Night time training - how do I do it?

[sheeplikessleep]

DS1 is 4.3 and been daytime trained for a year or so ish.

He is starting to have as many dry night time nappies as wet ones. His nappy has been dry, for example, for last 2 - 3 mornings. Occasionally he has a sodden nappy. He doesn't get up in the night to wee, but just has a huge wee when he wakes and takes off his nappy.

Any advice on how I do it? Do I wake him up to wee or just leave him totally and change sheets as / when / if he wees?

Thanks

I would say there is no huge rush on it. If you do it too early then you set them up for failure, and if they go to bed nervous then you are pretty much garanteed a leak. When you get virtually no wet nappies I would go for it. With DD we would get her out of bed and put her on potty in her room when we went to bed. She didn't even wake and weed every night on the pot. Then I read that this can be counter productive as they get accustomed to weeing when drowsy, so we stopped. She still has occasional accident but we have really good waterproof sheets that sit on top of normal sheets so we just whip them off and not have to replace all the bedding. The nappy lady sells them - Ligelind I think. Quite expensive but worth it, esp if you have more than one child.

thanks bigpigeon. i'm going to keep a record for the next week and see how we get on. it seems to be slowly getting fewer and fewer wet nappies as time goes (which surprises me, i guess i thought it would just happen overnight, like some kind of switch, which is a bit daft thinking about it).

he just seems so big for nappies (but the mornings he is wet, he leaks through pull ups, as they just don't seem to hold the same).

i'll get some more waterproof sheets, thanks. when they do wee the bed, does it tend to go on duvet and duvet cover too? he tends to sleep on his back now, so i'm assuming we need to get a spare duvet too

Sometimes on to the sheets above, usually all pools underneath. I am trying to train her to lift the sheets off if she wakes up while peeing. You could add extra protection to the duvet (I think you can get a waterproof cover for inbetween the duvet and duvet cover) but I was worried about it all getting a bit too sweaty for her as she gets eczema occasionally. I found that nappies didn't hold her night wee if she went, but it does minimise the mess somewhat and gave her a feeling of security - we also thought she looked much too big for them. Another useful tip... limit drinks from after dinner onwards. They have to come out somehow so no point loading them up!

Pull up's - all the way. Scrap changing sheets/midnight lifting - how stressful!! Out of 3 boys, mine needed them no longer at 3, 4 and 8 (yes, 8). I could have spent years washing sheets and beating myself up over his 'bed wetting'. As it turned out, he just suddenly grew out if it. I know those milestones seem important to us at their age - but they couldn't care less!! I still had waterproof sheets on for a few years afterwards 'just in case'. Have fun!

Just noticed your comment that the pull up's leaked - I never experienced this and I must have bought thousands of the things!! I have no idea what's on the market as mine are much older now - it may be worth trying a different size/brand??

I tried all sorts of sizes and brands and unfortunately result was the same. I think when they learn to hold it in awhile, when they then let go the sheer volume and speed of flow make it impossible for anything to hold it all. Second your comment on stick with the pull ups though - no sense in rushing.

Thanks for this. I am not sure what to do with dd who is 3 and a bit. Her twin brother has been dry at night for 9 months. She doesn't want to wear a pull up, but always wets the bed if she doesn't. My other ds potty trained much later but was dry at night almost immediately too, so no experience of this weird 'in between' stage. Getting a bit sick of washing sheets! Shall I just tell her it's ok to put the pull ups on rather than encourage her to try and go without?

Could try to make her feel a bit uncomfortable when she does wet the bed, cause it may all be a bit of a game. Cold bathroom floor to stand on while she changes clothes? Get her to help with the sheets. If it becomes a chore for her (without you complaining or scolding) then you could point out that it wasn't necessary when she had the pull up on. Could try a reward system for wearing it at night and keeping sheets clean??