At what age was your child dry through the night?

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Did you wait until diaper was dry in the morning before getting rid of it at night? Are pullups a good idea? I have no idea if my 3.5 yo even knows if he is wetting at night, pretty sound sleeper and he wakes up soaked. DH wants to get rid of the diaper at night and as we have JUST finished PT days I am very hesitant to do so.

[bubbaray]

I'm so BTDT. My over 4yo has been daytime PTd for, oh, 2 years now. Rarely (and I mean maybe twice in those 2 years) has any accident and is dry for naps. She wakes up S.O.A.K.E.D. every morning. I tried underwear and a huge pile of beach towels the other night. I thought she was dry when she woke up (made a huge deal out of it, gave her her chosen prize, etc), then discovered that the top layer of towels was dry, the rest were soaked. Sigh. Back to square one. Well, maybe further back than that b/c now she's scared to try again.

I hate PTg. It SUCKS.

I'm pretty sure she'll be using pullups until she's in college.

[brittone2]

DS was pee trained including dry at night by 2 (not that far after his 2nd bday). He just always woke up dry in the morning and I finally got brave enough to skip a nighttime dipe. He's 4.5 and he only had one nighttime accident very early on, and he's only woken up in the middle of the night a handful of times to go potty. He did all of the pee training on his own.

That said, it took him until he was about 3.5 to get pooping in the potty regularly. He dealt with major withholding/constipation for a year and a half, (from just over 1 until he was close to 2-2.5 I'd say?) and had some frustrating (TMI) leakage during the day from holding in his poops for another 6 months or a year. It wasn't something he could stop, and it was frustrating for both of us. Once he started reliably going daily, that eased up (thankfully!) By 3.5 he was pretty reliable on all phases of potty learning.

IME, most of the kids we knew had one or two of the parts of potty training (peeing, pooping, or dry at night), but pretty much no one had all three parts down until more like 3.5 or later. It was interesting to see how each kid had parts of it, but those that peed and pooped reliably during the day were usually not dry at night, then there were some that only peed reliably, and some that only pooped reliably. Weird.

edited to fix ages/timeframe so it made sense ;)

[overcome]

So glad you inquired about this Susan.

My DD has been PT during the day since March. She wears pull ups at night and I would say she is dry 95% of the time when she wakes up. It's me who's nervous about getting rid of the pull ups. I may try soon....I'll be watching this thread....

[lizajane]

i voted for my first so you would know you are not alone. :) for schuyler, it was at age 4. for dylan, it was age 2. dylan trained night and day in the same month. but schuyler took a LONG time to stop wetting at night. he day trained at 26 months!!!

[Mommy Of A Little Angel]

DD naps fine without a diaper, but we haven't been brave enough to let her sleep the whole night without one. She wakes up 6/7 mornings a week dry (sometimes I think she was dry but we take too long to get her on the potty on the mornings she isn't dry). We use pull-ups just in case in the meantime!

[mom2aidan]

DS was potty trained when he was 33 months and we never used pull-ups, went straight to underwear.. He was ready and he never looked back. There was an accident here and there during the day the first 6 months of his potty training but he was so good at night. He knows to call us when he has to go at night which rarely happens anymore.

[kijip]

Don't shoot me.

T started waking up with dry diapers consistently well before he potty trained during the day. I don't know why or how but he just did. We did not prevent access to liquids and he usually has a cup of water on his nightstand at night but he did give up his bottle before bed at one year (I think if he was night nursing or getting a bottle at bed, maybe he would have been wetting at night longer). He was about 18-20 months old when he started this whole dry all night thing night after night. He was potty trained during the day at just past 2 and 1/2. He will wake up in the night sometimes and need to use the toilet now, but he does not wet the bed. He does wake up EARLY in the morning and his first stop is the potty. In the time that he has been trained, he has has only a handful of accidents- mostly due to freaking out over not wanting to stop what he is doing to run to the toilet. He has wet the bed twice in over three years of being dry at night. Both times I think because he was exceptionally tired due to illness (once) and staying up way too late (once).

