Dry at night

Leo was potty trained just before his 3rd Birthday. The process was a painless one and he took to it all pretty quickly, but he was only dry during the day. At night time I decided that it wasn't the time to take his nappy away just yet and we carried on putting Leo into his nappy to go to sleep. It meant that the nappy packs lasted so much longer, because we were literally just using one nappy a night. 

When Leo started school last month I started to think about all of the new experiences that Leo might have in the coming, weeks and months ahead. One of the prospects that jumped to the forefront of my mind were sleepovers. I couldn't very well pack Leo off to his friends house with a nappy in tow, not only would that be embarrassing for him, but it wouldn't be ideal. While the thought was fresh in my mind I decided to have a little chat to Leo about what he thought, did he think he was ready to brave the night without a nappy?

The conversation with Leo was really positive, he was on a buzz about his first week at school and he seemed to love the idea of becoming a really big boy. He told me that he was ready and that he wanted to give it a try. I decided to sit on the idea for a week and give him time to adjust to starting school, I didn't want to pile to much onto his plate in those first initial days, but it was great that he was willing to give it a try. 

The more I thought about why we hadn't tried taking the nappies away sooner, the more I realised that it was because of ME. Keeping Leo in nappies at night was a convenience for ME. I didn't want to have to wake up and worry about getting his bedding stripped and changed should he have an accident. It truly was me being selfish. 

With this realisation I decided that on Friday 25th September 2015, I was going to let Leo give it a try and send him to bed nappy free. We discussed what was happening again so that he was aware, I took him off to the toilet before he went to sleep and told him that I would wake him up around midnight and take him again, just to make sure that he had an empty bladder and give him a better chance at staying dry. We put a bed sheet down that had been designed especially for the purpose of night time training, just in case he did have an accident, I wanted to make sure that the mattress wasn't going to be destroyed. 

Of course I told him that if he was dry for a week, he would get a treat and he would continue to get little treats the longer he stayed dry. It has become part of our bedtime routine for me to say goodnight and 'See you at midnight!' and he will tell me that he will see me at midnight right back. That's exactly how it has worked, he stays dry until midnight or later... If I forget to pop in at that time, and I take one very sleepy little man to the toilet, where he does his business and goes right back to sleep again, staying dry until morning.

In the 2 weeks since we made the decision to make this big change, and officially renounced any title of 'baby' that Leo may have still held, he has not had one single accident. Leo was more than ready for this next step, ultimately I think it was me who wasn't. As always he has shone and proven what a clever little guy he is.

Well done Leo!