7 Tips to Nighttime Potty Train Twins

So, we’ve finally made it through the FOG of potty-training twins—both day AND night. For those that recall, I shared a blog post in 2020 about how I daytime potty trained my twins together at 29 months old within 3 weeks. After that victory, there was still the other beast left to tackle: nighttime potty training. So, let’s dive in and I’ll tell you exactly how we mastered this with both twins.

When is the best time to start nighttime potty training?

 As a general reference, staying dry through the night can happen anywhere from several weeks to a couple of years after being trained during the day (in our case, it was 1.5 years after daytime training when they were 3.5 years old). Some kids don’t even stay dry through the night until they’re 4 or 5 years old. It really just depends on the child’s development and bladder size – it needs to be large enough to hold an entire night’s worth of urine.

If your child is completely dry during the day, doesn’t have many accidents (if any) during the day, AND they’ve gone at least a few nights in a row with dry pull-ups overnight, then your child is showing signs of readiness. Our twins showed these signs of readiness at about 3.5 years old. They were wearing regular underwear during the days (including naps) and then wearing pull-ups only at night.

How long does nighttime potty training take?

For some kids, it may only take a few days - while for others, it may take months. I’d say it took our twins about 2 months to fully master staying dry consistently during the night. I will also mention that girls tend to catch onto this quicker than boys (and that’s how it was in our house!)

Here are my 5 tips to nighttime potty training:

1. Make sure your kids are fully potty trained during the day first.

You want to ensure they’ve mastered one thing before you move onto the next. If they have a very set routine during the day and know the drill, then they’ll be better set up for success at night.

2.     Limit fluids 1 hour before bedtime.

Word to the wise: make sure you’re not serving dinner too late in the evening. We made that mistake of eating dinner entirely too late when we were on vacation a couple of weeks ago and the twins both wet the bed multiple times. It was a nightmare. So, I make a point to serve the kids dinner earlier at 5:30PM and I don’t let them have anything else to drink after that meal.

3.     Make sure going potty is the last step to the bedtime routine.

Just like they’re used to brushing their teeth and putting on their pajamas before bed, it’s important to build a potty break into their bedtime routine, as well. For our twins, it’s second nature now for them to use the bathroom after they brush their teeth.

4.     Double layer your kid’s beds with waterproof mattress protectors and sheets.

I recommend this so that you can pull one layer off in case of an accident and not have to make the bed in the middle of the night! So, if you put a mattress protector on, then a bedsheet, then another mattress protector, then another bedsheet, you’ll be set for the night. If an accident happens, you just pull off the first layer and you’re done. No need to go digging through the drawers at 4am for more sheets! You can find mattress protectors like this on Amazon.

5.     Wake up your kids about 2.5-3 hours after bedtime for a “sleep pee” attempt!

Our kids usually go to bed somewhere around 7:15-7:30pm. So, my husband and I would go into the twins’ room together at around 10pm and wake each kid up to go to the bathroom. Oftentimes, they were half asleep and had no memory of going potty when we asked them the next morning!

6.     Make sure they sleep in a big kid bed (not a crib) AND keep a well-lit path to the bathroom at night.

You’ll want to ensure you’ve transitioned your kids into toddler/big-kid beds before starting nighttime training because—as part of nighttime training—they’ll need to know how to get out of bed at night and independently use the toilet. We always leave a nightlight on in the bathroom so the kids can see the toilet and not be scared!

7.     Go into it knowing there will be accidents—and that’s okay.

No potty training is perfect—ever! Accidents will happen because our kids are human, not robots. ;)

 As with every difficult twin phase, just remember: no phase lasts forever! You WILL make it to the other side. Hang in there, twin parents and GOOD LUCK! Also, if you have any other helpful recommendations for nighttime potty training twins, then please feel free to drop them in the comments below!