20 mo dry until nap/bedtime then goes in nappy? Normal?

[oikopolis]

My DS is 20 mo. Over the last 10 days or so, I've had him in undies every afternoon (I work mornings), and he had started to tell me ('uh-oh!') when he was about to wet himself, started to go only a little bit and then tell me, grab his bits when about to go, look for paper to help clean up, etc. So we thought we'd try a pt intensive over Easter weekend.

We're ending day 3 today. Basic strategy has been pants all day, going to the potty frequently on waking, before and after meals, before a sleep, before and after going out plus whenever he shows signs/has a mini accident. I've got him in a nappy for naps and at night since he still sometimes poos in his sleep and I can't be doing with scraping shit out of pants at 3am.

Starting Friday, he was in undies full time while awake. He had 2 accidents on Friday morning, did a little wee in the big toilet (on a seat thing), and then finally got a whole wee in the potty on Friday afternoon, hooray! He was thrilled.

Then on Saturday morning, he had one biggish accident (my fault due to not paying attention), and I put him on the potty straight after as usual, but he didn't go again. Had a long nap and obviously nappy was heavy after that. Afternoon, no accidents at all, but didn't go at all either. Obvi wee'd his overnight nappy.

And then today, Sunday... he was up since 7:30, went to park in underpants, then to Mickey D's, then home again and he was STILL dry at 11:30! I had put a nappy on over his pants as a safeguard, but bone dry. Wet nappy on waking from midday nap, which is to be expected. But same thing in afternoon, didn't go at all??

He clearly has the muscular control needed for wee training (not convinced for poo training yet, we'll see in a few weeks/months), but is this really normal? Could he be damaging himself but not going for 4ish hours at a time? Or is this a day-trained child? He seems fine, pants not wet at all so he's not going and stopping himself, he's literally just not going.

Sorry if this is a stupid question. I just thought there would be loads of potty-peeing and trips to empty potty etc? I am going to ring the local nurses' line too but thought it would be better to ask a wider audience...

[CookieMonsterIsHot]

Totally normal. Feeling the need and acting on it are totally different skills.

One of mine still avoids going for a wee until absolutely desperate and he's 5. If he still wore sleep nappies he'd probably wee in his sleep instead of going before bed.

[givemecaffeine21]

I put my 21 month old in pull ups at nap time and a nappy for bed (I don't think pull ups would hold the amount she does overnight). In the Gina Ford potty training book which I (very loosely) followed, mainly for tips, she says most children aren't dry at night until they're three years old. My mum had all of us potty trained by 2 years old but said we didn't come out of night nappies until we were 3 (and one of my siblings took until he was 5...but there were other problems in that case). There's no way I'd expect her to hold her wee at night or for naps...it's asking for accidents, mess and tears from everyone when she wakes in a wet bed!

[pottytrainingtips]

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