[ddahl]

DS has bee dry for two weeks at night. When do you go into underwear at night? I think he is ready. He gets himself up and takes off his own diaper and tells me Mommy, I was dry all night! I am a big boy now! He has been telling me for three nights that he does not want the diaper. Time to cut the cord and go into undies I think. What do you all do or suggest?

[dlhall]

I'd say give it a try; just make sure you have a waterproof mattress cover for any accidents. My dd was actually night trained before she was day trained; however, she would occassionally have night time accidents which usually occurred on nights that she was overtired because of a super busy day.

Now if I could only get her brother trained . . .

Liz

[votemom]

sounds like it's time to me. i second the recommendation for a waterproof mattress pad. my teenagers still have them. it's great for any sort of spills that may occur.

[beckyww]

I'm your third. Those waterproof mattress covers come in all qualities. Get a good one. The cheaper ones tend to shred on the sides after laundering and replacement. It's actually less expensive to get a good one.

Becky
The Woodworth Family in Beautiful San Antonio TX

[randloar]

Just wondereing.........how old is DS? Just wondering as our boy is working on this, and we are not sure if he is 'too young' to be in undies 24/7......I know, its more of their own readiness and that comes at all sorts of ages, but wondering anyways!

[texasbeth]

My niece was 2 and 1/2 when she went undies all the time. He brother will be 3 in Feb and still wears diapers full time. They stay with me often. When she went to undies at night the most important thing was to get her to the potty immediately upon waking. If I let her slowly wake up and talk for a while first (as she likes to do) we had an accident. I hadn't had her over in about a month and tried to put a pull up on her at night and she laughed at me. She knew she was done with them and I didn't. The next day she told her mom that silly Aunt B ran out of panties and made her wear a pull up. We needed to go to the store and buy more. Gotta love them.

[tbristow]

My oldest dd went into undies at night about 4 months after she was day trained. She made the decision. It sounds like M is ready for them. Ditto on the mattress pad though. For both my girls, I actually put the potty chair in their room at night to make it easier. (With the oldest though, we had one bath on the opposite end of the house from her room).

[momraine]

Sounds like he is ready. Every kid is different, some are deeper sleepers than others, and some are able to hold it all night and some are able to get up and go. It all depends on the idividual. If he is staying dry then he is ready.

[RBSVARCHER]

You have got to let him know you have confidence in him!

Use the waterproof mattress cover - and just see!! You can always slip the pull ups back on!

Susan
Bham AL

[sak9645]

By all means, let your CHILD decide when to go to underwear, first by day and then by night.

My daughter was 2.75 when she decided to go to underwear by day. Once she made that decision -- and she was totally successful, from day one -- I told her that SHE could decide when she was ready to wear underwear at night. It took almost a year for her to announce that she was ready.

She was close to four when she announced that she wanted underwear at night. On the first night we tried it, I told her that I would wake her up once in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, so that there would be less chance of an accident. And that is what I did. She never fully woke up, but I held her under her arms and marched her to the toilet. As soon as she was seated, she urinated. I wiped her and marched her back to bed, and she was totally asleep in an instant.

Becca woke up dry, and was very proud. I continued with the middle of the night potty break for about six months, but probably didn't need to do it, as she turned out to be a real "tank" and had no accidents. Even when I stopped awakening her to go to the toilet, she never had an accident.

By all means, let your son start wearing underwear. But help to ensure his success by awakening him once at night, possibly right before YOU go to bed, to go to the toilet. Even if he doesn't awaken fully, he may well urinate in the toilet, and this will help him stay dry.

As far as B.M.s, make sure your child has a quiet time to sit in the bathroom morning and night. Make it part of his daily routine, like toothbrushing. Most children will develop a certain regular pattern to their bowel movements, which will be affected only by things like illness or travel. Most kids will NOT soil their underwear, even at night, if they get used to having a bowel movement morning and/or evening, unless they are sick or off schedule.

You should be very proud of your son for wanting to go to the next step and stay dry at night. Boys, in particular, often find the transition difficult.

Sharon

[GCS]

Girlie is 3 and a half and is dry through the night with very few exceptions but I still put pull ups on her. One - I bought a ton of them at Costco so I still have them so its easy but more importantly two - I asked her and she said she wants to have them on just in case for a little while longer.

She tends to crawl in bed with us around 4 am every morning and I would rather her not wet my bed too, so that's a consideration as well.

[ddahl]

DS will be 4 in less than a month. We bought him his big boy twin bed last week and also the waterproof mattress cover. We are layering on the praise as we are thrilled at his progress. We are going to take the advice of awakening him once in the night for several weeks then fully go into underwear. Thanks everyone!

Christina. DS comes into our bed at the same time, around 4 a.m.. I never thought about him wetting our bed but I will be adding the waterproof cover to our bed next week. Thanks for the tips!

[Bcelli]

There is no right or wrong age. Kids decide when they are ready and your son sounds like he's ready to be a 'big boy.' Congrats on that milestone.

However, the title on your post drew me in because I couldn't imagine what this was about! So glad it was about not wetting the bed!! LOL!

[Sipper]

DD is 3.5 and fully day trained and would rather do anything than have an accident. But, we still wear our 'sleepy panties' which are also known as pull ups. About 90% of the time they are dry in the morning and she is very excited to tell me but she does have the occasional night time accident.

My DS is almost 2 and also gets out of his big boy bed and comes into our room every night around 4am. Funny how they are alike. We wake up to his little fingers wiggling back and forth and handing us the remote to put on Wiggles every morning. Next task is getting that one interested in potty training. He is aware of his bodily functions since he will go and hide in a quiet place to make a stinky diaper. He comes and tells me after the fact. His DS did not start that until 3 so he is already ahead of the game.