A little more than 2 months ago I wrote a post about how excited Eleanor was diaper free and we were so proud. We felt very lucky that she wanted to kick the diaper as much as we did.
We did it cold turkey and had a pretty good success. When I say cold turkey I mean no diaper at naps or overnight. Things were going great (with an occasional middle of the night wake-up and wet bed) she would go to the potty on her own and if we would ask her if she had to go she would say “No, Ellie went!”
Then 2 weeks ago (pretty much when I came back to work) it happened, the regression we feared. She started to wet the bed 2 times a night so we decided to put a diaper on for overnight. Then she started to wet during nap time and now during the day she will start to go potty and catch herself, sometimes making it to the bathroom and sometimes not.
There were so many different thoughts running through our mind on why this was happening:
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- She’s not as alert and we’re not as attentive so she forgets.
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- By wearing the diaper to sleep she’s getting used to peeing while she sleeps so she doesn’t understand the difference
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- She’s drinking too much before bed
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- We pushed her too fast
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- She’s having a hard time adjusting to me not being around as much
The list can go on, but I realized she’s still young and cleaning sheets and blankets and going through 4 pair of undies a day isn’t the end of the world. She’s figuring out what to do and 2 nights ago she said no diaper when we got ready to put her to bed and then today she woke up dry from sleeping overnight. It’s something we have to accept, and just pick one or the other. We’ve also noticed by getting her excited about the potty again it’s making things a little better.
So we’re moving forward on being completely diaper free, unless she asks for the diaper. Like everything I know things will work out, and we have to trust her. I know this won’t be the only time we go through this. She’s young and I’m sure it’s normal to have these set-backs, right?
These are things they forgot to put in our “taking care of a person for the rest of their life” manual when we left the hospital. Oh well.
This is me Destiny! I'm a content creator that covers DIY, Cricut, Travel, National Parks, Disney, Games and Family. I’m navigating life with my husband Mike, 2 kids and live in the suburbs of Maplewood, New Jersey.