Nighttime for a potty trainer: diaper or pullup?

We are smack-dab in the middle of potty-training our 2 1/2 year old. We've learned a lot, but probably the most important thing was this: Pull-ups are useless.

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I went the pullups route and boy do I regret it. My son never associated them with real underwear so although he kept mostly dry they were still diapers to him and consequently he had no problem using them as such.
Once we went 'cold turkey' and put on undies during the day I stuck with regular diapers at night until we had consistency and then just took the plunge (with layered waterproof and regular sheets underneath him). Worked for us, YMMV of course.

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We don't use anything but diapers yet. My oldest boy (now 12) was four before he was finally potty-trained. It was torture. My youngest just turned two and I've not even begun to try with him. Though now he's trying to wipe his own butt with the wipees on the changing table lol - it might be a good time to introduce 'the potty chair.'

I will be using diapers at night though. My son soaks those through as it is.

What is the general age to start kids with this?

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With my oldest daughter (who I realize was probably the easiest child on the PLANET to potty train), I put her to bed in a pullup, as I recall. Her bedtime was around 8pm, 9pm at the latest. Then before I went to bed at around midnight (or 1am, ha! those were the days), I'd wake her up and make her go to the bathroom again.

That seemed to help a LOT with the middle-of-the-night wetting, and it wasn't too terribly long before she was waking up early in the morning (dawn riser) completely dry. Sure, she was a zombie at midnight, but she certainly had to go. And even now (at age 6) she stumbles out of bed in a stupor around 11pm to midnight to go potty all on her own, and has ever since she was completely trained (around the time she turned 3, as I recall).

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We do exactly the same thing you're doing. Our son, who will be three this April, wears a diaper to bed. He is compeltely potty trained during the day and only wears undies. But after his bath and after he's gone potty, he gets a diaper before the PJ's go on. A Pull Up wouldn't hold enough thru the night. Every so often he'll wake up with a dry diaper in the morning but usually not. A friend gave me some diaper liners to use at night too, but we haven't had to use them yet. We've told him he can get out of bed at night to pee in the potty and then he won't have to wear a diaper, but it hasn't clicked yet. And rather than doing laundry every day of my life, I'm waiting until he's a bit older to worry about the nighttime potty situation. But a Pull Up at night would just never do the trick, especially if they are peeing in there more than once during the night. And they leak so easily, as you mentioned. Thanks for the post.

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We have to do diapers at night, at least til the little one wakes up when she has to pee. We co-sleep, and waking up in a puddle of pee is simply no fun. Not to mention the time she straddled my arm before the pull-up leaked...

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We never used pull-ups as they have the same feel as diapers and often lead to more confusion for a PT child. My oldest (now 6) was 3.5 before she was night trained and we just used a diaper at night. My youngest who is now 3 night trained so fast-we simply kept forgetting to put a diaper on her at night and wa la she held it! It was so unreal but honestly any parents I've spoken to regretted using pull ups.

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My daughter who just turned 3 could care less about using the potty she will sit on it, wipe and wash her hands but unless she is wearing a diaper she refuses to go. The only thing she learned from the pull up was to hold it and not go at all, which left us with a horriable bladder infection. Im trying not to put pressure on her and I figure she will go when shes ready. But I agree with everyone about the pullups, they just arent as great as they are made out to be.

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My daughter who just turned 3 could care less about using the potty she will sit on it, wipe and wash her hands but unless she is wearing a diaper she refuses to go. The only thing she learned from the pull up was to hold it and not go at all, which left us with a horriable bladder infection. Im trying not to put pressure on her and I figure she will go when shes ready. But I agree with everyone about the pullups, they just arent as great as they are made out to be.

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My daughter who just turned 3 could care less about using the potty she will sit on it, wipe and wash her hands but unless she is wearing a diaper she refuses to go. The only thing she learned from the pull up was to hold it and not go at all, which left us with a horriable bladder infection. Im trying not to put pressure on her and I figure she will go when shes ready. But I agree with everyone about the pullups, they just arent as great as they are made out to be.

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Our son is hardly ready for potty training (8 months), but I thought I'd share what worked for me when I was potty training (a little out of date, I know). My brother and I would use the potty before bed, but then my parents would wake us up to use the bathroom around 11:00 p.m. Yes, we woke up, but after a week or so, we became walking Zombies. We even made a game out of it. Mom would give us a "secret word" to remember for the morning (because I was so certain I was awake enough to remember). Needless to say, I always lost the game .

Even now, we wake up our son to change his diaper before we go to bed. He’s in size 5’s, but would overflow the diaper by morning. I hope to use my mother’s method with him. Hopefully, my changing his diaper at night will help him transition well. We’ll see.

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yes pull-ups do not hold enough at night. it's not fun to wake up with a puddle of pee next to you (or on you...). i've had to wash sheets 4 days in a row. but i'm stuck with the pull-ups; he says "diapers are for babies"... (he also wears underwear during the day)

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Our son is hardly ready for potty training (8 months), but I thought I'd share what worked for me when I was potty training. My brother and I would use the potty before bed, but then my parents would wake us up to use the bathroom around 11:00 p.m. Yes, we woke up, but after a week or so, we became walking Zombies. We even made a game out of it. Mom would give us a "secret word" to remember for the morning (because I was so certain I was awake enough to remember). Needless to say, I always lost the game .

Even now, we wake up our son to change his diaper before we go to bed. He’s in size 5’s, but would overflow the diaper by morning. I hope to use my mother’s method with him. Hopefully, my changing his diaper at night will help him transition well. We’ll see.

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