Uncommon for kid to be fully trained day & night by 3?

[Anonymous]

Grandparents think I did potty training late starting at 2.5, but somehow I get my 3 kids potty trained day and night by the time they turn 3. They claim that I was potty trained at 2. Pediatrician and my friends say good job that I get all of my kids fully potty trained, especially the nighttime part by 3. Even daycare teacher says that they are amazed by that.

I was the mom that was frustrated and struggled with daytime potty training at the beginning, but once kids get the daytime trained, within a few days, they don't wet their pullup at nighttime anymore and here you go. So, when friends ask me what the tips are for nighttime potty training, I tell them I don't know because they just stop peeing in pullup one day. Is it uncommon for kids to be potty trained for night time by 3.

[Anonymous]

My toddler started p/t at 23 months and is day trained completely, but started showing signs of night training readiness at 26 months or so. I actually reversed the progress because I didn't want her getting up at 7am sharp...lol. Sleep > potty best practices. I think they can handle it at 3 though

[Anonymous]

No, it's not uncommon, but why does it matter? Your kids are potty trained. Great. Who cares about what others are doing?

2.5 is probably about average for daytime training, though many kids are trained before 2.

Nighttime training is biological and can happen anytime from 2 on. Between 2 and 5 is most typical but some kids' bodies need even longer.

[Anonymous]

I think night time has nothing to do with what you do. The kids are ready or not. I have 3 kids.

DD1 was potty trained during the day at 21 months. She never had a nighttime accident since she was 3/3.5.

DD2 was potty trained during the day at 22 months. At 6 she still needs to be woken up at 11 or so or else she will pee in her sleep.

DS1 was potty trained at 2 and within a month or 2 stopped peeing at night and has not had a night accident since

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Ds1 was potty trained day and night by 22 months.

That’s when his little brother was due and I did not want to deal with diapers for both.

Ds2 was day trained by 2. Night was a little later but can’t remember exactly when.

[Anonymous]

Most people consider 3 the informal deadline because 3 year old preschool requires it. That does not mean it is late. It is done and that is all that matters.

[Anonymous]

Generational. Babies born before the mid 80s were trained by two years old, other than kids that had legit night time issues. At the rate it is going now, kids won't be trained until 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generational. Babies born before the mid 80s were trained by two years old, other than kids that had legit night time issues. At the rate it is going now, kids won't be trained until 5.

This is partly due to cloth diapers being more uncomfortable/less absorbent (and less convenient for the parents!), plus larger families with siblings closer in age. Pampers being super-absorbent cuts both ways. Kids do not feel uncomfortable from wetness as easily with high-quality disposable diapers.

[Anonymous]

Kids are different, your parents are being ridiculous and likely misremembering a lot (it used to be common to force night training and do stuff like put your kids on rubber sheets for years, now most peds disagree with this approach).

But don’t be smug. Like I said, kids are different. Some minority of kids train “late” (4 or 5) and wind up developmentally fine with no negative impacts. Some kids train at 22 months very quickly. Both are fine.

People fixate on potty training at this age but it’s dumb to get competitive. Walk into a room of first graders and try to figure out which one trainer early, which still has accidents every week as a kindergartener, which is night trained, and which will be in pull-ups at night until age 9. You can’t do it. Because absent serious developmental issues, all kids potty train and it’s no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generational. Babies born before the mid 80s were trained by two years old, other than kids that had legit night time issues. At the rate it is going now, kids won't be trained until 5.

But “trained” used to mean something different. Talk to preschool and kindergarten teachers from the 70s. Kids had accidents all the time. There were these rubber pants they’d put really accident prone kids in to make it easier to deal with. Same with night training. They’d move kids out of diapers “on time” and then they’d wet the bed until the were 9. Accidents and bed wetting were viewed by many as misbehavior or acts of defiance. The idea that parents used to be “better” at toilet training is laughable. Disposable diapers mean kids train later, yes. But this is not the travesty people make it out to be.

Using a toilet is a modern development that is not that intuitive for humans. What’s intuitive is going snd squatting in a corner. Kids do that without training once they have the gross motor skills. But because we live indoors and don’t like cleaning up messes, they do it in diapers, and then we have to teach them to convert that instinct to using a toilet in a bathroom. It’s a more complicated process. And it always has been, though we’ve made it less messy, more gentle, and (it must be said) more wasteful with disposable diapers. That’s it.

[Anonymous]

My understanding - from research and my pediatrician - is that day and night are totally different beasts, and that while day can be trained, night is a brain development switch that you can’t force (and can cause issues if you try).

I think it’s very “common” for kids to be day trained by 3/3.5, and to still be wearing pull ups to bed at 5 or 6. But the latter you’ll only hear from close friends.

Both of my kids stayed dry at night at the same time they trained during the day (almost 3 for my oldest, before 2 for my youngest… it REALLY varies), but I think that is unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anecdotally my almost 2.5 year old has been day trained a couple months but still pees out his overnight diaper many nights per week. He stays dry at naps most of the time but we are like… light years away from night training 🤣

[Anonymous]

No, not at all uncommon. DS was out of day diapers at 22 months and done with night diapers at 2.5 when he got his toddler bed. Most of the kids at his preschool are in underwear by 3. Not sure about night but some parents say they are.

[Anonymous]

My three boys were day and night trained before age 2. I started training them as soon as I noticed them occasionally waking up dry from naps, which was between 19-23 months. Got rid of all diapers when we started training. Probably just really lucky but from day 1 I’d wait to put them to bed until after they went to the bathroom and night accidents were uncommon. 🤷‍♀️