Is your potty trained child still wetting the bed during the night. Vashti has some tips that will help. Dream Wees, water proof bed scheets and night training paints are some of the tools to help you have keep the bed dry at night.

Transcription: Night Time Toilet Training

#90 Night Time Toliet Training

Andrew: 00:00:00 How you doing? Vashti?

Vashti: I’m good, Andrew. Better than last time.

Andrew: Yeah. It’s than last time because

Vashti: It’s a beautiful day today.

Andrew: So much time has gone. No, it’s overcast today,

Vashti: you reckon? I don’t think so. It was overcast when I left this morning, and I did close all the windows, but then I started driving and it was like, Ooh, there’s blue sky out there.

00:00:34 Night Time

Vashti: Well, the last couple of episodes we’ve been talking about toilet training.

Andrew: we have, and we’ve got a little bit to cover left on toilet training subject and that is night.

Vashti: Well, I also, one of the things I realized we didn’t talk about was toilet training pants.

Andrew: Well that kind of cover comes into nighttime as well, because you

Vashti: Yeah, you

Andrew: some pants on them at night.

Andrew: Do you actually, does anybody do that?

Vashti: They do. 00:01:00 there’s, there’s nighttime. toilet training pants, but daytime toilet training pants pretty much just like undies. Um, now some families find that they prefer to go straight from nappies into undies. Other people like to make that transition of using, um, reusable toilet training pants or even disposable toilet training pants, if that’s your choice.

Andrew: Okay, so toilet training pants. Um, Bubblebubs don’t sell ’em. No. And the reason Bubblebubs don’t sell ’em is because Vicky was against them. Okay. And she has her reasons. Um, that doesn’t mean I’m introducing ’em, I’m just, you know. Um, but so I know nothing about them. So are they like a nappy where they’ve got waterproofing in them?

Vashti: So a toilet training pan is pretty much like a pair of undies, but they’ve got, um, a couple of layer of absorbency through the wet zone and a little bit of pul through that wet zone as well. So the idea behind a toilet training paint is that they’re to stop the dribbles or the, the puddles. Um, so you know, when you

Vashti: 00:02:00 Child is sitting there, or you probably had this as well, like when they’re in undies, it’s like, oh my God, I’ve gotta do a wee and I’ve gotta do it now. And there’s a puddle on the floor. Well, toilet training pants will stop that puddle and they’ll sort of catch it and give you enough time to get to the toilet and change clothes before you have to clean up a big puddle of wee off the floor.

Andrew: Okay.

Andrew: Well, I must admit we never ever had the a puddle. Kids always made it to the toilet. Yeah. Well, there’s three there’s three toilets in our house. there’s, there’s my crush And

Vashti: so but it gives families peace of mind for slightly longer drives in the car. Or when you’re out of the house and stuff like that.

Vashti: Um, because generally the toilet training pants, like, you’ll be at that stage where it’s like, oh my God, I’ve gotta go. And they start to have a little dribble and then they stop themselves, you know, because they’re like, oh, that’s a wee, I’ve gotta go to the toilet. So instead of, um, you know, having to change an entire outfit, 00:03:00 you’ve just got a pair of toilet training pants that have just caught that little dribble or stopped that puddle when you’re out at the shops and stuff like, So, um, so not everyone

Andrew: like, so, so they don’t have waterproofing, so you can out wet

Vashti: them.

Vashti: You You can,

Andrew: it goes and it’lright through ’em. So they they can’t do right through ’em. So they

Vashti: No. So they’re not like a nappy where it’s completely waterproofed or water resistant on the entire outside. Um, it’s just got a water resistant layer or a P u l layer just through the wet zone. So the hips will still have that, um, just the normal old cotton, um, around

Andrew: So, okay.

Vashti: yeah. Um, but they’re, they’re just designed to stop dribbles and puddles.

Andrew: Okay. And what brands do you carry that make those?

Vashti: Um, look, there’s lots of different brands on the market at Nest. We’ve got, um, thirsts, which are an organic cotton and hemp. We’ve got designer bums, which are organic cotton. We’ve got close parent, which do a microfiber, so they’re really good.

Vashti: If you’re toilet training in wet, miserable weather or in colder climates and stuff 00:04:00 like that,

Andrew: because they dry quick,

Vashti: They do drive much quicker. Um, there’s also Mc Vik, which are an organic cotton and eco posh, which aligned with bamboo velo. Like there’s lots of brands on the market.

