Hello!

My girl is 3.5 yrs and still uses diapers at night, do you have any night time toilet training tips?


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  • I know parents who took there daughter to the Dr. when she was about 4 – 5 years old. They bought a special “mat” that fitted on top of the sheet. When it got damp it set off an alarm. That woke her up and she went to the toilet. She is a heavy sleeper but it definitely helped her and she no longer wets her bed at all.


  • You can’t force night training and there is no point seriously trying until she is consistently waking with a dry nappy. My daughter is 7 and still occasionally wets. I took her to a doctor and they said her bladder still isn’t mature enough to hold overnight and she is such a deep sleeper that she doesn’t wake. It will come with time and it is an individual thing


  • My daughter was in kindy and still wearing night time nappies. One night I just decided, enough is enough, when this box of nappies is gone, I’m not buying anymore. And she was dry from the first night without a nappy. I was a bit annoyed I hadn’t tried it sooner


  • Try not to
    Give water too close to bed time,’otherwise no rush. Your child will do it when the timing is right


  • I am going through this right now. My daughter who is 4 says she doesnt want to wear a nappy , problem is she still likes her bottles (its a security thing). So she is ready i just need to try to stop the bottles before bed. Though i make her go to the toilet first. This is helping so far but its only been 2 nights – best of luck


  • We are nigh time toilet training out son at the moment. He has had 2 weeks of dry nappies so we decided to try last night & tonight with out a nappy. So far so good!
    Good luck


  • she is only 3.5 its perfectly normal and nothing to worry about she just needs to grow out of it, dont worry until she’s school age.


  • Thank you for your responses.


  • Do not worry, every child matures at a different rate and the childs bladder needs to be ready, restricting fluids, waking the child up will make no difference, if you are very concerned see your GP and ask to see a paediatric urologist who can check that there is nothing wrong which is causing the bed wetting, however it is worth noting that 5 percent of the adult population still wet the bed, it is just something we do not discuss. I had 3 children under 2, one boy was dry at 3 his identical twin brother was 17, their sister was dry at 2.5 years, so they are all different, it is important to make nothing of it as sometimes the concern can make it worse and the stress to the child will not help, I would be talking to the gp, there is also nasal medication available now that assists as well. good luck


  • Night time toilet training is very different to daytime training, you really need to let your little one guide you on this. Every child is different, and will be ready at different times. There are lots of little ones who continue to wear nappies, even in their first years at school. This is not a reflection of you, just her body not being ready yet. If you do notice that she is ready, perhaps she is dry sometimes or sometimes her nappy is less wet, then you can try a few things. You can buy brolly sheets, which are a bed pad which covers part of the bed and can be easily changed if they are wet, rather than changing the whole sheet set. I found a much cheaper version at bigw, they are the same thing. they were in the mattress protector section. (I used a regular mattress protector, bed sheet, then this bed pan on top…so if there is an accident on the bed lad has to be changed) consider having a potty in the bedroom if you think she may not get to the toilet in time. Eventually your child will wake to go. I also used less absorbent nappies at night too make my child be more aware of wetting. I used the huggies pull up pants, which have the wetness liner in them. Good luck, please don’t rush this.


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