It is one of the milestones in your child’s life: Potty training. Soon the diapers, one of the most prominent symbols of babyhood, will be replaced with a potty and the toilet seat apparatus of childhood.
POTTY TRAINING AND NIGHTTIME DIAPERS
It is one of the milestones in your child’s life: Potty training. Soon the diapers, one of the most prominent symbols of babyhood, will be replaced with a potty and the toilet seat apparatus of childhood. During this important transition period, to ensure that your child is comfortably adjusted to this significant change and peacefully continues his/her development, you must start potty training initially during the day and continue using diapers at night.
Many specialists define potty training in two stages: Daytime training and nighttime training. Children who start potty training complete their daytime training in a shorter period of time compared to the nighttime training. This is because it is easier to exert control on bladder when awake.
Your child’s nighttime potty training can start only after he/she is fully trained to use the potty during the day. That being the case, there is no drawback to putting a diaper on your child who just started his/her potty training, to ensure that he/she has a comfortable night.
Some mothers are ashamed or feel guilty of using diapers at night. These are completely pointless feelings and reactions. All being said, you cannot teach your child to use the potty when he/she is sleeping. He/she can only achieve this himself/herself after he/she masters the requirements imposed on him/her during the daytime training. Using nighttime diapers until your child is ready will be a practical and useful solution both for you and for your child. Do not ever mistakenly think that this method would mitigate the effects of potty training.
When should you start nighttime training?
If your child decides that he/she doesn’t want a diaper at night, listen to him/her and promptly stop using nighttime diapers. If your child does not make such a request, you can wait until he/she turns 3. Many pre-school kids are able to complete their potty training when they are 3 or 4 years old.
When he/she wakes up with dry diapers you can understand that it is time to stop using them at night. This is an important sign showing the readiness of your child for nighttime potty training. After this sign, you can start his/her training by explaining to him/her that you will no longer put diapers on him/her at night and also telling him/her the reasons for doing so. You can tell him/her to use the potty or the toilet if he/she feels the need to go at night.
The most important thing to remember regarding nighttime diapers is: to remove it when the day dawns! Your child may spend the night dry but wet his/her diaper instead of going to the toilet in the morning - as he/she is aware of the presence of the diaper.
Alternative Ways
In addition to the nighttime diapers you can also use waterproof bed linen, baby care mats and padding, disposable linen or absorbent mattress mats to prevent his/her bed getting wet. To reduce the risk of bed wetting, ensure that the last thing your child does before going to bed is to use the potty. If he/she wakes up needing to use the potty at night, leave the corridor or bathroom light on, or use a night light on your way so that you can easily take him/her to the washroom. If you want you can also keep a potty and Molfix wet wipes in his/her room.
Do not forget...
If your child wets his/her bed in spite of all your precautions, try not to show an excessive reaction. This is an accident and a part of the natural development process. Instead of reprimanding him/her, encourage him/her to use the potty/toilet. Be constructive at all times. Your positive attitude will help him/her complete his/her potty training faster in a shorter period of time and contribute to his/her happy development.
