Early Morning Wakings During Potty Training
I don’t know about you but I’m certainly not a morning person! I really look forward to getting as much rest as I can before my alarm goes off. So if my little one becomes my morning wake up, let’s just say, I’m not thrilled about it
Early mornings can happen for a variety of reasons. In this post, we’re going to specifically look at those pesky early morning wakings that can happen during potty training. We’ll cover:
Why early morning wakings happen during potty training
How to navigate early morning wakings during potty training
How to navigate potty training during early morning wakings
Strategies to prevent early morning wakings during potty training
Early morning wakings during potty training - why do they happen?
When embarking on your potty training journey, it is helpful to have realistic expectations about how the process will go. One thing to potentially expect is early morning wakings. Potty training doesn’t automatically mean early morning wakings will happen, but there is always a possibility. But, why?!
Overtired:
It is easy for a little one to get overtired during the potty training process. This can be due to sleep hiccups that can happen during potty training like wonky naps, repeated early mornings, night wakings, and dream pees interrupting sleep.
Body awareness:
During the potty training process, your goal is for your child to learn body awareness and recognition of the sensation to go to the bathroom. This can happen during the night and early mornings. Your child may wake up between sleep cycles in the early morning hours and notice that they have to go pee or poop. In the past, they may have easily slipped back into their sleep until their wake up time, but now they are having a hard time going back to sleep because that sensation is distracting them. In part, this is great news - your child is learning to recognize they have to go potty. On the other hand, you just want them to go back to sleep until it’s “officially” morning!
Need to go potty:
This one is probably the most obvious, and piggy-backs off of the body awareness note above - your little one may be waking up because they need to go potty. So, they’re making the connection between the sensation and needing to go potty. As an adult with lots of practice, we know that we can sometimes “hold it” in those early mornings and go back to sleep for a little. Our little one’s are not that skilled just yet.
Coincidence:
It’s possible that early mornings are happening during potty training as a sheer coincidence with an age-typical sleep regression, like the 24-month sleep regression that is associated with a big increase in cognitive development.
How do you navigate early morning wakings during potty training?
I think this one goes without saying but I’ll say it anyway - it’s always a good idea to avoid an overtired little one!! Overtired usually means a cranky kid, and commonly leads to other sleep hiccups. If you’re potty training and your child starts having early morning wakings, here are some things to consider:
How can I help my child get in an ideal nap?
Do I need to consider an early bedtime?
Am I responding consistently at bedtime and wakings?
Is our sleep routine solid?
Do I need to limit fluids before bedtime?
If you’re doing a dream pee: Is it interrupting sleep?
If you switched from diapers/pull-ups at night to underwear, do you need to switch back to underwear? Maybe your little one wasn’t quite ready!
Do I need to take some pressure off of potty training?
How do you navigate potty training during early morning wakings?
Maybe your child is making great progress with potty training during the day and you don’t want to “mess it up” by responding in a certain way to early morning wakings. Let’s consider a couple scenarios when it comes to navigating the potty training part when early mornings happen:
Your child is in a diaper/pull-up or underwear and waking up early with no mention of potty.
Respond how you normally would to an early morning waking. This may be with the approach you used to teach your child to sleep independently or another approach to calm them and get them back to sleep.
Your child is in a diaper/pull-up and waking up early saying they need to go potty.
Again, respond how you normally would to an early waking. You can remind them that it’s still nighttime and they can go potty in the toilet when it’s morning. It can be helpful for some kids to give them a simple explanation (during the waking hours) about how when they are in undies, pee and poop go in the potty and at night they have a diaper just in case they have to pee or poop while they sleep. Giving a rationale along with reassurance can be helpful!
On the flip side, if you feel comfortable taking them to the bathroom and trying to get them back to sleep, you can always give it a try. But, know that it may not happen since sleep drive is pretty low during those early mornings.
Your child is in underwear and waking up early saying they need to go potty.
My first suggestion would be to reconsider if your little one is ready for underwear at night. During the potty training process, I typically suggest getting daytimes down and waiting until your child is staying dry all night in a diaper/pull-up before discontinuing diapers at night. If your little one is waking up in the early morning and needs to go potty, they may not be all the way ready for underwear at night.
Let’s consider the flip side again. It’s up to you to decide if you’d like to take your child potty and then try to get them to go back to sleep until it’s time to officially get up for the morning.
Tips to prevent early morning wakings during potty training
If you’re dealing with frequent early morning wakings during the potty training process, there are some things you can do to try preventing them from continuing.
Consider an early bedtime to make up for lost sleep.
Reconsider staying in diapers/pull-ups until your little one is staying dry all night (and sleeping better)!
Limit fluids before bedtime so your little one is more likely to “make it” all night without needing to go potty.
Include potty in your bedtime routine so your little one gets all their tinkles out before bed.
Consider a dream pee OR consider discontinuing a dream pee. Your child might do well with a dream pee and it can help them make it to their out of crib/bed time in the morning. Or, the dream pee may be interrupting their night sleep and contributing to the early mornings. Totally dependent on your little one!
If you’ve encountered some sleep hiccups during the potty training process, or vice versa, and you’re not sure where to go from here, I offer a Potty Tune Up package with 3-days of support and a Potty Troubleshooting Call option. I would be more than happy to help you navigate sleep+potty!
For a more comprehensive peak at how sleep is affected by potty training, check out these blog posts:
