Potty Training At Night Time

Have you or are you looking to start potty training at night-time with your child?

Then let us help you out with some of these real mom hacks to help you ditch the diapers for good!

Having a fully toilet trained child is one of those milestones most parents look forward to but getting there can be no small feat (especially if you are looking to potty train twins).

However, with a few of these potty training hacks, it is possible to make potty training for night-time a little easier (and less messy).

Whether you are potty training boys or potty training girls, check out our potty training tips on how to potty train at night, as you’re sure to find a hack that works for you! 

Not ready to start night time potty training just yet? Then try these 3 proven potty training methods that work to keep your little one dry during the day. You may also like our guide on the best pull-ups for older bedwetters.

Night Time Potty Training Tips

1. Start Your Night Toilet Training When Your Child Is Ready

Are you wondering when to start potty training at night?

Well, our first tip is to start when your child is reliably dry in the daytime and once your little one has stayed dry all night for at least a week or longer.

Even after toddlers are potty trained during the day, many continue to have difficulty holding it in while they sleep at night.

“Night time potty training is 95 percent different from day time training,” says Stephanie Berk, author of How To (Potty) Train Your Dragon (Child). She stresses the need for communication between parent and child. “If your child can’t understand what you mean when you use terms like dry in the morning, they’re not ready to be nighttime potty trained.”

The truth is, many toddlers are not developmentally ready to wake up when they sense that their bladder is full or hold their urine for 10 or 12 hours, making nighttime potty training a little more elusive.

It takes time, so be patient, the average for when children are night trained is between ages 4 and 5.

Most children are fully potty trained by the time they’re 5 to 6 years old.

2. Keep A Bedtime Routine

Then read your books, brush your teeth, go outside and wave goodnight to the moon, do whatever it is that you do each night as part of your routine, and then right at bedtime get your little one to go to the toilet again.

The key is to try to have an empty bladder before going to sleep.

3. Limit Night Time Drinks

To start, let’s clarify this point. If your child is thirsty at night give them a drink.

However, you’ll want to try to limit the night time drinks so they aren’t going to bed with a full bladder.

The goal of limiting their night time drinks is to give them plenty of liquids during the day, so they are not thirsty right before bed.

4. Ditch The Pull-Ups For Big-Kid Underwear

Obviously, with this potty training hack, you can expect to have a few accidents, but don’t worry our next hack to help you out with that!

Once your child is ready for night time toilet training, ditching the pull-ups in favor of big kid underwear as it removes the opportunity to ‘hold-on’ until bedtime or the morning when they know they will have the pull-up there.

Also being able to feel the wetness may encourage them to wake up and recognize the need to go to the bathroom.

5. Layered Sheets

This hack is a SANITY SAVER!

Accidents are going to happen, and it is inevitable that at some point your child is going to wet the bed in the middle of the night.

So, to make life a little easier and to limit the disruption to everyone’s sleep make your child’s bed in layers.

First, add a fitted waterproof mattress protector.

Followed by a fitted sheet.

Then add another fitted waterproof mattress protector.

Followed by a fitted sheet.

At minimum, you want 2 layers of the waterproof mattress protector and fitted sheet but depending on the number of accidents you have you may choose to have more.

Now here is the genius part. When your little one wets the bed, you simply remove the first layer and the underneath layer is dry and ready to be slept on.

That means no more having to find sheets and fit them in the middle of the night!

You simply wash everything in the morning and remake it the same way for the next night.

6. Get A Portable Night Light

Sometimes your child doesn’t go to the toilet in the middle of the night because they are just scared.

So get them a night light that converts to a torch so they can take it with them to the potty.

7. Shower Or Bath In The Morning

As we’ve said accidents are bound to happen, so while you are potty training at night you may want to consider changing your routine by showering or bathing your child in the mornings.

Obviously it helps to remove that urine odor (which can be embarrassing for your child if they are at school), but it also helps to take away some of the pressure your child may feel when they fail to have a dry night.

Things To Remember About Nighttime Potty Training

• Start when your child is ready. It will make the process so much easier.

• Be patient. It will more than likely taken time for your child to master night-time dryness.

• If your child is becoming anxious or frustrated, forget about night-time toilet training for a while. Restart the pull-ups and know that there will be a better time to try this later.

• If you are concerned about your child’s dryness consult a pediatrician.

And if you’re looking for more great diapering guides, then check out these guides on Pampers Easy ups vs Huggies pull ups, best overnight diapers, diapers vs pullups, and are pull ups as absorbent as diapers?