training.

TWO

Do not let your potty trainee drink a lot of liquids after dinner. If this is a habit, break it right away.

Once they are night time trained, you can slowly ease back into it.

I have a lot of parents who rely on a night time milk or sippy to get their child to bed, that is setting them up to fail. "here, fill your bladder, then go to bed!" uh, no!

THREE

I do several bathroom trips before bed.

One after dinner, one after teeth brushing, one last one after books and then they will go to bed.

That is three tries before they hit the sack!

Now, if this doesn't work I would go ahead and wake them up before YOU (the trainer) go to bed.

It stinks at first, but until they can "hold it" it is just a part of their routine.

I would only wake them up if:

1) they haven't eliminated at ALL in step three

2) they did go in step three, but still manage to wet at night

3) had a "good night drink"

FOUR

Most kids after going thorugh this rigamaroll for a few weeks will go through the night fully trained.

If not, do not make them feel guilty or punished if they wake up wet.

I would enlist them in helping with the clean up.

If you think they are too little to do that, then take a breather from night time training for a few weeks and try again.

Please remember that putting your child in underwear at night won't speed up the process.

They are ready when they are ready. :)