Night time training - Nightmares

[BernieBear]

Hi there - just wondering if anyone remembers their ds/dd's being woken up at night with nightmares and whether this was the body waking itself up to use the toilet?

My ds (4.7) has been enormously slow in toilet training (we were referred to Child Psychologist in the end) and now that we are 95% of the way there on day time, he has decided he is wearing pants at nighttime too. We are at a 60/40 success rate at the mo but he has started getting nightmares which wake him. I was just wondering if anyone has heard of this before and whether this is his body's way of waking him to go to the toilet?

Thank you

We always told both our dc that nightmares were a way of their bodies telling them to wake up and go to the toilet. It helped with keeping dry at night and made them less scared about the nightmares - much easier to settle if you think the nightmare was just your body giving you a nudge to go for a wee! I actually think that it can be related, although if the child had nightmares for other issues, anxieties etc. then I'm not suggesting it as a general way of dealing with the problem.

4.7 isn't terribly slow, especially for night time when some kids take till 7, so I wouldn't worry too much.