Ds getting out of bed at night to go to loo. Driving us all mad because he can't do it independently. Any brilliant ideas before I strangle him at 3am tonight?

[neolara]

My ds is 2 1/2 and has been using the toilet in the day for about 2 or 3 months. One day he refused to put on a nappy and since then has only had a handful of proper accidents. (All of which has been a completely joy after the unadulterated hell of potty training his older sister!)

He is not yet dry at night and so I put him in pull ups. I'm more than happy to wait until he is physically ready to go though the night before I take them off. He, however, has different plans. At the moment he is getting up three or four times a night (often very close together), to go to the loo. The problem is that he cannot do this independently. Often his pull up is wet so he wants a new one. He yells for help to get on and off the loo (won't use a potty) and as he is still wearing a sleeping bag, he needs help to get this back on.

Obviously the ideal would be to get him out of his cot and into a bed with a duvet asap. Also to get him more independent in putting on pull ups and on / off the loo. But all of this will take a bit of time (e.g. ordering bed, re-organising sleeping arrangements for other sibling etc). I'm expecting a baby any minute and this is driving me bonkers. I'm feeling knackered enough as it is. Any brilliant ideas for what I can do in the meantime?

absorbant bedpad in the bed, put him to bed with no nappy on and buy a step stool for the toilet?

i tripped over ds1'a pullup in the hall the other night and went into his room to find him nekkid from the waist down as he's gone to the loo but couldn't get dressed again, slightly nervewracking as he poos his nappy every morning so if i hadn't tripped over the nappy the bed would have been destroyed when he woke up!

We had this with dd. I do sympathise, I hate to tell you that it went on for about a year! We did put a potty in her room and encouraged her to use it but she rarely did. I think they get to a stage where they just can't stand to be wet in a nappy or pull ups any more. You could try lifting him at around the time you go to bed for a while to see if that helps but I think you do need to get him in a bed asap so he can at least get out and to the toilet by himself. HTH, good luck!

Can you borrow a ready bed or camp bed or similar just to tide you over until you can get a "real" bed?

Could you experiment with a slightly larger pull up/different brand that he may be able to pull on and off himself?

Practise in the day re getting on and off loo independently? Good luck.

We're currently practising with dd - we sit out on the landing while she does the whole palaver - which she can do fine, she just has to have us watching. When I've worked out how to stop that I'll let you know...

How about a cheap mattress on the floor for now? Then no worries if he wrecks it. I'd leave the nappies off too.

Pullups off, absorbant bedmat under sheet, with dry sheet to hand for middle of the night change and either a footstool for the toilet or a potty in his room.

Good luck.

Take the side off his cot.
No more pull ups, just PJs or pants that he can manage.
Step for the loo, or insist he uses a potty, bucket, any sort of receptacle that he can manage himself.
Protect his mattress.

Also make sure he has the majority of his fluids between say 0700 and 1600, tailing off after dinner time. That way he won't have quite so much wee overnight.

I say mattress on the floor, no pull ups and waterproof under sheet (or just use a towel for a sheet). Bare bum to bed (no jammies to negotiate in the night) and step stool for the lav. DH should be doing toilet breaks and letting you sleep. He'll have to step in when you've got to get up with a newborn anyway!