Help with Nighttime Potty Training

My daughter is 4 and wears disposable pants during the night. When should I expect her to be dry all night? What should I do to help?

Children vary in the time it takes to become dry at night. Children develop urinary control as they mature. As a child grows and develops, so does her ability to control her bladder. Between ages 1 and 2, her bladder capacity enlarges and she senses when her bladder is full.  At ages 3 to 4, she learns to voluntarily void or inhibit voiding. By age 5, a typical child has an adult pattern of urinary control. However, approximately 13% of 6-year-olds don’t yet have nighttime urinary control and still have bedwetting. Bedwetting can be inherited, so if one or both parents have a history of bedwetting, your child is more likely to be affected.

No child wets their bed on purpose. Wetting happens during sleep so it is hard to change until you see signs that they are ready to be dry. Disposable pants help with the laundry burden and can be used without guilt.

Here are some tips to help with nighttime training:

1) Daytime dryness should be established first. Make sure she is reliably dry in the daytime, knows when she needs to use the bathroom and has soft, regular bowel movements.

2) Encourage drinking and frequent toileting during the daytime. Fluids after dinner should be water, not milk or juice, in a small quantity.

3) Double void before bed. This means making sure she tries to go potty 30 minutes before bedtime, then once more as lights go out.

4) Trial of no disposables. Especially if you have noticed that her disposable pants are less wet or dry in the morning, try having her wear underwear to bed. Protect the bed with a waterproof cover and protect her sheets with washable, waterproof underpads. The ones with the tuck-in sides are the best. If a couple weeks pass with no sign of progress toward dry nights, restart the disposable pants and know that there will be a better time to try this later on.

5) Don't allow disposables to be worn while she is awake. Put it on last thing before lights out and take it off first thing in the morning. Some children will wet their disposable pant as they are waking up in the morning, just because they know it is there.

6) Remind your daughter if she wakes up for any reason or if she comes to your room in the night, she should use the bathroom at this time, even if she doesn't feel she needs to.

7) You can introduce a bedwetting alarm to help her speed up that brain-bladder connection if your daughter gets to 6 and is still having nighttime accidents. (Plus, when you buy from us you'll get unlimited access to our exclusive resources and team of certified Bedwetting Experts available via phone, chat, or email. We can answer any questions you may have and guide you on the path to permanent nighttime dryness. Our How-to video series is included with each alarm purchase.)

8 ) Walking your daughter to the bathroom before you go to sleep probably does not speed up the development of dry nights but there is one less voiding in the bed.

In most cases, children do not have control over their nighttime wetting and this behavior is not reflective of your parenting skills. There is no need to feel parental guilt; being kind and supportive is much better. Punishment is not warranted and will not speed up the development of dry nights. Be patient and know that each child develops at a different rate.