It’s always a question that sparks heated debate among parents of toddlers: at what age should my child start wearing nappies only at night? Unfortunately, the answer is not a simple one. Children aren’t born having read the potty training manual; some toddlers potty-train very quickly while others are a bit slower to train. Providing your Pediatrician has given your child a good look and deemed him or her otherwise healthy, there is no specific age at which a child can come out of nappies during the day and only wear them at night.
On average, toddlers are potty trained by about 24 months. There is a wide variance in this though as the earliest children are potty trained by about 18 months and the latest by about 36 months. You are the best judge of when your child is completely day-time potty trained. When your nappy changes become more infrequent, your child can tell you that they have to ‘go’ or that they need a new nappy, chances are you’re on the right track and you would do well to step up your potty training. Once your child is able to go through the day without messing their nappy, they’re ready to begin wearing pants during the day and nappies at night.
When your child is ready to make the transition to night nappies, particularly if they are on the upper end of the age scale, you may want to consider nappies that look more like pants. You can find these at the store next to the ‘regular’ nappies. While they look more like pants, they also feel more like pants, which may help your child transition to no nappies at all more quickly. Be sure your child has his or her last drink about an hour or two before bed time and that they’ve gone to toilet at least twice before they lay down for the night. This will lessen the chance of night time accidents. When you’ve gone a week or two without having to change a wet nappy in the morning, your child is ready to lose the nappy for good.