[linsei]

Iirc, day potty training happened close to the same time. It was around 3.25 for day, and night pt around 3.5. He's had rare night time accidents, so rare that I really felt ok with just letting him sleep in pj's with a waterproof mattress pad. Besides, he was seriously insulted when I suggested wearing a night diaper. Fairly early on, he started refusing to wear any kind of diaper at all.

As for the pull-ups, I think it depends on a couple of things... If he's willing to wear them, and if he is not a heavy wetter. My ds refused dipes of ANY kind after he was pt and PU's really do not hold much pee, so it might not even be worth the bother.

Do you think waking up wet would be a learning experience for him, or is he more comfortable with the security of a diaper at night? Is he insulted by the mere mention of a diaper yet? Lots of factors to consider.

ETA after reading Katie's post, I realized N's accidents seem to be for the same reasons... Staying up too late and illness. A couple were probably due to drinking more than usual right before bed. I never restricted/cut off fluids.

[s7714]

My older DD was dry through the night with literally only two accidents ever when she was about 3.5. My younger DD just turned 3. She stays dry through the night most of the time, but has a lot of accidents. I'd really prefer to leave my younger DD in a pull up at night, but she's so strong willed it's almost easier just to change the sheets than it is to try to force her into a pull up so I just live with it.

[o_mom]

My almost 5 yo is still in a pull-up at night. He shows no signs of night training even though he has been day trained for almost 2 years (other than stress induced regression in the last 6 months). In our case I don't think it is the fact that he has a pull-up on that keeps him from being dry. He occasionally falls asleep during the day without a pull-up on and will almost always wet when he does that and not even wake up from it. He is just a really sound sleeper like many of the kids in our family.

[sdjeppa]

DS day-trained and night trained in the same week - he was 3yr 4 months, I think? After 2 nights of pullups, he freaked out and didn't want them, and we haven't looked back. Only a few random accidents since then.

[cairo06]

My DD was potty trained a little after 2 during the day. She woke up with a full diaper every morning so I didn't even try nightime until she was about 3.5. She was dry at night for at least 3 months with an occasional accident and then all of a sudden started wetting her bed on a regular basis. DS was not sleeping through the night yet and neither was I, so after a couple of weeks of practically changing the sheets every few days I put diapers on her again - out of desperation.
I talked to my pediatrician about it and he told me to get a calendar and give her a star for each day she wakes up dry. If she was dry 25 out of 28 days she would get a small surprise, if she made it the whole 30 days a bigger surprise. Well, she made it the whole 30 days without wetting her bed and two days later wet her bed two days in a row! We've had a dry spell now for several months and I hope it stays that way.

We'll see how it goes for DS.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Thanks everyone for your replies. ( And to Katie---Bam POW :) ) Looks like we have a very wide range. I am going to show this to DH to illustrate that we are not so alone. He thinks I should be doing something more, what I have no clue!

[Wife_and_mommy]

Just wanted to add that night "training" is more the child being able physiologically to hold the pee all night. It doesn't always happen as quickly as day training. I know many kids(one being my DH) who didn't/don't stay dry at night be ages 6, 7, and even 8.

It's not something you can make your child do. Nick is quite young and I can assure you that if he continues to wet at night as he gets older it's because he can't help it.

[alexsmommy]

Having actually worked in a pediatric incontinence clinic, I say leave well enough alone. It's not really considered something to even discuss until around age six - and some in the field say seven or eight for boys. Day time and night time are totally different. Statistics are on your side, he'll most likely develop nighttime continence sometime in the next year or so. Just have him go potty before bed, throw a pull up on him at night (if that will hold the wetness, otherwise a diaper is fine too) and have him go to the bathroom as soon as he wakes up in the morning. DS1 was potty trained at 3yr 2 months, but wasn't dry at night until 5 years 1 month. Since that time he's had only two night time accidents, and both were when he was sick.
Tell your DH this is totally normal and if you don't make a big deal of it, eventually you'll notice more and more morning of a dry pull up.

