Do 4-Year-Olds Wear Diapers?- (How To Stop?)
Do 4-year-olds wear diapers?
Are you worried because most of the kids of his age are potty trained?
Potty training is considered the most hustling transition in a child’s and parent’s life. Wearing a diaper all the time to not wearing it at all involves a lot of patience and practice. Potty training starts from 18 months and goes up to 30 months. However, every child is not necessarily to be trained in this period.
Some kids might not be ready until they are 3 or even 4 years old. So I suggest not rushing or imposing it on the child until they are ready. Sometimes parents start potty training early; it takes ages to train the child, whereas when they do it when the child is ready, the deed is done and dusted in a few days.
So if your child is four and still wears a diaper, Don’t worry! You are not alone. Sooner or later, you will end up achieving the milestone.
Do 4-year-olds wear diapers?
Most 4-year-olds are potty trained, but some wear diapers. There is no rule of thumb. Every child is different.
If your child is one of them, I assure you he is close to achieving the milestone of getting diaper-free soon. It will just take some patience and time to train the kid.
In the next section, I am coming up with some tips and tricks on getting a 4-year-old child to stop wearing diapers.
What to do if a 4-year-old wants to wear a diaper and does not agree with potty training?
When a 4-year-old wants to wear a diaper all the time, it means he is not ready for it now, or he does not have confidence in himself that he can do it. Some kids get afraid of going to the washroom, and this fear does not let them leave their diapers.
So before you start the potty training, ask yourself some questions;
- Has he achieved all other milestones on time?
- Can he understand and follow my simple instructions?
- Is he able to communicate when he has to go to the washroom?
- Can he complain about being dirty or wet?
- Is he able to pull down his pant instantly?
If your answer is yes, your child is afraid of something or doesn’t want to leave his comfort zone. For example, he is afraid of accidents or thinks that diapers are easy, while going to the toilet is a lot of work. In this case, you must address his fears and prepare him mentally. Make him uncomfortable in diapers and let him shop for potty training.
But if your answers to the above questions are “no,” it is more likely a developmental delay, and you should seek professional help.
How to get a 4-year-old to stop wearing diapers?
Following are a few tips to get your 4-year-old to stop wearing diapers and potty train him successfully.
- Talk to the child and bring him on board.
4-year-old kids can talk and understand what their parents are saying. So before starting the diaper-free training, take your child on board. Then, when he knows what will happen in the coming days, he will be more alert.
If you find him scared or unhappy about it, then calmly make him understand that mommy will be with you all the time and that it is now the right time to get rid of these dirty diapers.
- First, make him uncomfortable in diapers by buying a smaller size.
Once you talk to the child about potty training and find him reluctant and unhappy about the idea, bring some smaller diapers to make him uncomfortable. Then, if he asks what happened to the diapers, tell him that the store does not have diapers of his size anymore.
- Make your home diaper free.
Once he gets uncomfortable with small diapers, slowly hide the diapers and show him that only these are left. Tell him that the big-size diapers are not coming in the store and small ones are finished. This will help him get a potty seat.
- Let him buy the potty seat of his own choice.
Take him to the store and ask him to select whichever potty seat he likes. Kids always buy fancy ones but get them anyway. They get more interested in stuff they have chosen by themselves.
Here’s a list of the best potty seats for 4-year-olds.
- Let your child decorate the seat with stickers.
Get him some good quality stickers and ask him to decorate his potty seat. This way, he will take more interest in it and agree to use it.
- Decide the most convenient days.
Once you get your hands on the potty seat, select the most convenient days to start the process. It can be a weekend or any holiday when you can cook and freeze the food and exclusively spend time with your 4-year-old.
Try to keep the child in a room closest to the washroom where his potty seat is placed. Move the furniture and carpet to make the cleaning process easy.
- Deal with accidents patiently.
Be ready for accidents no matter what. Try to walk in your child’s shoes. Patiently deal with the accidents and involve the child in the cleaning. Tell him it’s okay to have accidents and encourage him to pee on the potty seat next time.
- Stock up on loose clothes.
Take out all the loose and light PJs and make the child wear them during training. Loose and lightweight clothes are easy to get off and wash away. Stock up on unlimited pairs because you never know how many accidents will happen.
- Don’t start when the child is sick.
Never start potty training when the child is sick. It’s understood that sickness would not bring any progress. Even if you start the training and the child falls ill in between it, then stop it right away. Do it again when he is completely healthy.
- Wait to start it when traveling.
Don’t put yourself into potty training when traveling somewhere. Some parents think the child will settle into the new conditions and adapt to the changes. But it becomes a nightmare if you try to potty train the child while traveling.
- Don’t do the nighttime training together.
When you start the potty training, focus on the daytime training only. Make sure the child is well rested at night time. Doing Night time training with the whole day training will make him exhausted and overwhelmed. Continue putting on the diaper at night until you feel he is ready to take off the diaper at night.
- Don’t yell or shame him on accidents.
Yelling and shaming will not only shatter the child’s confidence but also make him hide things from you. For example, he will try to hide the dirty clothes if he wets the clothes accidentally, or he will not inform you where he has done the pee/poo.
- Praise him after every successful washroom visit.
Children love to be praised, so praise him when he successfully informs you that he has the urge to go to the washroom. A happy clap or “We can do it” poem will definitely boost his confidence. Moreover, you can also give him something special if he passes the day without an accident.
- Never begin the training in super cold weather.
Winter season naturally calls for countless washroom visits. Due to less sweating this season, the water intake comes out of the body in the form of pee. So, diaper-free training in the winter season is a bad idea, and it will turn into a disaster if you try it.
- Take care of his diet and water intake.
Give him fibrous food and enough water during the training to avoid constipation. Do not think of giving him less water to avoid accidents. Less water consumption may lead to urine infection, dehydration or constipation.
- Make washroom visits fun.
Make it fun as much as possible every time you take your child to the washroom. You can sing his favorite poem related to potty training. Potty training songs by Cocomelon or Pinkfong can make the washroom visit fun-filled.
- Take him to the washroom every hour and increase the time gradually.
The rule of thumb is to take the child to the washroom every hour during the initial training days. Then, gradually increase the time by adding 15 minutes more to an hour, and so on. By the end of the week, you will understand his peeing pattern, and it will be easy for you to set the clock.
- Don’t be tough while training.
I understand potty training tests every inch of your patience but don’t be tough, I repeat, don’t!!. If you keep on yelling, scolding, or behaving strictly, the process may take longer to get over. The child will not only develop anxiety, but the chances are he will try to hold the pee/poo to avoid the washroom, resulting in numerous accidents.
4-year-old still in diapers at night:
It is totally fine if your child still wears a diaper at night. However, if you have achieved the daytime potty training target, wait a couple more weeks to do the nighttime potty training.
A 4-year-old child quite understands the situation. Once he gets rid of the diaper during the whole day, he might reject it at night. And this is what you might have been waiting for.
You can read “how to potty train a 4-year-old? (step-by-step)” here
