How do you know when it's time to night train? And how do you do it?

[99redballoons]

Hi, ds(3.1) has been daytime trained since he was 2 (amazingly!!), nap time trained since 2.5, but still wears a nappy at night. Then dd arrived on the scene so decided to postpone nighttime training. She's 8months now so we thought we'd give it a go with ds. BUT, he still has a wet nappy in the morning and sometimes still poos in his nappy in the morning. He is very keen to wear pants all the time though and does ask about when we can start.

-Is he ready for night time training even though he's still wet at night?
-I've heard about 'lifting' at night - when is the best time to do this?
-Also would you recommend leaving a potty in their room (even though these have been in the loft for months)?
-Would you let a just-3 yo go to the toilet by themselves in the morning? (he's capable of doing this in the day, but we don't like the idea of him being in the bathroom by himself when we're sleeping)
-Must I wake him up in the morning and 'lift' him then too for the wee & poo? (he is usually up before us! aren't they all??)
-Do you limit drinks at dinner?

I have looked down the threads and got half way down and couldn't see one about night training in detail. Any tips appreciated.

DD was dry by day for a year before we nighttrained.
She always had wet nappies in the morning and if we'd waited for them to be dry, she'd be in them still.
We started lifting at around the time we went to bed, between 10/11. She didn't like this much at first but soon barely woke up. Always had a good wee though. (Stopped lifting after about 6mths, when I was confident she could go through till the morning)
Yes, I put a potty in her room, so she could go herself if she woke up (nightlight if necc). I think going out into a dark house to the loo could be a bit scary.
Didn't limit drinks at tea, but made sure she didn't have any more after that, which gave a good 90 mins for everything to pass through the system
Always made her go one last time before putting out light

dd was dry day and nap times from 2.5
we tried her at night about 3 mths ago at 3.5 but she had one dry and 2 wet nights.
So we just left it for a while again.
About 4 weeks ago she just was not wetting her nappies anymore and she started waking up in the night for a wee.
So we took the nappy off 3 weeks ago and bar one acident when she was bone tired from a day out at the seaside. it has worked

I would thus advise leaving it until his nappy is dry at night
FWIW dd does not wake up needing to wee, sometimes she goes for a few hours without one after waking.

We went for it when DS1 asked (hes 3.2) and he had very wet nappies in the morning. We just put him in pants and told him he was to go to the toilet if he needed to. Hes been dry ever since and this was 3 weeks ago. not one accident!

I haven't lifted him (forgot) and haven't limited his drinks either (was too hot) he will take himself to the loo, flush it and go back to bed!

If ur worried about him messing in the bathroom, make sure everything is out of reach. I kept a spare set of covers and some pants to hand so i wasn't scrabbling around in teh dark looking and he has one of those care mats under his sheet

i also wouldn't put a potty in the room, purely becasue he never really liked them and would tip the contents on his younger brother!!!

Thanks for this! I guess we can only try! He seems very keen. It's so light at the moment I think he'd be fine going to the loo by himself, he just has a habit of running the bath taps and putting the plug in and naturally you worry about water being that accessible. I guess we have to lay some ground rules and lots of stickers. I tend to agree with those that say about still wetting forever as he does do it just because there's one on, or atleast that's definitely the case with his poos.

Will let you know how it goes...

OMG! Two dry nights in a row!! Lifting at 10:30pm and he comes straight into us in the morning! (...5:15am this morning - ARGH - but that's another story!..)

Great progress!

Not sure what 'lifting' means but if it means waking dd up to wee, I would rather she wet the bed, poor sleeper that she is!

Dd 2.9 was toilet trained in the day after 1 week. After 3 weeks, we started night training. Her nappies were generally dry or had perhaps one wee in them in the morning. Went commando with absorbent sheets under the bed linen. Lots of accidents for 2 weeks, but I was heartened that she woke up and started crying if she wet herself. Then dry. Still have potty next to bed in the morning. But actually, she does not need it anymore and can hold until she gets to the toilet.

ds had been dry in the day for ages, but still always had a wet nappy in the morning. But I think he was just waking up and doing one because he had the nappy on, and it was easier than getting up and going to the loo.

