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When Can I Stop the Night-Time Diaper?

Berkeley Parents Network > Advice > The Potty > When Can I Stop the Night-Time Diaper?



Friend says I should have stopped all diapers cold turkey

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


2-year-old

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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