[kozachka]

You did not have an option for 1 year ;). DS was dry through the night shortly after turning 1. If memory surves me well at 14 months or so.

[KrisM]

DS potty trained for day at 2.5 years. He is over 4 now and still in a pull-up at night. He has some dry days and some wet. We've tried letting him do underwear, because he really wants to, but he nearly always wets it, so after a few days, he's ready to go back to pullups.

[ThreeofUs]

DS was a little strange. I don't think he had a wet diaper from sleep times (night or nap) from about 15 months. We'd put a freshie on just in case, but when he was potty-trained during the day, we just stopped diapers altogether.

I must say my neighbor's children are 8 and 6 and still wear pull-ups at night, so anything before that would seem good to me!

[JBaxter]

Logan was ( Im not kidding) 18 -20 months old thats why we did potty training at 2yrs old. Conno was about 2 1/2 -3 really about the same time he potty trained. Nathan we sill have sporatic issues. Last week he wet the bed 3 nights in a row but it had been a month or more prior to that since he had a night accident. He hasnt wet the bed since ( he is 4 1/2)

[brittone2]

Just wanted to add that night "training" is more the child being able physiologically to hold the pee all night. It doesn't always happen as quickly as day training. I know many kids(one being my DH) who didn't/don't stay dry at night be ages 6, 7, and even 8.

It's not something you can make your child do. Nick is quite young and I can assure you that if he continues to wet at night as he gets older it's because he can't help it.

I already responded but I agree 100 percent. I mentioned earlier that DS was dry at night from right around 2 (barely). However, to this day, he almost never, ever gets up in the middle of the night to go pee...maybe a handful of times (if that) since he was in undies at night. He also can hold his pee for insanely long periods of time during the day if he wants/needs to. I think he just physiologically was set up to handle it right away.

I don't get the idea of reward charts, etc. for nighttime training especially for this very reason. I totally think it is physiological more than anything else, and you can't really change, coerce, etc. physiology. DS was just wired to be able to hold his pee at night from a pretty early age. We did absolutely nothing to make it happen. Pee training was just really easy for him (night and day). Poop, notsomuch ;)

[Momof3Labs]

We're still not there with DS1. He's been day trained for well over two years. I thought that we had made it over the hump as he had been dry for a good 30-40 mornings in a row, but he's been wet for the last three mornings in a row. We walk him to the bathroom every single night at 11pm; he's a very, very deep sleeper.

It may happen soon, it may not. Peds consider it pretty normal to bedwet until age 7-8, so it is possible that you have a lot of pull-ups in your future.

[michlyn]

Hmm...I replied 3 years but am not sure if having accidents qualifies as night time trained....she has had several accidents esp lately. We're debating switching back to a pull up but I hate buying them.

[cairo06]

In retrospect, I wouldn't bother with a reward chart again. I do think its mostly physiological. We were just stumped as to why DD would be dry for 3 months and then start bed wetting again. I hate to admit it, but I let MIL comments about DD still wearing a diaper at night get to me. With DS I plan to just let things take their own course and not worry about it.

[neeter]

This is a really interesting and timely post. For the past 2 months, we've been trying to night-train my son who is 4.5. We will wake him up around 10pm or so to go to the bathroom. Then he will usually stay dry at night...with possibly a leak once a week.

Maybe we should pull back on this and go to pull-ups at nite instead...so as to not interrput his sleep (though he's gets up/goes back to sleep easily)....thoughts???

[alexsmommy]

I already responded, but I just wanted to add...
Last week sometime around midnight, I got up to go to the bathroom. DH was out so I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the bathroom door opening and someone coming out of the bathroom. It was DS. I had never, ever seen him get up to pee at night. Something clicked physiologically and he seems to both be able to hold more overnight and he wakes up if he needs to go. I realized that typically we limited his fluid intake about an hour before bed, but that night we hadn't (block party). This confirmed that we no longer had to limit fluids at all because if he hit "maximum capacity" he would wake up. You can't really "train" someone to do that. I just has to happen developmentally. Now he happily has water any time after dinner without us reminding him not to have too much.

