Potty Training: Tackling Nighttime

I seriously cannot BELIEVE we've waited this long to start potty training Mia overnight. Every month, I still dutifully add a pack of training pants to my Honest Company order, and every month, I tell myself that this is the last time we are spending that extra $14, or whatever it is. It's starting to get a little ridiculous that my completely verbal and communicative 4 year old wakes me up on weekend mornings telling me that her diaper is "melting". A couple of weeks ago, Mia and Lucy went to a babysitter's house and I had to include Mia's overnight diaper in the instructions -- while the babysitter's 2 year old was completely diaper-free.

I've had a million reasons not to start. First, because Mia has never, not once, woken up with a dry training diaper. I keep reading that night training is physiological, that the kid's bladder capacity will be the indicator that she is ready to go all night without going. Well, I think I'll be waiting forever if I do that. And, it's impossible to know when she actually goes... does she hold it for most of the night and then just go in the morning when she wakes up? I have no idea. Second, because Mia has historically been a terrible sleeper. Mia didn't regularly sleep through the night until she was at least 18 months old, and even then, bedtime itself was a nightmare until recently. So, I've been dreading rocking the boat.

So, it was perfect timing when I was asked whether I was interested in reviewing Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki with the promise that there was a whole chapter on nighttime training. I mean, when I started potty training Mia a few months after she turned 2, I had a self-imposed deadline of her 3rd birthday to start nighttime training, and that year came and went with a few meager attempts, during which Mia wet the bed within an hour of falling asleep.

So, now we're doing it. I've read the chapter (and a couple of others) and am going to start putting things into practice. Jamie says, right off the bat, that there are two things you have to do to night time train: 1) limit water intake and 2) wake them up to pee. So, OK. We're forging ahead. We're up at least once every night with Lucy anyway, so we (by WE I mean B, since I'm the one doing the feeding) might as well wake Mia while we're at it. Anyway, I've liked reading the parts of the book that I've read so far. I don't usually find Potty Training books terribly helpful; I've checked a few out of the library, but I've liked the instructions she's given so far! Her writing style is straight to the point, simple, but funny!

We've done 2 nights so far -- night 1 went well, completely dry. Granted, it was a Saturday night so we were up late and super vigilant. We woke Mia up 3 times, and she went twice. The second night... didn't go as well. Despite waking her up twice, and having her go twice, she wet the bed, twice. Once within 10 minutes of her being in bed -- I'm not sure she was even asleep so I'm a bit puzzled on that one. But the second time was in the morning. Again, I'm not sure if she was even asleep when it happened, since she came into my bedroom to alert me to the fact that her bed had "melted". I honestly think she might have forgotten she was sans-diaper and followed her usual habit of going first thing. Bumps in the road, for sure, but we aren't getting discouraged just yet.

Oh, and let me share this one trick I found on Pinterest or something to make middle of the night sheet changes easier: cover the mattress with a water proof protector under the fitted sheet, natch. BUT then, put a couple of puppy training pads down, and cover with another fitted sheet (and repeat as many times as you like). If there's an accident, remove the fitted sheet, and hopefully your puppy pads will have caught the "wet" and kept the next layer of sheet dry!

Like I said, I was sent a copy of Oh Crap! Potty Training for no charge if I was interested in writing a review - which I was! Opinions and execution is my own.

Conversations parents have

Me: B, Mia needs some pants now that the weather's getting cool.
B: Ok, how many pairs does she have?
Me: Maybe 5 that fit her.
B: That sounds like it should be enough!
Me: For a normal person, yes. But for a person who pees and craps herself at school? It's not.

Potty training still continues to go pretty well, actually. But apparently, once the 2 year old teacher leaves, all the kids who are simultaneously potty training forget to tell someone when they have to go, so the longer Mia stays at daycare after 3 pm, the higher the odds of her coming home with one of those dreaded plastic bags tied to her backpack. Yesterday, she came home with 3, and the 2 feet surrounding her bag smelled like a homeless person. They explained that Miss Sue left at noon today.

Mostly, this was meant as a quick updated so that the last post was no longer my tagline on anyone else's feed. I feel much better now, thanks for letting me bitch a bit!

