Potty training help.

PrairieMom wrote: Ok. SO, Al has been daytime trained for a year now. I am struggeling with getting her sleepy time trained. she is 3 1/2.
So, let me start off by saying that she has never ever even once woken up in the morning with a dry diaper.
At the beginning of the summer I started hard core sleepy time training her. At nap time I would put her down in under pants, and for the first week or so she would pee the bed, then she seemed to get the hang of it and would stay dry. So, she stayed dry every day at nap time for about 2 months. Then I started Night time training her. Same deal, I would put her down in under pants. I wold wake her up at midnight, take her to pee and put her back down. She got tot he point where she would have 1 dry morning every 4 or 5 mornings or so. and I would just wash her bedding daily.

Well, the problem is that now it is getting cold in the house at night. She is needing more bedding, and when she has an accident she gets FREEZING, like shivers and everything. So, we quit PT her and just put her back in pull ups. So, we have lost ALL progress made up until now. She has even started wetting the bed at nap time again.

This kid is 3 1/2 years old! Any advice? Help!

FWIW, I FIRMLY believe that 1/2 the problem is that she has no issue with Peeing in a pull up. So, she won't keep one dry for anything. If she has a pull up on, she will pee in it. Even during the day, even tho she has been PT for a year now.

cameragirl21 replied: Do you have a plastic mattress cover? My previous cat used to pee in my bed whenever she got a UTI so I had to buy a plastic mattress cover in order to save my mattress. Just thought that my help as far as accidents go.
Idk if I can really give advice but I think I'd be inclined to put her back in underwear and let her deal with the shivers in the middle of the night...I imagine she'll come get you and not just shiver through the night so it's not as if she'll be cold for long but I am thinking that at 3.5 she already has a sense of cause and effect. Idk if it's the best approach but I think it's the approach I'd be inclined to take it if I were in your place.
I'd also start a sticker chart and give her a sticker for every morning she wakes up dry and tell her that once she fills up the chart she can get a present. Make a really big deal about it and it will get her inclined to try harder, I think.
Sounds like she's just not trying because she doesn't care because a pull up works for her so I would think that one aspect of progress would be to get her to want to PT at night, kwim?

kimberley replied: no advice, just hugs. we are still struggling with K for night time too.

PrairieMom replied:
yeah, we have a plastic cover, Thank goodness, we would have gone through a few mattresses by now. We have tried offering chocolate as a reward, and that seems to 1/2 way work. She is so stubborn.

The problem with just letting her freeze is that she sleeps so soundly that it doesn't wake her up. She just cries in her sleep, and that wakes me up. When i go to her, her little lips are blue. I want her PT, but not to the point of giving her hypothermia.

cameragirl21 replied: wow, I didn't realize it was that cold, that is dangerous.
What about just waking her every few hours to go until it sinks in? I know it's a PITA for both of you but maybe that would work and you'd know that she's not cold?

mom21kid2dogs replied: Night training is a WHOLE different set of training issues when compared to day training. My guess is if you are waking her nightly to pee and she still is never dry in the morning, her sleep pattern and bodily cues are such that she isn't ready to train at night. Plenty of kids don't night train for a year or two after day training. Olivia was over 5 before she was consistentaly dry.

Celestrina replied: It is not uncommon for kids her age to still wet the bed, and there are reasons that are out of both her and your control.

http://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/A-Bed...ng-Reasons.html

coasterqueen replied:
ITA and I see no reason to stress about it. I don't. Megan is 4.5 and still isn't 100% night trained. Kylie day trained at 2.5 and night trained at 3, rarely having accidents after that. Megan day trained at 3 and for the most part night trained at 3.5.

She still has accidents a few times a week. I don't put pull-ups on her, just clean up the mess and go on with it. Getting used to it between a child and two dogs.

I firmly believe when they are ready, they will stay dry. I thought I was alone with Megan's issue, but a good friend of mine said her daughter, same age is having the same issue, but even more so than Megan.

Heck, I wetted the bed all the time until 8 or 9, but it was because I slept so hard I would never wake up - I ended up taking pills for that.

moped replied: I know that i have a totally different take on PT, but here is my 2 cents worth and you can ignore it if you like...........she is still young to be 100% night trained. We waited until Jack was 1 month past 3. So he was day trained right away. Then for naps and bedtime he had a pull up. This went on for a looooong time, then we took the nap pull up away when he was dry for likely a month or more for naps, kept it for night time. Sometimes it was dry, most times not. Then suddenly he starting waking up dry, we kept with the pull up for months and months before I was brave enough to trust him 100%............we did not make a big deal if it was dry, and did not make a big deal if he was wet. We didn't throw a party for anything like that.

My advice on Big Al is to put a pull up on her for night time and wait it out. She will figure it out. But at her age it is still hard to have the control over her body that is required to get through the whole night.

I pulled these tips off my website I use for parenting courses........her take on night training is that it takes MUCh longer for that to all work itself out, this is referring to day training

Tip #1 Expect your child to be able to use the potty reliably (independently) by age 3.5 years. Research shows this age is the new "normal."

Tip #2 Be respectful of the fact that this is your child's body (not yours) and kids this age need time to become comfortable with new skills and expectations.

Tip #3 Remember how young children learn best: by watching you, not by being taught or "trained."

