This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Pampers. The opinions and text are all mine.
Two children, two completely different potty training experiences. Below you will find 9 Tips for Parents with Nighttime Bed-Wetting-Kids…
My first child was potty trained during the day when he was about 2 and a half years old. Shortly afterwards, I think maybe a few weeks, he refused to wear his training underwear to bed any more. He said he didn’t want to sleep in a diaper anymore. He has been dry almost every night since. I didn’t have to train him, remind him, or do much of anything. Once he was potty trained during the day, he was at night too.
My daughter has been drastically different.
My daughter was potty trained about 3 years old as well. Although she was harder to train than my son, eventually (over the course of many months) she finally caught on and was completely day-time-trained. However, even a year and some months afterwards (she is almost 4 and a half) she is still not potty trained at night.
Here are a 9 tips I have for parents with nighttime bed-wetting-kids
1- Realize that each child and situation is different.
I am no more at fault for my daughter not nighttime training than I am a success story for my son being dry almost every night since he was daytime trained.
Every child develops differently.
My first two kids (including the daughter I’m referring to) have two sets of parents and two homes. Going back and forth and commuting back to our house in the evening is hard. Her schedules and routines at each household are not congruent. This makes potty training even more difficult for both her and I.
Night time training is also harder because 3 nights a week we arrive home after she is asleep. This makes night-time training even more difficult for her.
2- Understand bodies vary.
I was born with a small bladder. I have to go to the bathroom much more frequently than most. This runs in my genes (some people in my family have this same issue).
Those who have a small bladder have a much harder time learning to potty train at night than the average child as they cannot hold the fluid for as many hours.
My daughter has a small bladder as well. I notice she has to go potty much more frequently than my son. She also had a lot more accidents and it was far more difficult for her when we were potty training her than for her brother.
She also sleeps very very deeply. Once she has been asleep about 20 minutes or more, she is like a rag doll if you pick her up and move her. She sleeps through very loud sounds, lifting her and moving her, and most alarms.
I believe the deep nature of her sleep also makes potty training at night very difficult for her.
3- Don’t give up. Keep trying to train for a few weeks at a time about every few months.
Every few months, I give my daughter a couple of weeks to try to stay dry at night time without wearing her Pampers Easy Ups.
I bought a plastic cover for her mattress that is 100% waterproof and I have a clean sheet and blanket ready to go if she goes potty in the middle of the night and her pee pad (see the next tip) wakes her up.
Sometimes she does very well for awhile and then she regresses back to wetting the bed every night… at which time I just put her back into the Easy Ups and give us both a break.
I will keep trying every few months until it sticks.
Tip- for the nights when your child is not in Pampers Easy Up training underwear, make sure there is limited bedding, pillows, stuffed animals, etc. that can get soiled. Using a water proof mattress cover that can be sanitized easily also helps on clean up.
4- Try a sleep pee alarm pad
The Therapee sleep pee alarm pad worked for my sister’s daughter.
I have seen some improvement with my daughter when she uses this pad. However, she was getting so scared of the alarm going off each night, that she asked me if she could stop using it for awhile—I said yes.
We will try again with the Therapee pad in a few months when we try potty training at night again.
5- Limit drink right before bed.
Try not to give kids a lot of fluid right before they fall asleep.
6- Have them go potty once or twice before bed.
One recommended tip that I’ve heard is to have your child go 30 minutes before bed, and then have them go potty (or try) right before lights are out.
7- Don’t shame, punish, or make the child change their own bedding as punishment.
If the child is under 6 years old, it is still very common for them to wet the bed.
I’ve read in a few different places that studies show that making your child change their own bedding out of punishment is counter productive to helping them want to stay dry.
Asking them to help you do laundry and make their bed (or even asking them to do it) in a positive way is better.
Don’t shame your child either, it is not constructive. Encourage them in a positive manner to listen to their bodies and to get up during the night. Let them know that they will learn it.
8- Reward dry nights
Pampers Easy Ups are so great at keeping the mess in the diaper and not soiling the sheets. I’ve saved on lots of laundry loads because of them. I often find the best deals through samsclub.com and using their Instant Savings offers makes them even more affordable.
Speaking of, right now at SamsClub.com you can get $12 off in Instant Savings offer on two boxes of Pampers Easy Ups, plus FREE shipping from June 19-July 14, 2019.
That said, training underwear does cost money. So, I told my daughter every morning that she returns a dry Pampers Easy Up diaper to me in the morning she gets a ‘smiley face’ (the reward chart for our kids). This helps incentivize her.
9- If your child wakes up for any reason in the night, remind him/her to use the potty before they go back to sleep.
Sometimes my daughter will have a bad dream or randomly get up. When she does this I make sure to have her go potty before she goes back to bed.
I hope these 9 tips on nighttime bed-wetters helps you feel more calm and normal about the predicament you may find yourself in—you are not alone. Many, many children take years to learn to potty train through the night.
Visit samsclub.com to take advantage of this great deal on Pampers Easy Ups.
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