How to Nighttime Potty Train a 3-Year-Old

Most children by age 3 can be potty trained. If your child is potty trained for awake hours but continues to wear a diaper for sleeping, you can nighttime potty train her. It takes perseverance and patience, a potential temporary surge in laundry and some lost sleep, but helping your 3-year old make the transition from baby diapers to dry nights is worth it.

Things You'll Need

  • 2 waterproof mattress pads
  • Toddler-size disposable training pants
  • Thick cotton training pants

Instructions

  1. Nighttime Potty Training

    • 1
      If your child wakes with dry diapers, she is ready for nighttime potty training.

      Check your toddler's diaper each morning. If he keeps them dry throughout the night for at least a week, it is time to move forward with nighttime potty training. His bladder is big enough to hold urine for hours at a time and he knows the feeling of waking up dry.

    • 2
      Tell your daughter she needs to use the potty at night.

      Talk to your toddler. Show your enthusiasm over the dry diaper and suggest she graduate into big girl sleeping panties (disposable training pants). Explain how she should try to stay dry and that she needs to go to the toilet to go potty at night.

    • 3
      Limit liquids in the evening when potty training.

      Limit liquids in the evening and have her go to the bathroom right before she goes to bed.

    • 4

      Take your child to the bathroom when you go to bed. This will likely be a few hours after he falls asleep. He may not fully wake up, but guide or carry him to the bathroom, set him on the toilet and suggest he goes potty.

    • 5
      Wake your child to potty during the night.

      Take your child to the bathroom each time you wake up to use the toilet. Do this for the first few days of training so she gets used to getting up to use the toilet. If she does not need to go, stop waking her so frequently.

    • 6

      Praise your child each time he wakes up and his disposable training pants are dry. After he stays clean and dry for a week, move him into cotton training pants. Line the mattress with a waterproof mattress pad. Keep an extra one handy for nighttime accidents.

    • 7
      Praise your son for waking with dry pants.

      Encourage your child to wake up on her own when she has the urge to potty, but continue to wake her and bring her to the bathroom for as long as needed.

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