2 Year Olds Wetting the Bed

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Archived Q&A and Reviews

Questions

Dry nights for 2 year old?

Sept 2007

My 25-mo-old son has been potty-trained for six months (during the days) and two months (overnights, with one potty-sit at midnight or so). Lately (the past three weeks or so), he is peeing in the bed, despite me getting up at 12:30 or so to put him on the potty. Sometimes, he will still be dry when we wake up in the AM (7:30 or so), but by the time we finish our morning nursing, he has peed.

I have asked him if he would like to wear diapers while he sleeps again (in a very ''no big deal'' way), and he is very vehement that he doesn't want to. We have family bed, so the laundry is starting to get overwhelming! (Washing king sheets twice a week really hogs up the washer.)

I was thinking of putting him on the potty at 12:30 and then setting my alarm for 3:30 as well, and I am okay with the interruption of sleep. I am wondering how other folks have managed this? Specifically, I am wondering if by starting to set the precedent of waking him up twice per night, then he will start to get used to it and it will stick for years? Many thanks! wet mama

If he wants to keep trying to sleep without a diaper, I suggest letting him. You could get an absorbent pad to put under him. And maybe try getting up to pee before nursing the a.m. If you stick him back in diapers, you might find him still in them 3 or 4 years from now after he's lost this impulse of motivation. My son was very motivated at 22 months. I wasn't. But we went with his impulse and he did figure it out. emi

I think it's totally unrealistic to expect a 25 month old to be night potty trained. My son was also day potty trained at a very young age. He was not able to go thru the night dry until about 4 years old. Why push it? I suggest you get some information on boys and bed wetting from the National Kidney Association. We got information from them when my stepson was 8 and still wetting the bed at least 2 times a week. It was extremely helpful to us for setting realistic expectations. It is NORMAL for boys to take longer to potty train at night, and the NKA said for some boys it takes up to age 12 to stop bedwetting. Such was the case for my stepson. With my stepson we tried the waking up at night as well, but it is not healthy - - you are often waking them up out of a deep sleep and at the wrong time in the sleep cycle. You're the boss, not your son. Insist that he wear diapers/pull ups at night. Give him a reward if he does. Tell him he can have xy or z if he does, or give him a sticker. It doesn't take much to convince a 2 year old, but they know when they can easily push over their parents. anon

The choice should be: wet nights with a diaper, or dry and no dipes. Again, keep it no big deal, but make it a firm thing of ''one week with no wet dipes means you can go to undies again, when you're ready''. He is probably going through a developmental stage, which means he regresses on potty training, but under no circumstances should you encourage him to keep you awake at night or add more laundry. Not a great longterm solution. Him not wanting dipes is a great motivator for him to handle this. Also, no nursing until trying to go potty first (if he doesn't go and then goes later in your lap, that's okay - you're just getting him used to the idea). Potty training on child's schedule, while respecting Mom/Dad

2-year-old daughter is refusing pullups at night

September 2002

Hi, I saw the responses about a 2 year old wanting the pullup only to poop, and I remembered my problem. My 2.5 year old daughter is toilet trained except for the night time and we usually have her wear a pullup at night. Of late, however, she has been refusing to wear one. Im not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the fact that only the younger kids wear pullups at her montessori. Its leading to a lot of laundry loads and sometimes when she doesnt wake up immediately when she wets herself, Im concerned that being cold and wet may result in a cold. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas on how I can handle this? Thanks a lot in advance! V.

This suggestion is directed not at how to get your daughter to wear pull-ups, but how to avoid the need for them in the first place. I offer advice from the point of view of a mother and of someone who wet the bed until she was 12. My problem was that I slept too soundly to be awoken by the discomfort of a full bladder. After consulting several specialists, my parents simply set an alarm to wake me in the middle of the night. I would visit the restroom and finally there were no more wet sheets. Eventually I learned to wake myself. As a mother, I wanted to avoid the laundry problem and her embarrassment. This is what I did when my daughter was little. Each night when I got up to use the restroom myself (or before I went to bed late at night), I went to my daughter's bed, picked her up, and set her on the potty. Usually she awakened enough to sit upright on the potty (I provided support when necessary), but even when she appeared completely asleep, she would urinate. Then she either walked or was carried back to bed where she fell right back to sleep. You might try this with your daughter. After the first dry night, you can heap praise upon her and the positive reinforcement will help her feel good about herself. I kept this up for several months and then tapered back my intervention. She never wet the bed again, so either she was learning to get up herself or developing a stronger bladder. Good luck! Been there!

