Night training

[Sleeepdeprived]

My DS is 3 at the end of August and has been day time trained since January. He’s been brilliant, very few accidents in that time.

The past couple of weeks his nighttime nappy has only been damp, and totally dry the past four mornings. Is this a sign he’s ready to night train? Google tells me he’s too young but he’s showing all the signs. He has also woken up a few times to go for a wee.

I don’t night train, I thought I was down to a hormone. Just limit drinks before bed and wee before bed.

Just don’t put a nappy on, necessary fluids only after 6pm and wee before bed.

We’ve not started potty training yet but I’ve just read the Oh Crap Potty Training book in preparation.

That says that if your child hasn’t naturally stayed dry by 3-3.5 you need to night time potty train. If you leave it later than that they are more likely to have persistent bed wetting problems as they get older.

So I potty trained my DD in January at 2 years 7 months. She picked it up very quickly and we noticed that she had a week of dry nappies at night so thought we'd give it a go without nappies at night. We got one of those absorbent pads that you put under the sheet in case of accidents and put a potty in her room in case she needed a wee in the night. She's now almost 3 and has done brilliantly well. Only 2 accidents overnight (when she's been really tired and hasn't woken to go for a wee). Often the potty is full in the morning where she's gone for a wee in the night but she doesn't wake us. We've even heard her potter off into the bathroom to empty it a couple of times in the morning when she wakes up. Sometimes it's empty but we don't limit fluid intake or anything. My husband and I both still need a wee in the night so I wouldn't try and stop my daughter if she needed to!

That’s definitely not too young and are good signs that your ds is ready to try without a nappy. My older two children were dry at night much later but my third was dry at night from 2 when we started potty training.

Can I ask a question for those of you who have DC that wake up to go for a wee in the night. How does it work?

My DS is still in a cot… so I guess he’d have to wake up, call me, I’d have to get out of bed, get him out etc. Does it only really work once they’re in a bed? Do you expect them to go to the bathroom alone or do they wake you?

My DS has only just turned 2 but we were planning to keep him in a cot for as long as possible!

Or do they go all night without needing a wee?

@Hazelnuttella when we took nappies off my older two we took them for a wee before we went to bed, they were v sleepy and didn’t remember it. My youngest went all night without a wee from the start and we just took him straight to the loo when he woke up. Occasionally he woke and called for us that he needed a wee and we’d grab a potty and help him, but he would wake and tell us. They are all different though. We were third time lucky with night time training and my youngest. With the other two they were 6 before we got dry nappies at night.

My DD is in a bed yes. I can't see how it would work if she was in a cot without disturbing us. If your DS has only just turned 2 I would say that's young for potty training, particularly night training, though.

thanks @MrsSamR we weren’t going to do night training for a while yet, was just thinking ahead. Think he’s ready for daytime training though.

@Hazelnuttella I always felt we kind of messed up with my middle child and left potty training late, so we used the oh crap method from when my youngest turned two and I’d really recommend it. Quite a few friends used it too. The night training success was just an unexpected bonus though!

@Himawarigirl thank you, that’s good to know. I’ve booked some annual leave in a few weeks time and going to take the plunge 😬

Ive got some of those absorbent mats so I’ll put one under his sheet tonight and put him to bed in pants. I’ll also leave his potty in his room too so he can take himself to it if he needs to but expect he’ll call out to me if he needs to go (unless he has an accident)