Even when my daughter finally potty trained, we held off on going diaper-less at night until she asked. The first few nights were perfect. “When they’re ready, they’re ready,” I smugly thought. Oh! Parenting is such a humbling process. Every night after those initial successful ones, she woke up in the middle of the night soaked. I took to Facebook to ask moms their words of wisdom and tips on night wetting and this is what I got:
Moms’ Words of Wisdom & Tips on Night Wetting
Kristin, mom of 4: “With my oldest son, we just kept him in pull-ups until he was perfectly dry. Honestly, he was well into grade school when he was able to sleep without them.”
Vanessa, mom of 2: “I do believe that it’s more of a laundry problem than anything else. At least in our scenario, my son wears a pull-up at night still & is completely fine during the day. So we know he has bladder control & is just not ready to be without a pull-up at night. We could definitely have him without a pull-up at night but aren’t ready to deal with said laundry problem. My daughter, on the other hand, has been dry overnight almost simultaneously with being dry in the days…. Each kid gets there when they get there, at least that’s my humble opinion.”
Rebekah, mom of 3 and blogger at Surviving Toddlerhood: “We got mattress protectors for our sons’ beds. Our oldest wet the bed once or twice a week until he was 4 1/2. We tried not to make it a big deal. Just cleaned things up and went on with the day. We did limit juice to the morning hours and limited water after dinner as well.”
Kristen, mom of 2 and blogger at Mommy in Sports: “Our oldest wet her bed until nearly 5 1/2 almost every night. At first we were worried, but eventually she got it. We limited liquids after dinner, and used Goodnights. When she didn’t like those we used absorbent mats and always had a plastic sheet under the waterproof mattress pad just to keep the mattress safe. Also taking her potty in her sleep when we went to bed around 10 or 11 really helped her learn to go potty alone at night when she needed to. Each child is different – some take longer than others!”
Juliana, mom of 2 and blogger at One Ruud Mom: “Our son is not totally potty trained so I’m not an expert nor do I like giving advice since I don’t know what I’m doing. With that being said, I do know that it can be very easy for kids to feel ashamed of their bodily functions if they feel like they are messing up during potty training. Knowing this, we have decided that we are not going to push it. I think rewards are great, but don’t believe in punishing for accidents. What’s an extra load of laundry in the grand scheme of things anyway? That’s how I feel about it at this moment.”
Melanie, mom of 2: “I toilet trained my daughter at 2. We used cloth and she was in daycare. She did well until age 4 when she began bed wetting nightly. We tried everything: pull-ups (they leak), mattress covers (under the sheets), hospital bed cover (on top of the sheets), no liquids after 7 rule, go pee before bed rule, and we take her to pee before we go to bed (still). She still wets almost nightly.
My son is almost 3 and I am not rushing into training him, although he needs to be trained for preschool daycare. He was in cloth and now wears the underwear type diapers. We do not use a potty, we use a small toilet seat that sits on the regular seat, but he is able to use it.
The laundry is insane. We have always been pretty supportive but if she goes still, she helps with doing the laundry.
I consulted with our doctor and he said it was normal up to age 6-7.”
Chelsea, mom of 1 and 1 on the way: “My doctor also said nighttime bladder control can take much longer and it’s very normal to bed wet as old at 9 years old. He said if he goes 2 weeks waking with a dry pull up, get rid of it so far hasn’t gone more than 1 day in a row. He always goes potty before bed and first thing in morning but doesn’t seem to make a difference.”
Katie, mom of 3 and blogger at Views from a Step Stool: “My son was potty trained for 2 years before getting out of pull-ups at night. Honestly, him sleeping was our first priority haha – I didn’t want anything, especially wet sheets, interrupting that!”
Tiffany, mom of 1 and blogger at Good Enuf Mommy: “My best advice is wait until they are ready. Some kids physically are not ready to make it through the night until 3 or later. Know your kid and take don’t make a big deal about accidents or night wetting. I feel like if you’re limiting fluids before bed, it’ll happen when it happens :)”
Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by IllumiBowl. All opinions expressed are my own. If you choose to purchase through my affiliate link, I receive a very small commission, but the price you pay is the same.
In our own home, we limit water/ milk intake before bed, have our daughter try and use the restroom, have a vinyl sheet under her regular sheet, and do a lot of laundry. My assumption is that she is a deep sleeper and just doesn’t wake until it’s too late. When she is ready to wake to use the toilet, we have found a wonderful product to help her navigate the dark bathroom on her own. You see, our light switch is out of reach for her without her stool, and she is afraid of the dark. IllumiBowl Toilet Night Light is absurdly easy to install, does not interfere with your toilet lid, works AMAZINGLY well, and is QUITE interesting to toddlers. The only part I struggled with was opening the back to put in the batteries. Not the biggest problem, but it does require three triple A batteries.