When can my 2-year-old stop night-time diaper?

My 2 year 4 month daughter has been potty trained during the day for a few months now. She is a very good potty user during the day, and does not need adult assistance in using her potty. She also takes her 2-hour afternoon naps without diapers. In fact, we usually place the potty in her room just before she naps, telling her the potty is there just in case she needs to use it. She has used the potty a few times during her naptime, without calling out for help. At night, we continue to put her in diapers, and her diapers are always wet in the morning (since she always drinks milk before bedtime). Some mothers have chided me for putting her in diapers at night, saying that this will confuse the kid. Of course there are other mothers who told me that most kids need night time diapers till at least 4-5 years old. My questions are How do I know when my daughter is ready to get out of her diapers at night? Is this something that needs to be trained such as waking her up in the middle of the night to go to the potty? Is it possible to train her to use the potty in her room without waking anyone up? How do other parents help their kids transition from needing diapers at night to saying goodbye to them?

I suggest that you should keep your child in diapers or pull-ups (or, if bigger, overnights) until you regularly find them dry in the morning. You'll know she's ready to be rid of them when she no longer pees in the night. Lots of kids still use nighttime protection until well past 4 or 5; let it be no big deal.

I was told to wait until my daughter woke up dry before I took her out of diapers at night. Luckily, I didn't listen to them! One day I just put her to bed in underwear and she was dry in the morning! She did go through a short period (later) where she would wet the bed. We started getting her up before we went to sleep and had her pee. We did this for 6 weeks and then stopped to see what she did. We have found that she gets herself up now. All that said, 2 1/2 is young to be totally potty trained. It is possible and I suggest giving it a try but if it doesn't work I would give her a few more months in a diaper at night.

I have 2 boys who potty trained very differently from each other. My suggestion is not to make a big deal out of it. Your daughter will be dry at night when she's physically able. Some children sleep so deeply (as my older son did) that they can't wake themselves up to pee. Eventually they grow out of it and can last through the night. Maybe the critisizm from other mothers makes it seem a bigger deal to you. It's really a matter of physiology and physical maturity. I know that as a parent we like to see our children progressing developmentally (along with their friends) but this has nothing to do with controllable behavior. Good luck.

I think 2 1/2 is still pretty young to stay dry all night. Most kids learn to stay dry through the night when they are physically able to do it. If the diapers don't turn up dry by age 3 on their own and the problem continues you should probably not use the diapers. Modern disposable diapers do such a good job at keeping the moisture away from the skin that the kids don't know they are wetting. My daughter has a severe wetting problem and with the diapers on she would sometimes think her diaper was dry in the morning and that she had accomplished her goal, but she really hadn't. As they get older with a wetting problem they need to know when they are wetting so they can use the muscles to stop it or wake up and go to the bathroom. It can be a lot of work for the parents to change sheets everyday, but there are bath towel size water proof pads that I place on top of the sheets (also using a waterproof mattress pad under the sheets), then a bath towel on top of the pad helps keep it in place so then you only have to wash the pad and towel. Both my kids were daytime trained by 2 yrs old but both are very deep sleepers. The older one wet at night until 6 yrs old and then finally out grew it. The second one is even worse, at 6 yrs she doesn't even wake up after she has wet. I have just started to read a book called Getting to Dry which takes a very in depth look at solving this problem and the different physical conditions that can contribute to it. I have just started reading, but they do suggest physically taking your child to the toilet in the middle of the night to build this habit for them. I do know from experience that a child may remain asleep during the whole trip to the toilet. Good luck

Nighttime potty training for 2.5-year-old

Oct 2007

Need some insight from other parents.

We potty-trained our son shortly after his 2nd birthday, largely because he just hated wearing diapers. It was a struggle to change him! He has truly done well during the daytime, but nighttime is completely hit or miss.

I have read so many things: Don't let them drink several hours before they go to bed vs. Let them drink whenever, even as they are trying to fall asleep... Don't put them in diapers ever again vs. Letting them pee the bed will make them become chronic bed wetters...Wake your child up at 11p.m. and take them to the potty vs. Don't take them to the potty, because they will never learn to take the initiative themselves....

What has worked for others? Currently, we are washing a lot of sheets but talking with our son every morning if he woke up dry or not. If we do opt for a ''non- diaper'' type nighttime option, are there any non-disposable options out there that truly absorb a lot of pee?

