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Potty training

Is your child ready for potty training at nursery? Here's the place for all your toilet training questions.

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Original poster

How do I potty train for during the night?

24 replies

Mummy2Babba · 09/05/2020 21:52

My son has just turned two and has been dry during the day for 4 weeks now. He hasn’t had any accidents and if he is watching a film in bed he will still get up to pee if he is wearing a pull up. Any ideas on how to encourage and help them to stay dry during the night? I am aware this is hormonal but wondering if there is anything I can do to encourage him to be toilet trained for overnights. Thanks ladies xx

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Dinosforall · 09/05/2020 21:55

I think you answered your own question re hormones. It's not under their conscious control. Obviously don't give him loads to drink before bed.

NuffSaidSam · 09/05/2020 21:57

Don't give a huge drink before bed.

You can lift him onto the toilet for a wee before you go to bed.

But otherwise as you've said, it's hormonal and you just have to wait. Some are dry straight away day and night, some are still in pull ups at 5 or beyond.

CaryStoppins · 09/05/2020 21:59

With mine I wait a few weeks after they were trained in the day and then stopped using pull ups at night. Had a few accidents at first but they all got it really quickly.

I think some children are just capable at that age and some aren't.

To encourage I would take the pull up off immediately in the morning so he doesn't wee in it as soon as he wakes up.

lorisparkle · 09/05/2020 22:00

I have copied this post from one I wrote a while ago to a parent if a four year old..,.

Being wet at night is not considered a problem until about 8 years old,

It is due to the sufficient release of a specific hormone which is outside of a child's control

However there are things that can help....

Avoiding black currant drinks, and caffeine drinks (e.g. coke)
Drinking lots during the day (about 7 good cups)
Not drinking the hour or so before bed
Making it easy to go to the toilet at night (potty in room, night light on landing, etc)

Otherwise I would just stick with the pull ups for a while yet.

If there is still no progress with pull ups after a year or so then try without them for a couple of weeks.

I found it got to a point that pull ups were not really working anyway so we just double made the bed, used waterproof coverings, etc

With DS1 we saw the school nurse, then GP and then specialist continence nurse at around 8/9 years. We used medication then an alarm and he was dry at 10

Ds2 was dry at 3

Ds3 we just used the alarm at about 8 years and he was dry after a couple of months

A fab charity is EPIC who have a good website with information

dementedpixie · 09/05/2020 22:02

He's only 2. You cant really train for night time. I took night nappies away when they were dry in the morning for a few weeks

dementedpixie · 09/05/2020 22:03

And I think it's the ERIC website

Constantlurker · 09/05/2020 22:09

We are using the oh crap method, we just plonk him on the potty at 10pm and 2am, both times he sleepily does a massive wee then goes right back to sleep. I think it depends on the kid though. We are doing it successfully because nothing really wakes him up, before if we needed to, we could change his nappy in the night and he would always just go straight back to sleep without any fuss. If you have a kid who once they are awake they take ages to resettle this may not work and be more of a pain than anything. I think we will do this for another couple of months whilst it's the early stages and start making the gaps longer as he matures, but it's also easier for us as we have a newborn and frankly we are already up at 2am most nights anyway so sticking him on the potty isn't much of a problem for us!

dementedpixie · 09/05/2020 22:12

If you're going to take them to the toilet then they should be awake. I wouldn't be taking them to the toilet in the middle of the night, that's not them learning to listen to their body.

CaryStoppins · 09/05/2020 22:17

I'm not sure I'd want to actively train a child to wee in the night in their sleep - you want them to either not wee overnight, or wake themselves and go to the toilet.

NannyR · 09/05/2020 22:18

If you go down the route of taking them to the loo during the night, you need to make sure that they are fully awake otherwise it just reinforces the idea of seeing whilst asleep. Also, part of being dry at night is recognising that they have a full bladder then waking up and getting themselves to the loo independently - waking them up and taking them to the loo doesn't really help them achieve this.

