How to nighttime potty train?

What is the best way to night time potty train a three and five year old boy? I don’t have much family or friends to ask this because I work full time go to college full time and raise two boys….please help?

15 Likes

Help a mama out and respond anonymously on our forum. How to nighttime potty train?

Honestly we didn’t have to potty train at night time, my almost 4 year old started waking up on his own throughout the night to tell us that he has to go pee

1 Like

We cut back drinks 30-45 minutes before bed. Child used potty right before bed. And then when ours woke up in the morning, she went immediately to the potty. We had a set time to sleep and a set time to wake up. And of course there were still a couple accidents, but establishing a routine always helps.

6 Likes

Nothing to drink after a certain time unless it’s water, always potty right before bed and if they lay there a while before falling asleep, potty again. I potty trained both my girls (3yo at the time) and that’s what I did. Also, I kept them in pull-ups at night until their first 2 nights of dry pull-ups and then I moved on to panties. For about a week, I still put a towel under their bottoms just in case and after that they were good to go. Took me about 2 weeks total to fully potty train them. We travel a lot also (long distance) so I used same method with traveling. I procrastinated foreverrrrr until I finally got annoyed and buckled down on them. I was so thankful I went ahead and got it over with. Lol

1 Like

Put them in training pants not pull-ups . So they actually get wet and don’t like it . Put plastic sheets under there normal sheets so not to ruin the mattress. Stop liquids a few hours before bed . Make sure the pee before getting into bed . 5 years old and not trained . Not good and in no way an I critiquing you . I get your a single mom working and school. So they have sitters . Get them on the same page . The key is taking away liquids at night

1 Like

Don’t let them drink a couple hours before bed, get up in the middle of the night with them & make them go pee.

Cut back liquids after dinner time. Always go potty right before bed time. If I wake up in the middle of the night to pee I grab my 3yo son and take him too. Luckily he will go right bk to sleep

1 Like

No water 30 minutes before bed, set your alarm for 1 to 2 times during the night to get him up to the pottie. Rewards if he has a dry nite.

Cut back liquid intake - I went with no drinks 2 hours before bedtime and made sure they went pee beforehand as part of their bedtime routine

Just make sure the last thing you do before bed is potty and the first thing you do waking up, keep them in pull-ups or something for accidents until they got it down. One day they just get it.

Set an alarm to wake them every hour or so throughout the night. It gets them used to waking themselves up to use the bathroom and paying attention to the urge to go even whilst sleep.

1 Like

Cut back on liquids after supper. Have them potty before bed. Have them wear training pants instead of diaper or pull ups. They feel wet right away and get the feel for a full bladder and wake up before they go. It doesn’t take long. If they don’t catch on after a couple of months, you may want to have the doctor check them for a bladder problem.

Seriously saying cutting out there drinks isn’t it. You will just dehydrated your child and make things worst. Some kids take longer than others. Boys take even longer. I promise it doesn’t last forever. Use pull ups and mattress protector. Whatever you do. Don’t shame them. They already feel bad enough already

3 Likes

Don’t cut back on liquids! Potty training is development and some bladders just aren’t ready yet. If you are using pull-ups skip those and go to underpants.

3 Likes

It is developmental. Happens when it happens.

1 Like

I never withheld liquids from my children (1 girl, 1 boy). Nor did I set a clock to get up in the night. That’s insane. They wore training pants (Terry cloth) not pull ups & I never shamed them for accidents. Lots of praise for success & they were fairly easy to train. Hang in there. Some take longer. I think it’s fine to cut down the amount of liquids near bedtime without withholding liquids altogether.

3 Likes

HONESTLY boys don’t fully potty at night until between 7 and 9 yrs old. Their brains aren’t mature enough to wake them up at night.

1 Like

Don’t drink water before bed

I stopped drinks about 7 at night maybe even 730 ready got cleaned up around 8 bed 9 for my kids. But if you’re kids go bed about 8 stopped drinking about 630 7 and go bathroom before bed

My kids still don’t get drinks after certain time and older only because the wzythey sleep

Make them potty right before bed. They’ll get used to either holding it or getting up and going. Maybe try putting puppy pads to prevent messing up your mattress but accidents happen, consistency is key!

Good Luck!!! My son’s 7 we stop all drinks at 7pm he will go potty bed by 9 he will go potty again I have to wake him up at 12 every night to potty then he is good till 6am if I don’t wake him at 12 by 1 he has wet the bed he is a hard hard sleeper praying as he gets older he will learn to hold or get up in the middle of the night I do have a plastic sheet that’s used incase he has a accident before I wake him at midnight

Go without nappies or pull-ups go straight to undies waterproof protector on mattress no drinking b4 bed time if they are thirsty allow a small amount of water then wait 10/15 min then toilet then bed.

I never woke my kids up during the night 1 or 2 accidents then no probs after that

When I was training my kids when I took diapers I took them away completely night and day. We stopped liquids about 2 hours before and went pee as we were walking to the bed room.