Andrew: So they’re not like a nappy, they don’t come apart, So you, you wash the whole thing and then you gotta dry the whole thing. Okay. Does it take. long to dry them? Is it

Vashti: it depending on the brand that you choose? So look, I know my thirsty ones speaking, being that they’re an organic cotton and hemp and they’ve got a reasonably high hemp content in them.

Vashti: They do take slightly longer to dry, but they are super absorbent, so they’re really good. Um, you know, to catch more. We, um, I loved the Mc Vici ones for my daughter. They’re in organic cotton. They weren’t too bad to dry. And generally your toilet training over summer, so having them out in the sun is, they’re gonna drive reasonably quickly.

Vashti: Um, in Brisbane, in summer,

Andrew: just like nappies, we have a recommended number of nappies. How many of these do you think you need?

Vashti: have we normally 00:05:00 recommend that parents start off with? Probably about six. Um, cuz that should get you through a couple of days.

Andrew: Okay. Well if they, if they didn’t have any accidents, that would almost get them through a week.

Andrew: So you really only. making the decision on how many you need based on how often they’re having an accident, aren’t you? Right. Okay.

Vashti: Now there were times, there were days when my kids would, you know, go through half a dozen in a day. Um, purely because it was early in the toilet training or, you know, we were busy and I wasn’t being as attentive as I probably should have.

Vashti: Um, there were other times, like, you know, at daycare if you’re using reusable toilet training pants at daycare, kids get.

Vashti: When they’re, you know, when they’re young and even though they may have gone months without having an accident, if they get engrossed in a game or something like that, they’re gonna forget and then they’re gonna have an accident.

Vashti: And that’s really, really normal. It’s not anything to be upset about. So, you know, you might have, um, days where they do go through more training pants than 00:06:00 other days.

Andrew: Yeah, well if you got six and they go through all of ’em Monday, you just wash ’em.

Andrew: And you, you know,

Vashti: you don’t have to run to the shop to get a packet of disposable

Andrew: talk, any dry ’em overnight, and you are almost good to go the next day. Really, then aren’t you?

Vashti: you? Pretty much. Um, but yeah, look, you know, plenty of families go commando. Plenty of families go straight into regular undies.

Andrew: but you

Andrew: can’t do commando in a shopping center,

Vashti: no

Vashti: Although

Vashti: if you’re in, um, you know, a lot of Eastern cultures, I know that. I remember walking through this little. Shopping center type thing in China. When I was in China with Vicky and it was quite cold, like we were rugged up when we were in China. Um, and there was this little child sitting in a trolley and it was all rugged up and everything like that. And Vicki’s turned around and we’re going look. And I’m like, what?

Vashti: And she goes, he’s got a cut in the bottom of his pants and everything’s hanging out and it’s on the cold trolley. That poor little boy, it’s on the cold trolley, it’s gonna freeze to the 00:07:00 trolley. And I’m like, no. Like, that’s because they, like a lot of eastern cultures do, um, elimination communication. So their kids are actually trained very early.

Vashti: Um, and they do have clothing that doesn’t have, um, that is open in the crotch region, so it’s easier to put them on the toilet without actually undressing them. And so

Andrew: Hmm. They have that for adults now

Vashti: They do We won’t go there though.

Andrew: Oh, better take that out,

Vashti: Um, so yeah, so toilet training pants, you know, if you, if you want to use toilet training pants, they are available and you can use them. I’m

Andrew: Okay. Yeah. . Well, one of the reasons why Vicky never, ever wanted to make them or sell ’em is because our kids never did it. but you know, she’s, she’s basing that decision on all her kids. Yeah. On her kids. So, yeah. Yeah. So if you, if you got that need Yeah. get

Vashti: Especially like if you are like having to toilet train. Um, cuz daycare centers, if you are a child, if your toilet training in 00:08:00 conjunction with your daycare center, um, they will insist.

Vashti: Training pants of some description, um, they won’t go direct to undies, so because it’s a hygiene issue and stuff like that.

Vashti: So if you are in that situation where you’re,

Andrew: well, now I’ve got a daughter who works in that environment.

Andrew: I think it’s more like that so they don’t have to clean it

Vashti: Yeah. Well it’s, it’s a hygiene. Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. because it’s, um, , like, you know, all the stories that I’m hearing from, from Abbi now it’s, it’s um, um, how can I say it nicely? It’s like Lord of the Flies. Yeah.

