Ok.. so I’ve done this before with my kids .. gone through the wet nights but my 4 yr old son is still wet about 50/50. I don’t like this. I don’t like buying pull ups. I believe it’s time to figure this out. Now I had a couple that really had a hard time with it and we used a system called Nite Train-r. It’s a pad they wear and if they even do a drop it beeps and wakes them so they go to the bathroom before they really go in there pants. Here’s the thing we’ve used it on 2 kids and it needs to be replaced the machanics of it are all off and it beeps when it shouldn’t. Anyway.. I don’t have the extra to buy it right now. (I love it and was fine with the concept it worked for us!)
So I’m wondering if any of you have been able to do this with any great ending results and what you did to get them dry through the night? Thanks Misty
My daughter wet the bed until she was 7 (i think). I didn’t want to buy the pullups either, plus they bothered her skin. We tried to seriously limit her water before bed. We tried waking her up and walking her to the bathroom. But she would still wet the bed quite often. She was just a deep sleeper. I would go through phases of “it’s ok, she’ll grow out of it. I don’t mind washing sheets every day.” I would also go through phases of “I can’t take this anymore! I’m tired of washing sheets!” and still washing sheets every day.
Our solution was to let her grow out of it. And she did. And I washed A LOT of sheets. I tried to keep the washing to a minimum by only using a bottom sheet and blanket. I kept all stuffed animals and books out of her bed after we tucked her in. She usually slept in just panties. Sometimes she would sleep all the way through even though she had wet the bed. Usually she would come to me and I would wipe her down with a washcloth, put new panties on her and let her slip into bed with us (i don’t think she was wetting the bed just to sleep with us). Sometimes I changed the sheets and put her back in her bed. The biggest thing that helped us get through it was me having a good attitude (I’m not saying this is your issue at all!!). It’s hard. It got old often. But she did grow out of it.
I don’t think I answered your question, but I wanted to give you encouragement that this phase wont last forever. Maybe some others will have great solutions and encouragement for you!
When I had a child in that stage, I put the pull-ups OVER his underpants at bedtime. If he didn’t wet in the night, the pull-ups could be used again and again. If he did wet, in underpants got wet, of course, but not the sheets
It has been a long time since mine were little (18 now) but we just let them outgrow it, and they did by about 5 years old thereabouts. We also washed lots of sheets, but put a waterproof mattress protector on the bed and one of those waterproof pads right where their bottoms were – I had a few of those for washing purposes. I found the less I stressed about it, the better things were. I did it with potty training as well, did not care what other people thought, was not in a hurry and let them decide when it was right for them – it went fine. Esby’s idea is a good one if you want to avoid the sheet washing.
Well if you figure it out let me know. I wonder if I am doing something wrong b/c my 9 year still wets and my 4 year old still wets. Now I buy cheap diapers for my 4 year old, b/c they’re only for night time and diapers are cheaper than pull-ups. My son can’t stand to wear them so a mattress pad, one fitted sheet, and something to cover up with is what he gets. He is getting better. If he remembers to pee before bed and if I get up during the night and have him pee then usually we can make it thru the night and he won’t wet. BUT HE DOES NOT WAKE UP ON HIS OWN AND HAVE THE URGE TO GO. IDK why. It’s so wierd b/c if I have to pee, my eyeballs could be swimming and I can be dreaming about having to pee and can’t find a place to go, and still won’t wet the bed. I eventually get woke up enough and go to the bathroom. Even if you limit their drink they will still have to pee at some point during the night I am sure. Atleast if you limit it they won’t pee so much. But if my child is reallly thirsty I can’t deny them drink, b/c I know how bad it feels to be thirsty so I will give them a few sips to quench their thirst. Let’s face it none of us want to be thirsty either. Hope things work out for you…………….cause here’s me……………with a 9 year old still doing it. My neice had accidents till she was probably 11 or 12, I know some adults who occasionally do.
A respiratory therapist told us to loosely place a small piece of surgical tape (vertically) on our child’s mouth (mouth open just a bit). He said usually the bladder released if a deep, sudden breath was taken in through the mouth during sleep. The surgical tape was loose enough to allow a child to open his mouth if needed but kept the breathing through the nose.
This solved the problem quickly when our oldest was five. We let him play with some surgical tape first, showed him how it would be done, and then after he fell asleep we placed it on.
I know…sounds strange but it worked.
