Moms’ Words of Wisdom & Tips on Night Wetting

Even when my daughter finally potty trained, we held off on going diaper-less at night until she asked. The first few nights were perfect. “When they’re ready, they’re ready,” I smugly thought. Oh! Parenting is such a humbling process. Every night after those initial successful ones, she woke up in the middle of the night soaked. I took to Facebook to ask moms their words of wisdom and tips on night wetting and this is what I got:

Moms’ Words of Wisdom & Tips on Night Wetting

Kristin, mom of 4: “With my oldest son, we just kept him in pull-ups until he was perfectly dry. Honestly, he was well into grade school when he was able to sleep without them.”

Vanessa, mom of 2: “I do believe that it’s more of a laundry problem than anything else. At least in our scenario, my son wears a pull-up at night still & is completely fine during the day. So we know he has bladder control & is just not ready to be without a pull-up at night. We could definitely have him without a pull-up at night but aren’t ready to deal with said laundry problem.  My daughter, on the other hand, has been dry overnight almost simultaneously with being dry in the days…. Each kid gets there when they get there, at least that’s my humble opinion.”

Rebekah, mom of 3 and blogger at Surviving Toddlerhood: “We got mattress protectors for our sons’ beds. Our oldest wet the bed once or twice a week until he was 4 1/2. We tried not to make it a big deal. Just cleaned things up and went on with the day. We did limit juice to the morning hours and limited water after dinner as well.”

Kristen, mom of 2 and blogger at Mommy in Sports: “Our oldest wet her bed until nearly 5 1/2 almost every night. At first we were worried, but eventually she got it. We limited liquids after dinner, and used Goodnights. When she didn’t like those we used absorbent mats and always had a plastic sheet under the waterproof mattress pad just to keep the mattress safe. Also taking her potty in her sleep when we went to bed around 10 or 11 really helped her learn to go potty alone at night when she needed to. Each child is different – some take longer than others!”

Juliana, mom of 2 and blogger at One Ruud Mom: “Our son is not totally potty trained so I’m not an expert nor do I like giving advice since I don’t know what I’m doing. With that being said, I do know that it can be very easy for kids to feel ashamed of their bodily functions if they feel like they are messing up during potty training. Knowing this, we have decided that we are not going to push it. I think rewards are great, but don’t believe in punishing for accidents. What’s an extra load of laundry in the grand scheme of things anyway? That’s how I feel about it at this moment.”

Melanie, mom of 2: “I toilet trained my daughter at 2. We used cloth and she was in daycare. She did well until age 4 when she began bed wetting nightly. We tried everything: pull-ups (they leak), mattress covers (under the sheets), hospital bed cover (on top of the sheets), no liquids after 7 rule, go pee before bed rule, and we take her to pee before we go to bed (still). She still wets almost nightly.
My son is almost 3 and I am not rushing into training him, although he needs to be trained for preschool daycare. He was in cloth and now wears the underwear type diapers. We do not use a potty, we use a small toilet seat that sits on the regular seat, but he is able to use it.

The laundry is insane. We have always been pretty supportive but if she goes still, she helps with doing the laundry.

I consulted with our doctor and he said it was normal up to age 6-7.”

Chelsea, mom of 1 and 1 on the way: “My doctor also said nighttime bladder control can take much longer and it’s very normal to bed wet as old at 9 years old. He said if he goes 2 weeks waking with a dry pull up, get rid of it so far hasn’t gone more than 1 day in a row. He always goes potty before bed and first thing in morning but doesn’t seem to make a difference.”

Katie, mom of 3 and blogger at Views from a Step Stool: “My son was potty trained for 2 years before getting out of pull-ups at night. Honestly, him sleeping was our first priority haha – I didn’t want anything, especially wet sheets, interrupting that!”

Tiffany, mom of 1 and blogger at Good Enuf Mommy: “My best advice is wait until they are ready. Some kids physically are not ready to make it through the night until 3 or later. Know your kid and take don’t make a big deal about accidents or night wetting. I feel like if you’re limiting fluids before bed, it’ll happen when it happens :)”

Disclaimer: This post was sponsored by IllumiBowl. All opinions expressed are my own. If you choose to purchase through my affiliate link, I receive a very small commission, but the price you pay is the same. 

In our own home, we limit water/ milk intake before bed, have our daughter try and use the restroom, have a vinyl sheet under her regular sheet, and do a lot of laundry. My assumption is that she is a deep sleeper and just doesn’t wake until it’s too late. When she is ready to wake to use the toilet, we have found a wonderful product to help her navigate the dark bathroom on her own. You see, our light switch is out of reach for her without her stool, and she is afraid of the dark. IllumiBowl Toilet Night Light is absurdly easy to install, does not interfere with your toilet lid, works AMAZINGLY well, and is QUITE interesting to toddlers. The only part I struggled with was opening the back to put in the batteries. Not the biggest problem, but it does require three triple A batteries.

This little light sits inside your toilet while a motion sensor sits outside of it. It only turns on when it is dark and it senses motion. It says on for two minutes after it senses motion. The major appeal to toddlers is the fact the light changes colour as well as actually lighting up the toilet.  If this isn’t your thing, don’t fret, there is a button to set the light on the bowl to keep it set on a specific colour. You can purchase your own here.