00:08:38 Day Care

Vashti: And I’m sure all the educators will be doing everything they can to get outta changing a nappy, but they will change them as as they need to. But it’s like, no, I know that child had raisins for breakfast. I’m not changing it. Snappy.

Andrew: That’s Cause

Vashti: because there’s gonna be sultanas

Andrew: there’s gonna be grapes in the, in the

Vashti: So, um, so

Andrew: 00:09:00 that was, that was always funny to me. Kids. And if he didn’t chew the saltana,

Vashti: and it’d come out whole,

Andrew: It would come out as grape. Yeah.

Vashti: Yep. So, um, yeah.

Vashti: But then you’ve also got night training, so,

Andrew: okay. Yeah. So how do we, uh, well that’s a, that’s a different kettle fish too, because because they’re asleep, they’re not really concentrating at them, are they?

Vashti: No. And look, that’s the thing is night toilet training is actually something that, it’s not training.

Vashti: You can’t do it. It’s, it’s a hormonal issue. So while the average age of day toilet training is, you know, most families will, will toilet train or during the day their child, um, the summer after they turn two. Um, night training can be a lot. So it’s really normal for kids up to 10 to 12 years of age to still be wetting the bed because it’s a hormonal issue.

Vashti: Yeah.

Andrew: Yeah. But that’s when the um, , the pull-ups become handy too. Yeah. Isn’t it? Cuz you can use them at night. If, if they’re only having little accidents, 00:10:00 yeah. You could get away with it at night.

Vashti: Yeah. Um,

Andrew: so, um,

Vashti: but don’t be surprised, like, I mean, if you come out of your daytime nappies, you can still be using cloth nappies at night for another two to three years afterwards.

Vashti: So, um, the average age. Of toilet training worldwide during the day is somewhere between two to three. Um, well, I think it’s pumped up to about two and a half, to three and a half now. Um, night training is somewhere between five to seven years on average. So some kids will toilet train earlier, overnight.

Vashti: Um, but on average it is, it is a lot later.

Andrew: So, so you’re gonna keep, keep a nappy on ’em at nighttime, but

Vashti: Most kids, yeah.

Andrew: When you’re starting to not use the nappy, what can you do to the bed to make sure that you’re not

00:10:43 Making The Bed For Night Time

Vashti: Ah,

Vashti: I loved double making my beds . So double make your child’s bed. Um, so that means put a waterproof mattress protector down, and then a sheet, and then another waterproof mattress protector and another sheet.

Vashti: And that means if 00:11:00 there is an accident in the middle of the night, you just rip the top one off. and put them back to bed. You don’t need to remake the entire bed . So it’s so much better. Um, but I also use bed pads. Um, so, um, you know, absorbent water resistant or water waterproof bed mats. , um, Broley Sheets is one brand.

Vashti: I had a bed pad from Lorraine Lee. Um, there are lots of companies that will do a, uh, an absorbent pad that you put in your child’s bed and they, and you put that on top of the sheets. So that’s the first thing that comes off.

Andrew: Okay. So you’ve got like every, anybody can imagine what waterproof sheets are gonna look Pretty much a sheet that this just made out of plastic. How big is a bed pad? Is it

Andrew: a, you know, a change like a portable change mat? Is it bigger

Vashti: than? Um, look, I think mine was about 90 centimeters square, which was just enough for them to sort of sleep on. And, 00:12:00 um, but you’ve got others that are like, are meter wide and go over the entire bed and tuck in so you can get different sizes,

Andrew: Wouldn’t they call that a sheet?

Vashti: Um, no, because it’s, it’s just, um, goes through the middle section. where, like, especially if your child is a bit of a crocodile sleeper, so if they roll and move and stuff,

Andrew: okay. But water goes to the lowest point. So isn’t it just gonna run off that straight onto the sheets?

Vashti: No, because it’s a quilted top.

Vashti: So it’s actually an absorbent pad.

Andrew: Okay.

Vashti: Um, so it absorbs in

Andrew: so it’s gonna keep the moisture in. Oh, okay. Excellent. Um,

Vashti: and you can also, you can get night time toilet training pants as well. So you know, bed wetter pants, super undies. Does the bed wetter pants, mothery does, um, a nighttime toilet training pants, so they’re like a pair of pull-ups. . So a pair of undies, but they’re a lot more absorbent. Um, so they will actually sort of hold a full Wee

Andrew: they a, do they have a waterproof liner in them? They do. 00:13:00 They Okay. So they’re like a nappy, just,

Vashti: a nappy, but in a pull-up

Andrew: version.

