When to stop diapers at night

leasaj · October 2015

My daughter started potty training herself at 18 months. By 22 months she was only in diapers at nap and bedtime. She is now 2.5 years old and is still in diapers during those two times. I have tried going without a few times but have found that she's not waking up when she has to go. She will wake when it starts to feel cold. I'm thinking she's still not ready yet. Am I wrong to think this? Any suggestions as to when/how to transition to undies at night? I also wonder if part of the reason is due to her still being in a crib so she can't get up if she has to go.

Bigboobsmcgee · October 2015

The crib could be contributing to the problem but she might just not be ready. I know of some kids that are 4 and 5 years old and still wear pull up's at night. It's not that abnormal actually.

harmonicbabe26 · October 2015

I don't think the crib has anything to do with it. When she's ready, she will start waking on her own when she has to go. My older DD is 3y 8m and still in her closed crib. Yah call me the crazy lady. But SHE is crazy so it works better for us to have her contained. Around the time when our baby started STTN at 7mo, DD1 started waking and calling to go to pee. That was about 4 months ago. She was still in a night pullup at that point but completely potty trained during the day. And shortly after she started going all night without waking or peeing. We haven't had a single accident. I'd say give it time. Once you've had a LONG stretch or dry overnight pullups/diapers, then try undies. Until then just roll with it.

patriciahomol · October 2015

my ds is 3 and still wears pull ups at night, not sure how I will know when he is ready but I can tell he isn't yet. he doesn't even wake up when he pees.

doesn't have any accidents during the day though.

sorry i know that wasn't helpful, just saying you're not alone lol.

:-h

MJMum524 · October 2015

My 2.5 year old ds is fully trained during day. At naps he usually pees and at night he soaks a diaper. I'm in the same boat as you...don't know when to transition...but I feel they may not be ready then.

stlmomof2 · November 2015

No she is not ready. At 22 months of age is able to go potty on her own at that age I would say that is a big enough accomplishment. Being only 2.5 years old and trying to get her not to potty the bed is hard because she needs to unconsciously have some sort of bladder control. Even my son who is 2.5 years is at the same stage as you but I don't expect him to wake in the middle of night to tell me he had to pee. He hasn't even gone poop in the potty yet... He will poop in his diaper though.

I say give her time. She seems pretty independent and I'm sure one day she'll wake up more than once to let you know she needs to go.

My son has had some dry diapers from bed time but not all the time. I'm not going to pressure him but when he turns 3.5-4 Years old I am thinking about waking him a couple of times at night to try to get him to use the potty.

Bigboobsmcgee · November 2015

stlmomof2 said:

No she is not ready. At 22 months of age is able to go potty on her own at that age I would say that is a big enough accomplishment. Being only 2.5 years old and trying to get her not to potty the bed is hard because she needs to unconsciously have some sort of bladder control. Even my son who is 2.5 years is at the same stage as you but I don't expect him to wake in the middle of night to tell me he had to pee. He hasn't even gone poop in the potty yet... He will poop in his diaper though.

I say give her time. She seems pretty independent and I'm sure one day she'll wake up more than once to let you know she needs to go.

My son has had some dry diapers from bed time but not all the time. I'm not going to pressure him but when he turns 3.5-4 Years old I am thinking about waking him a couple of times at night to try to get him to use the potty.

You sure that's a good idea?

My 3.5 year old son is fully potty trained, wears underwear to bed but doesn't have to get up in the night to pee. He stays dry all night and goes to the bathroom when he wakes up. I have heard him get up once in the night and use the bathroom but that's pretty rare.

Not that ALL kids have to do that but out of all the parents I know, I've never heard of anyone waking their kid in the night to have them go to the bathroom.

mamakculb · November 2015

My son is 2 years 4 months and has been potty trained for a little over 3 months. He sleeps overnight in diapers but not during nap time. I think my son is mostly peeing in the morning just before or after waking up. I don't think it'll be a case of him learning to wake in the middle of the night, but instead him having more bladder control to hold it until waking up, like at nap time.
I do have a friend whose daughter was potty trained at 2 but slept so hard that at 3 yrs they would take her potty around midnight while she was still asleep or she'd soak her bed. They did this for almost a year. Then one night they forgot and she made it all night without an accident and has been fine since.
I plan to keep the diapers at night until we are dry consistently in the morning.

