Toddler takes diaper off at night

[Anonymous]

2.5 year old DD is on the cusp of being potty trained but is not there yet. During the days she will go to the potty when prompted but rarely self-initiates. She wears diapers and pull-ups and is increasingly aware of and uncomfortable with a mess in her diaper and will ask to be changed when she goes. On the weekend when we are home I will have her go bottomless and she will run to the potty instead of going on the floor. She is in preschool 5x per week and bottomless is not an option there.

The issue is a new problem at night. Twice this week she has woken up in the night, taken off her diaper bc of a small pee. Then she pees or poops later in the night with no diaper and it causes a huge mess. I talked to her about not taking off her diaper but TBD if it sinks in.

Any thoughts on how to handle this?

[Anonymous]

Zip her into her pajamas backwards

[Anonymous]

She can take it off and then put a clean pull up on right after, herself. Teach her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She can take it off and then put a clean pull up on right after, herself. Teach her.

Currently she is in a crib. She is not a climber so we havent wanted to introduce the chaos that will ensue when she is able to move freely around the house. That said the toddler conversion kit is in the closet ready to go.

The pull-ups live in a basket on the changing table shelf; she can reach them and knows how to put them on.

If we do transition to the toddler bed any tips on keeping the child from wandering into your bed in the middle of the night or getting out of bed at bed time. Our bedtime routine is books and songs in the nursery chair and then she goes into her crib tired but awake. She falls asleep on her own but if she is able to leave the bed i suspect she wont stay in there.

[Anonymous]

For this small problem, duct tape is your friend. When you are ready to put her to bed, put a piece of duct tape over each diaper closure. She won't be able to get it off, but you will. You'll rip the diaper, but in general, you can wrap it up into a ball and put it into a plastic bag and avoid the mess. This period is short, so you won't have to do this long and it gets you "over the hump" until she can fully potty train.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Zip her into her pajamas backwards

+1

Or backward sleep sack.

[Anonymous]

It's not great that your child is waking to use the the potty but can't because of the crib. I recommend a toddler bed. My child was in a toddler bed from 1.5. Coming to our bed in the middle of the night was a regular thing but that's cause we used to co-sleep otherwise he stayed put. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Zip her into her pajamas backwards

+1

Or backward sleep sack.

And duct tape!

[Anonymous]

When my kids were first out of the crib, I put a baby gate at their door and instructed them to call me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She can take it off and then put a clean pull up on right after, herself. Teach her.

Currently she is in a crib. She is not a climber so we havent wanted to introduce the chaos that will ensue when she is able to move freely around the house. That said the toddler conversion kit is in the closet ready to go.

The pull-ups live in a basket on the changing table shelf; she can reach them and knows how to put them on.

If we do transition to the toddler bed any tips on keeping the child from wandering into your bed in the middle of the night or getting out of bed at bed time. Our bedtime routine is books and songs in the nursery chair and then she goes into her crib tired but awake. She falls asleep on her own but if she is able to leave the bed i suspect she wont stay in there.

No way- don't do this. We transitioned all our kids out of cribs at 3.5. They have to be completely potty trained, understand what the Hatch alarm clock says (no getting up when the light is red!) and be trustworthy. My middle child started climbing out at 18months but he was a danger to himself at that age, so we used a crib tent. He LOVED that crib tent and was really comforted by it.

Can you just put a dry diaper in the corner of her crib? I would zip her into her pajamas backwards though.

[Anonymous]

Backward sleep sack

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She can take it off and then put a clean pull up on right after, herself. Teach her.

Currently she is in a crib. She is not a climber so we havent wanted to introduce the chaos that will ensue when she is able to move freely around the house. That said the toddler conversion kit is in the closet ready to go.

The pull-ups live in a basket on the changing table shelf; she can reach them and knows how to put them on.

If we do transition to the toddler bed any tips on keeping the child from wandering into your bed in the middle of the night or getting out of bed at bed time. Our bedtime routine is books and songs in the nursery chair and then she goes into her crib tired but awake. She falls asleep on her own but if she is able to leave the bed i suspect she wont stay in there.

No way- don't do this. We transitioned all our kids out of cribs at 3.5. They have to be completely potty trained, understand what the Hatch alarm clock says (no getting up when the light is red!) and be trustworthy. My middle child started climbing out at 18months but he was a danger to himself at that age, so we used a crib tent. He LOVED that crib tent and was really comforted by it.

Can you just put a dry diaper in the corner of her crib? I would zip her into her pajamas backwards though.

Or kids can be supported in their independence early (if thats what they want). Both my kids were out of cribs at 2 and potty trained by 2.5 including night. With potties in their rooms. I did very little to make this happen, just went along with it. OPs kid sounds like this is what she wants. Sure its work snd hassle to get there but it could be worth it

[Anonymous]

Either zip her into pajamas backwards or facilitate nighttime/early morning potty use. If she’s that aware of being wet/messy and doesn’t like it, I’d personally learn in hard to the second option — she’s ASKING to take the next step.

Start by doing a half-asleep potty visit when you go to bed. Then set her up for success by transitioning her out of the crib.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's not great that your child is waking to use the the potty but can't because of the crib. I recommend a toddler bed. My child was in a toddler bed from 1.5. Coming to our bed in the middle of the night was a regular thing but that's cause we used to co-sleep otherwise he stayed put. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

OP - I agree we are a the toddler bed inflection point but based on her daytime pattern I dont think she would use the potty at night if she were not in a crib. During the day she mostly pees in diaper and then asks for a change. We have potties nearby; she knows where they are bc she goes to them when bottomless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not great that your child is waking to use the the potty but can't because of the crib. I recommend a toddler bed. My child was in a toddler bed from 1.5. Coming to our bed in the middle of the night was a regular thing but that's cause we used to co-sleep otherwise he stayed put. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

OP - I agree we are a the toddler bed inflection point but based on her daytime pattern I dont think she would use the potty at night if she were not in a crib. During the day she mostly pees in diaper and then asks for a change. We have potties nearby; she knows where they are bc she goes to them when bottomless.

Sorry, but I mostly want to fuss at you for the use of “inflection point.” Putting that aside for the moment, no matter when you ditch the crib you likely will have to deal with night time visitations. There may not be a great benefit to waiting. What if you do toddler bed + potty in room + bottomless at night?