3.5 Daughter still in Nappy at night. How did you Night Time Potty Train?

[BigDomsWife]

DD potty trained very well aged 2, we were proud that she got the hang of it in 5 days. With night time training we are not so lucky. Her 'night time nappy' is always so wet in the morning even though she is encouraged to use the toilet before bed time. She is such a good sleeper it would be a shame to start disturbing her sleep. On the other hand she is in age 5-6 clothes so the Nappies are so tight!!

Does anyone have any advice or tricks on how to night time train?

I'm not convinced you can train them at night. My DD is 3.4 and very similar to yours - potty trained easily at 2.4 but in the morning her nappy is totally full despite a wee before bed etc. There is advice that says limit what they drink after 5pm but I refuse to ever limit what my DD drinks as it doesn't seem right if she's thirsty. I've decided not to worry about it as I guess it'll happen in its own time!

Don't panic! She might just not be ready. DD1 trained perfectly during the day at about 2, but was in pyjama pants/pull-ups until she was over 5. It's to do with production of a hormone called vasopressin - if she's not yet producing enough, then she will not be able to get through the night dry.

Give her time and, for the too-tight-nappy problem, try pyjama pants, which are in sizes up to 7 yrs old.

I would try to find a larger size of nappies and stop worrying about it for at least another year. There is a hormone that children have to start producing in order to be able to regulate their urine production at night, and 3.5 is still young.

You can't night time train it is some kind of hormone maturation. They will do it when ready.
DD2 is 3.4 and also in 5-6 clothes. We use the 18 kg+ pull ups they are not tight, but she is dry 70 % of the time and mostly wakes up for it, so no problems with overflowing. DD1 at that age needed the night time pull up sized 4 to 8 yo she was a bit chubbier (but still in 6yo clothes) and didn't woke up to pee so needed more absorbancy.

DD3 (3.9yo) is also still in nappies at night. I agree you can't toilet train at night- it depends utterly on neural readiness and the right pathways being mature. Many children still wet the bed at 11 and 12 (about 2 in every class of 30). It is not at all uncommon. Just let it be is my advice. Some people "lift" their fast asleep children on the loo in the late evening but even if they result is a dry bed all that really teaches them is to pee while asleep or virtually asleep.

We just went for it. We potty trained dd1, by 2.8 and then when she stopped having accidents, we put her in knickers and see what happened.
At first she was ok, had a few accidents weeks later, but got over them in the end, and did say to her to go toilet before bed.

Have you tried the pyjama pants you can get them for much older children so would have thought they'd fit, ds2 is 3.5 and has odd dry nights but a lot of wet ones but will be dry when he's ready.

Dd was still in pull ups at 4 and they were still wet in the morning.

So we talked about it with her and made a star chart and every night before I went to bed, I'd lift her onto the toilet to do a wee. It helps that the upstairs toilet is next to her bedroom.

It took some trial and error, but she hasn't wet the bed for months, even when visiting relatives and she feels very happy not to be in pull ups. I just wake her up and she toddles to the toilet and goes straight back to sleep afterwards.

Every child is different, but with Dd, I felt like we just had to go for it, or she would always be in pull ups.

Dd1 is coming up to 5 and a half, has been dry in the day since 19 months but still soaking at night. (One night last week she soaked through a pull up, her pyjamas and sheet). I chatted to my HV about it and she advised to rule out a UTI, so we sent off a sample last week which was clear. I've had a telephone consultation with a GP who has advised me to bring her in as it's far from an occasional wetting incident, it's every night. I'm waiting for the summer holidays to do that though, I'd rather she didn't miss any school and think that anything we try will be better when she's not so tired as she is now.

In the meantime I'm encouraging her to drink lots and wee lots through the day as I've heard that may help.

At 3.5 though I wouldn't worry, I've only started becoming concerned myself since she turned 5. I really don't think it's something you can 'train'.

Forgot to say DD1 stopped to wear them before 4 yo (bar the occasional accident).

I have 3.5 year old twins who, like your daughter, trained very well for daytime potty use at 2. We've had mixed results with nighttime dryness. Our son was basically dry at night before he turned 3. He now gets himself up in the middle of the night and takes care of himself without even waking us. We don't even insist that he use the toilet right before bed, because we trust that he knows when he needs to go and that he can manage it all himself.

Our daughter, unfortunately, still wets the bed from time to time. For a while we moved her in and out of nighttime pull-ups, but I've observed that we are getting better results by avoiding them. My working theory on why this might be: wetting the bed wakes her up, which trains her sleep cycle to help her wake up at the necessary time of night in the future. I've got clean extra bedding and jammies stored near her bed for quick nighttime cleanups, which we need less and less frequently. Of course, we also make a "last minute toilet" part of her bedtime ritual, and regulate her liquid intake as bedtime approaches.

Reading with interest, as dd is 4:3 and I don't feel she's anywhere near night time dryness yet, although she was out of day time nappies at 2. Torn between just leaving it til she's really ready and just going for it, she doesn't really want to wear them and has talked about not telling her friends she wears them :(

My dd is 5. Potty trained easily and reliably at 2. However, wet heavily at night ever since. Lately the night nappy is lighter but still we have some way to go. My dd is tall and sturdy for her age, wears age 8 clothes. You can get huggies dry Nites pull ups in sizes 4yo-7yo or even size 8yo -15yo. They for in girls and boys versions (don't know the difference, might just be the pattern). My friends dd is 6 and a half and still has heavy wet night nappies - she also potty trained at 2 easily. No doc referral until 7yo here.

It's quite interesting that all the children mentioned in this thread are girls, including my dd still not dry at night at 5.

My ds was dry at 3yo overnight however.

ds1 was 5 ans a half. dd is 4 and a half and. still in nappy at night.

DD1 was very wet overnight until about 2 months ago, when at 3 years 9 months (about then I think anyway) was suddenly no longer wet in her pullup. We didn't lift her or restrict fluids as I don't really agree with the latter, like a previous poster. After a few weeks of consistently dry pullups, she went into knickers and hasn't had a single accident. The hormone obviously had kicked in. I really wouldn't worry. She will get there in her own time in all probability. I don't think most doctors will worry until age 6 for a girl.

My dd was wetting at night but I was convinced she was doing it just before she woke. She was smaller so I put her in cloth nappies at night and she was dry on the second night. If your Lo is big, maybe try a terry nappy.

You can't train them. It is down to physical development and hormone production, both of which the child has no control over.