Louise Williams, Certified Sleep Sense Consultant

info@easybabyconsulting.com702-858-5983
FacebookInstagram
Sleep Sense: ConsultantsSleep Sense: Consultants
Sleep Sense: Consultants
Pediatric Sleep Specialist
  • Home
  • Services /Consultations
    • Prenatal & Newborns
    • Infants
    • Toddlers and Preschoolers
    • Other
  • Seminars
  • About Us
    • Success Stories
    • Sleep Sense Philosophy
    • Meet Louise
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Services /Consultations
    • Prenatal & Newborns
    • Infants
    • Toddlers and Preschoolers
    • Other
  • Seminars
  • About Us
    • Success Stories
    • Sleep Sense Philosophy
    • Meet Louise
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • Easy Baby Consulting
    Postnatal Support

This is it mama. This is the final boss. The last level. The icing on the parenting cake.

I’m talking, of course, about NIGHT POTTY TRAINING!

Well, I suppose you still have about 15 or 16 years of parenting left before you send them off to college, but those are a day at the park compared to this.

This is another one of those parenting milestones that can look peculiar to outsiders, but for those of us who’ve been through it, we know that a celebration of epic proportions is in order on the day we finally say our final farewell to diapers. It’s not as sexy as completing your Master’s degree or landing a big promotion!

But I recenty had the ‘honor” of handing down that Diaper Genie to a good  friend ( don’t worry! I washed it well) after getting my toddler 100% potty trained! Let me tell you it felt pretty similar to winning the lottery. Ok  maybe not, but close enough!

But sometimes our enthusiasm can cause us to rush into it before our little ones are ready. And when that happens, we can end up setting the process back a bit. We get a little frustrated, our little one gets disheartened, and we end up calling it off rather than dealing with any more teary-eyed wake ups and wet sheets in the middle of the night.

So today, I’ve got some tips for you to determine whether or not your toddler’s ready to nighttime potty train, and if they are, how to maximize your chances for success without sacrificing all of the progress you’ve made with their sleep.

So, jumping right in, is your little one ready to go the night without using the potty?

Notice how I phrased that kind of specifically? I’ve seen nighttime potty training approaches that involve actually going into your child’s bedroom at regular intervals during the night, and waking them up to go to the bathroom!

All the nopes to this approach. DON’T please DON’T wake up your SLEEPING toddler! Every last nope in the nope collection. Ok?- ok.

First, we do NOT sacrifice sleep for potty training.

It’s way too confusing to a toddler, to be told after all of the work they’ve done to finally start sleeping peacefully through the night, that they now have to wake up every three or four hours to go to the bathroom.

If your toddler can’t get through the night without needing to pee, they’re not ready for this. Leave their diaper on at night and tackle this at a later date. It’s NOT a big deal!

If, however, your little one’s had a few nights of waking up with a dry diaper, that could mean that they’re up to the challenge. That’s really the prime indicator that this might be a good time to give it a shot. Two or three dry mornings in a week suggests that their bladder muscles have developed to the point where they can hold it for the night, so if that’s the case, let’s give it a shot.

Now, prepare yourself. I’m sure there are stories out there about The Toddler Who Potty Trained Without a Single Accident, but the odds of that happening are not in your favor. Not even close. So let go of that pressure! There is no need for that mama!  Be realistic!

So pick a week when you don’t have a whole lot going on, get some extra sheets and PJs at the ready, and get your zen on, because the most important thing here is patience.There are going to be some accidents, and accepting that reality ahead of time will help make this process bearable for you and your little one.

 

Keep this mindset when you’re explaining what’s going on to your toddler. It’s great to be enthusiastic and super-positive, but don’t make it sound too monumental. We’ve got to keep in mind that this isn’t something they have control over and building up expectations on them can result in some feelings of failure and disappointment if they do have an accident in the night. This is also something to consider if you’re looking at a “reward chart” or some such thing for nights without an accident. I’m not inherently against them, but if your toddler tends to get really upset if they don’t make the grade, it might be better to let them succeed or fail without rewards and consequences.

Make sure your toddler gets on the potty right before bed, even if they say they don’t need to go.

I know a lot of parents have found that a potty session 30 minutes prior to bedtime, then again right before bed, has gotten them the best results.

