When I was potty training Gavin, I trained him for the day and the night at the same time. I thought that was what you were supposed to do...and it worked. Then I found out that many people day train and postpone night training until later, but having been successful in doing it all at once, I wasn't about to change my methods with later children!
On the week we begin potty training, I give the child a day or two to get used to the process. It is an intense time of running to the potty and learning to identify body cues and it is a relief for Mama and child to put on a diaper for bed. But by Day Three or Four, the night training begins. In our experience, after a few days of intense training, the child is very aware of the need to hold their pee-pee and this continues when they are sleeping. By training during the day and not training for the night at the same time, I am afraid we would miss out on this ideal time of awareness. If I taught them to go on the potty during the day, but pee-pee in their diapers at night, I would have to re-train later to do something that comes fairly easily now.
Of course, even this method is not flawless and accidents do happen (more often with some children). We prepare for the inevitable. We try to limit excessive drinking in the hours before bed, but our children enjoy glasses of water by their beds so we don't make a big deal about how much they drink. We make sure all the children potty right before bed. Before I turn in for the night, I check on everyone and if anyone stirs, I ask if they need to use the potty again. We also put extra padding under the sheets to soak up any puddles that appear in the night. As soon as the potty training child wakes, we offer congratulations and head directly to the potty to begin the day's cycle.
Interested in Part 1 of my potty training series? Click here.
Up next: Potty training set-backs
This post was a participant in Works-For-Me Wednesday, hosted by We Are THAT Family.
I argee with you that it makes since to potty train day and night at the same time. That's exactly what we do (although we do start from birth) and it works well for us. I'm really enjoying your potty training series. I'll be passing your links on to a friend who is struggling with potty training her 2 1/2 year old son while juggling 6 week old identical twin girls :)
ReplyDeleteYou make a great point here-- we were among those who just worked on daytime training with our first child. We're getting set to p-t our second this next week. This is definitely some food for thought as we embark on that journey- thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou know what, Bubbie was an odd bird, he never wet his bed while potty training. He would wet himself during the day for almost an entire year.... we never had to do diapers or pull ups in the bed. I already disagree with pull ups/diapers/ inconsistency/confusion, etc. but anyway.... I'm afraid that Peanut might be a different story!
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This makes so much sense.
ReplyDeleteWe've been hitting it hard-core this week and we've had 4 dry NIGHTS in a row. She slept in panties last night for the first time - YAY! We've been accident free for almost 48 hours, I'm starting to get excited!