[belovedgandp]

Not there yet. My son is 4 1/2. I agree with the responders that say lots of kids are just not developmentally ready. Unless he gets old enough for it to become a social issue, I'm going to continue to wait and see.

He's had stints where he'd wake up dry about half the time. Even getting up in the night to use the bathroom. We've had three attempts of 2-5 nights without a diaper, but he's only made it through 1 night out of about 12 tries dry. I'd check on him before going to bed (3 hours after he went down) and be hit by the smell of urine in the room. He'd be sound asleep and soaking everything. DH and I would be stripping him and the bed at 11 pm and DS would have no clue why or what was going on. So we went back to diapers and everyone sleeps better with much less laundry.

So this is 1 1/2 years after being completely accident free during the day (including rest time) and no end in sight for nights. He has a dry diaper MAYBE 1 night a week.

[almostmom]

DS potty trained at 2.5. He stopped wearing a diap at naps at 4, and now at 4.5, he still wears a diap or pull-up at night. He is usually soaked in the morning (though the past couple of weeks have been better), and I can't find a diaper or pullup big enough for him! We get him up at 11 to pee, and he usually can, and we TRY to limit fluids at night, but it's hard. Otherwise, his bed is wet in the morning. I'm just letting it go, because I just don't think he's ready.

DD potty trained a little after 2, and still wears a diap for nap and bedtime, but I think she'll transition sooner then him, as she is sometimes dry at naptime.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Thank you all! This has been most interesting for me. Seems we potty train them during the day but they have to do it themselves in the night, right? I wonder how different the poll would have been if I had asked about boys only. From the responses it seems boys are later than girls even at the nighttime stuff.

[Karenn]

From the responses it seems boys are later than girls even at the nighttime stuff.

That's true here. DS is 6 and we're still waiting for him to wake up dry consistently. He was a breeze to PT during the day though! DD is 3 1/2 and she mostly wakes up dry. However, I earned (am earning?) my parenting stripes trying to keep her PT during the day!!

[saschalicks]

We used the night time pull-up for DS1. We continued to use it until he came up dry in the AM. I do not suggest getting rid of that form of *barrier* if he's still wetting at night. Some kids take longer then others. I would say he was completely dry at 3.5.

Now we are in the midst of PTing DS2 and he is not even fully day time trained, but he is also in a night time pull-up. We don't have diapers in the house anymore. He's only 2.5 so I feel we'll be in night time gear for some time.

HTH

[HIU8]

I didn't vote as DS is just 3.5 and we are so not there at night yet. 50% of the time he wakes up soaked and 50% bone dry. However, I have to say I am extremely happy that they make Good Nites now. We currently us nighttime pull ups. Plus, I have heard that wetting the bed is hereditary and I wet the bed until I was 9 years old. I could not wake up at night to use the bathroom. Heck, I'm such a heavy sleeper even now that I wake up at the very last minute and have to race to the bathroom (I am embarrassed to say that I almost had some near misses over the past 10 years). DS will be in pull ups or good nites until he can stay consistenly dry.

[kboyle]

i voted 5+. charlie has been day trained since before he turned 3...i can think of 1 accident (while napping) that he's had in a good year.

but goodness make the sun go down and that kid just can't stay dry :(

like pp, i think we'll be buying him pull-ups when in college.

