Potty Training at Night - West Newton, MA

My 6 year old daughter still uses a pullup at night. I just don't feel like fussing with wet sheets and making a big issue out of it. Our pediatrician says it's perfectly normal- so I wouldn't worry about your son still using one at night.

That said... you still need to figure out a way to keep it actually on him!! :0)
I would put him in one piece pajamas and use a baby safety pin (with the safer clasp) to pin the zipper to the fabric at the top. This way there is no way to remove the pullup.
Just an idea!
-S.

I'm not sure what the reason would be but maybe he doesn't like the feel of the pullups have you tried his underwear and than a pull up over them or the pampers version of pullups my son liked those better. As for night training him he is only 4 its still young and completely normal for him to bedwetting still. My oldest wet the bed until he was almost 7 for us it turned out to be he asthma medication that was doing it I've heard that multivitamins w/ extra vitamin C can be the cause. I do have a strict routine w/ my son after he gets home from school w/ the liquids that he can have. Best to just ignore the bedwetting and not make a big deal out of it.

What if you buy him some character sheets that he loves (whatever he may be into now). When he pees on them then use backup sheets that he does not like. That way if he is doing this strictly for attention then he will learn pretty quickly that it is not worth it. Also, I find that the pull-ups can really delay potty training...A LOT! With my boys I always put them to bed in undies and after they fell asleep I would put a diaper over the underwear. This worked really well and they were wearing underwear to bed without diapers within a week. One of my kids did start wetting the bed about 6 months after they were trained, but I realized that I was giving them too much to drink before bed. They are obviously all different! What works well for one may not work at all for another. Just figured I would put my two cents in, it worked great with my three boys. Good luck!

I would take him to the bathroom before you go to bed. Wake him up and bring him. I carry my son to the bathroom set him up near the toilet let him pee and then carry him back to bed. The aim at night is a lot worse than in the moring so you may have to help him. I also used to get up between 2am and 4am to take him again and make sure his bed is not wet.

Good luck!

Leaps & Bounds/ One Step Ahead (online at http://www.leapsandbounds.com) has some helpful night time potty training tools - there is a cover that goes OVER the bedsheets and makes things easier to clean-up. search their site for "bed wetting" and such products might make things easier for you. Perhaps your child WANTS to be potty trained at night even though he may not be totally ready to... good luck!

He may not like the bulk of the pull up at night since he is not wearing it during the day. Maybe he likes the freedom? Maybe he doesn't like feeling wet - but then of course he pees in the bed! What fun!

You could try putting the pull up on over his underwear but he will still feel very wet once he pees. Night=time training takes much longer. I would consider pajamas that he can't take off so he can't get the pull up off, as one of the other moms suggested.

My son had a bedwetting problem that lasted quite a while, so we made the bed by putting down a sheet, a waterproof crib pad (the size of a crib mattress surface but without going over the sides and being tucked in, followed by another sheet. Then when he wet the bed, we could pull off his clothes and the top layer, plus waterproof pad, and still have a dry sheet underneath. While that's not ideal, it saved us from having to completely strip and re-make the bed at 2 AM.

If your son has the same developmental issue as my son (and thousands of others), he may not be capable yet of waking up - the fact that he has a bm sometimes on top of the pee tells me that he may not have reached this stage. I would just put the pull up back on and tell him you want him to be able to sleep and not wake up wet - his sleep is more important than staying dry.

I have very mixed feelings about waking him up, dragging him to the bathroom, and making him pee before going back to bed. It really interrupts his sleep and it does nothing to get him to the developmental level he needs to stay dry all night.

In any case, it's important that he understand it's not a failure on his part if he "goes" at night - what's happening during sleep is beyond his control and nothing that can be "trained" - he just has to grow out of it. Good luck!

You may have tried these things already. I stop all liquids when dinner is over to avoid night time accidents. I also have my daughter go to the bathroom before naps and bedtime. If she gets up for any reason, I have her try to go again.
As for the removal of his pull ups, I don't understand why children regress during potty training but they do. He will stop eventually but what to do until then?
Rewards can work wonders. You might try to explain to him that for every time he keeps his pull up on during his nap he will get a reward (stickers on a chart, small treat or points toward a large item). Positive encouragement can work really well.
If all else fails you may want to try some pants that are difficult to impossible for him to take off over his diaper or pull up during nap time.
Good luck!