My almost 3 year-old has demonstrated interest/signs of readiness in potty training on & off for over a year now. I ask him pretty regularly about wanting to sit on the potty, but there has been no "official" potty training yet. He will occasionally sit on the potty for a few minutes, but has never left anything behind ;o)
The issue for us now, is that he wakes up in the middle of the night or early morning soaking wet. He has been wearing regular pull ups (not cool alert) for months now - for consistency purposes. When he first started wetting through at night, I looked into night-time diapers, but was never able to find any large enough for him - he's a 3T-4T). So, I resorted to the pull-ups for both day and night. I thought it might confuse him to wear a regular diaper during the day.
I've tried restricting liquids after dinner, waiting until just before bed to put the night time pull-up on, and even doubling up the pull-ups. Regardless of these efforts, we're still up in the middle of the night changing pj's & sheets. He gets really upset when this happens, but yet does not take enough interest in the potty to sit on his own.
I feel like if he went potty before bed, he might make it through the night without soaking through. However, as much as I convince myself that my theory is true, I don't want to force potty training on him. I'm stuck, and beginning to get frustrated.
I appreciate your advice!
Thanks, Mama's, for your great advice! We actually had a stash of Good Nites in the back of the closet - bought a long time ago & they were too big. We tried one last night, and it was perfect. Hallelujah!! I also liked the idea of doubling up the sheets with a pad between them & one on top. That might save us some time & energy at 3 am if we still have an occasional leak. Thank you all!
Hi S.. Unfortunately I don't have too much advice to offer. My daughter is 3 and she also has no interest in potty training. As far as waking up soaked in the morning or the middle of the night, try Good Nites by Huggies. They hold a lot more liquid than the regular Pull Ups do.
Good luck!
Pull-ups makes a night-time pull-up. There are also Good Nites but these were too big for my little one (even in the XS/S size...he is also a 3T) and therefore he would leak through these. It is a little more absorbent and you can find it at Wal-Mart and Target. It is rather hard to find at regular grocery stores or Sam's Club. This works for us about 6 out of 7 nights. The other night we have to change the sheets b/c he has soaked through.
My son was never confused about the pullups. We just referred to them as diapers. If he is showing signs of readiness and interest, then he is probably ready at that age, he might do it pretty fast. My son did not get the peeing thing until his daddy did a group pee. I know it sounds disgusting, but my son loved it. If your son has an older sibling, then do that with them, and just think of it as one down, one to go. We put my son right on the pot, and just took him in when we went in. It also helped to put the poop in the potty, and explain to him that that is where poop belongs when you are a big boy, so he starts to make the connection and effort to get there.
Also, potty training is faster when they are wearing underwear, or naked. Try putting on underwear under the pullup for increaing timesduring the day
Hi S.,
I'm not sure that it is necessary to keep him in pullups instead of diapers at nite, unless he expresses discomfort with it emotionally. I thought they have large diapers for 3T. Sounds like his bladder isn't ready yet.
However, if you decide to keep on with the pullups I suggest you do what I did for a couple years while it took my son's bladder time to catch up with his psyche. I put a sheet over the mattress cover, covered with a large wet-proof pad, covered by another sheet. So now when he woke up wet, we just whisked off the wet sheet and pad and there was a dry sheet on the bed and all we had to do was change PJ's. It required a lot less effort and time in the middle of the night.
You could also offer little positive reinforcements for
leaving pee in the potty. Stickers worked great for almost anything with my son. At three I wanted to enroll him in a program that required that the child was potty trained, so I offered as a reward for one week straight of dry undies a new "Thomas" train. It worked wonders! No more pullups during the day. But you have to feel sure he is "ready" or you are taking a chance on stressing him out.
Good luck!
I have a little boy about the same age probably at the same stage of potty training. He doesn't seem quite committed to the process yet so we're still at the introductory phase. We encourage him to go potty with his Dad just before bedtime. Sometimes my husband works late so we say, "let's go potty now and I'll tell Daddy what a big boy you were." Sometimes he goes - sometimes he doesn't. It's been my experience that pull ups aren't as absorbant as diapers. (We still use diapers at night.) My friend uses pull ups with her son at night and had the same problem of saturated pjs and bedding. She now lines the top of his pull up with a large pad ("sanitary napkin") . She adheres it on the inside top of the pull up (parallel to the top of his diaper). She says it works like a charm. Maybe that would work for you too. Good luck.
There are night time Pull Ups. This worked for my son who always wore night time diapers until he outgrew them and we started potty training.
My son was fully trained at 3 years and 9 months. My best advice is to wait until he is ready. It can't be a fight. The interesting this is that once he was trained for peeing (pooping took a few months longer), he started to stay dry at night too.
UGH! I HATED pull ups for that very reason! We used Good nights for my kids...and they worked like a dream...they also sell insert pads, which provide an extra absorbant layer...
We used a Peter Potty for my son...it worked well for us...it's like a plastic urinal, Google it...it was awesome for our son...he trained easier than our daughter did.
Good luck to you!
J.
If it makes you feel any better, my son did not get trained until he was 3 yrs, 3 mo. Believe me, I thought he was taking FOREVER! In retrospect though, I can see that he just wasn't ready before. Once it clicked, he did very well. I think some kids - especially boys really do just take longer.
