Find out how to save your sanity and lots of money with this simple nighttime potty training hack. It’s helpful if you have kids that wet the bed frequently. Make night time sheet changes easy!
This potty training hack will make your life so much easier!
It’s hard to believe that my little man is already 3 years old. It seems like he was just crawling around in diapers. Now he is potty trained and sleeping in underwear.
Notice how I said sleeping in underwear as opposed to nighttime potty trained.
We are working on that one. Luckily, I’ve found the perfect nighttime potty training hack that is saving us a lot of money and simplifying our lives.
We originally had Robert sleeping in Pull-Ups. They worked fine for about 3 weeks. Then he became fascinated with “Little Robert”, if you know what I mean.
Once that fascination started, he’d move “Little Robert” around and pee right out the top or side of his Pull-Ups, even the nighttime ones. While we still use them for travel and nights at Grandma’s house, they don’t work well for regular use at our house. Since I was already changing his sheets 3-5 times a week, I decided to pull the plug and start nighttime potty training.
Cutting Pull-Ups out was the first way we saved money on nighttime training. We save at least $40 a month by not buying them.
Then next thing I did to save money was to skip the waterproof mattress protectors. I know they work well, but I hate the way they feel when you sleep on them.
Instead, I came up with this night time potty training hack:
Use PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric instead of waterproof mattress protectors. Use several sheets of PUL to create 3 layers of fitted sheets to make changing sheets a breeze in the middle of the night.
[bctt tweet=”Check out this hack to make changing sheets from bed wetting easier! #hack “]
While I think mattress protectors are awesome, I still wanted something to create waterproof layers between the sheets so I wouldn’t constantly be making the bed in the middle of the night.
Here’s the how-to that worked for our double bed:
- Buy 2 yards (or more) of PUL fabric online (here’s an example from Amazon) or from a craft store
- Cut it into thirds
- Layer one piece, a doubled over towel, and then a fitted sheet.
- Repeat two more times until you have 3 fitted sheets on the mattress
TIP: don’t dry the PUL in the dryer. Let it air dry and it will stay waterproof longer.
I’m choosing to skip the top sheet and go with a simple blanket on top.
Now when Robert wets the bed, I strip off one layer and he goes to the next. I save so much time and sanity by not having to make the bed in the middle of the night.
Two yards of PUL at my craft store is roughly $24. I used a 40% off coupon from JoAnn’s to get mine for $14.40. This is cheaper than those uncomfortable rubber sheets, and way cheaper than buying Pull-Ups!
Robert now wets the bed about 3 times a week. It’s not perfect, but it works for us. And for only $14.40 to get through nighttime potty training, I don’t mind washing sheets a couple of times a week.
What’s your favorite potty training tip?
Great potty training tip…I wish I would have known about it when mine were in that stage! The Illumibowl is really cool. My kids would love something like that!
It’s so cool! Your girls would love it!
Wow that’s a great tip! Thank you! We’ll be diving head first into potty training at the end of the summer I think. I will definitely be getting some PUL from out craft store! I love saving money everywhere I can.
My favorite tip is to always offer incentives to going potty. My son was more eager to use his potty when I offered rewards. I had to be so patient and stay consistent.
Such a good idea! My daughter just turned three and still wets the bed every night, so I’ll be sure to try this! This potty is awesome. One of the reasons she doesn’t get up at night is because she’s afraid to go to her potty in hte dark, so this would be perfect for her. After potty training 11 kids, one tip I tell people is- don’t use pull-ups. They feel too much like diapers and kids don’t feel uncomfortable enough when they are wet. Use regular underwear. After feeling how yucky wet underwear are, kids will start using the potty in no time!
What worked for us – Once candy bribe became too much to pee pee train (several times a day meant way too much candy), I put a bucket in the bathtub and filled it with water. Now, everytime he’d pee in the toilet, we’d pick up something from the living room, anything – a small toy, a ball, a pencil, a piece of paper that he can throw in the bucket and that made him mighty happy and look fwd to go pee pee in the toilet.
We even had our own song – “Yeah, Yeah, R did pee pee in the toilet” song we’d sing only if he peed properly in the toilet!
Forget the kids – I want one because it looks awesome! I’d feel like I was on board the Star Trek Enterprise!
Trying this with Will. As long as he has a pull up on at night, he will pee in it bc it’s a diaper.
Yes! Our kids too! They will even keep them on in the morning just to pee. It kills me!