I T H I N K They're Potty Trained Now.

I think the kids are potty trained now.  Simone hasn't pee'ed the bed at night in a long time.  Max too, at the tender age of 3 1/2, does not pee the bed at night!  I think I know what had been causing them to not hold their bladder, but first I went through a bunch of failed hypotheses

Hypothesis #1 - Kids have to have an empty bladder before bed.
My mom had suggested not letting the kids drink water too soon before bed.  This did not seem to have a correlation to when and when they would not have night accidents.  Sometimes Simone would not have a drink 2 hours prior.  She still would sometimes pee at night.  Even making the kids pee before retiring did not seem to help.

Hypothesis #2 - The kids are too young to know when to get up to pee.
Neither does age have an effect.  Simone had been in nighttime diapers for a looooooooooong time.  She had even wet her bed after she turned 6.  Max has a higher success rate and he is younger and a boy, the gender that historically develops later in the proper plumbing maintenance department.

Hypothesis #3 - The toilet has to be conveniently located.
I used to think that being in the top bunk bed prevented Simone from wanting to get down the ladder to go to the bathroom, but she sometimes would wet the bed when she slept in Max's lower bunk - and she had been sleeping there for months!

Hypothesis #4 - Fear of the Dark prevents kids from getting out of bed.
Theorizing that the kids were too scared to get up in the middle of the night we put up a few nightlights to light their path to the toilet.  This didn't have an effect as every night was dimly lit to guide their way.


After a few weeks of success with just a couple of accidents, I noticed a correlation as to when the accidents happened.  On nights that the kids went to bed late (for example, 9pm instead of the usual 7:30pm) or had been exhausted from a fun-filled day in the sun without a nap, Simone and Max would be more likely to wet the bed.  Sometimes growth spurts may exhaust them too.  Whenever Simone would wet the bed, she did it consecutively for a few nights.  I'm not solidly certain on the timing, but that's another sub-hypothesis.


Hopefully this is the last post I make on potty-training!

PS.  Observe how tall Simone is getting and how less-"baby" Max is looking!