The main focus with potty training is getting the daytime routine sorted. Once that is done then it's time to start working towards staying dry during the night. This is a process that happens fast for some children and slowly for others. It isn't something to worry about and it's important not to push them if it is hard at first because it is a common problem. There is no need to go from the daytime routine straight into the night without taking a break. If everyone in the family has been working hard at potty training with your child, it might be a good idea to take a break before tackling the next stage.

As with many things there are a lot of different views on the best way to train your child to stay dry at night. Some children like my youngest son didn't need any training. He just decided one day that he didn't want to wear a diaper at night any more and that was that.

Some experts believe that it is helpful to put your child in a diaper or pull-up for the night-time so that you don't have to deal with wet sheets during the night. The drawback of this is that your child doesn't feel any discomfort so there is less awareness of what is happening. One way around this is for your child to wear underwear underneath the pull ups. This way they will still feel that they are wet but you won't have wet sheets. This works especially well with children who may only occassionally wet.

Some people will also tell you to limit the amount of fluids your child has after a certain time and to wake them up to take them to the potty before you go to bed. While these practices may work, they also may not. A child's bladder grows by being stretched, particularly at night. Limiting fluids and waking them are artificial interventions that may work for certain children but for many children who struggle to make it through the night without wetting will make little difference.

The reason why children wet the bed is because their body hasn't developed to the stage where their bladder can cope with holding on all night, they may produce more urine at night due to excessive hormones, or the connection between brain and bladder is not developed enough to wake them when they need to go. Some children may need a bit of time for their body to develop further before they can stay dry at night.

The most important thing with bedwetting is not to blame your child or make it a big deal. They need lots of encouragement - you can do this by reinforcing how great they are doing staying dry during the day and how proud you are of them.