I love Holden’s preschool and have to credit them with getting him pretty well potty-trained and conversant in choices and consequences. When the kids are in the 2-3 year old group, at a certain point, they are given the choice of underwear or diaper. Many — like Holden — will change their minds according to their moods and whims.
A side note: at home, he never ever chose underwear. I suspect that he wanted to be fully master of his domain before risking it. I don’t know why, but that’s how it went.
So, right after his third birthday, when his school went on a one-week recess, Holden announced that he was done with diapers. Hooray. He pretty much had the whole thing mastered and we had very few (daytime) accidents. Cool.
For the next few nights, we noticed that he would still use his nighttime diaper if it was on. So, that’s when I made my fatal mistake: I asked him, “Holden would you like to sleep in diapers or underwear?”
I had wrongfully assumed that he would continue to choose diapers at night until he had the whole deal well mastered. Nope. He chose underwear. And that means that we change the sheets and his clothes at least every other night.
Operation Diapers at Night has been in progress for about two months now. When he has a dry night, we reward him with a glow in the dark sticker for his ceiling (he has about 20). When he has an accident, we try not to pressure or shame him by saying nice things like, “it’s ok, we’ll just clean you up” or “put the rest of your pee in the potty and we’ll get you into a nice warm bed.”
It feels like the last week we’ve had more wet nights than dry nights. Furthermore, he cries and fusses more each night (like he’s trying to wake Milo and piss us off)… is it a really bad idea to move to pull-ups at night?
{ 1 trackback }
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
We went through this exact phase a few months ago. Z didn’t want to wear diapers or PullUps because they were uncomfortable but she was wetting the bed a LOT (so annoying!). I finally stopped putting her in pajamas and bought some soaker pads for the bed (absorbent, washable pads designed largely for older people who are bedridden), but as soon as the PJs were off and the protective pads were on, she achieved nighttime dryness. She’ll even wake up once in a while and go use the toilet!
The nice thing about the soaker pads is that they go on top of the sheets so you can whip a wet one off instead of changing all the sheets.
Maybe try no pants at all at night? Especially if you have a little potty in the room just in case. That works for my son when nothing else will.
Potty training is so frustrating, I know.
Where can you find the soaker pads?
My daughter is 4 and totally trained during the day but still REALLY wet at night. I would love to help her transition to being dry at night, but other than limiting liquids close to bed, letting her get up to pee early in the night (8, 8:30), and taking her before we go to sleep (and she sleeps so deeply she doesn’t wake up enough to go), I’m not sure what to do. The soaker pads might be a good idea!
I bought mine from Amazon.com. Here’s a link: http://tiny.cc/dliZL
We had a breakthrough! I realized that since he had kicked the paci, he’s been using a sippy cup a LOT more at night (he’s had one in his crib/bed for 18 months now to avoid the “I want a drink of water” excuse for getting out of bed) and wetting himself more and more. We took away the cup and have had two dry nights. Duh!
But I also bought some rubbery training pants (by Gerber, from Target) in case we want to try that option.
Thanks for all the tips.
We did Nikki brand cloth pull-ups (“nighttime undies”) for a while (starting around two and a half probably), made the bed double or triple layered(with Lands End protective mattress pad at the bottom of each layer) so it was an easier change. But now, 2 months away from 4 years old … we just wake her up at 11:15pm, put her on a potty that we keep next to her bed. She probably wets the bed once a week or once every two weeks, usually when she’s starting to get sick. It took us weeks to find the ideal time. We only vary the time if she stirs a little earlier. AND, on the nights that she chooses to sleep without underwear, she’s much more likely to use the potty on her own and never wets the bed. We let her sleep in almost whatever she wants, so it’s often commando in a skirt. Sure makes the 11:15 thing easier! Good luck!