Getting dry at nights - help

[millie42]

I am having trouble getting my son (3.5 years) dry at night. He has been out of nappies during the day for about 9 months but is nearly always wet at night so we have decided to put him back into pull ups and try again in a week or so (....and give me time to clear all the washing!)

We have done all the usual stuff such as reducing fluid in the evening, waterproof bedding, beds pads, lights on on the way to the bathrroom, lifting at 10pm but nothing seems to work. He did the day time toilet training bit very quickly so were wondering whether we were missing something????

Any ideas much appreciated.

M

[orlakeilyhandbag]

I had the same problem with my son and it was still going on at 4.5 years. Apparently if the child sleeps very deeply their brain cannot recognize the signal that the bladder is full. 3.5 years is still quite young but if your child is still having problems 1 year from now I would really recommend the DRI Sleeper Alarm (search Dri sleeper), I am the most sceptical person you can imagine but I bought this and followed the instructions to the letter and it worked! I truly believe that had it not been for this alarm I may still be having bedwetting problems with my son now.

[Curly]

I tried everything but the only thing that really works is patience. You have to try a couple of nights with pants but if he wets go back to pull-ups for at least 3 months. Keep repeating this until he has a few dry nights.

Trying lots of different things and having wet beds makes the child stressed (and you). So you need to try one thing, then if it doesn't work give it a long break, then try again.

But don't try lifting becuase your child will not be fully awake so you are just training him to wee in a sleepy state. Even if you try to wake him he still won't be awake enough.

I looked into the alarm but was advised against using it on young children becuase they can just become accustomed to the alarm and sleep through. Like orlakeilyhandbag says wait until he is older and use it as a last resort.

[Fuschia]

3.5 is quite young. Have a look at this leaflet: http://www.eric.org.uk/Portals/0/Bedwetting.Guide%207.08%20red%20pdf.pdf

[The Nappy Lady]

Hi Millie42,

You have my sympathy - our eldest daughter potty trained (daytime) at 2 years old in a day and I assumed she'd be dry at night soon after. In actual fact she went on in night nappies until 3.5 - she was a really heavy sleeper (slept through 12 hours from 10 weeks old) and just didn't wake up at night so no hope of getting dry. Like you we tried everything on and off, but in the end all that worked was giving it time until finally it 'clicked'. When she finally got dry we only had 2 or 3 accidents in the first month or two and after that she's been 100% reliable.

I think you need to go back to night nappies as others have said and try again in a few months. Also, talk to your doctors as I believe you can get the alarm through the NHS once they get to about 4 or 4.5 years old, but may have to go on a waiting list, so worth finding out about it sooner rather than later. I know a couple of the Nappy Lady advisors had boys with similar problems who finally, with the help of the alarm got dry between the age of 4 and 5.

Best wishes, Molly

[millie42]

Thanks everyone. I had no idea that 3.5 was prety young. We will pop his back in night pullups for a while and see how it goes. For about two weeks these were dry each morning so i thought it was time to stop using them but its obviously too early.

Michelle

[Pickle]

This is an interesting thread, I didn't realise that 3.5 was considered young to be dry in the night. My little boy (will be 3 in Jan) has been dry in the day since June, and I was starting to worry about how wet/dirty he is in the morning - this means I can relax a bit!

However the last few nights he has been waking at around 3am and asking to use the toilet - a difficult one, as obviously I know it's a good thing and we take him, but part of me wishes he'd just lie there quietly and make use of the nappy! He's still very wet in the morning, so it's not as if his trip to the loo is helping on that front.

[Sophie0205]

my little boy is 2.5 and has been completely dry overnight for around 3 weeks now. i put him in pants overnight around 2.5 months ago and dropped his fluids after 6 and it was pretty 50:50 wet and dry for a while. i didnt want to go down the route of going back to nappies again, and pull-ups are designed to hold moisture away from the body so i dont really see the logic (what works for one doesnt always work for another!). after plenty of trial and error iv realised that he was only wetting on the nights that i lifted him at around ten/half past. since not getting him up for a night time wee wee at all, he has been dry. im not sure whether its maybe something to do with his sleep pattern being disturbed or something else, or maybe just pure coincidence, but its been working sofar!!

[Gubodge]

My daughter went without her night-time pull-up for the first time last night. She didn't wet her bed. She sensibly climbed into her sister's (water-proof sheet free) bed and wet that instead. She's back in a nappy tonight.

[The Nappy Lady]

Arrgggh, how annoying is that Gubodge, poor you.

Molly

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