So we started a reward scheme. Sticker chart with a sticker for each morning he had a dry nappy, and then a bigger reward (a toy he wanted) if he managed two weeks of dry nappies. After two weeks of dry nappies, we took the nappies of and did a similar reward scheme for dry beds. This method resulted in minimal bed wetting (only two wet beds I think) and he has been very reliable ever since.

Thanks for the feedback. We're doing stickers too. Think I spoke too soon as two wet mornings followed, with him walking into our room with new pj bottoms on with both legs through one leg hole! awwww! thinking we wouldn't notice! Bless, he's trying so hard. Still persevering...

99RB, good luck - we have a similar situ with DS. He has been dry in the day since 2 yrs 9 mths, but then DD arrived... so we delayed the night time training. We were waiting for the dry nappies in the morning, or him waking to want a wee...etc but neither has happened, and he's such a deep sleeper that on the three occassions that we tried no nappies (after he begged ) we only get dry nights if we lift him before we go to bed, and once in the night (when we got up to feed DD) and then again in the morning...he's now just 4 and I really want him dry before he starts school! DD no longer wakes in the night, hurrah, so obviously we don't want to be lifting him when we aren't having to get up anyway ourselves ...added problem is that we have a potty seat in his room, but understandably he doesn't want to use it as it's for babies (his words) and our only toilets are down our curved stairs and I freak at the thought of him taking a tumble in the middle of the night. Also he really is such a deep sleeper that when we have tried before and tried not to lift him, then if he's had an accident he just sleeps through without it bothering him one iota. Anyone have any ideas...?

99redballoons...bless your ds with his pj pants..lol
My ds is 2.9yrs and been day trained for 7mths and night for 3mths. I didnt think he was ready but he insisted he didnt want a nappy. Been very lucky in that he has not wet the bed at all...I did try lifting him for the first 2 nights but it made him miserable as he was insisting he didnt need a wee and was upset at being woken up. Actually worked better when we left him to sleep all night...only thing is it now leads to 6am wake up but hey ho small price to pay.

teabelly about the dry morning nappies...ds never had them at all!!! thats why I was convinced he was not ready but he was as he has not had a single wet bed he was just weeing in the nappies because he knew he had them on.

Thanks Curtaintwitcher I thought that about DS too, but he really wants to be dry, it just isn't happening Like I said we've had three attempts so far, and each attempt has been for a minimum of 2 weeks, the longest was for a month, and it was just so hit and miss...a couple of dry nights followed by a couple of wet, average 50/50 I guess we just persevere, and one day it will come right...am going to try again tomorrow, so I guess I'd better make sure I have plenty of washing powder, he he he

teabelly would a reward chart work with him? Making a big deal about going to toilet before sleep, usual cutting down a little on night drinks[ds still has half a cup of milk for bed]. At the end of the day they say night training is one of those things that just clicks internally and not to worry until they are 7.

Hi teabelly.. the more the merrier! Sorry no further advice really. It's strange my ds wants a potty in his room, but I'm insisting he goes on the loo! Too nervous about an upset all over the carpet.

We've been going for 5 nights now - first 2 dry, then 3 wet. Was thinking about going back to nappies, but will try a bit longer. The warm (HOT!) weather helps as you can wash and dry the sheets in a day! Would much rather be doing the training in the summer than winter.

I read on another thread that if you wake them in the morning and take them to the loo this may help, rather than in the middle of the night. However, I'm not sure how we can ever 'beat' ds in the morning, he's up with the birds. Will have to get dh to wake him when he gets up for work at 6am. See if that helps. Will try that once this first week is up. Then maybe have 'potty in the room' as plan C!

Let us know how things go teabelly

Curtaintwitcher - massive thanks tried the reward chart again following your suggestion and added a (non sweetie) treat for each 3 days he was dry and so far we've had 10 dry nights in a row!! Some of it was him just being 'ready' this time but I'm sure the added incentives played an encouraging part too! We'll wait a month before feeling that we've cracked it, but so far so good...

99RB - how's it going with your ds? Hope you're being successful too