Nighttime Potty Training

Kiara has been having a hard time getting the whole nighttime potty training down. She rarely has accidents during the day and during nap times, but at night it's a whole different story. We have tried limiting fluids before bed, we've had her go to the bathroom before bed, and we have a chart where she gets stickers for going to the bathroom before bed. There are some nights she stays dry but there is no pattern to it. Brian and I have been so frustrated trying to figure out what to do. To make matters worse, Kiara sleeps on the top bunk and anyone with bunk beds knows what a pain it is to make the top bunk. Brian and I hate washing her sheets and making the bed. We didn't have this problem with Evelina. I think she was fully potty trained by 2.5 years old.

After talking about it at work, one of Brian's coworkers suggested we wake Kiara up in the middle of the night to see if she will pee. The first 2 nights, Brian woke her up about 3 a.m. Kiara cried the whole time and tried to go to the bathroom, but said, "It won't come out!". To our amazement, though, she was dry in the morning. Since then the results haven't been so positive. She still cries heavily when woken up and refuses to sit on the toilet. A couple nights ago, Brian's patience had been growing thin, so after Kiara threw a fit and refused to sit on the toilet, he left her in the bathroom to cry it out. Being 8 months pregnant and having the bladder of a mouse, I had to use the bathroom a little later. As I walked to the bathroom, I saw my little girl had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor. Her undies were still down from when she tried to go to the bathroom earlier. I quietly called her name and she put her head up and looked around like she didn't know where she was. I asked her if she wanted to go potty and she said yes. She sat on the potty, did her business, and then I called Brian to put her back to bed. The next morning when she woke, she was still wet. The jury is still out on the "Wake-the-child-in-the-middle-of-the-night-potty-training-technique." It's pretty tortuous to hear your little girl crying in the middle of the night after being woken up to use the bathroom. I hope it gets better soon or I might resort to using pull-ups until she's 10.