One of the core responsibilities of parenting is to potty-train your babies. Sometimes it might get frustrating when you wake up to a wet bed. There are times when the child is dry during the day, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that he/she will be dry at night. The time keeps varying and there are a lot of times when children take tremendous periods to learn how to stay dry. I know the feeling, and having babies is not easy, especially when some kids take longer to adjust than others. The good thing is that one day, they all learn. As a mother, you have to understand that things like night time potty-training is not automatic, and takes practice to do it. Once your child is 3-4 years old, he is ready for night time potty training. There are certain hints that babies throw indirectly to show that they are ready to be trained. Some of the examples of such hints are;
a) Sometimes, babies refuse to wear diapers at night or even end up removing them! You might wake up and find that your baby is diaper-less!
b) In the morning, the diapers might only be a tansy-bit wet, which means that they were cautious when pooping or peeing.
c) At times, the nappy or diaper is dry for a couple of days continuously.
d) In rare cases, your child may wake you up asking you to take them to the washroom
If your child shows these kinds of signs, then trust me, he is ready to be potty-trained at night. And as a parent, it’s your duty to take it to the next level.
WHERE DO I START?
Just remember, it’s always good to prepare. For beginners, start talking about toilets and what they need to do at night in case they feel like they need to go and poop. As long as they know that the diapers and nappies won’t be there anymore for them, they will understand it. When taking them to the washroom, keep praising your child on how good they did by using the toilet. Encouragement is key. When my boy started using the toilet instead of pooping in diapers, I would encourage him to keep doing that and sometimes even give him a sugar-free sweet just so he keeps following the tradition.
GET A GOOD MATRESS COVER
Make sure that you buy a waterproof sheet so that you can place it under your baby’s usual bedsheets. Not only does this save your mattress, but it also saves your sleep and makes sure you don’t keep getting up at night just to change the sheets! As a mother, you have to remember that you have to expect accidents and make sure you are prepared for this kind of tiny poopsies!
USING THE TOILET AT NIGHT BEFORE SLEEPING
One of the most important habits to develop as a mother towards your child is to make sure that they visit the toilet before bedtime. This avoids them waking up at night or even wetting the bed. Make this a religious habit for your child and in no time, your baby will learn how to take a poopsie without your help.
DO NOT RESTRICT FLUIDS
One important thing to learn as a mom is to not restrict your baby from taking fluids before bedtime,. This applies to times like summer when they get dehydrated and need as much water in their systems as possible. However, just let them have milk or water but not sugary drinks.
WAKE HIM UP TO PEE!
One of the oldest tricks of my mum was this one. She’d wake us up just so we could visit the washroom and empty our bladders so we can get a better night sleep instead of a good night one. There were times when she even takes us personally to the toilet just so she can get the job done.
GET YOUR BABY A FANCY UNDERWEAR
This is an old trick played in the modern era. When we get the child a very fancy underwear, one with cartoons or something that’s imprinted on it which the baby might adore, then you can rest assured that your baby wont pee or poop in it. A fancy nightie for your baby boy (Ben 10) or baby girl (Cinderella) might be your way on how to potty-train them. Trust me on this one, your child may not want to get the fancy nightie spoilt because of pee or poop, and he/she might surprise you by waking up to pee at night to keep his/her beautiful nightie clean and tidy. Works all the time, trust me. Now this might be a good chance of waving goodbye to the wet beds and saying hello to the dry nights!
These are some of the ways in which you can train your baby on how to potty-train at night. Although its good to allow your child to have fluids at night, limiting it is a better option as sometimes it may get out of hand and due to excess fluids, your child might be forced to wet the bed. So to achieve this, let your kid take water two hours prior to bedtime so that the bladder can be emptied when he is taken to the washroom at night. Night time potty-training is a completely different thing than when teaching a baby for day time potty-training.
If you follow these steps religiously, then you will end up teaching your baby the importance of peeing in the toilet and avoiding the poopsies. You may never know; a little adventure for your kid may just prove to be the right kind of lesson for your baby. Take them through these steps and prove it to them that it’s a cartoon adventure and they will believe you. Babies are so innocent that all it takes for them to understand the concept of not wetting the bed might be hidden in the day to day routine. If it’s a boy, tell him that Ben 10 won’t telecast if they poop in their bed, and vice versa for girls! After all, cartoons were made for a reason!
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