Oh no!
We've just hit another one of those whopping great decisions of motherhood!
When exactly is the right time for your child to go pull-up / diaper free at night?
And just what - if anything at all - can you do to help them be dry at night?
Now when I say decision what I really mean is I've agonised for ages and we've now stumbled into it by accident as I forgot to put my 3 year old's pull ups on one night and there was then no way she would put them on again!
So now we're muddling our way through ... and learning an awful lot as we go ...
First off I've learnt there's very heated debates about when children are typically ready. I've outlined the views of the two camps below so you can make up your own mind ... as with most of these things I seem to end up falling somewhere between the two extremes ... :-)
In retrospect my daughter wasn't quite ready - I wish I'd spent more time preparing her but once the pull ups were dropped that one night there was no way back without a major fight so we are soldiering on.
She is by no means dry every night - though some of her friends the same age are - but we've found a whole load of tips that do help. I've put these in a list below to which you can also add your own tips and link back ... if you like ... to your own posts or a social media account.
The Great Debate - When Are Children Ready for Dry Nights?
Wait Until They're 4 or 5 ...
- If children don't wake in night by themselves means not biologically ready
- Waste of time lifting if they don't wake by themselves
- Children who aren't ready can end up traumatised by trying too early
- There's nothing you can do to motivate children not to wet the bed
- It's a lot easier to change pull-ups / diapers than strip the bed
versus
Help Them Along at 2 or 3 ...
- In previous generations pre-disposable diapers most children were dry-ish at 3
- By adapting drink & toilet routines most children's accidents are greatly reduced
- Be planet friendly - an extra year or more of disposables is a lot of landfill space
- Can save a fortune on pull-ups & diapers by going dry early
- Gently lifting children in their sleep & putting them on the loo at times most likely to wet themselves gets their body used to half waking & using the loo
- Waterproof sheets are now really easy to wash & tumble dry
Tips to Help Children Go Dry at Night
These tips have really made a difference for us but we do have wet sheets on quite a few nights when drinks have been had too close to bed time & I've dropped off without lifting.
Our salvation has been these brilliant fitted sheets from HippyChick a super cool company founded by a mum here in the UK. They're light weight & comfortable but really wee proof & tumble drier friendly.
You can also get them for cots and single beds and for double & large double beds so your mattress is also protected if your child ever comes in with you. My only regret is not buying them before I wasted money on ordinary fitted sheets.
They are now available on Amazon in the US but check-out UK Amazon to see reviews.
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Are You a List Lover?
If you've got a fab list of tips that would be helpful for other mums and would like to guest edit a post on Mums Make Lists do drop me a mail at mumsmakelists at gmail.com.
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