Potty Training - At Night

[mastinbabe]

So I am potty training my 2 1/2 yr old. It is going really well. I have been putting her in a diaper at night and in panties in the day. She is great. I was told that I need to cut off all fluids at 4 pm and that if I don't and put her in a diaper for bed then I am basically messing her up emotionaly and mentaly. She is doing great during the day. She goes on her own without even telling me until she is done and needs to have her potty emptied. We can even go out of the house and have her in her panties without any accidents. I was mainly focusing on getting the day time down before starting on night time. Now I just feel horrible. She likes to have her milk when she goes to bed. What do I do. I have only been potty training for a couple of weeks. Should I be worried that I am doing harm to my child emotionaly and mentaly by putting her in a diaper at night? Please, any thoughts would be appreciated!

[jhh2141]

I am hoping that it is not your pediatrician who is telling you that you are messing up your child so badly by putting her in a diaper at night. It is established knowledge that most children do not have the bladder control to stay dry through the night until around 3 - 4 years old. Notice I said most. Of course, some children are perfectly able to do this at two. One of our children was. The other one was such a deep sleeper that even at 3 1/2, she would wake up in a sopping wet bed. Now, think about this, how much does that affect a childs self esteem? Our dd was at the age of being so independent in so many things and because she was such a deep sleeper, she couldn't manage to not wet the bed (and we cut her of drinks after supper, she peed 1-2 times before bed,etc). This caused her so much emotional pain, she was embarrassed and we did all we could to ease that for her. Told her it was okay, it was normal, how she learned, etc.

Basically, we went to night time pull-ups with her for amost 6 months. She loved them because she would feel a little wet, but not be soaking in wet bedsheets and she would then wake up and go to the bathroom to finish going. Our pediatrician highly recommended that we wake her up (not all the way up, just enough) and place her on the toilet before we went to bed ourselves, to help train her body what it feels like to need to go when really tired and sleeping. We were skeptical, but it seems to really have worked!

You are doing everything great. Continue being the supportive mom that you are!

[jhh2141]

I am hoping that it is not your pediatrician who is telling you that you are messing up your child so badly by putting her in a diaper at night. It is established knowledge that most children do not have the bladder control to stay dry through the night until around 3 - 4 years old. Notice I said most. Of course, some children are perfectly able to do this at two. One of our children was. The other one was such a deep sleeper that even at 3 1/2, she would wake up in a sopping wet bed. Now, think about this, how much does that affect a childs self esteem? Our dd was at the age of being so independent in so many things and because she was such a deep sleeper, she couldn't manage to not wet the bed (and we cut her of drinks after supper, she peed 1-2 times before bed,etc). This caused her so much emotional pain, she was embarrassed and we did all we could to ease that for her. Told her it was okay, it was normal, how she learned, etc.

Basically, we went to night time pull-ups with her for amost 6 months. She loved them because she would feel a little wet, but not be soaking in wet bedsheets and she would then wake up and go to the bathroom to finish going. Our pediatrician highly recommended that we wake her up (not all the way up, just enough) and place her on the toilet before we went to bed ourselves, to help train her body what it feels like to need to go when really tired and sleeping. We were skeptical, but it seems to really have worked!

You are doing everything great. Continue being the supportive mom that you are!

[jaskarjam]

My daughter always has milk before bed too... cut off liquids at 4pm? What time does your little one go to sleep? (My daughter has been fallng asleep pretty late and no liquids past 4pm would be way too long)