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Pre-School and Daycare
KRT
member
Still in Pull-Ups...
KRT
member
DD is 4 1/2 years old and I am still putting her in pull ups at night. She never has accidents unless it is during nap time and those are pretty few and far between.
Most mornings her pull-up is wet so I am hesitant to leave her in underwear at night but I am beginning to get concerned that she is using the pull up because it is "convenient." A couple of times in the last week after bath and before bed, she has been playing or watching a show and when it is time to go to bed and we snuggle up I can smell pee. I immediately asked her those few times if she peed and she at first denied it but then said she didn't know she was going. I am now thinking that in the morning she may actually be waking up dry but pees in her pull up instead of going potty first thing.
A while ago (about 4-6 months ago) I tried rewarding her for having dry nights with a sticker chart and a small reward, etc. after 3 nights dry. It really didn't work as she would try hard but still have wet nights.
Last night when she had a wet pull up before bed, I told her she needed to change and then I told her it was time for bed and there would be no stories and that she knows better than to pee in her pull up.
I have no idea if I am doing the right thing but all her friends in daycare are dry and night and I am starting to get a bit concerned.
Thoughts?
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Re: Still in Pull-Ups...
ditto this
my 3.5 yo is still in a pull up at night, but wakes up dry about 60% of the time, as far as I know, she's the only kid in her class still wearing a pull up at night. My niece wore a pull up/whatever at night until she was like 7 (or 8?). Some kids are just really heavy sleepers. I wouldn't reward or punish your LO for waking up dry or wet. I would encourage her to go potty RIGHT before bed (like after stories, before lights out) and immediately when she wakes up, but I wouldn't force it or embarrass her either way.
DS is almost 4.5 and still wakes up with a wet pull-up every morning. He goes pee right before bed in the potty, but pees himself some time in the night.
We are just waiting until he starts to have some dry nights to work on it. He is 100% day potty trained, so we aren't realy concerned.
~after 34 cycles we finally got our 2nd little bundle of joy~
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Both my boys were day trained at 20 months.
My oldest wasnt overnight trained until 5. My youngest was overnight trained before him.
It really is physiological.
Be patient. She will jus start waking up dry once her body can hold it all might or when her brain matures enough to wake her when her bladder is full.
Limit night time liquids, be sure she empties her bladder right before bed and then be patient. She's still well within the norm at this age.
Total score: 6 pregnancies, 5 losses, 2 amazing blessings that I'm thankful for every single day.
DD was still in night time diapers at 4.5yo. And the idea that she's staying dry all night and peeing first thing in the morning is exactly what DD did.
We do not offer any liquids after dinner - or if she insists on a drink, make sure it's just a sip of water and not half a glass.
DD must pee before bed. If she doesn't go while we're getting ready for bed, she has to try again after books. If she still doesn't go, we will sometimes still put a diaper on her. She doesn't seem to mind this - sometimes it's dry and sometimes it's not.
No way would I put a diaper/pullup on her until I was ready to turn off the lights. It's just setting you up for a battle like you had last night, and there's no point in it.
I don't post often and never introduced myself on this board, and mostly lurk on others but wanted to respond.
My son is 4 1/2 and still uses a pull up and is wet most of the time too for naps and overnights. If I'm reading your post correctly, you got "angry" at her because her pull up was wet BEFORE she even got into her bed to go to sleep. I would be upset at that too and probably would have done a little punishment. It sounds like in that particular situation, she is using the pull up as a crutch to not get up and go to the bathroom.
I agree that you shouldn't be worried about her being in a pull up at 4 1/2 because like others said, it's pretty involuntary at this stage of the game. My son is a very heavy sleeper and just doesn't wake up. Rewarding her for being dry probably doesn't do much but make her feel bad when she fails.
It's so hard to know what to do.....it would be nice if there were manuals
Yes, she peed in her pull up BEFORE going to bed. She was sitting on the couch just watching a television program. She does not do this in her underwear which is why I am concerned the pull up may be more of a crutch. I am going to take the suggestion to put the pull up on right as she is getting into bed so she isn't tempted. Thanks!
