How will I know when DD is dry at night?

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DD is nearly 4. She's been potty trained in the day for over a year.

I'm in no hurry to take her out of nappies at night and am happy to wait till she's physically ready and dry in the morning.

Trouble is, I won't know when that is!

She wakes early (any time 5.30-6.30) and then chats/looks at books in her room until 7, when her gro-clock goes on. So we don't see the state of her nappy till 7, when it's always wet. I have no idea whether the wee in her nappy at 7 is from the night, or from after she's woken up.

I don't really want to have to start waking myself up super early to go check her nappy the moment she's woken up... (anyway the time she wakes varies a lot)

Any suggestions? Thanks!

Does she not call out to go to the potty or that she needs a wee. Just because she has a pull up on doesn't mean she should be weeing in them.

I'd start to tell her that when she wakes she can shout if she needs a wee. But treat it as a night wake and put her back to bed until the gro clock goes on. My DD occasionally wakes in the night for a wee (one reason we've kept the baby monitor). Although she normally wakes before midnight rather than in the early am.

Or if your bathroom is close and easy to use and she's sensible, you could get a night light and tell her she can get up to wee but has to go straight back to bed. You do need a sensible child for that and there is always the fear of waking younger siblings!!!

Maybe put a potty in her room for her morning wee.

I'd talk to her about it. Mine was 3 and a half and she raised it with me saying that she didn't want to wear a nappy at night. I put a potty in her room and told her if her nappy was dry three mornings in a row she could stop wearing one. Four nights later she was no longer wearing a nappy!

Dd is nearly 5 and she still pees in her sleep

We tried the potty in the room/treats for awake wees at night etc and then one week decided on no nappy. Every night we went in she was soaked through and fast asleep in it.

So in short I've no idea. I hate it.

DS isn't even 2 yet and he is dry through the night. Daytime is another matter but he does not pee in his sleep.

I imagine her nappy is wet from when she was sleeping. Ask her!

From personal experience I find waiting for dry nappies odd - my kids never had dry nappies but two out of 3 stopped wearing night nappies the same day they stopped wearing day nappies and one has never wet the bed - not the first night nor any night since (he's 9 now) and another only wet it a handful of times - not the first nappy free night but a few nights in, then maybe a couple of times a few weeks later, then never since (5.5 now - was late potty training at 3.5 but night dry was easy). The only one who wasn't easy was the one who was dry in the day at barely 2 but clung to the night nappy and didn't herself reject it.

Waiting for a dry nappy never worked for any of mine though - they had to be fully aware of being nappy free as with a nappy they didn't have any incentive to get out of their warm bed and go to the toilet instead of peeing in the nappy even if they were fully in control of their night bladder.

Some kids aren't ready til 7 though - there is a hormone that children start producing any time between 2 and 7 which concentrates urine during sleep.

You can't force it but you could try without a nappy with her agreement and full awareness and see what happens! She can take herself to the loo - you don't need to get up or use potties if she's 5! All mine have naturally trotted to the toilet when they wake without calling for help from age 3.5 or so.

Sorry nearly 4 - don't know why I decided she was 5! Still old enough to have a conversation with, agree to bin the night nappies and take herself to the toilet when she wakes up!

Hiya op, at 4 I would be encouraging her to take herself to the toilet when she wakes up, I'm sure she probably doesn't like to wee in a nappy at that age? Is she asking to go for a wee when she wakes up?

Thanks everyone! Quick responses

She doesn't seem to mind weeing in her nappy, so no, she doesn't ask to go to the loo in the morning/night. She wakes us if she needs to poo (rare) but not for a wee.

I guess at some point if all her friends were night trained then she might realise and want to be the same, but we definitely aren't there yet.

Also - I should have mentioned this - she is a terrible sleeper, is always short of sleep, and if she wakes fully in the night she can take hours to get back to sleep. So for this reason I've been reluctant to encourage her to get up to go to the loo at night. I'd rather she wees in the nappy if she needs to and goes straight back to sleep. Plus I could do without being woken extra times at night as DD2 (18months) is up loads and DD1 is up quite often with nightmares etc anyway!

5moreminutes I think you've hit the nail on the head, I don't think DD will ever want to get out of her warm bed rather than weeing in her nappy, even if she's fully capable! So maybe waiting for a dry nappy is not the right approach for her.

All told, I think I will wait till she's older - possibly quite a lot older - and adopt the approach of talking to her about it, rather than the "is she dry in the morning" approach. Hopefully she'll be better able to tell me by then whether she needs to wee in the night so it won't be complete trial and error.

Thank you

Oh yes, I have tried asking her whether she weed in the night or the morning - I'm not sure she really knows though. But hopefully she'll have a better idea as she gets older.

We got rid of night nappies very quickly after potty training dd1 as she was waking up dry within days but weeing in the pull up before getting dressed. She was only just over 2 at the time but tbh I thought that wearing a pull up some of the time and being able to be lazy and wee in it made it more likely that she'd have accidents as it's an extra confusion for them, so if she is dry on waking I would stop wearing one. She does like to wake us up every morning to let us know she's on the toilet though before it's her get up time, which we can't really do much about!

Oh should add it's been about 10 months and she has never woken needing a wee in the night, only in the early morning and she's then up for the day (5.30 onwards!)

Potty by the side of her bed and tell her to do a wee as soon as she wakes up and not in her pull ups.

Thanks, yes I think I will adopt the potty by the bed approach... but probably leave it till it's spring and warmer, and she's older. She'll still only be 4.5 at that point.