Any wisdom, direction, even a funny story would be most welcome... Thank you. -Mama to an energetic 2.5 year old

He is still young. Think about all the kids you know who still aren't potty trained at all! Waking up to go pee isn't something he can really learn, it is just something he will do. We were lucky, ours started waking up to go pee at the same time that she started going potty in the daytime. If he never ever wakes up to pee, you may as well keep using diapers/pull-ups at night until he starts waking up dry. The only difference is less laundry for you. He's not learning anything more from a wet bed than he would with a wet diaper. anon

At first I thought you were joking. I can't imagine why you would want a 2 year old to be dry at night. And why would you want them to experience the 'failure' (wet sheets) when it is so unneccesary? Our daughter wanted to go dry at night and we told her, to take the pressure off of her, that she couldn't do it til she turned 4. Then when she did it it was no big deal and she was used to being dry. Very few wet sheets and a happy child

Hi. I'm one more parent who potty trained my son at two and it's been working ever since. He is three now, all I need to do is go wipe, I'm not even needed at pee-pee time. I left him in diapers for night time a couple of months after everything else was working during the day, then one day I just did not put a diaper on him at night, but left him in training pants (double/triple fabric underpants, not pull-ups). And that was that. We did have a few occasional accidents, usually when he drank more water before going to sleep. Sometimes he'd wake up at night to tell me he needs to go pee. Or woke up because the bed got wet and he really did not like it. We did not talk much about it though. It appeared to me even before that questions (do you need to go? just tell me etc.) were rather useless. Good luck. Few months and you'll be dry. Diaper Free

You'll probably hear this often, but 2 is probably far too little to expect a child -- especially a boy -- to be dry through the night. My son was daytime potty trained very easily at 2 and a half; he finally started making it regularly through the night dry at almost 6. In between, it totally didn't matter when he had gone to bed, how much he had drunk, etc. His ''night training'' happened naturally, without any particular help from us. He sleeps very hard, deep and long, and I think his bladder just finally got big enough to hold it.

After considering all the options, I just put him in disposable overnights and let him (and us parents) sleep. I told him that someday his body would learn not to pee at night, and until then he would wear the overnights -- and he was OK with that. It never interfered with his using the toilet in the daytime. And it saved us all a lot of stress. I don't know if there are any non-disposable options out there -- for me, I figured the water and energy saved from sheet-washing was worth the relatively small addition of a single night diaper to the landfill. Expedient, perhaps... I don't know. Karen

2.5 year old waking us at night to use the potty

January 2007

For a number of months, our 2.5-year-old son has been potty trained during the day and wearing a diaper just at bedtime. The past few weeks, though, he has been waking up in the middle of the night and screaming for someone to take him to use the potty. He still sleeps in a crib so this is not something he can do himself (plus, at 2.5 y.o., I don't really think he has the physical skills to get up in the middle the night, take off his pajamas, use the potty--even a little training potty in his room--and get back into bed). Although it seems a little counter-intuitive to encourage him to use his diaper at night, we've told him it's okay to pee in his nighttime diaper, but he still cries out to be taken to the bathroom. We've tried limiting liquids in the evening and stopped letting him take a sippy of water into his crib, to no avail. We've also tried to outlast him, figuring if we don't take him to the potty right away, he'll have no choice but to use his diaper, but this feels a little cruel and hasn't been terribly successful (it's amazing how long he can hold it at 2:00 in the morning while screaming his lungs out, whereas at 2:00 in the afternoon I have about 30 seconds to get him to a bathroom!). I'm reluctant to wake him and take him to the bathroom when we are going to bed for fear that he won't go back to sleep. Any ideas?
We thought the midnight wakings were long gone

Take him to the potty when you go to bed. He'll most likely not really wake up but he will be able to pee, I'm pretty certain. Then he shouldn't have to go again. (We called this The Sleepy Pee.)
-Check it out.