Nighttime - we used Goodnites - I know they do come in bigger sizes, because we used them. I had the same problem you did of wetting through the Pull-Ups. After he had been potty trained (daytime) for a few months, I told him that he could wear underwear to bed if he was dry 3 nights in a row. It didn't take him long after that. I think he was just peeing in his diaper at night because he could.
If he is willing to try to pee before going to bed, you should absolutely give it a try. Also, in the OneStepAhead catalog, there are double thick underpants that our parents used used for us when we were potty training (back in the day); you might want to try them so the wet sensation is not at all pleasurable for him. Finally, consider buying a pee-pee pad (don't know the technical name) to put under him while he sleeps. They are found in the incontinence section of stores. I used these when I trained my daughter overnight; she got wet and the pad got wet but I usually did not have to change the sheets.
For the night time wetting they make Good Nites pull ups. My DD used these until she was like 6yrs old and they never leaked. Make sure you're buying the appropriate size. I think the Huggies Overnights only go to size 6 in diapers, which might not be big enough for your Lil guy.
As for the potty training, if you google "Barton D. Schmidt, Potty training resistance" there is a great article that comes up with advice on steps to take with a resistant potty trainer. If you follow those steps you will have success. When I worked in a Peds office this was the information we would give to parents all the time for this issue.
Good Luck! Hope this helps.
Hi S.,
Try Goodnights in the smallest size--they're an overnight pullup made for older kids who wet the bed, so they're extremely absorbent. They worked great for my son during this phase.
Good luck!
I use Diaper Doublers for my 18 month old. She leaks every night if I don't.
I don't know how much he weighs but huggies or pampers makes a night time pull-up called Good-nites. Their much more absorbant then regular night time pull-ups. And their 38-65 lbs. for s/m and l/xl go up to 125lbs. The boy ones have soccer players on them and they come in a blue bag. They work great.
Our son was a HEAVY sleeper and the best advice I ever got about night time was from a book (that I forget the name of...got it from the library). It said to pick up your sound asleep child and plop them on the potty. That this would help them to learn to wake up to go at night. We tried it and it WORKED. Before we would go to bed we would scoop him up and put him on until he went. Eventually he would wake up wimpering and we would scoop him up. Then he would wake up wimpering and open his door, and we would scoop him up. That progressed to us helping him walk in and then to him independently going at night. He had started to refuse diapers at night before this and was potty trained during the day already, but it might be worth a try.
Good luck!
My son did not potty train during the day until he was 3 and I heard from many people that 3 was the magic number. However, he did not potty train at night until recently and he is now 4 1/2 yrs old. I had a similar problem with the pull-ups and therefore went to night-time diapers called GoodNites. The actually have very large sizes and 3T - 4T will probably be the Small in that brand. I found that he rarely had wet night with those. I bought them in the supermarket, but Walmart and Target have them as well. Good Luck.
Hi S.. My son is almost 2 1/2 and we have been potty training. I have a small potty that I started using with him. In the begining it took a few times to get him to go at all. We have these little ones in diapers since birth, so my son never even saw himself pee and had no idea what I wanted him to do. :) I have a 5 year old son too, so what we did was when they went to take a bath I actually put them in the bath first and while they were standing i held the potty up to them and first my 5 year old went and then my little guy. He was SO EXCITED the first time he saw himeself pee. It was pretty funny. ha.
Anyway, we've gone on from there. I've left him in regular diapers and just would time it in the beginning and it's just become a habit for him. He still doesn't tell me before he goes. He will tell me RIGHT after, but never before...so far. But he is little and I know it will come in time. But in the meantime at least we're saving money on diapers and making progress.
I live in Russia right now and they have their kids go on the potty from a VERY young age. Some even before a year old. I know these children aren't "TRAINED" really. I think in the states we call it "elimination timing" or something becuase that's really what it is. But it creates a habit in them. I have seen some kids here at like 1 1/2 who are going on the potty and asking to go. Pretty amazing. I wouldn't do it that young cause it's just so much work, but at 3 years old I don't think you're forcing him to potty train, you're just beginning to teach him a new, very important skill.
It says you have 2 boys...is one older? If so maybe your little guy could watch him pee a couple of times and then just try it with him. The bath worked good for me because the water made him want to pee. :)
anyway, good luck. Don't get stressed. It's really a huge milestone for them and it's a big deal for mom as well. Maybe once he starts going at least sometimes during the day you can try getting him to go before bed. Let me know how it works out! :)
Try Huggies Overnights. Different than those good nights diapers. Both of my kids use the Overnights at bedtime. My son is potty trained and my daughter is in the process. They dont seem to be confused. And they hardly ever leak through the overnights.
Also, here is a little bed making tip. Do you have super absorbent pads? Like what they use in hospitals??
Put one on the mattress, cover with a fitted sheet. Put another pad on the sheet and cover with another fitted sheet. If he wets the bed, peel off the top sheet and the pad under it, and you'll have clean bedding. It takes 2 minutes to peel the wet layers off and everyone goes back to sleep.
Best of luck!
