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Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

Potty training

Night time training 3 year okd

18 replies

catg83 · 16/01/2018 07:52

Morning all.

The last 2 nights my just turned 3 year old has been asking for no nappy at bedtime. He has been pretty much potty trained for about 6 months.

I am 7 months pregnant and it makes sense, in my head, to night time train before baby comes so I want to capitalise on his interest. BUT he very rarely has a dry nappy in the morning.

Should I be waiting until he is not weeing in his nappy at night? If I start tonight should I wake him up to wee? Do I need a waterproof mattress cover?

Thanks in advance.

OP posts:

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BrizzleMaverick · 27/01/2018 09:17

My three year old has also just shown interest in no nappy at night. He has been dry in the day for 7 months but always has a wet nappy in the morning. Thursday night I left the potty in his room but he woke up wet at 2am. Last night I put him on the potty at about 11pm but not sure if this is the best thing to do or not?

dementedpixie · 27/01/2018 09:23

Yes to waterproof protectors. I got them for the pillows too as they sometimes got wet too. Although mine had dry morning nappies before we took them away

Eminybob · 27/01/2018 09:23

From what I understand, you can’t train night dryness, it’s only going to happen when they are ready.
DS is 3.5 and he has spells where he is dry through the night but not enough for me to risk it yet. the way I see it is that it’s not an inconvenience for me to put a pull up on him at night, it would be more so to have to sort out wet sheets every other night.
He’s 100% dry in the day which is what matters.

ItsNiceItsDifferentItsUnusual · 27/01/2018 09:28

Being dry at night is hormonal and it will be very tricky to train without that hormone.

Ds is 4 and dry in the day since 2.7 but his nappies are soaking in the morning. Until he wakes consistently with a dry nappy, I'm just letting him crack on with it.

The hormone usually kicks in by 7. If it hasn't, the GP will investigate further at the moment I believe.

ElphabaTheGreen · 27/01/2018 09:36

You definitely can't train night dryness. My fully-toilet-trained 5yo is still in night nappies. The couple of times he's forgotten to put his night nappy on, he didn't even wake up when he wet the bed, so any kind of 'training' would be impossible.

My 3yo is completely dry at night and has been for months with no effort on my part. I was worried that DS1 would be upset at his little brother being completely out of nappies before him, but DS2 is mainly just a bit jealous that he doesn't get to wear 'Spider-Man pants' at night like his big brother.

noenergy · 27/01/2018 09:40

Agree that you can't really night time train. Put down waterproof mattress protectors.

For my eldest 2 I didn't stop putting a pull up on until they woke up dry for at least a month or 2.

With my youngest she has been dry in the morning from about 1.5 years old but she was worst to get out of daytime nappies, it's only been a month and she is 3.5.

All kids are different just give it time. Don't give too much to drink at night.

insancerre · 27/01/2018 09:42

You can't train for night time dryness
It's down to a hormone and muscle development, none of which he will have any control over

Believeitornot · 27/01/2018 09:42

I didn’t adjust drinks or anything like that. We lifted our two (tookthem to the toilet without fully waking) at about 10pm every night which stopped most night accidents. Mine are 8&6 and both dry at night - we stopped lifting them at about 5 or so.

Mol1628 · 27/01/2018 09:44

Just use pull ups till they’re dry. Call them night time pants. If you try and go nappy free now you’ll just end up with lots of bed changes plus a newborn.

My almost 3 year old goes 12/14 hours at night then wees as soon as he gets up, there shouldn’t be a need to wake them in the night once they’re ready to be dry.

insancerre · 27/01/2018 09:46

Agree with previous poster
Use pull ups and no need to lift them

EekThreek · 27/01/2018 09:53

My DS is 3.1 and has been making a little fuss about putting his nappy on at night. He wakes up dry about half of the time, counting over a two-week period (e.g he'll have 5 days wet then 4 dry, then another wet and then 5 days dry again).

I've explained to him that he can go without nappies when he always wakes up dry, but that we don't want the wees to sneak out in the night and make him wet and cold.

I'm fully prepared for him to be in night nappies this time next year too - no big deal if he is, washing sheets every day is a much bigger deal in my book!

