Back in July of 2013 (yes, almost 2 years ago), I wrote a post called The End of Diapers? In it I detailed what we had done to (day) potty train our 19 month old. Click on the post to read more, but basically we started setting her on the potty before bath time at around 14 months old, starting letting her be naked from the waist down while at home around 16 months old and watched her cues to bring her to the bathroom, and around 19 months we bit the bullet and just sent her to daycare in undies and after a couple of accidents she was totally fine. We could have definitely condensed that process into a shorter time frame, but we decided to not really push the process and just let it happen naturally. Thankfully, Stella was pretty “easy” to train, and she’s stayed dry during her awake hours every since.
As for night training, at the time I wrote, “I have no freaking clue about this step yet, so I’ll update at some later point down the road with how everything is going.”
HA. Nearly 2 years later, I’m baaaaack!
Stella wore pull-ups at naptime and bedtime nearly every day for the last two years. I think that felt like an eternity because she had been out of diapers for so long. Sometimes I’d consider trying to switch to undies, but she was such a hard sleeper and always SO wet when she woke up that I’d quickly abandon the idea. I wet the bed for a long time (like, 9 years I think?), so I was resigning myself to the fact that this would be one way my kid was like me. Stella has been in a toddler bed for about a year and we’ve always encouraged her to get up and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, but she sleeps so hard that I honestly don’t think it’s ever happened.
Then about two months ago I noticed that Stella was sometimes dry after nap, and one day I just said WHAT THE HELL and decided to go for broke with undies during nap time again. She normally naps from 1-3, so before her nap I talked it up big time how she was going to be SO grown up like Mommy & Daddy and only wear undies during her nap from now on, so we had to be sure to pee on the potty before we laid down because we didn’t want to pee on our blankies.
Dude. She stayed dry.
I think we had maybe 2 accidents over the next 2 months, and that was it. She was done with nap time pull-ups. I felt like punching the air and jumping up and down I was so excited about all of the money we were saving on those damn pull-ups!
Then on Saturday the 25th of April (at 3 years 4 months 17 days old), we went to a dinner party at a friend’s house and got home past their normal bedtime. I was quickly getting Stella settled into bed (pull-up, PJs, brush teeth, book, bed), and when I started to tuck her in, she announced, “Mommy, I don’t want to wear pull-ups at night anymore.”
Um, okay kid. I resigned myself to doing laundry in the morning, took off her pull-up, and tucked her back in.
She stayed dry.
I waited 10 days to write this post because I REALLY didn’t want to jinx it, but I think we finally officially have a kid who is completely potty trained!
Also, you know what I think? I think she was simply being lazy in the morning when she first woke up and was peeing in her pull-up at daybreak. I seriously do. She still rarely gets up in the middle of the night to pee, and now when she wakes up in the morning, sometimes she heads straight to the bathroom and sometimes she plays with Harvey in his crib first, but never is she wet. It’s like she just decided “I’m not going to pee in my pants anymore” and she was done. The one accident she had was the night Charlie had locked their door and I woke up to her sobbing because she was standing at the door and couldn’t get out to pee so she had peed her pants. TOTALLY our fault. #noted
So yeah, no great advice for any other parents out there, but man was I excited to get to finally write this follow up post and tell the world that we are finally saving $75/month on those damn 3t-4t extra absorbent nighttime pull-ups. YIPPEE!!
Yay Stella!!! Lyla has also been diaper-free during the day since 19 months and wore one at nap and night for a long time. She gave up the naptime one a while back now (several months ago), but has a very wet Pull-Up most mornings. Gracie fully daytime potty-trained at 23 1/2 months, but was out of nighttime diapers a lot earlier. Lyla will be 3 next month, and I know Gracie was done a lot earlier than that. Lyla also gets up at least once a night and calls for me to bring her to the bathroom. So it’s funny to me that she STILL wakes up so wet.
Way to go, Stella! We have tried a couple times to go without at nap time, but many times when I ask if she wants to stay in undies, she says no and gets a pull up. I probably need to start pushing harder, I just haven’t yet. And bedtime…ugh…she goes to bed with a drink and always wakes up really wet too. I can’t imagine the day I can write this post, but I hope it’s sooner rather than later. That savings will be awesome!
YES! That damn drink at night. I think if we pulled that from him, we’d be home free. But who really knows.
I know, and shortly after I stopped nursing D, JJ gave him a sippy at bed time so now he has one each night too. And he drinks A LOT right before bed! Usually a whole sippy while we are reading and singing, then I fill it about half full for overnight.
We don’t let them have drinks at bedtime anymore. They get drinks with dinner, and if Stella is thirsty right before bed she gets 2oz of water, but that’s it.
We also limit drinks anytime after dinner, but if she does have something, we at least make sure it is 30 minutes before sleep time and ask her to go to the bathroom and pee as much as she can before bed, which seems to help.
I feel your joy! We have just started potty training these past few weeks and I am taking it day by day with lots of laundry!
I remember when Stella was daytime potty trained at 19 months and thinking she was a super star. Taylor didn’t potty train until 2 1/4 year but she went full on no diapers at all, including night and we never had an accident in bed.