Tip #4 Resist reading parenting books on this subject - each one gives different advice. Instead, buy a few potty books for your child and read them frequently (with no strings attached!)

Tip #5 Be aware that most children show a spike of temporary interest around 19-21 months - which will quickly be replaced by other interests and should not be taken as a sign of "readiness."

moped replied: Oh yeah and one more thing......why is your house so cold?????????

PrairieMom replied:
because it is COLD here. 30 outside, 68 in.
I had to break down and change the thermostat to 70 today. I am constantly cold. Wearing jeans and long sleeve shirt and sweat shirt I still sit on the couch with a blanket. We live in a multi level, and the thermostat is on the top level. So it the upstairs is 68 the 2nd level is about 67, the basement will be about 65 and the subbasement will be about 64 in the winter.

So, if you are soaked in pee and have kicked your blankets off, you are gonna get the shiver shakes around here. It has to be like getting out of the shower and just standing there dripping. Poor thing.



Maybe I will just ride this out and see were things take us in the spring.
Ben had dry nights before I tried to night train him, and he did fine, I guess I am just getting impatient with Al.

moped replied:
Tara, you are singing to the choir here, I live in CANADA! LOL....it is COLD here too.....turn the darn furnace on girlfreind!!!!! Your babies are COLD!!!

Please don't stress about it - if she is accident free during hte day then she is good for now. Throw a pull up on her and let it be for a bit!

PrairieMom replied:
what temp do you keep your house at? I thought 70 was pretty normal? They say that you should keep your house 68 if you are trying to save energy and be all green and what not, but MAN! I will go all summer with out AC, but I REFUSE to freeze all dang winter.

moped replied: According to your poll, my house is colder than yours - ODD!!!!!

Upon thinking more, I crank up the heat behind his back, so maybe a degree or two warmer!

I have hardwood throughout too, so it is colder I find........when he isn't around it goes way UP!

PrairieMom replied:
could be how you deal with the cold too. I SO can't deal with it. My son doesn't mind, he can wear a t-shirt and be fine, while my fingers and toes are like ice cubes and I am shivering under a blanket. Call me a wimp... I'm turning up the heat.

jakesmommy08 replied: my son is 3 1/2 and i have having trouble getting him #2 trained. Well i guess you can say he is trained, but when he has to go #2 he will tell you that he needs to go and he wants a pull up on. (one weekend at his dads, his dad let him do it so now thats what he wants) He can go all day long with underwear on and be fine. I havent really pushed the night thing. Some days he wakes up dry, sometimes hes soaked. Today was my last day at work, now im on maturnity leave so im gonna starte working on it more. Have you tried having a drink cut off time? Like after 6 pm no liquids? I think thats what im going to try and see how it goes. Im really stuck at getting him to poo on the potty. He only poos if hes at my house or his dads. If hes anywhere else hell hold it. And some time he goes 2 - 3 days before going, so i figure after hes held it that long, he has to struggle to go and thats why he wants a pull up on........Kids should have a potty training button! lol If you come up with any ideas let me know!!!!!!!

MyBrownEyedBoy replied:
I was a bed wetter, too, Karen. I had to take the pills, too. It may not be in Al's control to be night trained yet. Logan night trained about 8 months after he was completely day trained. That being said, with regards to the peeing in pullups, I put Logan into a pair of underwear underneath his pullups. That way, he could feel the wet.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied:
Logan would do this. Hold it for days and then struggle, it would hurt and then he'd hold it for even longer the next time. I finally made it a rule that every evening about 45 minutes after dinner he had to sit on the potty and try to go. After about a week of this, he started to "get" it. Now he goes regularly and it's not a struggle anymore.

My3LilMonkeys replied: Honestly I'd say you are doing everything right and she's just not ready. Brooke is almost 6 and still wets the bed several nights a week - she is an incredibly deep sleeper and doesn't wake up. Even after she pees she never wakes up from being wet or anything.

Mommy2Isabella replied: Our Isabella is fully day trained and night trained ...

at least 3 months now she has been fully night trained, no accidents.

Here is what we did for night time, 1 1/2 hrs before bed she had no drink. Then when we went to bed we would go get her and take her potty.

That's it!

No secret formula here Isabella HATES to be wet though. We never did the pull up thing!

Isaia is PT right now and just wears underwear all day ... < his choice not ours on the PT I think he is too young, but I won't deny him

luvmykids replied: Are you doing the basics, like no drinks an hour before bed and potty right before bed? If you're doing those things and she is still not staying dry, then ITA that she just isn't ready. Both Colt and Macie night pt'd just fine but Kylie took MUCH longer, well after three years old and even at four we still had fairly regular accidents.

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: Katy and Johnny are both night trained but Matt still has somewhat regular accidents (like 1 a week... maybe 2 weeks) It killed him that Johnny trained before him but unfortunately he just sleeps so soundly that he doesnt wake up. It's not something to worry about until after age 7

mckayleesmom replied: I think it all depends on how deep they sleep.


Russell has never wet the bed..Not one time and I'm not exaggerating either. I never even had to potty train him, I just ran out of diapers and he took the hint...


Mckaylee is 6 and she still has accidents. She sleeps like a log. We cut fluids off and wake her up about midnight and she still has accidents.