This little light sits inside your toilet while a motion sensor sits outside of it. It only turns on when it is dark and it senses motion. It says on for two minutes after it senses motion. The major appeal to toddlers is the fact the light changes colour as well as actually lighting up the toilet. If this isn’t your thing, don’t fret, there is a button to set the light on the bowl to keep it set on a specific colour. You can purchase your own here.
I could not love this more, I think that by getting tips and quotes from moms was genius and so reassuring to so many moms. Well done!
Thank you! Personally, I too found it to be so reassuring!!!
One of my boys just started sleeping in underwear and he’s five and a half. We limit drinks after dinner and cross our fingers…he still wets about once a week but if we put him in a pullup, he ALWAYS wets. Oh, the joys of motherhood…
Jill, your take on the joys of motherhood are always such a pleasure so read ? Thanks for commiserating and commenting ❤️
This is great! We’re potty training my 2 1/2 year old right now. He was doing great and then got sick and we’ve back peddled quite a bit in the process. This would be helpful for him and my 5 year old who still gets up at night sometimes.
Thanks so much for reading Bree and for weighing in!
I think it just takes some kids longer to get through the night wetting stage.. waterproof mattress protectors helped us when my son was still having accidents.
It is encouraging to know that! Thanks for reading Lauren!
My son still struggles with night wetting. The light is such a great idea!
Please enter my giveaway! And thanks for reading!!!!
This is some really great advice! My little guy is potty trained now, although it was QUITE the process.
Oh I hear ya!
I love ALL off these tips… We were completely potty trained and then one day she decided to stop using the toilet. We went from dry nights back to pull ups… Just going to wait until she seems ready again. I need to look into this light when we go back at it!
My daughter completely regressed more than once so I totally understand. My son did three days really well and then refused to go diaper-less *sigh* here’s to the new year!
It took a long time for my daughter to stay dry through the night. I wish that I had read some of these tips then. We limited fluids and my husband would carry her to the bathroom before he went to sleep.
Thanks so much for reading, Shelah and for your kind comment ❤️
I have a post about night time potty training from a couple of weeks ago! It can be such a challenge! Sounds like it’s going okay for your daughter though. If she doesn’t wake until it’s too late, you can always wake her when you go to bed and again an hour or so before wake up time to take her to the bathroom!
Thank you. We’ve tried that several times without it working but she is dry more nights than not in the past two weeks ? thanks for reading!
Such great advice! We haven’t officially started potty-training our 2-year-old and we’re definitely nowhere close to be potty-trained overnight, but when the time comes I will definitely be referring back to this. Great points about kids doing this on their own time — we try to follow her lead on this and not put too much pressure on her.
That’s what I’m doing with my son too. Thanks so much for reading, Bev!
I pinned this for the future… as we are going to start potty training my son next year! So much great advice and info here. Thanks for sharing!
I’m planning on potty training my son then too! Best of luck and thanks for pinning ❤️
That light is genius. I wish we had then when my boys were potty training! Our youngest was our achievement because he was so driven to wear “big boy Thomas the Train underwear” to day care. He was 18 months old! Who knew fashion would drive them 😉
Oh I wish my son was sold on “undies” as he calls them. Your son did so well!
What a GREAT idea for a nightlight! Thanks for including me!
Thank you for contributing ❤️
I agree with a lot of these, especially the laundry problem. I also have noticed (as I’m sure is most obvious to everyone) that on nights our daughter asks for water to take up to bed are usually the nights she over wets and leaks. She has great bladder control during the day and most nights she’ll even wake up to go potty, so for us, I think avoiding liquids close to bed is our biggest help.
Yes. My daughter is particularly intent on having water at bed time most nights and then she ends up wetting the bed… Thanks so much for reading, Tessa!
We are currently potty training our 2 year old.. Man did I forget how much of a struggle it was with my son who is now 7. I know she’ll get it though. We aren’t pushing her. I entered your giveaway. I bet she’d love the colorful toilet bowl!
How quickly we forget! I can relate all too well! Thanks for reading, Chanity!
I love the idea of a little potty nightlight! We’re past that stage now but I’m sure that would have helped wonders! All great advice!!
We are still potty training (I haven’t really pushed it) but I will have to pin this for later for when we are ready!
X went forward with potty training and then refused to go diaper-less. The addition of the light has got him back on the toilet again!!! Best of luck with Hazel xo
Ahhhhh I still put a night time diaper on my daughter when she goes to bed lol. I need to break the habit and night potty train her but Ughhhh…. I love sleep… Lol…
I’m totally with you!
We don’t have issues with night time accidents but we can’t get through the night without waking up. We also get up anywhere between 4-5:30 in the morning. Any suggestions on how to remedy that? Also, send reinforcements and coffee 😉
Bed wetting is not one of the fun parts of parenthood. Thanks for all the great suggestions. Once again, you have created a wonderful resource!