As PPs have said, being dry overnight is entirely out of his control so there's no point trying to force it.

littledinaco · 27/01/2018 09:58

It’s hormonal so you can’t train him. I don’t think lifting is recommended either. It’s normal for kids who are 5/6/7 to still be in pull ups at night.

If you are pregnant, I would probably say this is the worst time-you don’t want to be dealing with wet beds in the middle of the night while heavily pregnant or with a newborn!

I would wait until his pull ups are dry and then you can take him out of them. If he is asking to come out, just be matter of fact and tell him when they are dry at night he can stop wearing them. Don’t ask him to ‘try’ and keep them dry or anything as it’s not something he can control.

One of mine was 6 and one day had a dry pull up and then no accidents. One was under 2 and was dry at night before in the day, just had a dry nappy every night.

AmberTopaz · 27/01/2018 10:01

One of mine was dry at night at 2 and another at 7! Both dry in the day at 2.

As he’s asked, why not give it a try? It may be that he’s ready, and his nappy is only wet in the morning because he’s doing a big morning wee! But be prepared to go back to nappies if he wets the bed.

Eminybob · 27/01/2018 10:08

I don’t understand lifting. It’s not training them to wake up to go to the toilet if they are still asleep. Plus seems like more effort than just keeping a pull up on

GrabbyMcGrabby · 27/01/2018 10:14

I had always subscribed to the theory that you can't night toilet train until the hormone is present. However, I was told by a school nurse that you can help stimulate the hormone. Firstly, you have to make sure that their bladder can accommodate all night time urine output. To do this you start getting them to drink large glasses of water or milk first thing (I think 250ml). Then you do this another 5 times throughout the day up until 3pm. Thereafter you just offer normal amounts to drink as they need, limiting it towards bedtime. Make sure they do a double wee at bedtime. So once when teeth brushing and again after story time. If you do this via the school nurse they will get the teacher to oversee daytime drinking and allow extra toilet breaks.

Along with this she recommended any night light is kept as low as possible as that can trigger then to pee in the night - too bright light = daytime.

Mine (5.5) can manage to stay dry about 5 nights in a row but usually only during the holidays. LO v keen to ditch nappies so we are going to try and do the above regime in half term. I have stocked up on absorbent Brolly Sheet pads and I have a waterproof sleeping bag liner in case LO wants to get in with us. I can cope with washing single duvets and sheets daily but not doubles! The liner will be good on hold too.

There are some useful fact sheets on the ERIC website. It says you need to try for at least 7+ days before child is classed as a bedwetter. Also, some kids are never going to be dey overnight while in nappies as they know they can owe anytime they fancy and bed stays dry!

Nurse said wet sheets needed to be taken off bed and put in machine by child as further incentive. I am not sure i agree with that tactic though.

OP, good luck. I guess if you go for it depends if the hassle now is worth it or if it's better to wait until your baby arrives. When you decide to go for it, explain all to your DS and maybe get a sticker chat. Either way, good luck!

BrizzleMaverick · 27/01/2018 14:57

I've read about hormones controlling night dryness and wasn't too worried that he was still in nappies at nighttime but he has decided he wants to wear pants to bed. I'm tempted just to wake him and ask if he wants the toilet rather than sitting him on the potty. We will see what happens, he may decide he wants a nappy tonight.
At least I managed to get him to do a poo in the potty last night which he has been refusing to do for months (only in nappy then asks to be changed before going to sleep!)

Ekphrasis · 27/01/2018 15:35

It's hormones so you can't train them.

But I had the situation where ds was very annoyed by nappies and they'd sometimes wake him up (I think he had an erection and the nappy stopped it and he got very upset ) he was mostly dry at night but we had the occasional wet nappy. I think this was around 3.5 when he stopped wearing day nappies.

We got a couple of waterproof sheets and layered them with two sheets for ease of changing if needed if everyone was in a rush. Most of the time he was dry; growth spurts and illness threw it occasionally.

BrizzleMaverick · 28/01/2018 07:16

Last night I woke him a little bit to see if he wanted a wee, he said no so didn't put him on the potty. Was fully expecting wet sheets by 2am but he has just come in to our room and he is dry, it might be a bit of luck but if he's done it once...
Also he has just gone back to his potty to do a poo 👍

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