3 year old fully potty trained during day, not at nap/night time. Any suggestions?

Dora - posted on 08/06/2012

We started our son at 4yrs old with the night time potty training. We make sure his last official drink is @ 6pm cause bedtime is between 7:30-8p. He goes right before bed. Then I usually wake him up (even though he is still fast asleep lol) at either 1am or 2am. Then I will ask him at approx. 5am. By that time he will tell me if he has to go or if he is fine. So far it is working that way for us. He has only had a couple of accidents. Definitely use a mattress protector. Just keep in mind it may take a little while for him to get it. Good luck :)

JENNIFER - posted on 07/24/2012

All children are different. Use incentive like a new bed set, toy etc.. Start at nap time. Tell him he wakes up dry for 3 weeks he can pick out a toy or something. but during night time we use night time pull-ups just because they are in bed longer then nap time.

Leigh - posted on 07/16/2012

Try the pull-ups. If he asks why he has to wear them again, tell him its just until he can get up to pee in the night, or make it all night. He probably won't like the idea but maybe it'll be enough incentive to get him to pay more attention and stop wetting. Good luck.

Kristie - posted on 06/28/2012

Rebecca, You are right. HE does not want to get up and I keep telling his the same thing. I have asked him if he pees at his dads and sometimes he says yes and other times he says no. So I have no idea. His dads gf told me exactly what she does to get him to go and its the same thing I do. I have a hard time believeing that he doesnt go there but at my house he does unless hes just scared of his dad. Not sure. But I have been doing this for more than two weeks and we have not made any progress. He can go a whole nap though without wetting but not the full night. So I might just start putting pull ups back on him until he is ready cuz as of right now, he is not. Thanks for the input

Emalie - posted on 06/28/2012

I have a three and a four year old, and if I dont make them go to the bathroom as they are going to bed then my three year old wets her bed... try and eliminate as much liquids as possible before bed time, and have him go a few times as well before hand... My three year old has been overnight potty trained for almost a year... It can be done :)

Rebecca - posted on 06/26/2012

Hi Kristie,

I think 3 years is quite young to be night time trained especially for a boy. I have a 3.5 year old who is day trained but still wears pull ups at night and does not want to wake up to pee. I think it is up to him..when he is ready he will stop wetting the bed. Have you asked your son what he does at night in his father's house. Perhaps his father wakes him up regularly..... My advice would be honestly that you should not punish him for wetting the bed...this will probably only make things worse. Perhaps he is refusing to get up and pee because you are pushing him. I know with my boy, when we ask him if he wants to pee he always says no but we know he does. If we don't say anything he will more often than not go to the potty by himself. Again..I believe that when he is ready he will be willing! Meanwhile I would ignore what happens at his father's house and do what you and he think he should do. Ask him if he wants to go back to wearing pullups or if he wants to try to get up to go pee in the night with your help. Hope this helps and Good Luck.

Brittney - posted on 06/19/2012

I started off waking Ruby every 3 hours (which was 2x a night) and I'm gradually increasing the times I wake her. Now she goes 4 hours and I wake her, then another 4 hours, now I'm just working on getting the last time to a reasonable wake up time (7am) only 30 more minutes and then she can wake herself to go and go back to bed. The past week, I have been sleeping through the alarm and she wakes me up in order to go. My daughter still ends up getting 10-11 hours of sleep at night and 3-4 hours sleep during the day...seems like enough to me.



Edit- she now wakes me every night if she has to go, I say have a mattress protector on the bed just in case.

Kristie - posted on 06/18/2012

He used to have pullups and I still have some. I was just giving this a try since he supposedly does it at his dads house. I will prolly try it a few more days and see how it goes. I appreciate all the responses to this.

Maren - posted on 06/18/2012

Some moms don't mind waking every few hours to take their kids to the bathroom, and that is their choice. However, I want my sleep, and putting my kids in pull-up to sleep works for me. I spend about $20 dollars on the store brand pull-ups and they last about 2 months. To me that is a great price to pay for my sleep. If he is at his dads part of the time it will last you even longer. Gerber even makes rubber underware that they can wear at night and are reuseable.
Sometimes it can take longer to be night trained ( my oldest was day trained at 3.5 and it took another year to be night trained. Good luck however you choose to do it.

Kristie - posted on 06/18/2012

I do wake him before I go to bed which is like 11-12 at night. I also stop his fluids as well. He drinks them last at dinner. He takes his own clothes off as well. How often should I wake him up?? Every 2-3 hours?

Brittney - posted on 06/18/2012

You could always wake him up to go, I do that with my 1 year old daughter, at least until she starts waking me (this past week she has). Or have him change his own clothes and re make his bed after wetting it. Make sure he doesn't drink anything at least 2 hours before bed.

Kristie - posted on 06/18/2012

I personally don't think hes ready but his dad keeps claiming he goes at his house and not mine etc. Which I dont believe but I figured I would try it. Its been almost a week and no progress. His Dad doesnt listen to me when I tell him hes not ready. He just tells me I am hurting him (not sure how). Thank you for your response.

Louise - posted on 06/18/2012

I suggest you put him in nite pants until he is ready or mature enough to go all night. My daughter is 3.7 months and she still is not ready to go all night dry although she has been potty trained for over a year. She simply sleeps so soundly that she does not wake when she needs to pee. I am not bothered about it although I have tried to get her out of nite pants. She will do it when she is ready.

As with your son dont make it an issue. Use the pants and then you will see that they are dry in the morning after a while. Say nothing at all. Then one day dont put the pants on and see how things go.