How Potty Training Can Affect Your Toddlers Sleep and How To Help Them Sleep Through This Regression

Your little one is either preparing for potty training or is already potty trained. This can be such an exciting time as the diaper stage is almost over! This is a big milestone for them!

They can now feel the sensation of having to go to the bathroom, which can disrupt their naps or night-time sleep. Having to go to the bathroom can make it harder for them to fall back to sleep, especially if they are struggling with their sleep in the first place. Potty training is a new skill and their brains are in overdrive while learning. This, like other regressions and milestones, can affect their sleep.

This change can come with some sleep struggles. In this blog, I am will go over what these struggles might be and how to help your toddler through them! 

These struggles may include: 

-Testing boundaries and stalling bedtime to go to the bathroom 

-Not wanting to wear a pull-up or diaper 

-Wanting to use the bathroom in the middle of the night 

-Waking up early to use the bathroom and struggling to go back to bed 

-Shorter or interrupted naps

I have two young children who are potty trained and at different stages of this development so I have seen all of the above struggles. Trust me when I say I have strong-willed, highly emotional children, so I get it! 

First, let's discuss how you know when they are ready to not wear a diaper/pull up at bedtime:

Don’t put too much pressure on your child, this will look different for every child, because sleeping through the night without needing to urinate doesn’t depend on age. This also isn’t something that is just learned, there are other factors that come into play. If you are concerned, then reach out to your doctor.

5 reasons for bed-wetting: 

-Their bladder is not big enough to hold pee all night. 

-They are not producing enough ADH (antidiuretic hormone) yet.

-Constipation can cause the rectum to push on the bladder (this can cause accidents during the day as well)

-Tongue/lip ties can cause this symptom as they breathe with their mouth open and it causes the body to not get enough oxygen during sleep. This can cause the bladder muscles to relax and to not be able to hold urine until morning. 

-Children who have ADHD are three times more likely to have bedwetting troubles than other children their age. Researchers think it's because bedwetting and ADHD are both linked to delays in the development of the central nervous system. 

Sleeping well at night helps them to produce the Antidiuretic Hormone which tells their kidneys to produce less urine at night. If they are overtired, not sleeping well at night or not napping well, this can cause them to struggle more with needing to pee during the night. 

When your toddler or preschooler is waking up with a dry diaper consistently, then they are ready to stop wearing a diaper. Another thing you can do is go in about 5-10 minutes before they normally wake up to see if they are still dry. This will help you determine if they are peeing in the early morning when they wake up, or if they are peeing during the night, as there is a big difference.

Another way to know they are ready is if they are waking up in the night to use the bathroom, indicating that their body is aware and waking up when they need to go. They don’t need to hold their bladder for 12 hours, as long as they are aware and can wake up to use the bathroom. 

Tips to help them: 

1. The best thing to do to help them is to limit fluids 1 hour before going for a nap and bedtime. This means offering more fluids in the morning and during the day to ensure they are getting enough to drink for that day. 

2. Another thing to do is ask them to go to the bathroom at the start of their bedtime routine and again right before they go to bed. This not only helps to get all their pee out but it helps to eliminate the idea of them stalling bedtime, using going to the bathroom as an excuse. I would let them know that this is the last time and to make sure they get it all out. Toddlers and Preschoolers are known for stalling bedtime and if they know they can ask to go to the bathroom 100 times before bed, they will do it. If you have a good routine in place and, when you offer that last bathroom break, set that boundary they will be less likely to push back.

3. Have a potty in their room, have a night light (red or orange) so they can see the potty and use it during the night.

4. When going to the bathroom at night, make sure it is necessary, and make it as BORING as possible. Reduce interactions as much as possible. Let them have some time to try to pee and then bring them back into bed and tuck them in. 

5. If the bathroom isn’t far from their room and they do well with going to the bathroom on their own, encourage them to go pee on their own during the night. If you are worried about stairs or safety, then perhaps have the potty in their room. Have a night light in the bathroom and leave the door open so they can easily access the bathroom on their own.

6. Practice what you want them to do at night during the day so they know what is expected of them. Role playing this and modeling what you want them to do is HUGE! Talking them through these steps allows them to know what to do and feel confident about it. The first few nights you might have to model this as well to help them when they are in a sleepy state. This works great for toddlers that are over the age of 3 years old and in a bed.  

7. Use a sticker chart. Reward them for doing such a good job going to the bathroom on their own or even asking for help. We want to praise them for all the positive things they did, trying to avoid negative punishments. 

8. Nighttime potty pass: If they are really struggling with waking up a lot during the night and asking to go to the bathroom but not really needing to, this pass can be a great tool. It allows them to use it once (you can have one or two passes depending on how much they pee at night) to avoid them going 10 times at night just to use the bathroom or get you to tuck them in. 

9. Move bedtime earlier, especially if they have a short nap. Potty training is like a regression, so that means their brain is working hard and this can make them more tired. We know that being overtired can cause more wake ups, leading them to needing to use the bathroom more. You may need to temporarily move up bedtime by 10-15 minutes, and up to 30-60 minutes if they don’t nap or have a short nap. 

Other things to consider: 

 -Make sure they aren’t overtired at bedtime as this can make them wake up more at night and not get the deep sleep in the first part of the night that we are looking for. 

-Make sure they aren’t cold as this can cause them to pee more during the night to conserve energy to keep them warm 

-Children with tongue ties have issues wetting the bed. This is a common sign that there is something else going on.  

-Is your child old enough, are their bladders developed enough?

-Are they developmentally ready, and producing enough ADH (antidiuretic hormone) to tell the body to not produce as much urine at night?

Potty training can be a stressful time, but try to let go of that stress so that your child can feel empowered and can learn this on their own, in their own time.

If you are struggling with sleep and potty training, reach out and we can create a plan based on your child’s needs to get their sleep back on track that will work for them!