But Alex – man, I couldn’t imagine having him potty trained right now (19 months). I don’t think he has enough language to get it, let alone maturity. I have a feeling he’s going to be my trouble maker in the potty training dept.
All that being said, YAY STELLA!! I bet getting rid of those diapers feels good for you, mama!
Yeah, Harvey is nearly 16 months and nowhere near where Stella was at this age with potty training – his verbal skills are also way behind where hers were so I definitely think that plays a part.
Yay, Stella!!! We’re working on nighttime with moderate success. Poop is a whole ‘nother story. I think we’ll be doing a special once-a-day poop diaper forEVAH.
I think we will be in this club too. “I no poop in toilet.”
I am so ready for this, but also not. Stella’s always been so good at the potty stuff! Matthew trained so well and was dry every nap and many nights for a month and then he was peeing again. He’s like her – he will pee in it if it’s on because he’s lazy. He wakes up dry from his naps now, but sometimes we don’t get it off right away and that little stinker will pee in it, right there in front of me! Or better, we’ll be reading bedtime books and he’ll pee because he’s all tucked in for the night. Drives me crazy! I’ll buy pull ups for as long as I need to!
$75 a month on pull-ups? I think we spend $60 a month between pull ups and size 6 night time diapers for Matthew. I know they’re $25 a box (for 25), and we go through a box of each every month plus 5 more of each to get to 30 days. $75 is ridiculous, especially since you have Target in Montrose. They shouldn’t be that much more. Weird.
I think Bryson will be night trained before Matthew. HA!
We needed minimum 2 each day (nap & bedtime + extras for when she’d be like matthew and pee when tucked into bed!) and we couldn’t get the cheaper training pants – had to be the heavy soaker overnight ones, which are fewer to a pack and more expensive. With taxes, it was between $65-75/month that we’d spend on her pull-ups (plus whatever disposables I buy for Harvey for his day at Nana’s and for random out and about times). Gah.
We are out of pull ups at nap but not noghttime. We have a child who will get up to pee and wind up playing with play doh at the kitchen table at 3am.
Congrats and good job Stella!
WAIT! did you write this post or did I?!!? 😉 Seriously though. I could have written this almost word for word. Lids has been potty trained for almost 2 years as well and I have kind of wondered what I would do about bedtime but was in no rush, but then boom, Lids quit nighttime diapers about 2 weeks ago and has been a champ since. And like Stella, she just decided she didn’t need them anymore and I said okay, but expected to be changing sheets the next morning, but nope. AND, like Stella, I realized that she was peeing first thing when she woke up because she was too lazy to go to the bathroom then and just though, “Hey, might as well use my diaper!” but she never gets up in the night to go now, but now just goes herself first thing in the morning when she wakes up before even coming to see us, and if she doesn’t need to go first thing, she will go hang out in Esme’s crib first. Seriously, I told you, this exact post. So, I feel you.. yay!!!! So nice to be done! We were buying pull ups for Lids and 1 a day night time disposibles for Esme, but now I have decided we are going to attempt cloth overnight with Esme (has been fine for a week or so now) which we didn’t usually do with Lids because she soaked through so it was always a disposable diaper a day even while using cloth mainly, so now we are disposable free and saving money!!! 🙂
Yay Stella!!! I love when kids just know when they are ready for something. Takes the pressure off of us parents, that is for sure!!
Yay for fewer diapers!
So jealous. So so jealous. 😉 I don’t think LB will be diaper free during day time until 3. Eek!
YAY! Go Stella!! It really does help immensely for the kiddo to decide on her own. I was ready for the long haul with overnight diapers as the pediatrician said there’s not much you can do to push it – it’s really a physiological thing. I was a little worried as kids start school here the year they turn 3 and there are technically no diapers allowed (not sure what they do with kids born late in the year – seems early to force it). ANYWAY, I was worried for nothing, as just a month or so after Sofia potty trained at 2.5 she dropped her nap and nighttime diapers by saying she didn’t want them anymore. So be it. She really was ready. And it’s amazing how different the kids are. I remember being shocked that Stella potty trained SO young!! Sofia did it much later but then did it all at once.
So Harvey is now 15 months. Are you working on him like you did with Stella at this age? I cannot even imagine Andy being anywhere near potty training!!
Toby is the same age as Stella and I have been so jealous of the no nappies. He was ready at about 22 months but it coincided with us going on a 5 week holiday and it all went to custard. He is a determined little boy if he doesn’t want to do it he won’t and you can’t give him any incentives – frustrating. However about two months ago he decided he would give it a go and in 3 weeks we had no nappy at all, day or night. So while we had a long run the toilet training wasn’t a biggy for us. Glad to hear Stella has it all figured out.
Aw poor stella crying at the locked door 🙁 SO great that she’s dry overnight now! It’s so interesting how different kids are – for us, being dry overnight was the sign for all three of my boys that they were ready for PT – between 2.5 to 3. I know that’s unusual but I myself have the bladder of a camel (no joke–I can hold a full liter!) so I think it’s genetic. LOL.
$75 dollars a month! Great Scott!! I can’t afford that! Ugh, Everleigh has zero interest in potty training.