[jamesmom]

I have no idea... DS is almost 5 and will still wake up soaked if I don't put him in a pull-up before bed. He has been day trained since 3 and does beautifully during the day. I just hope he is fully PTed before he gets to middle school LOL

[khalloc]

I voted 3 years, but my DD is 2.5. She is dry thru the night about 80% of the time. We use pullups at night. I imagine that by 3 she will be out of pullups. She turns 3 in November

[oneplustwo]

DD was almost 6 before she could go through the night dry. DH and I never worried about it. Our pediatricians have always said that kids will go dry through the night when their bodies and brains have matured enough, and each kid is different. The parents' history also plays a role. DH was, shall we say, a very late bloomer in this regard, and DD was just taking after her daddy a bit. DD was fully trained during the day by age three, BTW. Of her twin brothers, one was fully night-trained by 4 and the other still wears a pull-up at night at 4.5 years. It's no biggie for us.

[ltmommy]

We're not there yet either. DD has been day-trained since 2 1/2, but is very rarely dry at night. That is partly why I hesitated to start day training when her preschool was pressuring me to send her in pull-ups - I had always read that one of the signs of readiness is dry diapers in the morning.

A couple of weeks ago, just after her 4th birthday, I did a test. I had a hunch that DD was being a little lazy - waking up dry but not wanting to deal with the inconvenience of getting up to pee first thing, so wetting the diaper. This had happened before at naptime - I'd put her in a pullup, but then she wouldn't sleep but wet the pullup anyway. So I put her in panties, put the waterproof pad on her bed, tossed out most of the stuffed animals, woke her at 11pm to potty, the whole routine. Well, first night she woke up crying at 3am that she wet the bed. Second night she woke up moaning at 2am but hadn't yet wet the bed. Third night woke up crying at 2:30 that she wet the bed. End of experiment. I was just plain wrong.

Since then, though, she has been much better about getting up and going potty first thing, and she has even had more dry nights - maybe 2 a week. But I'm thinking it could just be another year or more until she is really ready.

[toby]

I just talked to my wonderful pediatrician about this today (DS is almost 4, day potty trained and has super wet diapers in the morning).

She told me to not even consider the night "potty training." She said that every child is different and that there is not a lot that parents can do to speed the process. Their brain and body have to mature... DS is a very heavy sleeper and she said that he may not be ready for a while. She said that she has some 6 year olds that still wet at night (not that I want to be there, but it was reassuring). Some people may not agree with what my ped said, but I am going to trust her and just relax about it for right now.

[cimberdog]

My oldest just started doing this last month and he is 5 1/2. He sleeps very soundly and I was shocked that he just started one week and that was it. Otherwise, we had him in night time pull ups. My thoughts are that we let him wear the pull ups until he started waking dry - the wetness would not wake him and I'd just have a big mess.

My DH was over 7 though - eek! I for sure thought we were in for a much longer haul.

[mommy111]

3 yrs and we didn't sweat it, kinda just let her be dry through the night and then took off the pull-ups. She was consistently dry once we made sure she peed RIGHT before she went to bed.

[jacksmomtobe]

DS was day-trained at 3.5 years once he started school and then night trained shortly after. In both cases he asked to wear underwear and in both cases I was wondering if he was ready and he was. He has had very few accidents and most of the "night" ones were really he didn't get up fast enough in the morning. I suggest not forcing the issue and going with the pull ups until your child expresses a desire to try just underwear. DS is a pretty heavy sleeper so clearly he is just able physiologically able to hold it through the night. I try to casually limit fluids before bed time and I can say there are times when I've said to myself after DS is asleep "Oh no when did he pee last?" and just hoped for the best. I can say overall there is a big difference between boys and girls! Also second children. DS has been going on the potty since about 19-20 months (at her own lead) and though she still wears pull ups at just over 2 she has woken me up a few times to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

Overall I say don't worry (&tell DH not to either) just follow your child's lead and base your decisions on where your child is at developmentally. It seems if you rush them especially in potty training you end up in a worse situation.

[Melanie]

It was actually 2 3/4 for us, they each decided they didn't want to wear diapers at night within days of day-training. There are of course wet beds to deal with but they didn't last long. Now it's (knock on wood) very sporadic. Though Dd usually wakes or stirs once a night and we take her to the bathroom.