Why not just take him to the potty and be done with it? He's doing FANTASTIC in letting you know that he needs to go, and waiting. Please keep supporting him in communicating his needs and helping him. The ''interruption'' seems to be only once a night, and a real need, so I'd consider it cruel NOT to help him. He already is quite awake, from what you describe, but if it makes it easier for all of you, consider a night light or dimmer in the bathroom so noone has to be brutally awake for the potty visit. And remember, it's only a phase, like so many things, so pretty soon his bladder will get into a different pattern and not wake him/you at midnight. Or he will actually develop the skill to go potty himself - maybe some easy-on/off PJs, a nearby potty, and some help the first few times will do it. But please, keep supporting him in going to the potty, not the diaper...
Hooray for the little communicator

You should be very happy that your 2.5 year old is so far along in potty training! He/She is doing really really well. It could be quite confusing from your child's perspective that you are saying sometimes it is ok to pee in his pants (diaper), and sometimes not. Consistency helps in matters of behavior expectations; I think you will need to take him to the potty when he calls in the middle of the night, and praise him for being aware, as so few children have this awareness so young. We moved our 2 year olds to mattresses on the floor which solved several problems. A mattress on the floor would allow him the ability to safely get out of his bed (though developmentally, it is a lot to expect a 2 year old to urinate, flush, wash hands, and go back to bed quietly...) Check with your pediatrician. Anon

Well, yeah. Obviously, it's time to get the 2.5 year old out of the crib and into a bed where he can go to the potty by himself at midnight. Leave a light on in the bathroom - a nightlight works well - and let him at it. This is not a problem, this is good potty training!

Did you see the note below yours about the 5 year old still wearing pullups? Do you really want to prolong this so that you don't have to wake up at midnight? I can't figure out why anyone would want their child to pee in a pullup when the child WANTS to be potty trained. Again, it's not a problem. It's a success. anon

This may sound weird ... but maybe try to transition him in a toddler bed and get some Chinese split pants or other nighttime pants that are easy-off so he can get up and go by himself at night? I know the midnight wakings must be a pain, but look at how well potty-trained he is! My son didn't start waking up to go to the bathroom at night by himself until he was four (and he still calls out for us sometimes even though he's physically able to get up and take his pants off by himself), so I think it's really great that your little guy has picked up on it so fast.
Beth

Don't let this window of opportunity pass you by! If your child is waking to go potty -- great. I got less sleep when my daughter was 2.5-3 years old than at any other time, but it was completely worth it because it meant no more diapers. Get him a toddler bed and two-piece PJs so he can start trying to go alone.
-- a mom

I think its time to put your child into a big boy bed and let him use the potty at night. Put a nightlight in the bathroom and get him PJs that are easy to pull up and down. Put big kid underwear on him. Out boy did this of his own will at this age and we were amazed (shocked!) that he could do all this in the dark. He would get up, do his business (this was pre nightlight so it was really dark) and then march himself right back to bed. He obviously wants to be trained at night, so why not?
Mommy of a dry kid

You need to take him to the toilet! Is it really that much of a hardship for you? If you just go to him and take him to the toilet before he has to scream for you very long, he will go back to sleep without too much hassle. He uses the toilet now, just like you. How would you feel if you had to go in a diaper at night? This may just be a phase he's going through--to see what the potty is like at night. You can also cut back on liquids at night and make sure he goes right before bedtime.
potty 24/7

You should have him sleep in a regular bed so that he can get up at nite and use the potty! You are so lucky that he even wants to use the potty at nite instead of going in his diaper. That's the ultimate goal of potty training, and you're holding him back by keeping him in a crib. At 2.5 yrs old, he's definitely old enough to get out of bed use the potty and get back into bed.
leslie

you can let your 2.5 year old sleep in a regular bed. If you're worried about him falling out of bed, you can get those rails that attach to the side of the bed. Get some easy sweats for pajamas, no zippers. It must be difficult for your 2.5 year old to know when he can pee in his pants and when he can't. You are causing more confusion. Be grateful that you have a 2.5 year old who is already potty trained. Get safety gates if you have stairs. anon

That is great that he is potty trained AND asking to go pee at night. I would just get up and take him. It sounds like he realizes that sleeping in his pee is not so comfortable. I bet that he would just pee in the potty, feel relaxed that he was able to empty his bladder and then sleep the rest of the night and stay dry. I think you should definitely go with his request as people often have a hard time teaching their older kids to wake up to pee. I've talked to frustrated parents of 4 yr olds whose children are so attached to their disposable pullups that they can't get them to stop wearing them at night. The earlier you start this the better. It will also save you money and landfill space (assuming he's in a disposable) Our son was potty trained at 2 yrs 10 months and by 3 yrs he started waking up to pee. We took him for a few nights then he started just sleeping through the night again but stayed dry. Some kids can hold it all night and some kids need to get up every night to pee. Are you concerned that he would have a hard time falling back to sleep? Or are you not wanting to get up with him? If you're worried that he would have a hard time falling back to sleep then just talk minimally, keep the lights low (put a night light in bathroom) and act really sleepy yourself. Then hopefully he'll realize that it is not a time to socialize, but just to go to the bathroom and go back to sleep. good luck!
Suzanne

