How to encourage a 3 yr old to be dry at night?

[ClaudiaSchiffer]

Hi there, my dd1 is 3.7 and has been dry in the day for over a year. I've been rather of lazy about pushing the night time potty training as I kind of assumed we'd get round to it once she'd been waking up a few times with a dry nappy. We are yet to reach this stage. So . . . I was wondering what the best thing to do is?

Should I just get on with it - after all she's over 3 1/2 and we have been talking about it a lot. She is sometimes keen to give it a go and then at the last minute decides she wants to wear a nappy at night. Tonight I suggested to her that on Sunday we would start with a sticker chart and she seems pretty keen on that idea.

So I wouldn't really get too fussed about it, it's just that I was reading through some old posts and someone suggested cracking on with potty training at night because if you leave it too long the child can get totally used to weeing when sleeping and they lose any ability to wake themselves up when they need a pee. Is this the case?

Those of you that have successfully done it what are your secrets?? Do tell. Are sticker charts a good idea?

my dd is 6 and still not dry at night. I ahve read many posts onhere over the past few yrs and there doesn't to seem to be a hard and fast 'way' to make them dry at night. I think they will when they 'can', as it it a neurological signal that has to kick in. It's all very well lifting them at nioght and taking them half asleep to the loo if it works. For us it just didn't work. I have a friend whose boy just got dry really young.

I don't think you can train them at night in the same way you can in the day. Its all a matter of a hormone kicking in and they will do it when they are ready. I don't think they physically can do it before then although I know some mnetters would disagree.

My advice would be don't put pressure on yourself, keep her in dry nights/nappies until they are mostly dry in the morning and then give it a go otherwise you are setting yourself up for a lot of unsettled nights with wet beds IME.

no advice whatsoever, but I have this problem too, so can sympathise. I've given up, because he doesnt even seem to FEEL wet when he does have accidents and I worry about him being sore and cold by the morning. Plus he sahres a bed with his twin, so wet beds aren't exactly very fair!
One thing we did try was putting his pants inside the nappy. With a nappy it is impossible to feel anything. Didn't work for us though - it was soaked and he still thought he was dry!

My dd is 4 and for awhile i put her in pullups but just went for it and put her in knickers as she was now a big girl you have to be prepared for some wet beds{use the bed mats}but it did,nt take her long and shes completely dry.i Thught it sent her mixed signals to wear knickers during the day and go to the toilet but then wear pullups up night.Its not easy and all children are very different but with most things i,ve done we,ve just said one day ok no more,dummy,baby cups,nappies etc.My dd loved her chart she used to be so pleased to get her sticker.Even go take her to buy some new knickers with her favorite characters on and say there her special big girl knickers that she wears at night

i was told you should no longer lift them out to wee as this encourages them to wee half asleep[ as haven't woken naturally to wee] and its a hormone that kicks in and stops them being wet at night i'll continue using nappies until the nappy is dry 3 nights then i will use just bottoms and bed mat

WHen they are ready it will happen. They have no control over it when they are asleep. As someone else says there is a hormone that kicks in and this slows down urine production at night. No amount of stickers on a chart will help that to work any sooner than the child's body is ready for. Lifting them might mean a dry bed but it doesn't mean they are doing it for themselves.

I know you probaly know lots of people whose dcs were dry by 3.5 but you might be interested to know that 25% of kids are not dry by 5.

DD1 was dry at 3.5 and after 2 wet beds dry ever since.

DD2 was not properly dry till 7 and then still had occasional wet beds till she was nearly 9.

DS1 is 4.5 years and still not dry at night but has been dry in the day for over 2 years.

I tried taking him out of pull ups at night/reducing drinks etc etc but it made no difference - he just wees when he's asleep.

HV said just to wait until he's dry himself.

Sticker charts worked for me

Talking about it is bringing it to her attention

Don't automatically take her out of pullups but she gets a sticker if they're dry once they're dry x days in a row she gets lovely new character pants for bed time or a pressie

I have 3 dc's and all three toilet trained at just over 2 years. However....

ds1 dry at night by 4.7 years although still wets bed very occasionally at 6...

ds2 dry at night at 2 years as soon as he toilet trained and has never wet the bed.

ds3 just finished training and dry at night about 4 nights out of 7....

So...I think they're just ready when they're ready!

Thanks everyone

I'll keep her in pull-ups for the next week with no bedtime milk (eeek - she loves it) and a sticker chart to see if that has any impact. If not we'll just let her carry on as we have been I suppose, and hope she's out of nappies by the time she leaves home

And encourage more fluids during the day to increase bladder capacity!

oo good idea maygirl, I will ply her with drinks until 4pm. Then give her stickers if she can get out of bed for a wee/go to bed with no milk etc perhaps?

Don't limit her fluids - if you do the pee gets more concentrated and she's more likely to wet. It's no use trying to get a child dry at night until they are physically ready.

One thing to think about is whether she is peeing in her sleep, or whether she is just not getting out of bed to use the loo because she has pull-ups/a nappy on. If it is the later then stickers and praise will do the trick, but if she is peeing in her sleep then it won't make any difference. My two came out of nappies years ago - to be honest I can't really remember how old they were, old enough for it not to be an issue and young enough for it not to be unusual, I guess.

Is there any way to check when the nappy is getting wet (depends I know on how heavy a sleeper she is)? I know a few children who quite enjoyed peeing/pooing in their nappies/pull-ups at that in between stage.

I don't think there is anything you can do to be honest.

I have a 24 month old who is dry day and night, and a nearly 6 year old who isn't, and pees almost every night without fail.

oh blimey.

I guess i wont stress then. Thanks all

I am so glad it's not just me, that's why I love mumsnet, it really makes me realise am not alone.

my dd is 3.9 and we went thru a stage of night lifting, but as many have said she just doesn't get the fact that she's wet and I was doing 2/3 loads of bedding washing every day, so we've gone back to pull ups.

She still has her milk bottle for bed too which we are taking away when's she a big girl of 4 years.

Am just going to wait now until this hormone kicks in, after reading all of your replies, thanks.