Tips on Dry Nights

[Tillyboo]

My dd is totally dry in the day and we are just embarking on night times now. Tonight is the first 'No Nappy' night. We've reduced her evening milk intake and split the amount she'd normally have with a late afternoon and early evening cup. She went to bed at 8pm and we also carried her to the loo at 11pm and she did a wee whilst half asleep.
Is there anything else we can do ? I'm not looking forward to too many bed clothes changes during the night.
DD will be 3 at the beginning of April

Has she been having dry nappies up until now? There is a limited amount you can do to encourage dry nights IME as they are only physically capable of it once their body is producing enough of a hormone which reduces the amount of urine produced at night.

2 is very young to be out of nappies at night - I know of 6 year olds who still need them! If it works fairly easily then go for it, but if not then personally I would leave it for a while and then try again.

Leave it!!!! If she feels under pressure she may get a complex about wees during the day.

My 2 are boys and were both totally dry during the day at about 2.5 but both wore nappies at night for far longer - ds1 was a very occasional bedwetter till he was 10.

Daisymoo is right about the hormone - it concentrates urine at night and only starts to be produced as the child matures - the exact age varies and the child has no control over it.

Does she have a wet nappy on waking most nights - because if she does I would just leave it as who wants to get up in the cold and change sheets!

We've always left it until we had 3 dry nights in a row. There isn't much you can do until they are ready.

I have had totally different experiences with DS and DD. DS went through a period of dry nights when he was about 2 3/4 but because I was pg and very tired I didn't follow up on it. I think I probably missed a window of opportunity and he was still wetting at 3 1/2 when we decided it was time he came out of nappies and forced the issue. We had very occasional wet nights and left a potty by his bed.

DD OTOH was day trained at just 2 and dry at night a couple of week later. We left her in nappies until after our holiday but she came out of them straight after and is very reliably dry for at least 12 sometimes 14/15 hours over night. Never gets up.

What is the factor in going for night training? Do you think she is ready/right age?

daisymoo, that hormone you mention is the one that my 2year old ds is lacking so i have to inject him with it. had to mention it because it was nice to actually read something about it for once

Night training doens't necessarily follow day training that quickly . Unless you have pressing reasons to force the issue or have any inclination that she is actually able to go all night (ie a dry nappy first thing) leave it for a good few months . It is simply not worth creating the issue about or cutting her fluid intake to achieve and many children start school still in nightitme nappies. Never did lifting, cutting drinks etc with our 2 and both were dry at night just before 4 of their own volition.

DS was dry in the day about 18 months before he was at night. DD was about a fortnight.

Thanks all .... quite a varied lot of answers. Just proves all children are different.
The reason why we tried no nappy last night was because our dd has been talking about not wanting to wear a nappy at night. I've sort of ignored her up until now but was worried I'd miss the boat with her initiating it.
I didn't know about the hormone thing so think I'll wait a while before we try again as she has had wet nappies in the morning.
I did have to change her bed at about 3am this morning, although it was only a small wee. But she was dry at 8am this morning on waking.
You get told so many different things but the hormone point is an important one and so we'll wait until we have a couple of dry morning nappies.
Did anyone elses dc's ask not to wear nappies at night ? On what basis did you decide to go nappy'less ?

tillyboo I think if I was you I would be tempted to give it another couple of nights and see if she gets the hang of it. Also have you tried putting a care mat on the bed to minimise sheet changing?

We've been talking about it this morning (dd & I) and I told her what a good girl she was and she was so pleased with herself that I am tempted to try one or two more nights.
She has been dry in the daytime since the beginning of the summer, we took off her nappy in the garden & bingo. It's been very easy. She won't entertain the potty now & wants to go on the 'big' toilet all the time. We are not allowed to watch, she just takes herself off shouting 'ooh, I need a wee wee/ poosey'.

