Is Your Child Ready for Night-time Toilet Training?

Some approaches will only delay your attempts to help your child stay dry at night. Here are approaches to avoid:

11. Avoid pressuring your child.

They’re keen to master dry nights and anxious about disappointing you.

12. Don’t criticise, humiliate or belittle your child for being a ‘baby’.

Night-time bladder control is a process of maturation. All efforts, no matter how small, should be praised.

13. Don’t get angry or frustrated at your child for wetting the bed.

Don’t be concerned if they’re wet. Tell them “That’s ok we can try again next time”. Don’t punish your child for wetting the bed. They’re not doing it deliberately to annoy you. Be calmly reassuring, they need your guidance.

14. Don’t let your child stay in their wet sheets.

It sounds unbelieveable but some parents have been known to punish their child by making them stay in their wet sheets or getting them to wash the soiled bed linen. Don’t do this. If your child is anxious, they are less likely to stay dry at night.

15. Don’t talk about your child’s ‘problem’ to other people when the child is present.

This can make them feel ashamed and embarrassed.

How are you going with night-time toilet training? Was yours a breeze or did it take a little longer?

Clare Whitfield Chief Editor

Clare Whitfield is the Editor of Stay at Home Mum and a recognised voice in practical home management for Australian families. Based in the northern suburbs of Sydney, she balances editorial leadership with life as a stay at home mum to two school age children. Her background in home economics and more than a decade of experience in recipe development, family budgeting, and household systems inform her work.

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