How old should a child be when you start taking away nappies at night?

Question

My 2 3/4 yr old is completely toilet traine dduring the day but still wears a nappy at night. At what age should we start to look at putting her to bed with no nappy and how do I go about this?

Answer 1

if she's completely dry in the day, and has been for sometime then she should nearly be ready.
i suggest that you check every morning how wet your childs nappy is in the. it may never be completely dry but if its only a little wet then that may be because your child has just been to the toilet, which is a good sign.
when you do eventually try at night, your aim is that your child wakes up when they do wet themselves, if they sleep right through then they're not noticing at all, which show's that they may not be ready.
try not to let them have squash before bed, and if they do want a drink give them a bit of milk instead.
it can take up to a year to get a child completely dry at night time, so be patient.
you really want to be aiming to start once your child is about 3 years old,not much later, because ideally they should be completely dry by the age of 4.
hope that helps.

Answer 2

When the nappies are dry at night nearly all of the time. I didn´t start training my son until he was 2 years 10 months, but when I took the nappy away he was dry in the day straight away. He also stopped wetting the nappy at night at the same time so 2 weeks later I took that off. I have been very lucky - he is 3 years 9 months now and I swear this is true - I have only ever had 1 wet bed since then. I put this down to him being plenty old enough when I started to train him in the first place.

Answer 3

It varies from child to child.
Some are dry at night by age 3 - my first child was.
I'm about to ditch the nappies for my current 3 year old as most nights her nappy is dry now, so I'm giving her a bedtime drink about 45 mins before bed so she can go to the loo before seeping. I'll put down pampers bed mats under the bottom sheet just in case.
At first, they will have the odd accident, but most learn to wake up, and if you leave a light on they can go to the loo on their own. It's very strange the first time you hear pattering feet going to the bathroom in the middle of the night!

Answer 4

My little boy stopped wearing nappies in day from 2 yrs old but only stopped completly in night from 3 1/2 yrs. I always put him on toilet before I go to bed though to make sure.

Every child is different though, so don't worry day time is more important than night time.

Answer 5

You can't just take away nappies, your child will be wet every night. And not just knicker/underpants. Sheets, covers, the lot. When your child has dry nappies night after night, they're ready. 2 3/4 seems very young. Wait and watch. She'll let you know when she's ready.

Answer 6

If she is all set during the day then start her at night too. Don't give her anything within an hour of going to bed and then if she needs it maybe a sip of water when brushing teeth right before bed. Buy a waterproof mattress liner for under her sheet. you may have to do the sheets a little more often than normal but maybe not . My daughter was fine when I did it this way and has always gotten up at night if she feels the urge. Good luck.

Answer 7

Unless you want to change a lot of sheets, don't do it until she wakes up dry in the morning more often than not. They're usually not developmentally ready to go all night, or wake up in the night, for a while. If she's waking up dry 4-5 times a week, you can try it, but I'd recommend a waterproof mattress pad so the mattress doesn't get ruined.

Answer 8

Take the nappy away when they start having dry nights!!!!! don't force this on a child!

Answer 9

I am going through this right now. There are several things that I am doing. First off I bought one of those waterproof toddler mattress covers link here http://www1.shopping.com/xPC-Protect-A-Bed-Crib-Protect-A-Bed-Snug-Fit-Waterproof-Mattress-Cover

Then I started to cut of large amounts of drinks after 6 pm.

I then told my daughter that I was so proud of her for how she has been doing with her potty training. I then told her she was going to wear panties to bed now at night. For the next few weeks just put a pull up on her under her panties and tell her to let you know if they need to go when they wake up . and had to go

Once your child starts to have dry pull ups you can send them to bed in just panties. Or if the pull ups seem to be causing problems you may want to skip the pull ups and go straight to the panties.

For example: If you put your child to bed in panties and they have an accident they will wake up and be very upset. This will in turn help teach them to go all night. The only drawback with this is that you have to go through a lot of sheet changes and that can get kind of expensive if you have to purchase a few more.

Answer 10

Age doesn't come into it - its when she regularly has dry nappies all night and she wants to do it.