Night training - does it just happen by itself?

[elliott]

It seems very quiet today so I'm not sure what response this v boring topic is going to get, but never mind!

I am feeling a bit clueless about the whole night training business. Does everyone just wait until miraculously the nappies are dry in the morning, or what?

Ds1 is only just 3 so obviously quite young to be thinking about dry at night, but I like to be prepared! He is in pullups at night and since he went into a bed a few months ago, he's had a potty in his bedroom in case he wants to go in the night (the toilet is not accessible). he has used this at bedtime before he's gone to sleep, so I know he can do it, but he's never used it without prompting first thing in the morning.
his nappy is always wet in the morning, although not very heavy, and often its clearly pretty fresh! - I suspect he's going at some point in the early morning but not sure if he is fully awake or aware that its happening. On odd occasions there has been very little in the nappy and he has managed a much bigger wee in the potty.
Is there anything I can do to encourage him to go to the loo as soon as he wakes, or is this just something that will come in time? Is there any point in trying without nappies before he has had some completely dry ones in the morning?

oooh, some overnight developments... had earnest chat with DD last night about desirability of dry nappies in the morning, possibilty of rewards in store etc. lifted her at 10.15 and nappy a bit damp, never mind, back to sleep. but this morning.... guess what? we had our first EVER dry morning nappy. we're all (esp DD) really dead chuffed.
i won't expect too much, early days and all that, but now i know she CAN make the connection and control her bladder for 9+hours, it feels like a huge leap.

soupdragon, like bakedpotato, I was looking for reassurance that I can just leave it to happen and have some hope that it WILL happen....did you ahve to encourage them to go to the toilet at night or did they just start to do it suddenly?
I guess I'm a bit worried that if I miss signs that he is 'ready', he could jsut get used to weeing in the nappy rather than go to the hassle of getting up etc. I'm already a bit worried that his nappies are now fuller than they were a few weeks ago - suspect he's being woken early in the morning by his bladder and just not really making the connection with the need to get out of bed for a wee.
But I'm pretty sure it would be a disaster if I just left his nappy off so I will sit tight and try to be patient!

btw I'm pretty sure that whatever it was I read suggested that about 20% of kids become dry at night at about the same time as day time potty training. I can't believe its 'most' or there wouldn't be all this anst about bed wetting!

Mine just started doing it really. We had a chat with DS1 IIRC basically to give him permission to go but only because he started waking up and shouting that he needed to go.

My post wasn't meant to be critical, honest. I see how it came across like that though. I am an inherently lazy person and simply didn't see the point of rushing into night training when pullups were doing the job. Ditto lifting - too much effort Had DSs not trained themselves by 5 or so I would have started to worry though.

There is an element of being physically ready to night training. Sufficient production of some hormone or other that stops the bladder filling up so much over night.

DS2 was encouraged to keep his pull ups dry using the pasta jar approiach where he was rewarded for each dry pair witha piece of pasta (but not punished in anyway for having a wet pair). Funny thing is, although he was so excited about his Dry Pants Pasta Jar, he never asked to trade them in for a tangible reward and has forgotten about it now!

no, your post didn't seem critical - very helpful actually because you're the first person who's said, yes, it happened by itself without too many problems but it was quite a long time after day time training. That's kind of what I had hoped to hear!

just saw your other post. we have talked encouragingly about keeping his pullups dry (especially when he seemed quite excited about doing his 'big wee') but maybe I need to have a tangible reward. And need to wait longer.
btw to digress a little - with the Pasta Jar system, what sorts of rewards did you have for 3 year olds? - and for how many bits of pasta Starting to think about implementing something like this but lack imagination about rewards. I guess there's always chocolate

Elliot - same here, my ds was out of nappies around 2.8 months but took another 8-9 months before dry at night. He NEVER had a dry night nappy. So we started off lifing him at about 10 for a couple of weeks, then went out for the night and forgot to lift him and he went through dry. We only had a couple of wet beds after that.

We use the pasta jar thing day to day too and each piece equates to 10p pocket money. DS2 is a second child so understands this better than DS1 would have done. You could have a ceremonial counting up on a Saturday and exchange each piece for, say, a chocolate coin. That way they are rewarded for all the successes but not punished as such for the accidents.

Not strictly on topic as we tried nights a while a month or 2 ago with limited success (and we'll be in temporoary accom for a couple of months so nto a greta time to try again). But in our house the going exchange rate for pasta is 3 pasta for one mini chocolate bar.

elliott we do pasta for our 4.8 year old - we give him money for each piece.He can earn up to 3 pieces a day and the rate is 10p per piece - he gets one for the am and pm if he's good, really excellent behaviour (eg especially helpful, especially kind to sister etc) gets him three. He can choose what he spends it on - sometimes sweets and comic, sometimes he saves up for somethimng bigger like a toy.

just resurrecting this thread as last week ds1 (3) has taken to refusing to wear a nappy at night. He's been dry in the day for about 6 months, and averaged 2 / 3 dry nappies in the mornings recently, but I don't think he's quite ready for no nappy.
The first night we left him and he was fine, ran to the loo when he woke up, but the second and third nights he woke up wet in the morning. I think that he had wet the bed in the early hours, but stayed asleep, and only noticed when he woke up - so that approach won't work!
Last night we lifted him at 11, and he did a big wee, and was dry in the morning.
I suppose I just want to see if this is the right approach, or should I be trying to put a nappy on him after he has gone to bed? He obviously feels 'big' enough to go without a nappy, but doesn't seem to wake up when he needs to go.

zubb, how have things evolved?
Just wanted to update this - basically I decided just to forget about it for a while as obviously not ready (and we are still having problems during the day but that's another story!). I tried lifting once but soon realised no point - a) he'd already weed in his nappy b) it was too difficult manoevering his nappy off and on while he was asleep and c) he had an erection so no way was he going to be able to wee!

Anyway a few nights ago ds1 started going to the loo in the middle of the night by himself - first night he woke me up saying he needed a wee, but since then he has been using his potty without disturbing us. He's only had one night so far with a completely dry nappy, but it does look as though things are changing by themselves. not in any hurry to push it though. I still have an awful feeling he's going to be as unreliable at night as he is during the day....