Help with night time potty training please

[pmgkt]

Ds1 is 3 1/2 and been day potty trained for a year. In that year he has regressed when ds2 arrived and when starting pre school but now is pretty good unless totally absorbed in playing when he may dribble but not full wee. Anyway I thought it was time to tackle the nights. I decided to lift him when I go to bed so that he has the best chance of going for the rest of the night, and then gradually bring that lift earlier til we don't need it anymore. We have only been going a week so I know it's early but unless I lift him again about 3/4 in the morning we have accidents. I'm loathed to start getting up and lifting him then as a pattern but again maybe that is the compromise and then over time that gets later and later. He takes himself in the morning so is happy getting up and going and has done it once himself in the night but I don't feel he is night training just doing like he is in the day with me getting him up.

Please can someone help me with this. Am I better to just put him to bed and then let him learn through accidents or is lifting ok???

Dryness at night is dependent on production of a hormone. Unless he produces enough of that hormone, he can't be dry at night.

It is within the normal human range to take up to 7 years to produce sufficient amounts of the hormone.

Have you tried something like pull ups. I used those for Ds2. They took the pressure off. If he was dry in the morning good, if not it didn't matter.
When we stopped using pull ups due to dry nights he started having accidents again. A friend suggested he wore pants under his pjs. The tighter clothing sort of reminds them to wake up. It worked really well. Then after a couple of months in pants and pjs we moved onto pjs only.
However ds1 is still not reliably dry at night. So each child is different.

Thanks for your replies. I did a few weeks of pull ups where they were almost dry in the mornings, like he had done the morning wee in them, and I have put him in pants at night, mainly in case of poo accidents but had heard it helps them to feel if they need a wee.

Star girl are you saying don't bother then or that if I continue I'll need to lift until he is older and just every now and then see if he can go without it

If he isn't biologically ready then the only reason you are lifting him is to keep his bed dry. Nighttime nappies will do the same thing.

My advice is to give up for now and in the meantime try bladder retraining by making him drink more and thus wee more in the daytime. I suggest doing this in the morning. This will help with the elasticity of his bladder.

We were also advised to limit his liquid intake in the late afternoon. Minimal drink at teatime (quarter cup) and nothing before bed.

Do a nappy check when you go to bed. If he is dry at that time, maybe think about starting again but most people seem to suggest that he needs to be dry all night before you start.