Potty Training part 3 - almost there

I was going to start this post by promising that I wouldn't mention potty training again - but honestly, I'm lying. I will mention it again because I have very little else going on. After some reflection, B and I decided not to treat the no #2s in the potty thing as not a thing. She continued to hold off until she had a diaper on (usually at night, sometimes in the morning just as she was waking up), and we'd continue to tell her: Next time, it's in the potty, OK? We'd put it where it belonged (in the toilet), flush it down, and that was it. After making the decision not to treat it as a problem, I found it a lot easier not to get upset or frustrated that she wasn't responding.

I did, however, search the library for some potty training books, just to have a bit more of a reference on the topic than just google. But! This weekend! Mia requested we go to the potty because she had go #2. B went with her - maybe a change of pace on who was with her would make her less nervous about it all. And sure enough, she went, and boy did we celebrate it. She was a bit surprised at how happy it made us, I think, but she was very proud of herself. While we aren't quite at the point where she's going in the pot every time, it's been a huge sigh of relief that she's at least willing to try. She's told us every time she's gone, and sometimes we make it, and sometimes we don't, but... we're getting there. So... YAY. I'll still waiting on the potty training book to be transferred from a different library - maybe we'll have a bit more insight to share on this problem once we implement whatever they recommend.

Potty Training Part 2: #2

We are just about to hit a week of full-time awake diapers. At home, we no longer have accidents with #1. On our as short as possible excursions away from home, I've been putting her in a pull-up, and she keeps it dry the whole time! At school, she has consistently come home with two wet pairs of shorts. So, two accidents at school for the past two days. I consider that a win; I don't expect them to ask her whether she has to go potty every 20 minutes, like I do at home. Besides, this is a good chance for her to learn that she needs to ASK! Like I said, we're not even a week in, so I'm hardly complaining.

BUT, this kid. She won't do a #2 in the potty! In nearly 7 days, she's #2'ed ONCE in the potty, and judging by the look on her face, it was completely accidental. Yes, I praised and congratulated, and jumped for joy when it happened. Clearly, not enough to show that this was a good thing. So this clever child, she waits to do her #2s. She knows that I am going to put a diaper on her at bed time, so, she holds it! Until bedtime! Until she has been comfortably tucked in with her overnight pull up on! Then, she peeks down the stairs and discreetly informs us of her situation. 

I don't know what it is. I've read a couple of things where kids don't like the feeling of "letting it loose", or they don't like sitting on the potty for as long as a #2 takes. We'll keep trying, obviously. We'll flush the #2 from the diaper into the potty, tell her that's where it goes, etc. So, that's what we'll concentrate on this weekend. Another fun-filled one, centered on the all consuming potty!

Potty Training Part 1

Last time we bought a 50-pack of diapers, I decided this was the last of it. We switched Mia to pull ups when she moved up to the 2 year old class, because they informed us that the teacher would automatically put her on their little bitty toilet every time she had a wet diaper, just to get her used to it. 3 months later, her teacher told us that she was OK with us dropper her off in undies, if we wanted to.

I take that as a gentle nudge to get this transition done already. So, for the past few Saturdays and some Friday afternoons, I've been letting Mia go diaper free all morning, and having her sit on her potty every 20 minutes or so. After the umpteenth time I'd interrupt her activities to sit her on that little frog-shaped toilet without her actually going, she'd start getting real annoyed with me. And vice versa. I would get super frustrated that she'd wet herself within 5 minutes after I just took her to sit down, so I gave up after 2 sets of undies. This weekend, I told myself to just give it one more chance past the 2 accidents.

After that second one, I watched her like a hawk. Like a weird stalker hawk continuously staring at my daughter's crotch. But, the weird crotch stares paid off when I was able to grab her just as I saw a TINY speck of moisture and run to the potty. It scared the crap out of her, and she was super upset with me, but once she calmed down, she did it. She finished up in the potty, and we celebrated and cheered, and gave her some candy. And with that - she understood what the potty was for! We continued with undies until around noon. She had one more accident, but tinkled in the potty many more times. So, challenge continues, but at least she knows what we want when we put her down on the potty now!

We've been continuing training every evening after she gets home from daycare, and while we have yet to do a successful #2 in the pot, things are still going pretty well (she waits to #2 until she's got a pull up on...). The tentative goal is to go pull-up free all weekend, except for night time and naps. So, here it goes!