I struggled with my 2 for nighttime trainkng (4 and 6) up until about 6 months ago. Don’t cut back liquids just make sure they go to the toilet about half hour before bedtime then at bedtime make them go again to get that little bit more out. Accidents still happen here but not often maybe once a week? It’s hard but patience is key

You can limit drinks, wake up to pee etc to reduce accidents but technically you can’t actually nighttime potty train. A dr will even tell you unfortunately it’s a developmental milestone not a trainable milestone. They have to develop the part of their brain that wakes when the urge to go arrises. Some do at 2 some don’t till 5 or later. In the meantime you can do as others suggest and limit drinks hours before bed, make go before bed, wake to go throughout the night etc to minimize accidents.

8 Likes

No drinks an hour before bed. DO NOT PUT ON DIAPER OR PULL UPS. They’re useless. Use underwear. Set alarm and get up with child to let them potty. I potty trained over a weekend. All mine fully trained (wiping themselves. They aren’t potty trained if you’re wiping them) before age three.

2 Likes

We kept mine in diapers at night until we consistently saw no more wet diapers for a couple weeks straight. There were accidents once in a while. They have water proof mattress protectors on their beds just in case

2 Likes

This is just a developmental thing. It comes on its own - you’ll start noticing dry morning diapers consistently at some point (for some kids it’s quick and for others it can literally be years), and you can switch to underwear for nighttime then. Trying before that will mean either training yourself to get them up to go to the bathroom, or dealing with wet sheets.

9 Likes

With my oldest (autistic) son it was a serious challenge and he wore pull ups for a year+ after potty training. My youngest son was a walk in the park. Took less than a week to fully potty train (#1, #2 and overnight), we just tossed the pull ups entirely and he hasn’t had a single accident in the two years since. It all comes down to the child… the parents too of course, consistency is key, you can’t be weak.

I just always make sure my kids go potty before bedtime and also when they were still toddlers I would let them still sleep with pull-ups until they would wake up dry for a few weeks in a row… no pressure! No shame… if they had accidents once we had eliminated the pull-ups then we would change, clean up and that’s that! ( I have a plastic cover on their mattress always for easy clean up and protecting the mattress anyway… because kids have accidents, spill things and sometimes get sick and puke in the middle of the night so it’s a way to make my life more practical)

I’d have to get the mattress covers and also limit drinks and food and break before bed and night lights - for my son to go. I learned the hard way to not let him have pull ups at night either because then we would just go back wards … he didn’t like waking up having accidents your son is still so young it will get better!

It took my daughter almost a year. I got her a small potty, I at first had it in living room so if she was watching TV she’d sit on it. I let her run around pants/panty free most of the day. It was a struggle cuz she’s so stubborn. She’d get it down & have no accidents for a couple weeks even a month. Then regress & accident central… I Def. Learned don’t push it, it will happen on their terms, basically. Do little things to help, get their own potty, when they do go in it make a big exciting deal, let them roam free without pants or diaper, things like that.

Making sure they potty before bed and have no or very little drinks after bed time will help nighttime potty training a ton but it’s mainly a developmental thing mattress covers will
Help :slightly_smiling_face:

2 Likes

Some children sleep deep and won’t wake up until they are a little older but she is doing great for daytime potty training! Some are a round 3 for nighttime dryness

1 Like

You’ll see her making it through the night fry. No liquids after a set time, potty before bed

You don’t allow it period you are the parent. Put an old phone in the room and set an alarm for every two hours leave the bathroom light on and instruct the kid to go to the toilet. If they make a mess make them clean it up

Limit drinks 2 hours before bedtime.
Take away sippys/bottles.
You may need to wake them during the night to go potty for the first week

1 Like

I started as soon as mine were set all day. But after day training I lucked out because mine were waking up dry and RUNNING to the bathroom in the morning.

You can’t. Your kid will when ready.

2 Likes

A 2 year olds brain will not wake them up to go potty! That part of her brain isn’t developed yet. U will have to wake her up and put her on the potty every few hours thru the night. It’s just not worth it if either of u want to get any sleep lol. Her pediatrician can explain it to u in medical terms.

2 Likes

Potty before bed and I used to put a pull up/diaper over the underwear at bedtime, after 2 or 3 times peeing overnight he stopped and has been good ever since. Same for at nap time

I waited for her to wake up dry for a week. No drinks past 7 a potty before bed. She never wet the bed at night

We just went for it when we potty trained, layered the bed for easy change in the middle of the night. Left the potty chair in the bedroom for a couple weeks at night for quick access.

You don’t need to do this for a 2 year old at ages 3 4 or even 5 I’d it’s still a problem limit drinks 2 hours before bed and stop using pull ups just use plastic mattress covers in case

As soon as mine started potty training I started at night too. I took away all diapers unless we were on a long car trip. At night they even wore underwear but to keep my sheets from being soaked I had a re washable pad underneath them, the pads they put under you in the hospital, I timed about the time they would pee and I would wake them up 30 minutes before that to take them pee. 3 of 4 of my kids quite wetting the bed by 2.

Don’t rush anything…4 kids for me and it’s just time that helps. The kids know what to do.

Stop when she is not wet in the morning.

That’s not still for a while. It’s developmental, you will have to keep the night time diapers for a while. Whenever she keeps waking up dry for a while, then give it a try. You can’t force something when they aren’t conscious. Even then, I suggest getting 2 sets of mattress covers.