Our son is night-potty trained! He is just two-months shy from turning five years old. Last night, we saw Tikoy climb out of our bed, head straight to the bathroom on his own, and go back to sleep right after like he’s a big boy.
Teaching him to use the potty during day time was pretty easy when he was two years old–big thanks to cloth diapering!–but night-time potty training took much longer. We only let go of his night-time diapers last year when we noticed they’re usually dry. (Read our starting the potty training journey here.)
Here’s what we did:
1. We set expectations. We told Tikoy we’re practicing his night-time potty. He understood that he no longer has a diaper at night and needs to wake us up whenever he feels that he needs to pee.
2. We make sure he goes to the potty before bed (after storytime). Prevention is better than washing your whole set of beddings.
3. We expected the worst. We knew we were in for many “accidents,” so we secured our bed with a waterproof mattress protector and our favorite, @swaddiesph bed mats. Less mess to clean up!
4. We didn’t pressure Tikoy. We didn’t scold him for peeing on the bed, and we didn’t pressure him to have the discipline immediately. As for us, parents, let’s be compassionate toward ourselves and our kids. Stop comparing. We know each child has his or her own developmental pace. If your child isn’t ready, then he isn’t.
5. We celebrated small wins. We praised his efforts: “Good job telling mommy you need to pee!” and “Thank you for telling us you peed on the bed.”
Keeping a portable potty nearby (wherever we were staying) has helped us in many ways, too, so we didn’t have to run to the bathroom whenever mother nature calls.
We hope this list helps every parent who’s planning to start, or going through potty training!
Mark x Abi 