Should my 3 1/2 year old wear diapers or underpants at night?

Question

My son is potty trained during the day, but still wears diapers to bed. He knows that he can pee in them (he hasn't pooped in a diaper for close to a year), so I'm afraid that he's using that knowledge as a crutch to not get up and use the toilet during the night. He has kept his diaper dry all night twice so far, but not in a row, so I think that he is capable of staying dry. Should I put him in underpants knowing there may for now be more wet nights than dry, or wait until he can consistently keep his diaper dry at night?

We have a reward chart for him that he gets to put stickers on for each night he stays dry and when he gets it filled up he gets to have $5 to spend on whatever he wants, and he's excited about keeping dry all night, my biggest dilema really is whether to let him learn in a diaper or underpants.

Answer 1

When he is able to stay dry for five nights out of seven put him in underpants. Remember not to punish him when he wets, but reward him with praise when he is dry.

Answer 2

Hi, I know what you are going thru, Im a qualified nanny, and the boys I looked after were in pull ups for a while, if you think that he is playing on it then try it with undies, it cant hurt. Yes it can be a pain washing sheets everyday, but hes little mistakes are going to happen. What I used to do was not let the boys have liquids after 6pm and always make them go to the toilet before I put them to bed, and ask them after I read a story if they needed to go again just to make sure. They hardly ever wet the bed, and when I did put them into undies, I just made the boys feel like this is a really big step they are big boys now, alittle bit of confidence goes along way! Good Luck!

Answer 3

I empathize with you, but don't worry, bedwetting doesn't last forever. Generally a child that wets a number of times throughout the night isn't ready to be dry. You didn't mention whether your son is toilet trained during the day, but I'll assume he is. Boys are slower at being dry at night than girls. Most doctors (at least in my country) won't even consider medical intervention, like a nosespray that can be used, until a boy is older than 6. Even then unless the child is bothered, it's usually not necessary. It's one thing to potty a child once before you go to sleep, but if you're still having to wake up 2 or 3 times a night to potty him, it's not worth it. Your health and sleep are important. Having your son wear diapers is not a problem. When he's ready to be dry, he'll start having a dry nappy. You can start thinking about taking the nappy off once he's had a few dry nights. If he's wetting 2-3 times a night, he's not ready.Continue to potty him once before you go to bed. Try and make sure he's awake when you take him, but he might sleep right through the process. Also, make sure he's drinking plenty of water throughout the day, but limit his water drinking at dinner and after dinner before bed. And don't worry. Many, many three year olds still wet at night. Until your son becomes worried about it (when he's older and perhaps having sleepovers with friends) there's no reason for you to be concerned. He'll pick up on your concern and that's not a good thing. Concentrate on the good, look at all the other ways he's growing up and being a good boy. His wetting will eventually diminish and in a few years you can take him to a doctor if you're still concerned.

Answer 4

You should pick a day in the future and tell him exactly when he's going to be a "big boy" and wear underpants to sleep in. Like on a Monday, tell him that he's going to do it on Friday. ("Only 5 more nights until you get to wear big boy underpants to bed"). On the ensuing nights, you can explain things like how important it is to go potty before bed, that its okay if he pees the bed occasionally, some of the other things that he can do soon, etc. This way he has a sense that its coming and isn't surprised by it, and you can gauge his reaction in case he's not ready, and you can push it back.

Answer 5

have him wear underpants to bed for 2 weeks if he is wet more than 3/4 of the time put him in pull-ups. it is normal for kids to wet the bed even up to age 10.

Answer 6

If you want to save on the loads of laundry I would wait until he has had a longer stretch of dry diapers at night. My daughter is at the same stage. Fun!

Answer 7

I have a five year old and I am a single parent so it's kind of hard for me to actually teach him. So what I do is wake him two or three times during the night and it works pretty good. You also save money on pull ups.

Answer 8

what i did with my boys is a got those goodnights/drynights.

then what i did, before bed i sat them on the toilet for a while, then id wake them up a few hours after they have gone to bed to go to the toilet. till they got used to the idea of getting up, then i put them in underwear and it worked!

you could of course do what i did but go straght into underwear, i only recomend goodnights/drynights because thier is no mess should they still wee themselves

Answer 9

I have never seen a child graduate with a diaper on so don't worry about it
it'll happen when your son is ready.
My daughter was 4 years old and my son was almost 2. I tried everything with my daughter and then finally gave up and let her decide. one day she told me she was a big girl and we through a little party and from that day on she was done.
your son well decide sooner or later pushing it I found just stresses you and your kid out!

Answer 10

I don't give my kids anything to drink for the 1/2 hour before bedtime and make sure they potty before going to bed. That usually does the trick.