How to Night-Time Potty Train Toddlers
Daytime potty training and night-time potty training, while both a large part of helping your toddler to grow and mature, involve very different approaches by you as parents. Potty training a toddler so that he will use the potty during the day is all about teaching him to recognize his body's signals that it's time to go, along with frequent reminders and helpful hints from you. However, getting a toddler to stay dry at night is largely a developmental issue that she has no control over. By the age of 5 most children will have control over their night-time elimination habits, but only 2/3 of toddlers under 3 years old have reached the same milestone.
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Things You'll Need
- Mattress Protectors
- Extra Sheets
- Extra Pajamas
- Disposable Pull-Ups
- Underwear
Instructions
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Use a plastic mattress protector to cover your toddler's mattress before making up the bed with sheets. These are a must when preparing to night-time potty train toddlers, as there are bound to be accidents along the way and you don't want them to ruin the mattress.
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Have an extra plastic mattress protector, set of sheets, and pajamas always on hand in your toddler's bedroom. This way, if your toddler does have an accident at night-time, you can quickly change the bedding and his pajamas and get him back to sleep more quickly.
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Limit the amount of fluid your toddler drinks as her bedtime nears to prevent a full bladder in the middle of the night and possible bedwetting.
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Take your toddler to the bathroom before getting into bed every night. When you first begin night-time potty training, put a disposable pull-up on your toddler at this point and dress him in his pajamas. If he normally wears underwear during the day, just let him know that the pull-ups are special and only for nighttime until he is ready for underwear at night.
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Keep your toddler in pull-ups if she wakes up with a wet pull-up on a consistent basis.
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Wait patiently for your toddler's elimination muscles to mature physically, allowing him to hold his urine overnight. That's all you can really do at this point. Be supportive and praise your toddler for his daytime potty training success and every morning he wakes up dry. Do not get angry if your toddler seems not to be making any progress with night-time potty training, as it can take up to age 5 for him to be successfully potty-trained at night.
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Switch your toddler to underwear for night-time wear when she wakes up most mornings dry (fewer than 3 to 4 accidents a month). Praise her for her progress and let her know that now she gets to wear "big girl" underwear to bed and should get up to go to the bathroom if she ever feels the urge to go at night.
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Continue to remind him to use the bathroom right before bed and leave a light on in the bathroom at night so that he can get up to go if he needs to. While there will undoubtedly be setbacks, once your toddler wakes dry on most mornings he is well on his way toward achieving night-time potty training success.
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Tips & Warnings
If you're not comfortable making the transition straight from pull-ups to underwear, there are night-time cloth training pants on the market that are thicker and more absorbent than regular toddler underwear. Always take your toddler to the bathroom first thing in the morning to avoid any wetting after they wake up.
If your child consistently wets the bed with limited fluid intake before bedtime or your toddler's night-time potty training does not seem to make any progress over the course of several months, consult her pediatrician. However, most pediatricians do not consider night-time bedwetting an issue until the child is 5 years old.
