Help settle a debate with DH re: night-time pottie training..

s_angel

DD woke up dry 4 nights in a row, I get excited thinking we are on our way. DH says there is nothing to get excited about until she actually gets up in the middle of the night to pee. Until then waking up dry is just luck of the draw (she'll go 3/4 nights dry pull-up, I'll get excited, put her in underwear and then she wakes up wet). WDYT?

cokt

I would have to say I am with your husband. DS has been PT'd since 2, but I still put him in a diaper every night. He wakes up dry in the morning a lot, but then there are the random mornings he wakes up wet. I don't want to deal with changing his sheets and pajamas in the middle of the night if he does have an accident. I figure once he starts waking up when he needs to pee in the middle of the night then we will deal with night time PTing. Until then I am in no hurry. I am just glad he is out of diapers during the day (including naps).

goodheartedmommy

Not everyone needs to get up in the night to pee, but I wouldn't think it's over just yet. DD1 has been diaper-free for a year. As soon as she day-time potty trained, she was out of diapers at night, but DS has been in and out of diapers for close to 2 years now. He wakes up to pee in the night regularly for weeks at a time, and then will go without peeing at all at night for weeks at a time, and then will pee every night for weeks at a time. I guess it's just different for everyone.

~appletini~

My son never gets up to go in the middle of the night.  He never has since he was potty trained around 3 and he's 4 1/2 now.  Not sure if this is normal, but every kid is different and I think making it a few nights dry is a great sign.  Good luck!

shopgirl_07

As soon as my son was day trained he was night trained as well. He never had to get up in the middle of the night to pee and never had accidents. So it can happen.

Jinsy80

I tend to agree with your husband too. My DH really wants to have DD PT for night-time. I don't want to deal with it. I'll probably end up helping her and changing the sheets by myself. Sounds like a huge pita to me.

kittycarr

I agree with your husband about there being nothing to get excited about.  But he's also wrong to think that once they get up, even consistently, then all is well.  Ethan is 5 and Booke is 4 and both have been getting up consistently in the middle of the night to go potty and sometimes they still have accidents.  And it makes no difference how limited fluids are before bedtime either.

s_angel

Thanks everyone for the great feedback....I am not going to stress over it, it will happen eventually.

MediaBride

kittycarr:

I agree with your husband about there being nothing to get excited about.  But he's also wrong to think that once they get up, even consistently, then all is well.  Ethan is 5 and Booke is 4 and both have been getting up consistently in the middle of the night to go potty and sometimes they still have accidents.  And it makes no difference how limited fluids are before bedtime either.

This.  DS started waking up dry and was for a few weeks before I decided to switch him to underwear at night.  As soon as I did that he started to call for us if he had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.  Most of the time he doesn't wake up at all to go and he still has an accident every now and then.  I find that accidents tend to happen (for him) when he is SUPER tired from a really busy day.  

A tip that my great grandmother passed down - make the bed with a sheet, then put a waterproof mattress pad on and your top sheet.  If he/she has an accident in the middle of the night, take off the top sheet and mattress pad and the bed is already made.  Makes accident nights SO much easier!  We keep an extra set of pj's/underwear out too so if it happens, it's a quick change.

Good luck! 

eclaires

In our experience, once Jackson was waking up dry, he was accident free at night, but ever since he was a baby he was a significant nighttime pee-er.  Like he would pee all.night.long and sometimes even overnights weren't enough.  We figured he'd be in nighttime diapers for a long time.

Well, he PT'd a little before 3 last year, and within a month or two he was waking up dry at night.  He hasn't had an accident since and he does not get up at night.

I think he's strange though because he doesn't even need to pee as soon as he wakes up.  I, on the other hand, even when not pg, get up to pee 2x per night and have to pee immediately upon waking.

joy143dh

MediaBride:

A tip that my great grandmother passed down - make the bed with a sheet, then put a waterproof mattress pad on and your top sheet.  If he/she has an accident in the middle of the night, take off the top sheet and mattress pad and the bed is already made.  

Love this tip!  Wish I had thought of this a year ago.

FWIW, DS has never woken up to walk to the bathroom in the 10 months he's been PT.  He was nighttime trained before daytime.  He's also a very heavy sleeper.

ETA: In full disclosure, he has had 4 nighttime accidents since going from diapers to underwear last October.

Ciarrai

My girls never get up in the middle of the night to pee.  Never have.  There are nights when they might not go from 5pm (try at bedtime) until 7am the next morning.  At some point of them waking up dry every morning, you just have to bite the bullet and try panties.  It took me months with DD#1.  DD#2 started refusing pull-ups and begging to wear panties b/c DD#1 was...so we let her.