I have got some of the protector thingy's to put over the top of her sheets but they are not brilliant at staying in the same place when dd is rolling about in her sleep. I use them when she has a nap on the sofa, just incase, but she has never yet wee'd on the sofa.

She is quite advanced in a lot of ways, her language and the use of it and her general personality so maybe she just needs the feeling of no nappy for a few nights to encourage her.
I won't put any pressure on her tho so if it doesn't work out we'll try again in a few months time.

Definitely sounds worth trying for another couple of nights then. In a lot of ways she sounds similar to my DD who will be 3 in May and was day trained last May. I think maybe she just needs to get used to it. Also if it was just a little wee maybe she realised and stopped herself? IKWYM about those protectors, depends how wriggly the child is.

Hi Wrappingpaper,

We braved another night and although we had another wet sheet (dd had turned upside down and missed the absorbant care mat) it was only a very small amount of wee and she woke up and came and told me.

This was at about 3.30am and I did put a nappy on her as I was knackered and couldn't face another wake up call. Her nappy on waking was pretty empty although she had had another wee.

I'm not sure I'll try again tonight unless dd mentions being a big girl and not wanting to wear a nappy again. Or, maybe I should give it a couple more nights and see what happens ?

What do you think ? The last thing I want to do is force the issue but she wants to go nappy'less and doesn't get distressed or upset at wetting and goes straight back to sleep after I've changed the sheet

DS1 is 4 in April and his nappy is full of wee each morning even though he has a wee at bathtime (7PM) and doesn't have a bedtime drink.

My mum is nagging that he should be dry at night by now and I'm thinking how on earth would he hold in that much wee all night.

Any advice/suggestions

DD was dry in the day at 24 months. She is now 4y8m and still wets at night. When she was 3.5 she went a couple of weeks being dry and then reverted back. Since the age of 4 she hasn't worn bedpants, just has a bed sheet instead. She goes through stages of being dry completely for 4 or 5 weeks, and then reverts back to having accidents hit and miss. Nothing has prevented this - stopping drinks, lifting, etc. We do wake her when we go to bed and send her to the toilet - I know that is when she needs to go. She is quite a heavy sleeper and she just doesn't always know she has been.

DD is dry more than she is wet, and this increases all the time.

But I am not concerned just yet. She's done in before and will do it again. Doctors don't even want to do until they are about 7 anyway.

Ignore your mum

knittingtinsel: I agree, ignore your mum.

my ds is 4 and despite ratioining drinks from tea time, and forcing bed time pee, and lifting him at my bed time for a sleepyhead pee, he still pees the bed and p*sses like a racehorse first thing in the morning.

I blame his dad.

Do you think he just hasn't started producing the right hormone to sort out the night time weeing ?

I bet my mum, like me didn't know there was such a hormone, please tell me it's true.

It is a hormone thing along with the particularly deep long sleeps that toddlers have - we all remember that we could be carried out of the car and into bed without waking when we were young. I couldn't go 12 hours without a pee, so of course ds can't either.

I don't know why out mothers and MIL get so stressed about this - because since pull ups were invented it simply is not a problem.

We've tried 2 more nights resulting in more sheet changes (again missed the absorbant mat as she rolls around o much) so we've decided it's not the right time. We'll wait a few more months, she'll be 3 then and give it another go

My DS is 4.2 - he desperately wants to get rid of "nappy pants" and I have said that when we have a few consecutive mornings of waking with dry nappy pants we will try it - so far we have had quite a few dry nights, but never more than 1 at a time. Lifting him is no good - he sleeps so deeply he just doesn't wake at all. It is the only time I have wished he sleep-walked like both my brothers - I remember my mother being able to get my younger brother out of bed, tell him to go for a wee, and he would walk there, wee, and take himself back to bed without waking up at all.

On a separate note, does anyone think it is likely to happen faster if they are not in nappies? I can't see it myself, as on the odd occasion when I have forgotten to put his nappy on, he has woken up soaking wet, but not until the normal time - so being wet clearly doesn't wake him either!