Toilet independence is developmentally appropriate in toddlers by day—years before it is developmentally appropriate at night! So, you may be able to ditch the diapers now, but plan on overnight pull-ups for a while!
Why day and night are so far apart
Overnight dryness is primarily a biological milestone and can’t really be “trained” by an adult. While children do develop the ability to withhold their poop during sleep early on, pee is a different story.
There’s a “brain-bladder” connection needed for children to wake up in response to a full bladder. So, even though a 2—or 3-year-old may be able to pee on the potty just fine while awake, it’s not within their wheelhouse at night. Most children can’t “wake to pee” until around 5 or 6 years old. If bedwetting persists regularly beyond age 7, don’t hesitate to consult your pediatrician for a referral to a pediatric urologist.
Should you “wake to pee?”
Among the dozens of potty training methods, some approaches imply you can nudge nighttime potty training along by waking your child to pee in hopes that it “trains” them to recognize that brain-bladder connection. However, if your child is not biologically ready for this, waking to pee merely disrupts sleep and creates extra work for you.
Signs of readiness to ditch overnight pull-ups:
They are close to age 5-6 when we know kids develop the capability to wake to pee.
They are beginning to consistently wake up completely dry.
Thankfully, nighttime potty training tends to go easier than daytime. Daytime toilet independence is a culmination of so many skills your toddler is newly working to gain so that it can feel like a heavy lift. It’s best to focus on daytime first!