Every mother has laid in bed at three in the morning, willing her toddler to stop crying. But he won’t. Why? Because he had an accident. Another one. Why won’t he just get this potty training thing? So, up she gets. She’ll spend the next 20 minutes changing the bed sheets, washing the toddler and changing his clothes and possibly another hour soothing him back to sleep now that he’s wide awake. It’s so tempting to go back to diapers during these moments. We spend so much time wishing that we didn’t have to buy diapers anymore and then during the potty training period, all of a sudden, they are worth the cost. Here is how you can survive those nights without making your child regress in his or her potty training progress.
- Double up the Bedding
This is the ol’ “put two sets of bed clothes on the bed so that in the middle of the night, you can rip off those top clothes, switch out the pajamas and both of you will be back to sleep in no time.” However, just doing that alone won’t help because urine will seep through both sheets and in to the mattress. So, here are some further ideas for helping that situation. - Hypoallergenic Waterproof Mattress Protector
Using a mattress protector will ensure that your child’s mattress stays clean and urine free during those rough potty train days. Nap time and bed time are some of the hardest to overcome and it may take awhile but don’t be discouraged, everyone goes through it. If you put down some sort of plastic cover under the kids fitted sheets and blankets, then even if they get dirty, the mattress will be alright so it won’t be to hard to replace the sheets. The mattress is the main thing that you want to take care of because you can’t just throw that in the washing machine. You can use stain and spot removers but it’s not the same. - Waterproof Fitted Sheet
Waterproof fitted sheets work a lot better because they are made specifically for the mattress. A great way to double up the bedding with waterproof fitted sheets is to put the waterproof sheets directly on top of the mattress and a regular fitted sheet over that. Repeat with another waterproof fitted sheet and regular sheet. Cover your child with their blanket or just have them in their pajamas or however is normal for them to sleep. Should they have an accident in the middle of the night, you will simply need to take off the top sheet and waterproof sheet and voila- you have a made up bed ready to go. Take off your child’s pajamas bottoms and underwear, replace with fresh ones and you’re good to go back to bed. Your child may even still be drowsy since it will all be done so quick. - Underwear Inserts
You might not like the idea of putting your toddler in pull ups because they feel to much like diapers then you are not alone. Lots of mothers feel the same way. Children don’t really seem to notice a difference between a diaper and a pull up and tend to have more accidents in pull ups than in underwear. Of course, pull ups catch more than underwear do so it’s not as big of a deal to have an accident. But the idea is to avoid accidents, isn’t it? That’s why underwear inserts are becoming increasingly popular. They are water proof pads that stick to the children’s underwear so they still are wearing underwear and have that feeling but it catches a lot more so there is less of a mess in the event of an accident.
Being a mom is hard without the added stresses of everything that can go wrong. Why not make your life a little easier where you can so that you can focus on the big things, like actually enjoying your kids and how they are progressing and growing. If you aren’t frustrated by things like lack of sleep due to midnight accidents, you might see that they really are getting it and you aren’t that far from the finish line.