smiling76 · November 2015

That's a tough one!!!! I have two sons. One was a later potty trainer because of special needs and it took him a while to get the overnight thing.....I'd say almost to 4 years old and even then still had accidents. My younger guy was an "earlier" potty trainer and then suddenly was doing awesome at night--waking himself up and going and even getting himself back in to bed! I thought we had hit the jackpot and then all of a sudden, DESPITE our efforts of no drinks and stuff before bed, he seems to go 4-5x a night --so we actually went back to pullups at night. It sucks but we have a deal that if he stays dry for two nights in a row we try undies again. I will say that me personally---I was a horrible bed wetter when I was younger---and my mom said they tried everything.... just know that eventually they WILL get the hang of it and they will be dry....I don't know many 15 yr olds who wet the bed.... so they WILL get there

SLGILL1978 · November 2015

I would say when you daughter is consistently dry at night and/or nap time, then try the panties.

smileybabyboy · January 2016

My 3.5 year old son is fully potty trained, wears underwear to bed but doesn't have to get up in the night to pee. He stays dry all night and goes to the bathroom when he wakes up. I have heard him get up once in the night and use the bathroom but that's pretty rare.
Not that ALL kids have to do that but out of all the parents I know, I've never heard of anyone waking their kid in the night to have them go to the bathroom.

This is my 3 year old. We just potty trained 2 weeks ago and he has been consistently dry every morning but also does not get up to pee.

dsunde1 · February 2016

Since she is now 2.5, I would suggest using those plastic underwear to go over this thicker cotton under wear (you can buy them at Target...not sure exactly what they're called). That way, she'll eventually get it that she needs to call for you to go potty at night and it will be less messy than just using regular underwear. It will be trying for you and seem like she'll never get it, but she will eventually and the accidents will get less and less frequent at night until poof they're gone. Hope this helps. I also try to make DD go before bed so she's less likely to need to go at night, too.

greyt00 · February 2016

Bigboobsmcgee said:

stlmomof2 said:

No she is not ready. At 22 months of age is able to go potty on her own at that age I would say that is a big enough accomplishment. Being only 2.5 years old and trying to get her not to potty the bed is hard because she needs to unconsciously have some sort of bladder control. Even my son who is 2.5 years is at the same stage as you but I don't expect him to wake in the middle of night to tell me he had to pee. He hasn't even gone poop in the potty yet... He will poop in his diaper though.

I say give her time. She seems pretty independent and I'm sure one day she'll wake up more than once to let you know she needs to go.

My son has had some dry diapers from bed time but not all the time. I'm not going to pressure him but when he turns 3.5-4 Years old I am thinking about waking him a couple of times at night to try to get him to use the potty.

You sure that's a good idea?
My 3.5 year old son is fully potty trained, wears underwear to bed but doesn't have to get up in the night to pee. He stays dry all night and goes to the bathroom when he wakes up. I have heard him get up once in the night and use the bathroom but that's pretty rare.
Not that ALL kids have to do that but out of all the parents I know, I've never heard of anyone waking their kid in the night to have them go to the bathroom.

I agree. DS1 turns 5 in a week and wears underjams at night. He was daytime potty trained at 3 years 4 months. We didn't attempt it any sooner but it was pretty easy when we did it. We were busy working on other behaviors prior to that. He stays dry a lot of nights, maybe 75-80%, but that's still too often to be changing wet sheets, not to mention the sleep interruption it could cause. He has ASD so he is probably different than the other kids mentioned in this thread, but I'm prepared to wait it out. He doesn't get a lot of sleep as it is, so no way am I waking him up for ANY reason aside from a life threatening emergency. Even if he didn't have special needs, I wouldn't wake him. I'm sick of "diapers" but at least it's just at night. Our sleep is more important. DS2 is 3 years 5 months and was potty trained 7 months ago. He still soaks his underjams every night. DH and I were both bad bed-wetters so I think the deck is stacked against my kids and I'm just not going to worry about night-time peeing for a long time. I hate throwing these underjams in the landfill but I don't see a reasonable way out of it.

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