2.5 yr old and middle of the night potty

April 2006

Background: Our daughter is two and a half, and she's semi- toilet trained. She has been out of diapers during the day for about five months, and at night too (for the last month); she lets us know when she needs to go, we accompany her, and give her a hand with getting on to the toilet and wiping. She doesn't use a training potty, we just started her on the adult potty. Also, we recently switched her from a crib to a toddler bed, so she's just starting to realize she can get out of bed by herself.

Situation: Before she was toilet trained, she used to sleep through the night just fine. But these days, she typically wakes up between 2-4 times in the middle of the night and ''asks'' us to take her to the potty. (Sometimes by the 3rd or 4th time there's hardly any pee, only a few drops.) I say ''asks'' because she actually tends to wake up crying or yelling ''potty''. We would love her to go on her own, but she's so used to our taking her that she refuses. We think everything is set up for her to go by herself - her room is right next to the bathroom, there's a footstool, and there's a nightlight in the bathroom (but not her room). We tell her when we put her down that if she wakes up, she has to go by herself, but we still end up helping her - so thus far we haven't really backed up our words.

Advice needed: My wife wants us to go cold turkey and not get up to help, letting our daughter realize she has to go by herself, even if it means a few accidents. I'm worried she could hold it in and hurt herself, and that it may also result in a regression in toilet training. I'd prefer to try to gradually help her less both during the day and night, so that she becomes completely independent, and going by herself will become no big deal. But perhaps this might just perpetuate the current state? Thanks in advance for everyone's help.

I would go cold turkey but get a little potty, too. She is very young--and the big potty (even if it is all she has used) is scary at night alone! Get a little baby bjorn Little potty (one piece, very easy for kids to use alone) and put it in her room or right in the bathroom door (we put a little changing pad underneath ours because sometimes when alone our son misfires). Tell her that she can use the potty at night all by herself-- it is her potty. And then I would go cold turkey. She may be so happy about the little potty that it is a distraction from you not helping her anymore... My son loves his little potty. He can go on the big potty, too--but he really likes his little one. It is an inexpensive item ($10 new) that you can pass in easily. Laura

2yr 10 mo old daughter wakes us up crying to potty

Nov 2004

Our 2 year 10 month daughter has been potty trained during the day for about 6 months. She's now initiated nap and nighttime potty training, refusing to wear a diaper or pull-up. Because of this, she often wakes up crying during the night when she has a full bladder. We tried initiating a sticker system - every time she gets up and goes potty without waking mommy or daddy she gets to put a sticker on the piece of paper we've taped next to the toilet. When she fills all the squares, we get to go to the toy store and she picks out a potty prize. This worked well for a week or so, and she ended up with one prize, but she seems to have gone back to crying and waking us. Sometimes it's only once a night, other nights it's 3 times. I thought maybe if she saw her portable potty when she woke it would be more successful than walking to the bathroom (which is only one room away from hers), so we then tried putting her little potty right next to her bed, with the stickers and sheet posted next to that. This also hasn't worked. I think she's just too tired and in that sleepy haze to remember what she needs to do.

Before this self-initiated nighttime training began, she consistently slept through the night since she was 9 months old.

I'm looking for other advice/ideas. I'm happy she wants to be trained at night, but the 2-3 times per night is making me a cranky mom, especially now that our 8 month old is sleeping through the night. nap times are not as much of a concern since she doesn't wake us and her nap usually just gets cut short if she has to go potty. I do try to limit liquids at night, but she does tend to be thirsty before bed.

Has anyone been successful with other incentives or ideas? Or is this just something that time will work out?

thanks!
need a few nights of uninterrupted sleep

Time will work this out. DO help her to the bathroom at night. This is much better than giving her a complex about bothering you when she needs help with something, or paying for pull-ups. Maybe trade off which nights mommy will help and which nights daddy will help, then she and you will know who gets to sleep and who gets to help.
a mom

