Getting rid of pull ups at night...UPDATE

I see that lots of DD's friends have moved past the pull ups for nighttime stage.

How? She drinks a lot of water before bed, and wakes up every night to come into my room and drink water.

How can I tell her no water??

How can I get rid of the pull ups??

She will be 4 in June so I am not overly-concerned but it seems like maybe it is time.

We have a Sleeping Beauty Barbie that will be hers when she has a dry pull up, and she talks about it every night - "Mommy, I am going to have a dry pull up so I can get the doll tomorrow" - but so far it hasn't happened.

Any suggestions??? I really can't have her wetting the bed and crying since DH gets up so early....

3/22/11 update!!

We had a dry pull up this morning!!! She wanted panties, so I put them on her last night, but then put a pull-up on over the panties. This morning, all dry!! I even heard her use the potty before she came up to my room, which she NEVER does.

So DD got Ballerina Barbie today (I couldn't find Sleeping Beauty) and is so happy.

Now if I could just get her to stop coming in to my room 3x a night!!

Message edited 3/22/2011 10:10:14 AM.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

I am also wondering how to do away with them at night. DS is only in pull-ups for the night time and always wakes up dry. If he has to pee in the middle of the night or AM he just goes to the bathroom. A couple months ago I put him into underwear for 2 nights to see how it would be and he had an accident. Maybe I need to try again since it's been a while. We also try to limit liquids at nighttime, but he likes milk/water before bed.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

I think it depends on their bodies - not as much age? I know my ped said before DD was fully trained that some children don't night train until 5 or so b.c their bodies aren't ready.

As far as here - DD was a very late potty trainer - she only trained in January. After many frustrating months/ a year of trying she was suddenly ready. She told us she was ready one day - day 1 she had a few accidents, by day 2 she was accident free, by day 3 she got rid of her naptime pull up, and after about 5-6 days she said she was ready to give up the night time pull ups. She has been accident free since day 2.

Many of her friends who are 4 - have been long trained during the day - but still wake up some nights several times and wear nite time pull ups.

We try to cut out fluids 1.5 hours before she goes to sleep. If she asks I only give 1-3 sips.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

Jack wakes up dry every other night! I am not even attempting to take off the pullup till he turns 4!

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

If they are waking up dry on a fairly consistent basis I would take the pull ups away for good. They're bodies are capable of controlling the bladder if they are dry and in my experience the kids just use the pullups out of convenience. Sure, you'll probably have a few nights of accidents here or there, but once they understand the feeling of wetness they will be dry all the time.

I went out and bought the hospital waterproof pads that I would just put over their sheets, so if they wet I wasn't changing sheets in the middle fo the night...just removed the pad.

I would give underwear a try to avoid pullups becoming a crutch which down the road will be harder to break.

Good luck!

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

Chelsea used to go to bed with a sippy cup of water. We finally cut that out about a month ago. Once the cup was gone she didn't wake up asking for more water either.

She usually gets a sippy of milk before bed with a cookie. We started giving her less milk and giving it earlied.

I make her go to the bathroom right before she gets into bed.

She had been wearing pull-ups but waking up dry. So last night for the first night I put her to bed without a pull-up. She woke up dry

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

My son does the same, I allow him to have water but he has to go potty before...Now he is basically going thrugh the night fine but at first I woke him every 2 hours...

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

We recently stopped pull ups at night with Peyton(she is almost 3). We stopped with drinks after 6:30 for a few weeks untl she started having a dry pull up. I accidentally put her to bed in undies one night and it was Fine, so I just kept it going. Knock wood, It has been fine.
I have to tell you that she was a big drinker(LOL) and went to bed with a sippy of water. I knew that I was sabotaging her by letting it continue. It was not easy but after a few nights of tears and meltdowns, she got over it. She will occassionally ask for a sip of water before bed and she gets that, one sip and she is happy.

Message edited 3/19/2011 4:16:33 PM.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

I make DD go to the bathroom right before bed. Then, we have a little portable potty that we keep in her room that she uses on her own if she wakes up and has to go.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

Hi Kara,
I truly believe this is a developmental thing and when her body is ready, she'll do it. DD just started waking up to pee at night (not every night) and 6/7 nights has woken up dry. Honestly, i can't take any credit for it. We stop drinks by 6:30-7:00 and have decreased the amount of that final drink. I don't know if it's a coincidence or if this had something to do with it but we did use the pampers easy ups and once we switched to huggies pull ups she started waking up dry.
My sister's girls were still wearing pull ups to bed at 5. She never stressed about it. It'll happen.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

Kara...DD hardly ever woke up with a dry pull-up. But one day, I decided to bite the bullet and try nighttime without them anyway.

DD was about 4 and still wearing pull-ups and not waking up dry, so I thought she wasn't ready.