Andrew: Mm, excellent.

Vashti: so they’re really good. There’s also other nighttime training aids, so you can get little, um, Clips that you hook onto your child’s, like you clip onto your child’s pants and they set off an alarm that goes off when your child wets the bed.

Vashti: So it teaches your child to wake up and go to the toilet. Um, cuz some kids will sleep through wedding. The bed

Andrew: That’s a bit like locking in the gate when the horse is already bolted.

Vashti: Yeah. Well, it starts to like it, it alerts them yeah, as soon as it gets a damp feeling to it.

Andrew: makes think about it.

Vashti: Um, and makes them realize what they’ve done so that they, because some kids are quite heavy sleepers and so they’ll sleep through even being wet.

Vashti: Um, now be aware that night training during winter is probably not a great idea because. Kids will wee more overnight during winter. Um, 00:14:00 purely I think, I don’t know if there’s any scientific research to this, but my belief and, and my experience over the years is that, um, you know, urine is really quite warm.

Vashti: And so kids will, we more. To warm themselves up if they’re cold

Andrew: Okay.

Vashti: it’s, I know it’s

Andrew: It only stays warm for a short period of time. , it’s it’s,

Vashti: it’s,

Vashti: counterproductive. Um, but it gives them, like, if they’re cold, they’ll wee and they get that little bit of warmth. Um, but then they end up colder because they’re now wet.

Vashti: Um, and then they wake up. But it’s that whole, their, their body’s trying to keep them warm. Um, and so it’s, it does that. And I like, as I said, I don’t think, I dunno if there’s any scientific proof in it. It’s just my experience is that my kids always, we more through winter, um, overnight.

Andrew: One of the, one of the things we used to do too when we were night training is we’d actually get ’em up.00:15:00

Andrew: before me and Vicky go to bed, we’d get ’em up to do what we call Dream

Vashti: Wee. Yeah, the’re Dream

Andrew: week where we, we, because you know, once kids are asleep, it’s really hard to wake ’em up. So you basically get ’em up and you, you walk ’em to the toilet and you get ’em to do a we and then they go back to bed and that, that worked a treat.

Vashti: The dream we is fantastic. So yeah, always take your child to the toilet as soon as the, you know, lasting before they go to bed. And if you’re pretty confident, um, with them. Being able to hold onto it put ’em to bed without a nappy on. So, you know, oh, we’re gonna be, you know, big boys and girls now and we’re going to bed without a nappy on and everything like that.

Vashti: And you get ’em to do a wee before they go to bed and you talk about, you know, waiting until the morning to do a wee. But then before you go to bed, yeah, you take ’em for your dream wee you put ’em on the toilet and they will generally, they’ll stay asleep through the whole thing. I remember crouching down in front of the toilets with my kids’ heads on my shoulder, um, and they’d be sound asleep and I’d just be slowly, quietly talking 00:16:00 in their ear about, come on, we’re gonna do a, we now do a, wee, you know, and then they’d do a wee, and then I’d put a nappy on them just to be on the safe side and put them back to bed.

Vashti: Um, but.

Vashti: Uh, the, the dream wee is amazing.

Andrew: Yeah. Dream fantastic.

Andrew: Dream work, work to treat was really good.

Vashti: Um, and you know, if you know that they’re an early morning, we are try and get up early and wake them up early, um, and get them, and get them to the toilet as soon as they get up. It’s like, I know sometimes it’s nice to sit there and, and lays around and, and wake up slowly.

Vashti: But when you’re night training, it’s like you gotta get up straight away and first thing you do is straight to the toilet. Um, I know there

Andrew: but it’s. , did you sleep? Did your kids sleep longer than you? Because my kids were always awake before me. Yeah.

Vashti: my kids

Andrew: before me.

Andrew: Yeah.

Vashti: they’re teenager, well two of them are teenagers now.

Vashti: I have to wake them up and it takes half an hour to get them outta bed.

Andrew: Yeah. , it’s like, well, actually, Gabriel’s like still like waking up really early.

Andrew: 00:17:00 Like, you know, he’s, his bedtime is, is been pushed back, but he still wakes up at 6:00 AM He’s, you know,

Vashti: Kyle’s, Colin’s a bit of here and there like, you know, some, the other morning I was up before him and he came stumbling out and he is like, morning mama.

