Bedtime drink and toilet training

[chocolatepig]

I'm into the 5th day of training my DD (2.3) going fairly well only one accident today (although still prefers to poo in undies). She has recently stopped her afternoon nap so is in undies all day until bed when she goes into nappy, woke up 40 mins after bedtime milk upset because she had a wee.She likes her bedtime milk wondering if anyone else had ever had similar problems? Should I change her routine?

I'm not sure what you're asking really, so if I've got the wrong end of the stick then I apologise!

Are you asking whether you should drop the bedtime milk to make her dry at night? Because it won't! Don't expect her to be dry at night for a long, long while yet - night-time dryness is a hormonal thing, it has nothing to do with daytime dryness and isn't something you can "train".

If she wakes wet, change her nappy without a fuss - and don't express disappointment. Tell her that she won't be ready to stop wearing a nappy at night, so it's OK to be wet, but that you will change it for her if she wakes and is uncomfortable.

There really isn't anything you can do to force this, and limiting her drinks won't help.

Thanks for replying, no I don't want to stop her drink but wondered if I should just try and do it a bit earlier and try and let her go to loo-if she starts getting upset at a wet nappy and getting out of bed(which she never does!) it's a shame.

About the hormonal aspect what's that about? I've not heard of that, sounds interesting if you could fill me in!

Don't stop the bedtime drink. At this stage of training, and dd's age it won't make any difference.
The hormone is produced in the brain to enable the child to be aware while asleep that the bladder is full, so that they can wake up to empty it. Up to this stage the bladder is emptied by a reflex action when full, and the young child has no concious control over this. During the day they are able to recognise the signals, and eventually to control the bladder enough to get to the potty/loo in time, but this is a learned skill. Wetting while asleep is still a reflex until the hormone causes this to change. There is no way of predicting when this will happen, it is extremely variable, and has to develop at the childs' own rate.
Continue with nappies or pull-ups until you notice they are mostly dry in the morning, or when dd anounces she doesn't want to wear nappies at night anymore!

Thanks Kittensocks, I've read a lot about potty training recently but not heard about this so it's really useful. She had her normal drink at bedtime tonight and didn't wake up so hopefully it was a 'blip'