Toilet Training a Boy

I am proud to announce that our little boy no longer needs night-time diapers. Woo-hoo!!!

I am really proud of him because he’s taken quite a while to stay dry at night because he is a deep sleeper. 

No matter how hard we tried to wake him up, he’d yell and kick vigorously when Hubby or I tried to make him go to the toilet at night.

In the end, we decided that he probably wasn’t ready yet and that’s where Happy Heinys pocket diapers have helped a lot! It’s hard finding cloth diapers that fit a big 18 kg boy…

We also tried to “motivate” him in different ways:

i) Giving him reward stickers for each night he stayed dry. The stickers worked a few nights and he was quite pleased to see me marking stars on the calendar.

However, he’d be exhausted from attending kindergarten and playing around with his sister that he’d sleep like a log.

He’d be apologetic about wetting the bed and promised to try again but Hubby and I knew that he was just too tired.

That’s why we decided to revert back to the cloth diapers. I didn’t want this bedwetting issue to affect his self-esteem because he felt really bad each time…

ii) Promising him a BIG present if he managed to stop  using cloth diapers. He’d been eyeing a remote control helicopter and I told him that I would buy it for him if he could do this.

He was quite thoughtful about it and he said that he would try hard. Again, he would succeed a few nights (usually on weekends) but when he became too tired, he’d wet the bed and again feel bad about it.

Each time he wet the bed, he’d say,

“I will try again tomorrow, ok, Mommy, and then you can buy the helicopter for me.”

That really tore at my heartstrings because the prize seemed so far out of reach for a little boy.

iii) Scolding him each time he wet the bed. I’m afraid that I got really tired of changing wet diapers, wet PJs, wet pillow cases and wet bedsheets late at night that sometimes, I unleashed my anger and frustration on him.

This is, of course, a TERRIBLE thing for any mother to do to her child especially when Hubby scolded him as well each time I did.

I stopped that immediately and told Hubby it’s OK, I’ll change as many wet bedsheets as I need to if the kid isn’t ready. I also told him not to scold him any time he wet the bed.

iv) Finally, the school holidays! When school was out, boy had the chance to take naps in the afternoons.

If he takes a nap in the afternoon, he wouldn’t be dead tired at night.

Furthermore, he didn’t need a diaper for nap time and since he could hold his pee for up to 4 hours, I wonder if he could stretch it for 8-10 hours.

One night, I talked to him about it and he said OK, he’ll try one night. To help him, we woke him up at midnight to take a whizz.

I would praise him like crazy saying, “Wake up, let’s go and pee. You’re a clever boy, ok, let’s practise peeing…”

Since he wasn’t too tired, he’d groggily agree – imagine the father holding him steady and his mother gently praising him in the toilet! The things we do for our kids

One night became two nights and then three nights. After the third night, he’d wake up on his own to pee at night.

Of course, he would wake his mother up to announce, “Mommy, I am waking up to pee…”

I’d manage to grunt sleepily, “Ok, good…”. Even Hubby would chime in sometimes with a sleepy, “Mmm…clever boy…” LOL

Now, he can even regulate himself i.e. he wouldn’t drink too much water or he would stay up a bit later and visit the loo one last time before he went to bed.

Now, he’s mulling over his reward: a set of toy golf clubs (RM150 from Toys R Us) or a set of race car tracks (RM50 from Giant/Tesco)? Hahaha…

Isn’t it GREAT??? You cannot imagine how HAPPY I am not having to wash / stuff a little giant’s cloth diapers every morning / night

Most importantly, I am glad that we did it without any tears…

Similar Posts:

• How I started cloth diapering
• Step 1 to Potty Training: A Wet Cloth Diaper
• Which cloth diaper – Fitted?
• REVIEW: Happy Heinys vs Knicker Nappies Pocket Cloth Diapers
• Which cloth diaper – Pocket Diapers?