Night Time Potty Training

It's almost your son's 4th birthday and he's the only kid on the playground not completely potty trained. Sure, he can go all day with going on the potty, can tell you he has to go when you are in public and uses it quite successfully at home for the last year.....but what about at night?

That's a different story. The bedtime routine still involves a night time pull up and your child seems to be the only one still wearing diapers to bed. The truth is, he's not the only child. About 10-13% of 6 year old children still wet the bed. You are not alone. And for all those people who like to tell you how horrible of a parent you are for it, tell them to stick it! You know your child, they don't and you need to do what's best for both of you!

I myself have had two such children. JP, who just turned 5 in September didn't get night time trained until November and we still have middle of the night accidents. Macie, our almost 4 year old still wears a diaper to bed. Some may call us lazy, that we aren't or haven't pushed the night time potty training enough, but that truly is not the case. Any parent knows, you can't push a child to go to the bathroom. They will do it when they are ready and not a second before that. Most of the reason for that is......it's something they can control and you can't. You can try bribing them, but what good does that do? You are rewarding them for something they have to do anyway.....and when do you actually stop bribing and what happens when you do? Regression, anyone??

Before you do anything, have your child checked by his pediatrician. Most likely, he'll do a few tests on your child to check for a UTI (which can be ruled out, because he goes potty during the day) and/or his kidneys. As long as your child has no medical issues, you'll be sent home with reassurance that all is fine in the world and it's quite normal for your 3 year old to NOT be potty trained at night. Sadly, you'll go stop off at the store and pick up another box of night time pull ups for your child and the routine will continue for at least a little while.

But how and when do you step in and decide it's time to take control? Well, that's up to you, how long you are willing to wait it out, how hard your budget is taking a hit because of the extra diapers and other personal reasons you have.

For us.....JP was just over 5 years old and enough was enough. At this point we had 4 children in diapers, JP at night, Macie at night, Emmie and M&M all day and all night. Someone had to give up their diapers, so naturally we started with the oldest person in the house.

The fun began.....

Sippy cups were limited during the day. One with each meal and only half during snack times. If he wanted a drink in between, well he could have A SIP of water, but no more than that. Considering my children eat 3 meals and 3 snacks, he was not going thirsty during the day. The next thing we did was to take drinks away after 7pm. No drinks, except a sip or two of water before bed, after brushing his teeth. Then it was potty time, story time, prayers, tucked in and bed.

The next morning, he woke up running for the bathroom. Anyone in his way was getting knocked over. Of course this resulted in him waking earlier then his typical 8am schedule, but if it meant no more diapers, then I was okay with that. On very rare occasions JP does wet the bed. He still has nights, especially when he's overtired or if he sneaks a drink from one of his ever sympathetic siblings after he's already been in bed, but for the most part, he's completely potty trained.

I have to add here, limit soda and carbonated drinks. They are diuretics and it'll only set your child up for failure. Gatorade's and other drinks that restore electrolytes shouldn't be given unless your child is sick. These also will make your child have to go to the bathroom more than usual. And surprisingly, not much juice. The sugar seems to go through my JP......even if it is natural. Stick with water, milk and 1 or 2 cups of juice a day.

Now let's see if we can get his almost 4 year old sister to be the same way.