I think nighttime potty training this young is a hard road towards independence. Especially hard on parents. Similarly to your daughter, my son was daytime potty trained around 2 took off his night time pullups at 2.5. 2 years later he still wakes at night about twice a week, and requests our help. No amount of reward system worked, as in his sleepy state, it was too difficult to remember all of that wakeful stuff, when desperate to empty his bladder. The times he has, he has peed in the tub, on himself or missed a vessel altogether. What we found to work was to limit liquids an hour before bedtime, pee before bed, and if we're up until 11 or later, get the sleeping child up to pee before you turn in. As your daughter grows, so will her bladder. Sorry you're so sleepy.
on the winding road to a full nights sleep

I think that children's nighttime needs are very different from their daytime needs. It's great that your daughter learned to use the potty so easily, but I believe it's asking too much of her to take herself to the potty when waking from a sound sleep in the dark. I'd encourage her to return to diapers or pull-ups for the nights. However, the most important thing is to help her out when she needs you at night. Since she made it for a week without waking you, she's letting you know that your presence is more important to her than any reward. I bet this will pass soon enough.
anon

2.5 year old refuses to wear pullups at night, wets the bed

Sept 2002

Hi, I saw the responses about a 2 year old wanting the pullup only to poop, and I remembered my problem. My 2.5 year old daughter is toilet trained except for the night time and we usually have her wear a pullup at night. Of late, however, she has been refusing to wear one. Im not sure why that is, but I think it has something to do with the fact that only the younger kids wear pullups at her montessori. Its leading to a lot of laundry loads and sometimes when she doesnt wake up immediately when she wets herself, Im concerned that being cold and wet may result in a cold. Has anyone else experienced this? Any ideas on how I can handle this? Thanks a lot in advance!

This suggestion is directed not at how to get your daughter to wear pull-ups, but how to avoid the need for them in the first place. I offer advice from the point of view of a mother and of someone who wet the bed until she was 12. My problem was that I slept too soundly to be awoken by the discomfort of a full bladder. After consulting several specialists, my parents simply set an alarm to wake me in the middle of the night. I would visit the restroom and finally there were no more wet sheets. Eventually I learned to wake myself. As a mother, I wanted to avoid the laundry problem and her embarrassment. This is what I did when my daughter was little. Each night when I got up to use the restroom myself (or before I went to bed late at night), I went to my daughter's bed, picked her up, and set her on the potty. Usually she awakened enough to sit upright on the potty (I provided support when necessary), but even when she appeared completely asleep, she would urinate. Then she either walked or was carried back to bed where she fell right back to sleep. You might try this with your daughter. After the first dry night, you can heap praise upon her and the positive reinforcement will help her feel good about herself. I kept this up for several months and then tapered back my intervention. She never wet the bed again, so either she was learning to get up herself or developing a stronger bladder. Good luck! Been there!

Unfortunately, I've had a good deal of experience with the nighttime wetting thing. The only idea I have for you is to involve your daughter in the consequences of wetting her bed. When I expected my son (and later my daughter) to strip the wet bed in the morning, I think it made their wetting mean more to them personally and motivated them to stop. If you change the bed at night, maybe have her fold the clean linens the next day or do some other related work that's created by her accidents. Caution: don't make the ''work'' she does into a fun, rewarding time she gets to spend with you playing like a grownup. (Also, don't make it a punishment: just a simple chore that needs to be done.) Incidentally, being cold and wet doesn't cause colds: viruses do, so no need to worry there. Susan

Our 2.5 year old also refuses to wear diapers. During the day she uses her potty, but she can't make it through the night dry yet. So we let her fall asleep without a diaper and put one on her as soon as she is in a deep sleep. In the morning she takes it right off ! another mom

Once our twins were no longer wearing diapers during the daytime, for years we took them to the bathroom just before we went to bed each night (about 2-3 hours after they went to bed). It only takes a short while for them to learn to go pee when they're still mostly asleep, and then it becomes automatic. We just picked them up out of bed, carried them in, put them on the toilet seat, (or in my son's case, stood him up in front of it when he was tall enough to reach it) and then put them back to bed once they had gone to the bathroom. Never in 4 years did they ever wake up. They virtually always went to the bathroom (if they didn't it was a sign to us that they hadn't had enough to drink over the course of the day). When they got too heavy, we walked them in, holding up their shoulders and steering them to the bathroom. We considered it 1) a courtesy to them so they could sleep more comfortably; 2) an aid to avoiding bedwetting, and 3) they slept longer in the AM because the need to go wasn't so urgent. We quit diapers early (2.5 years) and never had any problems. It was both easy and a time to be very loving with a child who is more than half asleep. If they needed encouragement, we said softly ''let's go pee.'' We finally quit when they turned six! Mary