One day, I just ran out of pull-ups and went cold turkey First night...woke her up at 11 to go to potty. Woke her up at 3 am to go to potty. No accidents. Second night, 11 and 3:30 am, no accidents. 3rd night 11 and 4:00 am..accident. 4th night I went back to 11 and 3 am, no accidents. I did this for about a week. For the next week I just did 11 pm and she had 1 accident all week. I did this for about 1 week also. Then, I stopped waking her at 11. Now she sleeps through the night (8pm-6am) and very rarely has an accident (I think maybe 1 or 2x). Good luck!

I took her at 10:30-11 ish whenever I went to bed myself. And I did set my alarm for the 3 am wake-up.

ETA: I don't "stop" drinks. If she asks for water at 7:30 I will give it to her, but I don't offer unless she asks.

Message edited 3/19/2011 7:52:03 PM.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

my dd trained so easy at 2 y/o during the day and was still in a wet pull up each morning at 3 1/2. I just stopped using them and she had accidents two nights in a row. My DH begged me to put her back in the pull up but I decdied to give it one more night and shes woken up day that morning and every morning since.
Maybe just give it a try!

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

DD is a huge drinker and she did not have the control to go without pull ups until a couple of month before her 4 birthday. She still has accidents if she forgets to pee before bed.
She still drinks her water before bed but does use the bathroom before she sleeps.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

Lance night trained himself 2 weeks after he was potty trained. He just refused to wear the pull ups. He has had a few accidents but for the most part he's good.

I cut down on fluids a lot. 1 glass of milk before bed. I make him use the potty right before bed too.

Maybe you can make her go potty when she is getting up to drink water?

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

I was ready to continue with the good nights for as long as he needed them. Shortly after his 3rd bday, when he was officially potty trained, he started telling me he did NOT want to wear them.

Because it was his decision, it was easier to work with him and explain then that means no water before bed, etc...

He had a few accidents. He still has one maybe once every 2 mts or so. I used the accidents to remind him thats why he can't drink before bed, and why he needs to go pee pee before bed.

You can risk the bed wetting accident, and use it as a guage for when you need to wake her up to go during the night. And you can just tell her, no drinks after a certain time. It can just be a new evening rule. She will get it. She might carry on in the beginning, but kids do that with any rule. She'll get used to it!

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

My DD was trained during the day for over 2 years before we finally decided enough was enough with the pull-ups at night. She could NEVER stay dry at night, so our ped. told us to just wake her up two times a night for about a week and it would help train her to get up if need be.
Sure enough, a week of waking her two times a night and her brain basically trained itself to get up and use the bathroom. She's up once a night to use the bathroom, but now we don't have to wake her.
It's just a matter of doing the work in the beginning to get them to wake up.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

i just took them away and limited her liquids from 4pm until she went to bed. i also found that she was peeing in them because she knew that she could.
she was doing pretty well, shes sick right now so i put her back in her "princess underwear" since shes been having loose #2s sorry for the TMI. i know its going to backfire on me big time though, shes going to want them all the time.
i am still doing our night time routine though...potty before bed at 8 and getting her up again before i go to bed between 10-11pm
i use a pad under her incase she has an accident to save the sheets.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

I agree with the other posters that it is just their body. DS pretty much night-time trained himself. Once he started peeing in the potty during the day he just assumed it applied to night to. At first, he would wake up ALOT during the night to pee but, after a week or two he stopped. Now most days he sleeps normally without waking up to pee. Maybe one or two nights per week he will wake up a little early to pee but, usually it is b/c something else has woken him up first (he is a bad sleeper to begin with).

I never limited his night time drinking. He still drinks milk before he goes to sleep - about 20 min b/f. (b/f he brushes his teeth) and, sometimes asks for water right before bed. He has been doing this since he is 2.5 and is now 3.5 and has only had one night time accident in that entire year.

I would wait until it seems she is physcially able to wake up in dry pull ups.

Message edited 3/19/2011 9:12:05 PM.

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...

OK thank you all so much, there obviously is not ONE answer to this question, lol!!

I think by the time she turns 4, I will make it a rule. For now, it doesn't bother me. The thing is, if I wake up during the night it takes me hours to fall back asleep so I am not too keen ont he waking her in the middle of the night idea.

I do appreciate all the answers ladies!! I will probably wind up trying all of them, lol.....

Re: Getting rid of pull ups at night...UPDATE

3/22/11 update!!

We had a dry pull up this morning!!! She wanted panties, so I put them on her last night, but then put a pull-up on over the panties. This morning, all dry!! I even heard her use the potty before she came up to my room, which she NEVER does.

So DD got Ballerina Barbie today (I couldn't find Sleeping Beauty) and is so happy.

Now if I could just get her to stop coming in to my room 3x a night!!