Yeah, that was just laziness on her part!!! haha. I put my son's pull up on when he gets dressed for bed, but he will get up and take his pull up off to go potty if he needs to. Putting it on right before bed sounds like a good idea. Did she just pee in her pull up that one time before going to bed or does she do that all the time? If she doesn't do it all the time, maybe talk to her about it and see if that helps. I'm obviously no expert!!! But I think that you are approaching it in a great way and that you are noticing that her behavior may be different. That is all we can do!! Best of luck to you!!
My twins will be 4 in July and one wears a pull up to bed and night and the other has been wearing panties since before Christmas. Each kid is different and will night train at their own time, so I would not be concerned about her being the only kid in class that still wears a pullup. I know children that wore Goodnights until they were 7. As for peeing in the pull up before bed, I would not put her in the pull up until after she sits on the potty for the last time right after you brush her teeth and before going to bed to read story. Put her in panties or nothing after bath and remind her she needs to use the potty she can't pee in her pjs. That is what I do with my twin that is still in pull ups.
Most mornings she wakes up dry, but not every morning. 2 weeks ago I put them in pjs after we got out of the pool late in the evening instead of putting them back in clothes (it was not bath night). I forgot to put her in a pull up before bed that night and she woke up completely dry in the morning. So for the next couple of nights she wore panties to bed. The 4th night she peed the bed. Not a big deal for me, I expected this to happen at some point, but my problem was she didn't wake up, she slept the rest of the night completely wet. When her twin first wore panties to bed and wet the bed the first time, she woke me up and said she was wet and needed dry clothes and her bed changed. The fact that DD (the one currently wearing pullups to bed) didn't wake from wetting her bed and herself tells me she is not making that brain bladder connection that tells us to wake up when we have to pee. So she is staying in pullups for a little while longer, she just isn't ready. Plus we are traveling next week and I don't want her to pee the bed in a hotel room.
My son is almost 4 and still in pullups for both nap and bedtime. Sometimes he will wake up dry from nap, but he is always soaking wet in the morning.
I wonder if he pees when he first wakes up and could hold it, or get up and go to the bathroom. He knows he is allowed to get up and go pee if he needs to.
It's a hard one. I wonder too, if I take pull ups away will he just get up and go or he is peeing when he is asleep?
I guess keep things positive and try to take them away? GL
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I would never punish for wetting in a pull up at night, but peeing in it before bed? Uh, no maam. Absolutely not. I think you did right be getting onto her about that. I don't think it sends mixed messages at all. A 4 year old is old enough to understand that. I think losing book privledges is an appropriate consequence for that.
That being said, I do agree with PP about not putting it on til right before bed (right after she goes potty for the last time before bed). Maybe you could put a clean pair of panties on her bed at night, and tell her she needs to put them on as soon as she gets up in the morning, and then go straight to the bathroom, before doing anything else. Of course, you would have no way to know if she's peeing in them right when she wakes up, but it's worth a try. I wouldn't reward a dry night though. I don't think a kid wets on purpose, so I would think it would make them feel bad when they aren't dry, since they can't really help it.
We monitor DD1's water intake in the evenings. Our general rule is nothing to drink after dinner (unless she's just really thirsty or something). I go to bed late, so I usually get her up and sit her on the potty before I go to bed. She doesn't really even wake up (I do all the work!). She's only had 2 accidents since we've been doing this, and she used to wet everynight (granted, she's older now so I think she was outgrowing it anyway).
Good luck! I don't think what she's doing is a big deal, but I do think it's something that needs to be addressed.
I understand that some children cannot physically hold their urine all night; however, when my son was in the process of potty training, he hardly ever had a dry pull up over night. I started realizing that his pull up was warm right after he would get up (which means he had just peed). He would wake up dry, but then need to pee. He wouldn't get out of bed to go to the bathroom. I started setting an alarm about 10-15 minutes before his usual wake up time and just waking him up and taking him straight to the bathroom. We soon after went to underwear at night to see how he would do. We encouraged him to go straight to the bathroom as soon as he woke up to go potty! He started getting up on his own, but had many accidents before actually getting to the potty. But he eventually understood that he HAD to go to STRAIGHT to the potty every morning, and the accidents stopped.Before this, we tried getting him up right before we would go to bed (around 11pm) to go to the bathroom. That really didn't go well for him.
If you child can't physically hold it, then continue pull ups, no big deal. But to see if she is using it as a crutch get up before she usually does and just check her to see if she's dry. Good luck! Potty training is a tough one for sure!