Yet Another Potty Training Question - for Naps and Night Time

C., I have a like issue with my 4 year old. If he gets up around midnight, usually the rest of the night is ok, unless he drinks after 6. He cries so hard when he wets his underwear that I have also resorted to pull ups. (Besides, changing him and the bed in the middle of the night is so tiresome.) He does not really like them, and sometimes they are dry, sometimes they are not.
I think their little muscles are just not quite ready yet! It will come in time. You are doing everything right...I think maybe his body is not ready yet.
My mom keeps telling me to use an essential oil called Cypress on his feet at night...guess this has worked for her friend...but I have yet to try it!

I do not know your son, but my son would have accidents at night only while wearing pullups. They must have felt like diapers to him. Once I put him in underwear, he never had another accident.

I am having the same problem with my daughter. She thinks it's ok to wet the pull up at night. There have even been days when it's dry when she gets up and if I don't get it off her right away she'll go in it! So now we give her a treat in the morning if the pull up is dry. She's went 5 days with a dry pull up in the morning! Maybe your son can be bribed too LOL Good luck!

My son is at that age too ... what my cousin did was instead of going through the pull-ups like crazy, when they were home, she put big boy undies on him. Even at night. It took a couple of days, but he soon realized he didn't like the feeling of wet undies. Good luck!

My guy had control for daytime when he was three as well, but when he was asleep, he didn't have the control. Honestly, it took until he was 5 and one month before he was developed enough for nighttime.
In my opinion, it is NOT a matter of "it's okay to pee in a pullup", it's a physiological development skill that takes place, like walking and talking. He will be able to hold it when his muscles are developed. In the meantime, you could set a alarm to wake him in the night and train him that way, but expect accidents until the muscles develop to hold it while he is unconscious.

When my son was training, I would leave his underwear on but put the pull up on OVER the underwear. He could feel the wetness, which would give him the clue to go to the potty, and it also protected the sheets.

C.; be patient, i have had 3 boys, and each of them took till they were 4 before all potty training was done, it takes a while, first of all, we quit using pull-ups, we would put our boys in the training pants, and use plastic pants over them, and we bought a good matress protector, and if they wet the bed, we had them help take the sheets and things that got wet to the laundry room and they helped clean them, just remember too you got about one more year, so keep your patience, it takes a while, just enjoy life and do what you can, of course you can actually find out aproximately what time he pees and pick him up from his sleep and carry him and put him on the toilet ? but this is a lot of hard work, just keep doing what you are doing, apparently you have a 6year old and you must of done something right, just be patient and let him grow, you will get there, soon enough, it sounds like you have your hands full, so keep going, just do what you can do when you can do it, D. s

I have 5 sons and the way we potty trained them at was to wake them up enough to go potty before my husband and I went to bed. They soon learned to stay dry through the night but also learned to wake to go potty in the middle of hte night when they had to go instead of wetting the bed.

Hi C., Did he ever go to bed without wetting the pullups over night? I think that if he went without peeing at night for at least a week or more, then his body is able to hold it and you can think about blaming the "feeling free to pee in a pullup theory". However, if from the get go, he hasn't ever gone a week or more without peeing in it, then I would think about blaming the fact that his little body just isn't ready to go the night without it. Night time is the hardest to prepare for. If you want to test it out, then you can put him in underwear and see what happens (buy a rubber sheet or some other protective gear for the mattress first, a cheap one is 12 to 25 dollars at walmart and well worth it). Even when they are "potty trained" at night, they will still have accidents, it's a good investment.

Just be prepared not to scold or shame him if there are accidents, he will be pretty mortified all on his own. Console him and let him know that you believe in him, however if it is too mortifying for him, then put the pullups back on, don't want to hurt him after all. After the first day or 2 may just stop peeing at night, but you won't know unless you try. Oh yeah, don't forget to get some extra sheets ready and be prepared for laundry.

Hello C., There is no way to force your sons body to mature faster. He is only 3 and is learning to control his bladder in the day time. This is a good sign that he is on track. Don't rush him. It's like making a child learn algebra before they have learned the basics of multiplication or forcing him to walk all the time just because he took his first step. Give him time and you will find him waking up with an occational dry pullup(which I see he is already doing). He will have more dry nights if you don't push him too soon. It would be different if he was having dry nights for months then reverted back to wetting. But even then, it would just indecate that he was too stressed during his waking hours to stay focused on his bladder. This is not something you should disapline him for, it is not a willful act to make you mad, but just a depevelopmental stage. He is right on track. Good luck.

Hi C.,
My almost 5 year old daughter had/has the same problem. She now wears underwear to bed, but we have to get her up to go potty at midnight every night and then she does fine all night. Some nights she would make it through without peeing the bed, but others she wouldn't. I think she just sleeps too deeply to wake up to go to the bathroom. We were having trouble w/ pull-ups because she would pee in them just because she knew she was wearing them. She would sometimes wake up dry, and then pee in them...
I think it just takes their little bodies a while to mature, especially at 3 years old I wouldn't worry about it too much. Good Luck!
A.

I have three children. The potty training never started until they were dry at night. That is the very first sign that their little systems CAN hold it. Age 3 might be a little early, especially for a boy. It's my understanding that boys sometimes are a little later to train.
I have 3 girls. We had two trained at 2 1/2, but one was 3 1/2 (she was afraid of the potty)
Once he is dry at night, I would go cold turkey...no diapers, no pull-ups. Be patient, he'll get it, no worries!

I was always under the belief that sleeping wetness is a developmental issue. 3 years old is kind of young, and he may just need to grow more to outgrow it. Patience is the key. At this age, I think accidents are expected, even if they were doing well initially. You can use the pull-ups if you want, or change the sheets as needed. If you're worried about him thinking it is okay to have accidents, it is okay, he is only 3.