When an accident happens, as it probably will a few times at least, don’t act disappointed or irritated. (Go ahead and feel that way, sure, but you keep that noise to yourself.) Just take your toddler by the hand and walk them back to their room, get them cleaned up and into some fresh pajamas, and change their bed with the clean sheets you’ve prepared ahead of time.

I do have one really sweet pro tip for you here. Grab yourself some plastic sheeting, lay
a layer of that over the mattress, then a set of bed sheets, then another layer of plastic, then another set of bed sheets. That way, if there’s an accident in the night, you just go in, strip off the top layer, and bam! There’s a clean, dry, freshly made bed waiting underneath. That’ll help get you and your little one back to bed in no time flat.

Keep the room as dark as possible, keep the process short, and don’t put your little one in the bath unless it’s vitally necessary. Getting into the tub is likely to throw a wrench in your child’s sleep for the night, and they might just get it into their heads that wetting the bed gets them fifteen minutes in the bath, which, for some kids, might sound like a pretty sweet proposition.

So what happens if it doesn’t take? Well, if you’re still seeing regular accidents after a week or two, give it some consideration.

Is your toddler ready and just not willing, or willing but not ready? And when you’re deciding, consider whether your own desire to see an end to diapers is weighing in on your decision. Any sane parent would love to say goodbye to diapers as soon as possible, but there really is no rushing this process. If they’re not ready, they’re not ready, and you’re just putting a lot of unnecessary stress on both of you by trying to get it done before its time.

One last time just to emphasize the point, getting your toddler out of their diaper is not worth sacrificing their sleep routine. Don’t attempt this crazy “dream-potty” routine where you try to get them to pee while they’re still sleeping, don’t wake them up halfway through the night to go to the bathroom, and don’t drop two hundred bucks on a bed-wetting alarm. (How is that even a thing?) You’ll just be trading one issue for another, and since you’ve already put the work in to get them sleeping through the night, you’re much better off just waiting until the moment is right

Oh and don’t you dare flush that toilet before your toddler has a chance to do so. OH MY GAWD how it can ruin there day! 😉

 Sleep Well!

 

About the author

Louise Williams

Louise is a Certified Pediatric Sleep Consultant and the Founder/Owner of Easy Baby Consulting.

Related posts
How and how to ditch the pacifier.
November 18, 2020
Toddlers and Their Stalling Tactics
September 25, 2020
Dealing with Quarantine and Kids
April 20, 2020
8 tips to overcome jet lag with your child
February 11, 2020
Developmental Milestones and Sleep
November 30, 2019
Eight Tips for Easing Separation Anxiety
May 7, 2019
Leave Comment

Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

clear formSubmit

Latest from the Blog
  • How and how to ditch the pacifier.

    How and how to ditch the pacifier.

    November 18, 2020
      Let me just say before I get rolling here, …Read More »
  • Toddlers and Their Stalling Tactics

    Toddlers and Their Stalling Tactics

    September 25, 2020
    Toddlers are fascinating creatures, aren’t they? Watching them develop into …Read More »
  • Dealing with Quarantine and Kids

    Dealing with Quarantine and Kids

    April 20, 2020
    What can I say? The past month has been… I …Read More »
  • 8 tips to overcome jet lag with your child

    8 tips to overcome jet lag with your child

    February 11, 2020
    So you’re traveling. Across several time zones. With a baby. …Read More »
  • Nighttime Potty training.

    Nighttime Potty training.

    January 19, 2020
    This is it mama. This is the final boss. The …Read More »
Why Should I Hire a Sleep Consultant?

“With all of the information that’s readily available online, and the resources you have at your disposal in the form of friends and family who have managed to get their kids to sleep, why would you want to invite a stranger into your home to get your child sleeping through the night?”

continue reading…

Removing Yourself From Bedtime Routine

So, perhaps that’s a bit of a misleading title.
I’m not suggesting that you can remove yourself from baby’s bedtime routine altogether. Even if you could somehow say to your child, “Alright. It’s almost bedtime. Go have a bath, brush your teeth, get into your PJs, read yourself a story and tuck yourself in. Mommy will be out here watching The Bachelor with a glass of wine if you need me.”

continue reading…

Sleep Sense: Consultants
© 2018. All Rights Reserved. Louise Williams: Certified Sleep Sense Consultant
Web Designed by SparkWeb Solutions
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
Footer Menu