Waking up dry

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

My almost 3 year old has been day time potty trained for over a year and nap time potty trained for around 6 months. He woke up heavy wet overnight so we’ve not tried to tackle nights yet.

The last 5 nights in a row, he’s naturally woken up with a completely dry nappy. We’re just about to move him from a cot into a bed, so he’ll be able to get to the potty at night if needed.

I can’t decide whether to wait a bit longer to see if he stay dries or whether to go ahead and drop the nappy now. Not sure if the move to a bed will help (can access potty if needed) or hinder (disruption/change).

He went through a period of being dry at nap time, I didn’t drop the nappy and he got lazy and went back to weeing in his nappy as soon as he woke up and it took a fair bit of work to undo that again. I don’t want to make the same mistake with overnight. Equally I’m fairly heavily pregnant and not overjoyed at the idea of regularly changing bedsheets and extra night time disruption right now.

Also not sure if best to tackle this before baby arrives, or leave it until later in case baby causes toddler to regress with his toileting. Again, don’t want to be up all night with baby AND changing sheets!

Bite the bullet or hang fire until sure he’s reliable? Do it now or put it off until changes (bed, baby) have settled down?

Random extra Q, husband and I disagree over whether DS should wear pants overnight once nappy is dropped?

[Fatted]

If he can do day time naps without an accident, I'd try going without a nappy at night. It's the same concept. I didn't potty train either of mine until they were done with day time naps.

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

1.5 hr nap vs 12 hours overnight feels quite a big difference 🤔

[OliviaPopeRules]

If he has been dry for 5 nights I would definitely try it. What would he wear other than pants if he's not wearing a pull-up?

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

Nothing. Just his PJs? He usually has clean PJs daily as he covers them in breakfast. It seems, to me, unnecessary to have pants under his PJ trousers.... but according to DH “most blokes wear pants bed”

[happytoday73]

5 nights dry.. Would definitely go for it..

Can you put him in bed with cot in same room for a week or so... and just move him to cot and strip bed if he wets it?

[user1493413286]

I tried it after a week of dry nights; so I’d say try it.

[LunaLoveFood]

I would get a waterproof mattress protector and then go for it.

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

That’s not a bad idea, thanks! I think we could fit that, short term.

We’ve got two mattress protectors so I thought about layering mattress protector/sheet/protector/sheet, so I can just whip the top two off in the night and don’t need to put new ones on. It would be nice to get this sorted before winter as he’s only sleeping with sheets currently, so don’t need to contend with wet duvets yet.

[LunaLoveFood]

Sounds like a great plan.

[Footlooseandfancy]

We did it after two weeks of dry night nappies, just had a waterproof protector on the matress - DD was still in a cot but would shout when she woke up for the potty. Now in a bed with potty in the room but she doesn't go at all at the night! It seems funny given she wees about a bazillion times during the day!

[FelicityPike]

Give it a go. You never know if you don’t try.
I agree, pants under jammies (but I think that’s a personal choice)

[Bohemond]

Lift for a wee when you go to bed.

[DaffodilsAndDandelions]

Have you come across the things you stick on the bed. They are about 2.5ft square and like nappies first the bed to go under a sheet

[Merename]

It’s defo worth a go. Also worth remembering though that he is likely to regress in toileting when new baby comes, but that won’t last.

[lljkk]

mattress protector & maybe a promise of a chocolate button if he happens to wake up dry

[yikesanotherbooboo]

If he has been dry over night for 5-7 nights just stop the nappies. Advice would be not to lift before bed. Either he can do it or he can't but many can at his age. Sheet, waterproof mattress protector sheet waterproof mattress cover in the bed so that you can whip one lot off if there is an accident .

[ElfCakes]

I'd go for it now
I'd also go no pants under PJs partly because it's easier to pull down pj bottoms for a half asleep wee in the night than both pants and pj bottoms. In fact my DS (2) now opts to sleep naked and I think this might be why!

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

Thanks all. I think you’ve given me the confidence to go for it and see what happens. He’s getting his bed over the next few days so, as long as he’s dry a couple more nights, might go for both changed together when he can get up to access the potty. Good point about no pants being easier to toilet in the dark, so will at least start with PJ trousers only I think.

[DramaAlpaca]

I agree, drop the night nappy now.

I did this with youngest DS at 2.6, on the advice of an older friend. We had a wet bed the first morning and he was dry thereafter.

He was actually trained day and night at the same time, which was a major surprise as his older brothers were much older being dry at night.

[LunaLoveFood]

A friend of mine put puppy training pad on top of the sheet for the first night just in case.

[TJ17]

I'm in the same position (due to give birth in just over a week) and DS has been dry overnight now for what must be weeks but I've decided to wait til after baby arrives before stopping with bed time pull ups (as he keeps them consistently dry anyway) just because I don't want to risk having to change sheets in the night and get him back to sleep etc whilst I have a newborn. I'm also concerned having a new baby around could cause him to regress so waiting to see how that plays out first.

[TJ17]

Forgot to mention he's not 3 til October.
And I'll also not bother with pants at bed time, just pjs would be fine I'd say 🤷🏼‍♀️

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

Right, well he’s been in a toddler bed for a few nights now and that’s gone fine so far....

He’s been dry for a solid week now so we’ve bitten the bullet tonight and put him to bed with no nappy. Let’s see what happens.... eeek.

He hasn’t really worked out that he can get out of bed. I’m hoping getting out for the potty won’t start him rampaging around generally. He’s been holding it this week from 8pm to 7/7.30am so hoping he won’t really need the potty, just that it’s there in case of emergencies.

[FelicityPike]

Ahh good luck!

[FizzingWhizzbee123]

Just to update on the off chance anyone is following....

He’s done brilliantly! On the first night, he woke up at 5am, tried to use the potty himself but weed on his PJ trousers and woke us up for help. However since then, he’s just stayed dry and waited until we get him up and take him to the toilet in the morning! It doesn’t seem to have disrupted his sleep and he’s just stayed completely dry with no hassle. He doesn’t even seem desperate to get to the toilet in the morning. He’s been great with his bed, he stays in it even when he’s awake and doesn’t get up and meds around. Or if he does get up (say to wipe his nose, as he has a cold), he’s been going straight back to bed.

I’m super proud of him! I believe night dryness comes naturally due to a hormone, so I expect that just kicked in and he’s naturally become ready, but I’m still really pleased with him.

I’m fully expecting a regression when baby arrives, but it feel good to have to these two big milestones tackled before we throw a baby into the mix.