3 Myths About Potty Training and Sleep

Many parents dread potty training. This may be because there are three things that we parents can’t “make” our children do – sleep, eat, and go to the bathroom. The thought of potty training disrupting sleep and two of those control areas colliding is enough to make you just hope your child doesn’t go to college in diapers.

The good news is that potty training doesn’t need to disrupt your child’s sleep. It’s time to debunk some common potty training myths that will greatly increase the risk of your child’s sleep being disrupted. Here are 3 myths about potty training and sleep.

Myth #1: It’s a good idea to address sleep struggles and potty training at the same time.

Trying to address sleep and potty training at the same time will likely only result in frustration and exhaustion for both you and your child. Prior to potty training, you want your child’s sleep habits to be in a good place. This may mean you delay potty training for a month, but this delay will result in a much smoother potty training experience and more sleep for everyone involved.

Myth #2: To effectively potty train, you need to ditch the diapers during the day AND during the night.

This just isn’t true. Use a pull-up or regular diaper at night. Many potty training methods recommend ripping off the diaper band-aid by switching to undies full-time and never looking back. While it can certainly be effective, there is definitely a higher risk of sleep disruption if you take that approach. I actually followed one of those diaper free methods to a T, but used a pull-up at night on both of my kids and the method still worked very well – my girls continued to stay dry at night and I never woke them for potty breaks or worried that they would wet the bed.

Myth #3: Your child needs to be out of their crib before they potty train.

As you may know, I am a big advocate of keeping your child in their crib as long as possible. So, not surprisingly, I disagree with the idea of switching to a toddler bed before potty training. Prior to the age of 3 years old, it’s very unlikely that your little one will get up, go to the bathroom, and go back to bed without waking you up. Ideally your child has been having dry diapers overnight before you start potty training and they continue to stay dry during the potty training process, but on the nights when they need to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, you can help them and then simply put them right back in their crib.

Random potty train recommendation: When I was about to potty train my oldest I told my best friend how much I was dreading the idea of having to clean out one of those little potties. She recommended this potty seat. My girls loved this thing and I have never once had to clean a little potty! This little hook allows you to hang it out of the way when not in use.