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When Can I Stop the Night-Time Diaper?
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When Can I Stop the Night-Time Diaper?
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When Can I Stop the Night-Time Diaper?
Aug 2003
Hello,
Our 2 3/4 year old daughter is potty trained, but still uses a pull up or
diaper for nap and night time. We just did this because that's what we
saw friends of ours with older children do. Recently we had some
friends over who have a 3 1/2 year old who said we should've stopped
diapers cold turkey at all times when she potty trained .Do any of you
have advice on transitioning out of diapers for nap and night time?
Thanks so much!
The process of potty-training our daughter was in phases, and I really
feel this was the best. My daughter is over three. She first became potty-
trained for everything except nap-time and night-time. Now she can get
through her nap in her panties. We still have her in a diaper at night, and
she wakes up most mornings with a very wet diaper. I talked to our
pediatrician, and she said some children simply cannot hold their
bladders all night. I would hate to think of the daily struggle of cleaning
up a messy bed every morning in an attempt to go cold turkey (both
effort-wise and my daughter's self esteem). If your child is not that wet
after nap/night-time, you could talk to her about trying to stay dry for her
naps, and then move on to night-time from there.
Also, we encourage our daughter to drink lots of water all day. We know
we will have to do a better job of tapering this off at night, but with the
heat and her high activity level, we have let her drink what she wants.
Monitoring your child's fluid intake may be something that works for you,
but I think 2 3/4 is pretty young to be completely potty trained.
Elizabeth
My daughter was finally potty trained during the day, around her
3rd birthday. A couple weeks later she was dry all night, for a
week straight. We kept her in Pull-Ups after she was
day-trained, assuming it would take months for the night training
to follow...but it happened spontaneously, and fairly quickly.
Once she'd been dry every night for a week, she switched to
sleeping in panties, with only a rare accident once or twice
since (it's been 6 months). I don't think there's much you can do
to speed it along, it just happens...their muscles & brains have
to connect, and once they do, they stay dry all night. Best of luck!
Heidi
I have been very pragmatic about this issue -- I don't see how
you ''train'' kids to do something while they're asleep. Both my
older kids eventually stopped peeing during sleep on their own --
but rather later than other kids did. Basically, when your
child is dry through the night for several nights running (or
through nap time, which ususally happens first), then you take
off the pullup. I get the kids to pee before bed and try to
limit fluids. Otherwise, what can you do?
Mom of 3
My friend did the biggest favor by lending us her absorbent bed
bads (they absorb without leaking) that were similar to lap pads
but much larger. That night we put one on my daughter's bed and
one on our bed, and have not put her in pull-ups since. She had
about 7 accidents and as soon as I figured out that her last
drink had to be one hour before bedtime, the few accidents
stopped altogether. It's been great! Good luck.
am
Just because it worked for their kid doesn't mean it's best for
your kid.
I think 2 3/4 is pretty young to be dry at night. My boy trained
during the daytime quite early (about 22 months) but he's now 3
1/2 and just recently stopped nighttime diapers (naptime diapers
stopped at about 2 3/4). It's a big challenge and there are still
lots of accidents, and most of my friends are telling me that's
too young!
What ended up happening for us is that at naptime he was quite
often dry afterward, so we just stopped using them. Bedtime
happened when there was a miscommunication and nobody put him in
a diaper one night, and he woke up dry. After that, we used a
reward system (stay dry seven nights and get Bob the Builder
underwear) that worked just fine.
Anon
My 2 year 4 month daughter has been potty trained
during the day for a few months now. She is a very
good potty user during the day, and does not need
adult assistance in using her potty. She also takes her
2-hour afternoon naps without diapers. In fact, we usually
place the potty in her room just before she naps,
telling her the potty is there just in case she needs to
use it. She has used the potty a few times during
her naptime, without calling out for help. At night,
we continue to put her in diapers, and her diapers
are always wet in the morning (since she always
drinks milk before bedtime). Some mothers have
chided me for putting her in diapers at night, saying
that this will confuse the kid. Of course there
are other mothers who told me that most kids need
night time diapers till at least 4-5 years old. My questions
are How do I know when my daughter is ready
to get out of her diapers at night? Is this something
that needs to be trained such as waking her up in
the middle of the night to go to the potty? Is it
possible to train her to use the potty in her room
without waking anyone up? How do other parents
help their kids transition from needing diapers
at night to saying goodbye to them?
I suggest that you should keep your child in diapers or
pull-ups (or, if bigger, "overnights") until you regularly
find them dry in the morning. You'll know she's ready to be
rid of them when she no longer pees in the night. Lots of kids
still use nighttime "protection" until well past 4 or 5; let it
be "no big deal."
I was told to wait until my daughter woke up dry before I
took her out of diapers at night. Luckily, I didn't listen
to them! One day I just put her to bed in underwear and she
was dry in the morning! She did go through a short period
(later) where she would wet the bed. We started getting her
up before we went to sleep and had her pee. We did this for
6 weeks and then stopped to see what she did. We have found
that she gets herself up now. All that said, 2 1/2 is young
to be totally potty trained. It is possible and I suggest
giving it a try but if it doesn't work I would give her a few
more months in a diaper at night.
I have 2 boys who potty trained very differently from
each other. My suggestion is not to make a big deal out
of it. Your daughter will be dry at night when she's physically
able. Some children sleep so deeply (as my older son did)
that they can't wake themselves up to pee. Eventually they grow
out of it and can last through the night. Maybe the critisizm
from other mothers makes it seem a bigger deal to you.
It's really a matter of physiology and physical maturity. I know
that as a parent we like to see our children progressing
developmentally (along with their friends) but this has nothing
to do with controllable behavior.
Good luck.
I think 2 1/2 is still pretty young to stay dry all night.
Most kids learn to stay dry through the night when they are
physically able to do it. If the diapers don't turn up dry
by age 3 on their own and the problem continues you should
probably not use the diapers. Modern disposable diapers do
such a good job at keeping the moisture away from the skin
that the kids don't know they are wetting. My daughter has a
severe wetting problem and with the diapers on she would
sometimes think her diaper was dry in the morning and that
she had accomplished her goal, but she really hadn't. As they
get older with a wetting problem they need to know when they
are wetting so they can use the muscles to stop it or wake
up and go to the bathroom. It can be a lot of work for the
parents to change sheets everyday, but there are bath towel
size water proof pads that I place on top of the sheets (also
using a waterproof mattress pad under the sheets), then a bath
towel on top of the pad helps keep it in place so then you only
have to wash the pad and towel. Both my kids were daytime
trained by 2 yrs old but both are very deep sleepers. The older
one wet at night until 6 yrs old and then finally out grew it.
The second one is even worse, at 6 yrs she doesn't even wake up
after she has wet. I have just started to read a book called
"Getting to Dry" which takes a very in depth look at solving
this problem and the different physical conditions that can
contribute to it. I have just started reading, but they do
suggest physically taking your child to the toilet in the middle
of the night to build this habit for them. I do know from
experience that a child may remain asleep during the whole
trip to the toilet. Good luck
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