Sleeping with pull-up...when to stop?

julieb00lie · July 2012

We PTed DD a few months ago and she picked it up in a few days. We intentionally only did daytime since we wanted to focus our efforts on that first. So she has been sleeping at night time with a pull-up. Naps are in her panties and she doesn't have accidents.

Her pull-up in the morning is pretty full, but we also are not restrict bed-time liquids yet. We do have her pee before getting in bed.

At what point should I night time train, and how should I do it? She's starting to realize that, "Hey...I can pee in my pull-up when wake up and it doesn't make a mess!", so she keeps doing that...she even did that one night before bed while we were reading books. I don't want her to get back into the "diaper mentality".

Do I just restrict liquids before bedtime and make sure she uses the potty b/f bedtime? And what happens if she pees at night? Do they usually wake up?

I guess I've been putting it off b/c I'm worried (1) she will wake up in a huge pool of wetness or (2) she will be waking all night when she pees.

Thoughts?

KathrynMD · July 2012

We're still in pull ups most nights.

She wakes up dry about 75% of the time and I forgot pull ups on a recent trip, so we just went cold turkey - it was great for about 4 nights and then she wet the bed 2 nights in a row, so back to pull ups.

She used to wet her pull up while we were reading books and then tell me she had to change. I made a big deal about it and said no, if you're awake, you need to use the potty. Now, she still asks if she can pee in the pull up, but I tell her no and then she'll go pee on the potty.

anngeewhiz · July 2012

It took nearly a year for DS. He was dry three nights a week and we ran out of overnights and it was HOT--so that pushed it for us.

Quiksilver620 · July 2012

DD is still in pull-ups at night, but over the last week or so I've noticed she's been dry in the morning. I'm trying to make it a big deal that pretty soon she can just wear undies to bed and she seems pretty proud of herself. We didn't restrict any liquids at night and she actually sleeps with a half cup of water next to her bed

septemberdreams · July 2012

DS is 5 and still wears it at night. He was "trained" at 2 years, 9 months. He's a deep sleeper and his pediatrician says it's completely normal and not to worry about it. He pees right before bed. We do think he goes in it when he wakes up in the morning but also know that he can't make it through the night.

Mrs.RockyM · July 2012

As much as it sucks, I think you're going to have to just deal with the possibility of a puddle or a woken up child or she'll constantly use the pull up as a safety net. Start limiting liquids now. DD has usually 1 - 1 1/2 of a child's glass of liquid before with dinner, but we cut off all liquids an hour to an hour and a half before bed. We also make sure she goes potty right before bed, and the first thing she does when she wakes up is go potty.

If you're worried she won't make it through the night, maybe take her to the potty at 11 or so before you go to bed just to empty her bladder even more. Keep the lights off as much as possible and talk quietly to her. Just kind of pick her up out of bed, put her on the potty and tell her it's potty time and to go pee pee. she hopefully won't fully wake up and will go back to bed easily.

Do that for a couple days, then just take off the pull ups and see how it goes. With DD we were fully potty trained during the day for a few weeks before we got rid of the nightime pullup.

It's going to be hard, but she's got to realize that she no longer has a safety net. If she's peeing during story time, she's pretty much got that diaper mentality anyway. Make sure you have 2 waterproof mattress pads, so if she goes in the middle of the night, you can easily change it and then do laundary first thing in the morning.

ktshoff · July 2012

septemberdreams:
DS is 5 and still wears it at night. He was "trained" at 2 years, 9 months. He's a deep sleeper and his pediatrician says it's completely normal and not to worry about it. He pees right before bed. We do think he goes in it when he wakes up in the morning but also know that he can't make it through the night.

This!

It is way more embarrassing for him to wake up in a wet bed than it is for him to wear a pull-up. It is normal.

AgrippaRidesAgain · July 2012

We JUST dropped pull ups at night. As in, DS slept in underwear last night for the first time ever. He potty trained at 3y1m.

We waited until we were certain that he was staying dry all night and just peeing in the pull up when he got up instead of going to the bathroom to do it. Then we set up a 15 day sticker chart with prizes at 5, 10, and 15 days (a big one there). Every day he had a dry diaper in the morning, he got a sticker.

We finished the chart last week, he was supremely proud of himself, and he begged to wear underwear to bed. We were going on vacation, so we promised that we would when we got back. Night one down.

I would wait until you're absolutely certain she's capable of holding it all night. The only way I knew was that every time I had to wake DS up early, he'd have a dry diaper. There's no rush to night train.

jlw2505 · July 2012

You can't train night time - it is a totally different thing than daytime potty training. If your child is dry when sleeping - it is simple - you tell her that she has to go in the potty. If you feel like she can do it - give it a try and have her not sleep in the pull-up, if she has accidents - put her back in the pull up and try again when she consistently wakes up dry. Some kids do not night train for a few years after they day train - all kids are different and being day trained has nothing to do with it - same with limiting drinks at night. If your child is ready to be night trained, they will either wake up to pee or be able to hold it all night. How much they drink at night does not make a difference and waking a child to pee before you go to bed is also not doing anything for your child other than giving him a crutch (you). When a childs body is physically ready to be night trained, it will happen. My kids were totally different with this. My older DD was night trained before she was day trained at 2 years 9 months. After she was day trained, I had her sleep in a pull-up for a few more months as I felt (and still do) that I would rather have her pee in a pull-up if she was not ready than deal with middle of the night bed sheet changes. Granted, she never woke up with a wet pull-up and in the 3 + years that she has been trained, she has had 2 minor night time accidents. DD #2 was so different - she really could have cared less about being trained - day trained a few weeks before she was 3 but had accidents at least once a week (sometimes more, sometimes less) for the next 6-9 months. She was always wet over night until a few weeks before her 4th birthday. She woke up one Sat morning around her birthday and told me she was done with night time pull ups and that was that - she has had 1 accident since that happened back in March.

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