Night Training

Potty training and night training are two completely different things. My oldest son has been potty trained since he was 3 and a half, we've been working on night training ever since. I really didn't know where to turn for advice on night training. Jill was no good, her kids just do it naturally and she has no idea how that happened. Another mother I know told me not to worry about it her son is 8 and still wears pull-ups at night. Oh great, I really did not want to be buying pull ups for that long!
We'd been working at training in pull-ups with ups and downs and it all came to a head a few months back. Our son was getting ready for bed at a friends house. The other kids his age happened to see that he was wearing a pull up under his jammies. That did it. Peer pressure. He did not want to be seen as wearing a 'diaper'. Up until that point he believed pull-ups to be different than diapers. From that night on he would only wear underwear to bed.
Well, one does not stay dry instantaneously. As I began to do a lot more laundry, I figured there had to be a better way. So I did some reading. It relaxed me a lot. It told me that boys were harder to night train than girls. Most boys aren't night trained competely until they are 6 (if they are still not by then you need to talk to your doctor). My son was 4 so I felt he wasn't so far behind. There are few things that we do now to guarantee that he will be dry all night.
1st - his last drink of the day is 6pm. Nothing after. He hates this, but knows that until he wakes himself up to pee he has to stick by it.
2nd - We both (my husband & I) wake him and take him to the toilet in the night. Our son is a pretty deep sleeper so he needs this help. I go to bed somewhere around 10-11 at night and make sure to get him up at this time. My husband usually turns in around 1 and he gets up him up then too. So far it works. I really don't know how long we'll have to keep getting him up like this but you can't argue with success. The happiness in his face when he first started waking up dry was priceless. He was so excited and so proud! "I'm dry!" he declared.