Debbie Pearl has a sweet article called “Confessions of a Bed Wetter” at No Greater Joy.
All 3 of my kids are/were bedwetters. Pediatrician said that often it is genetic (I did it when I was a kid until about 4 or 5). My kids are the deepest sleepers! We joke that a group of elephants could thunder through their room and they wouldn’t wake up!
What worked for us: an alarm. We had tried the other things: waking them to go to the bathroom, limiting drinks before dinner, etc. I know that they would probably outgrow it, but my oldest was getting frustrated (she was 7 I think), so we decided to buy an alarm. It clips onto the underwear and goes off at the first sign of wetness. The first week was like having a newborn in the house – the alarm went off several times in the night, and she was still half-asleep so basically I got up, got her up, helped her get to the bathroom, changed her clothes, sent her back to bed (we had waterproof pads with a towel on top on the bed, so we just had to swap out the pad/towel). Eventually, we got there.
Now my son uses it (he’s almost there – mostly dry but a few nights here and there when he’s really tired), and eventually my youngest will need to also. The alarm was pricey, but I figure it was a good investment since we obviously have that issue with all the kids.
Hi ladies – I am not on here much anymore but this post caught my eye – I recently had this discussion with a friend of mine – we both have 5yo boys that both still wet the bed. Her dad is a urologist and she let me in on something I didn’t know. I am going to try to remember it as close as she told it to me – here goes…There is a hormone that we have that causes our bodies to produce less urine at night – this helps us not have to go as often at night as we do during the day. This hormone develops earlier in girls than it does boys, and in some boys it takes longer. So, while there may be other circumstances causing the wetting (too much water too late, etc.) sometimes they really CAN’T help it. I hate the pull-ups too – I have 3 in them. I did buy some washable nighttime pants to cut the cost, but honestly haven’t used them as much anymore – they were leaky. We have told our son that there are some rewards if he wakes up dry and we make a big deal if he does, but we don’t punish him or make him feel bad if he doesn’t – because I honestly don’t think he can control it. Just my thoughts and a little science. 🙂
Not that this solves the wetting problem – but it could save the expense of the pull-ups… There are cloth diapers/pullups made for big kids – a little pricey, but nothing more than 2 packs of pullups for 2 cloth diapers that could be alternated. I use cloth for my little ones that aren’t heavy wetters so I can’t recommend good ones for training big kids, but if you go to http://www.diaperpin.com you can search reviews for different diapers.
lamasahm and lovingmom: Did you find any of these tips to work? I have a 7 year old with the problem. I am tired of the Night-Time pants. I need to do something to help him into underwear at night. Although he is a deep sleeper, I think he could be helped.
Our oldest son wet until he was 13 and the ped and urologist said that 1 in 5 kids wet until close to puberty…..alrams did not wake him up, limiting his liquid was no help, he was embarassed at camp so the ped did give him a script that we could use for special circumsances…….
I think some children are just ready before others. My youngest could stay dry by the age of 3 or 4 unless he had heavy fluids before bedtime. My eldest was not consistently dry before the age of 7. I didn’t push it or bother to do any of the various training ideas people kept telling me about. I felt his sleep was far more important.
Once he was consistently dry for a few weeks we finally gave up the pull-ups. We also learned that any night there after that he did have a wet bed was generally because “I forgot to go potty before going to sleep!” We also found that having his room close to the bathroom and leaving a light in on there worked well. He’s not keen on the dark and having the soft light on allowed him to get up and go without feeling frightened or needing a companion.
However, if you REALLY hate pull-ups you could buy/make night time undies. They are basically WELL padded undies with built in rubberpants. They are washable, but I’m not so sure they are cheap unless you make your own. We also had a pad that fits on the bed and hooks under that is SUPER absorbent. This allows you not to have to change the WHOLE bed every single time.
Just wanted to add in – my step-daughter had this problem almost every night until about age 13 – and then occasionally until…. well I’m not sure when, but I imagine that it has stopped…
Had ehard about the hormone that affects the amount of urine produced while asleep, etc.
We basically had a protector on the bed, and otherwise let her deal with it…
My son is 4 and turns 5 in Sept. And yes we did find an answer. We did the alarm thing with ease (yes I gave in and bought it again). It works for us, it’s not a huge thing and he liked it once it was working correctly. I would love to see that book though. Seems interesting. Good luck, it’s such a hard thing for the child and the parent. Misty