Constantlurker · 09/05/2020 23:32

Ah heck. Now I'm rethinking it after what you're all saying. We've just blindly followed the book to the letter as we have no other clue or experience and he took to the actual daytime training part so so well, so we're doing the night wakings as instructed and he is waking up enough to go for a wee on his own, but only when we pick him up from his cot and sit him down and tell him to wee.

But what you're all saying about just teaching him to still wee in the night makes so much sense I'm now second guessing myself!

So realistically if this isn't the right way to do it, do we just try and get him to last as long as possible in the night and pray for no accidents? Or keep a nappy on him overnight until it's naturally just dry?

Sorry to hijack the thread - hopefully it's on the same subject though!!

Constantlurker · 09/05/2020 23:34

Also, he's in a cot with bars so can't get himself to the toilet even if he did wake up and need a wee...

MayFayner · 09/05/2020 23:39

You don’t do anything. When his nappy has been consistently dry in the morning for two weeks then stop the night nappy.

This might happen in two months time or in two years time. Or longer.

CaryStoppins · 09/05/2020 23:44

@Constantlurker if he's in a cot and can't get himself to the potty/toilet if he needs a wee in the night then keep him in a pull up.
Make sure he does a wee last thing before bed and first thing in the morning.

Once he's in a bed, try taking the pullup off.

Constantlurker · 10/05/2020 00:01

Massive thanks everyone. Exactly why I love Mumsnet. Jeez you think you finally starting to know what you're doing then this potty training stuff comes along and you realise you're utterly clueless again! Hope this also helps you OP. It's definitely made me rethink a few things.

Original poster

Mummy2Babba · 10/05/2020 00:07

Thank you ladies, he has the pull up off straight away In the morning anyway as he usually comes into my bed around 4/5 am and I take it off then before he wakes around 7am where he asks to go straight to the toilet.
I was planning on buying puppy pads and just taking the pull up off through the night so he knows when he is doing the toilet during the night or even aware? I don't want to force it but I hate the thought of him having a full nappy through the night if I am able to get him off them. Xx

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Original poster

Mummy2Babba · 10/05/2020 00:09

He's not in a cot he's in his own big bed, has been since he was 1. So no problem getting out of bed etc.

Also he will not use the potty anymore so putting that in his room wouldn't be any good but thank you xx

He just wants to stand up and pee he won't even sit down for a pee anymore lol he only uses the step unless he needs a number 2 he will ask to sit on the toilet x

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Original poster

Mummy2Babba · 10/05/2020 00:10

@NannyR thank you for that I actually didn't think of that that's a Good point! X

OP posts:

Original poster

Mummy2Babba · 10/05/2020 00:12

@Constantlurker I'm not sure! I really don't want him to hold in the toilet and I don't want to prevent him from taking fluids when he wants so it's hard! I guess I just would like him to know to get up himself and try not to do it in the nappy! I just don't like the thought of him having a full nappy during the night as he has eczema flair ups aswell so the incontinence isn't great on his skin I have to use cream on him from time to time. X

OP posts:

Original poster

Mummy2Babba · 10/05/2020 00:14

Can I just say he has never done a number two in his nappy ( pull up) overnight since he has been trained during the day! Is this just coincidence (has been 4 weeks or so), he used to do a pooh overnight around 2/3 times a week! any thoughts??

OP posts:

CaryStoppins · 10/05/2020 10:35

Not sure, it’s quite unusual to poo overnight at all past newborn age ime.

dementedpixie · 10/05/2020 10:40

I'm sure my 2 stopped pooing overnight at a few months old. Meant I didnt need to change a nappy overnight as it was just wet

dementedpixie · 10/05/2020 10:45

It's a combination of hormones suppressing urine production overnight plus the ability to wake when they get a signal their bladder is full. If you are waking him he isnt learning to know the full bladder signal.

regalmama · 08/06/2020 14:45

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