Your toddler has finally mastered the art of the potty during the day. At night, you still put the diapers on to prevent accidents. But the time is coming when they no longer need those diapers and your days of buying them are coming to an end. Here are some tips on knowing when you can say good-bye to diapers.
One of the first steps to getting rid of nighttime diapers is setting up a routine for drinks before bedtime. You have to set up some rules to prevent accidents, such as establishing the amount of liquid they can have before bedtime and what time to stop giving them drinks. During the setup of this routine, check the diapers in the morning for dryness. This will tell you if you need to make adjustments in the routine.
If they are constantly dry after about a week, then your routine is working. This means you can ditch the diapers. Although, you still do want to put down pads on the beds in case of accidents. These will still give you the security to safeguard your mattress but still allow your toddler to feel like they are growing up.
Another sign that your toddler is ready to ditch the diapers is if they get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. This is a very good sign that it is time to get rid of the diapers. It means that they physically wake up when they have to go. You should encourage this even though waking up in the middle of the night isn’t pleasant.
Be aware that there are situations in which your toddler might have an accident. Those situations might include a very scary movie before bedtime or an extremely stressful day. These situations might lead to unpleasant incidents. But if you don’t want to go back to the diapers, you can put down a pad instead on the nights that seem like an accident is going to occur.
Getting rid of the diapers is a huge relief on the parental budget. But make sure that you have established a routine to aid your toddler in their quest to stay dry at night. This will give you the best chance of success when you decide to ditch the nighttime diapers.