Vashti: like, morning sweetie. And you got up before me. And I’m like, And then the last two mornings and raiding the You know, his sister had a block of chocolate and Kylen ate half a block of chocolate for breakfast yesterday morning.

Andrew: Oh, that’s a,

Vashti: I’m like, are you kidding me?

Andrew: That’s

Vashti: Oh, it was the Curtis Stone caramel one. That’s Yeah, I so sorry for his teacher yesterday.

Andrew: What are the signs?

Vashti: what are the, the signs are like, you know, if you can go like several days or a week with a dry nappy when they wake up every morning, a good chance.

Andrew: We, we did actually cover, um, dry nappies though, but yeah, it’s good

Vashti: but that was more for day, yeah. For nights, if they’re going 00:18:00 several days in a row with, with a dry nappy,

Andrew: well that’s, that’s when you can. Putting them to bed with a, with a, um, a pullup.

Andrew: Uh, and see how they go there. Yeah. Yeah.

Vashti: So, um, so yeah, definitely that’s, that’s something to look out for.

Andrew: Hmm. Is that the only sign?

Vashti: um, oh, when they’re waking up through the night and saying, I need to go to the toilet as well. So, you know, that’s a, that’s another really good sign because they’re, they’re awake enough or they’re in tune enough with their body that they understand

Andrew: that their body to wake up. Yeah. Their body

Vashti: wakes up, their body wakes them up to say, yep, you’ve gotta wee

Andrew: Yeah. Because my body does that like two or three times a night.

Vashti: Yeah. you’re turning into an old man.

Andrew: I’m an old man.

Vashti: Oh. But Lou, I think the biggest thing is, you know, it’s, it’s about following your child’s cues. Whether it’s day training or night training is follow your child. Don’t force it. Um, when you start forcing toilet training.

Vashti: um, 00:19:00 that’s when you can actually have regression and stuff like that. So really, you know, just follow them and if you’ve got any questions, like, you know, get ’em contact. Um,

Andrew: I didn’t notice too, like anything distressing would put them back a

Vashti: a step. Yeah, yeah, And, and be aware that regression does happen.

Vashti: Like, um, if you have a, a major family upheaval or like, um, moving, um, even if you’ve been toilet trained for a couple of years, if you, um, ha ha. House move or something like that. There can be regression and you can start having accidents again. Um, when you introduce a new baby into the family, there’s regression.

Vashti: I know that, you know, I was really lucky with Brai. He was fully day trained by 18 months, but when Mikayla was born, bang, we were back in nappies and it took another sort of three to four months to get out of them. Um, unfortunately that meant I had two under two in full-time cloth in Central Victoria in the middle of winter.

Vashti: It’s fun. , no.

Andrew: you’re You’re a better person for it now.00:20:00

Vashti: But yeah, look, um, you know, if there’s any sort of family upheaval or, or change, there can be regression and don’t stress if there’s regression. If you go back into nappies for a little while, you go back into nappies for a little while and it’s fine. Um, you just sit there and go, okay, well that’s, that’s no worries.

Andrew: Yeah. We had regression with Gabriel. We, um, put him into daycare for a day. And he did not have a good day and he literally stopped talking. Uh, and uh, yeah, and he regressed her quite a few things. I was a bit bit worrying. We were always wondering what the hell did they do?

Andrew: and it was just daycare. You know? What, what traumatic thing did you see? You know, did you see a kid peeing on something or

Vashti: No, he probably just was like, I want my mom and dad. was so lucky to have both of you around for so long.

Andrew: so, yeah. Well back then. Yeah, Vicky obviously was doing Bubblebubs and I was doing Bubblebubs slash and selling encyclopedia.

Andrew: So yeah, we, um, we were very, very 00:21:00 lucky to be able to both work from home. Yeah.

Andrew: Nice. Okay. Nothing to add. That’s That’s it? Yeah.

Vashti: Like, just, you know, if you’ve got any questions, ask,

Andrew: we’ve got all the information out of you.

Andrew: there’s.

Vashti: I can’t think of anything.

Andrew: Okay, no worries. Well, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll come back in two weeks and we’ll get some warm stuff outta here.

Vashti: Sounds good

Andrew: See you, Vashti.

Vashti: Bye Andrew. 00:22:00