Need advice re nighttime potty training

[petesgirl]

DS is almost 6, and has had about a handful of dry nights since potty training around 4. After reading many threads on here and not wanting to wash sheets every day, I haven't pushed it and he has been wearing pull ups. Well, lately he has started asking to wear undies to bed and saying he can stay dry. We finally let him on Sunday night-and he was dry all night! Then on Monday he tried again and he peed at some point in the night. Then Tuesday night he went potty before bed and then got up probably 4 more times to pee before finally falling asleep. He still peed in the night. I asked him if he was having a hard time falling asleep because he was worrying about staying dry. He said no, but I do think it's stressing him out. Last night, he peed before getting into bed, then got up twice and went. DH told him that was it- no more getting up to pee. About 20 minutes later he got up with wet undies! He hadn't even fallen asleep yet!
Anyway, DH and I feel really bad about this-I can tell he wants SO badly to be successful and get out of pull ups. And I don't know how to help him! It's making me so sad for him. I want to take advantage of his desire to night train but I'm not confident he can stay dry on a regular basis. He has never been a great sleeper and just started sleeping better within the last year, so I'm hesitant to do anything that disrupts his sleep, but maybe I should be waking him up in the night to go. Or maybe we should get one of those sleep alarms. Advice please!!

[Charlie]

What about something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/GoodNites-Und...or%2Bboys&th=1

They're more like big kid undies while still giving protection. Just an idea.

[mmsmom]

He's still young for staying dry at night. My pediatrician doesn't discuss options until 8 years old. It is not something he can control on his own. His body has to be ready. If it really bothers him I would use the alarm. But if you can convince him to stay in pull ups a while longer it may happen on its own. Have you tried Underjams vs Pull Ups? They are more big kid centered.

[HannaAddict]

I am in the give it time camp. Two kids were dry on their own at night shortly after potty training and one took longer to reliably be dry and wore goodnite pull ups, not the underwear (haven't seen those locally) until first grade. It is tough too, mine wanted to be dry and went potty before bed but it just took longer than for the other two. Good luck and hope he doesn't get too worried


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[twowhat?]

He's still young for staying dry at night. My pediatrician doesn't discuss options until 8 years old. It is not something he can control on his own. His body has to be ready. If it really bothers him I would use the alarm. But if you can convince him to stay in pull ups a while longer it may happen on its own. Have you tried Underjams vs Pull Ups? They are more big kid centered.

I am in the give it time camp. Two kids were dry on their own at night shortly after potty training and one took longer to reliably be dry and wore goodnite pull ups, not the underwear (haven't seen those locally) until first grade. It is tough too, mine wanted to be dry and went potty before bed but it just took longer than for the other two. Good luck and hope he doesn't get too worried


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Yes to all this. DD2 just had to wait until her body was ready. It didn't happen until earlier this year - she's well over 8 years old. The easiest thing to do (and least stressful for the child too) is to just stay in Pull-ups and set it up so the child is comfortable with going to the bathroom on her own if her body wakes her in the middle of the night (e.g. nighlights). We did like the Underjams brand, they were thinner and quieter. We repeatedly told DD2 that when her body is ready, she would be able to keep her Underjam dry but that in the meantime she could help her body get ready by peeing before bed, and by getting up and going to the bathroom if she woke up in the middle of the night. Don't restrict water - that doesn't do jack squat. The key is the body being ready so child wakes when she needs to pee. Once she was motivated to do this AND when her body was ready, the stars aligned. She kept her Underjams dry for a full week, and then we let her sleep without it, using the lasagna sheets approach (sheet / fleece blanket / sheet / fleece blanket) and teaching her how to strip the top layers herself (I was NOT going to be up in the middle of the night to help her, plus it saved her the embarrassment of having an accident if she could manage it on her own and simply tell me that she needed laundry done if she had an accident). This is definitely one of those "don't make it a big deal" things. For us it was extra tough because twin sister was dry at night immediately upon daytime potty-training at 3 years old So we had to REALLY emphasize that there is nothing wrong, everyone's bodies are different.

Even at 8 years old, our pediatrician wasn't concerned. YMMV on that but in the end I'm glad he had that approach, it reduced stress on everyone.

[Ms B]

What about something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/GoodNites-Und...or%2Bboys&th=1

They're more like big kid undies while still giving protection. Just an idea.

IIRC your DS is close to mine in age and the GoodNites definitely have eased the transition towards night training for us. They allow The Biscuit to use the bathroom at night, but keep things dry if there is up to a moderate amount of wetness. Also, dialing back liquids after 7 p.m. and requiring a "pitstop" right before lights out have helped quite a bit.

We are at the point where The Biscuit is dry four nights out of five, so we are going to try regular underpants over the holiday weekend -- but using the double sheet method I have seen recommended here (cover mattress with waterproof mattress cover, sheet, another waterproof cover and then another sheet to make things easier to deal with at night). We are holding off on the Malem or similar to see if we can get this resolved other ways because the reviews have been mixed and The Biscuit still is pretty young.

[catsnkid]

DS is almost 8 and still only has a handful of nights he is dry. We use underjams. I refuse to wake him in the middle of the night and I refuse to change sheets.

[petesgirl]

Thanks everyone, for confirming that we don't need to rush this! I wanted him to be successful FOR HIM but he did fine last night when I handed him a pull up at bedtime, so at least he didn't fight that.

[lizzywednesday]

What about something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/GoodNites-Und...or%2Bboys&th=1

They're more like big kid undies while still giving protection. Just an idea.

DD uses these - "girl" version, but to be honest the only difference between the two is color/styling because they use the exact same inserts.

I stocked up at Target when they were newly introduced, but have to buy refills on Amazon. (She's probably due for new pants, TBH, because these have seen about 3 years' hard use and are falling apart.)

[lizzywednesday]

What about something like this:

https://www.amazon.com/GoodNites-Und...or%2Bboys&th=1

They're more like big kid undies while still giving protection. Just an idea.

DD uses these - "girl" version, but to be honest the only difference between the two is color/styling because they use the exact same inserts.

I stocked up at Target when they were newly introduced, but have to buy refills on Amazon. (She's probably due for new pants, TBH, because these have seen about 3 years' hard use and are falling apart.)