4 year old not dry at night

saving123

hi, looking for some advice as i'm a bit worried my daughter still isnt dry at night. She is still in pull ups otherwise it would just be a wet bed everyday. We have tried limiting her drinks in the few hours before going to bed. Obviously she goest to the toilet before going to bed. A couple of weeks ago she went through about 10 days of the pull ups being dry every 2nd night but since then its back to being wet (sometimes very wet!) every day. She has been toilet trained through the day since just before she was 2 and never have any problems during the day. Tried lifiting her before going to bed but still wet in the morning (although just a bit). Is it worth trying to use the bet mats and put her in pants instead of pull ups? I did try just putting her in pants a few months ago for a few days but when i checked on her through the night the bed was soaking (and she hadn't woken up when it had happened)! At a loss what to do now!

flutterby_lil

Just go cold turkey, so to speak. Take her pull ups off and she will learn.

Kids will be dry in their own time, but I did the above and have had 3 accidents in 8 months, even with having a 3 week old sister to now contend with. Very proud of my boy - he is still 3 by the way, so he has done very well with this method.

SunnyCyprus

Hi, I feel for you, it's hard work to deal with wet kiddies/beds every night, both my children weren't fully dry until aged 6(girl) and 8(boy), although they were dry by day at age 2half and 3...

We tried all sorts, no drinks after 6pm, lifting them for a wee at midnight(don't have to fully wake them, they will 'sleepwalk' to the loo with you holding their hands!), pull-ups, bed pads, cold-turkey...
bed pads are good for protecting your mattresses, try and buy the ones meant for adults, rather than pampers/huggies version, they are generally cheaper and absorb more.

the only thing that had good results was taking them to the loo through the night, but sometimes, they still wee'd by early morning.

Speak to your health visitor if you can, they may have ideas for you. we weren't in the UK during this time, so didnt have health visitors to go to, had to just muddle through.

good luck xx

RainbowDreamer

I found that by keeping my son in pull ups at night he would just wee in them. I tried a week without and we had one accident.
I got a mattress protector and then a training mat. And made sure I had lots of spare sheets, pjs etc.
Now he's completely dry.

nonnatus

It's just a learning thing, and some kiddies learn quicker than others. Unfortunately, it's her subconscious that has to do the learning, and that bit is hard to reason with!

I agree with stopping the Pull-ups, it's almost like giving Permission to Pee in them, if you see what I mean? Ask your doc about one of the Pee alarms. Lay it on the bed and as soon as it detects urine, it'll wake her up, prompting her to go to the loo. (Get a good mattress protector!!). She should think about waking with a full bladder then. Or maybe GP will have newer ideas.

Good Luck with it x

cobbingstones

Hi

You will find that this is not deemed has an issue until over the age of 7. My dd finally stopped wetting at night at 7 and a half. We had contacted the GP who advised buying a mattress with a fitted alarm, but thankfully we didn't need it.

Hope all works out, sometimes you just have to be patient.

Teenie_D

My friend has this problem with her girl who is 4 yrs old too. She thinks part of the problem could be that she isn't getting enough water during the day when she is at nursery and she guzzles it when she comes home.

Also I'm not sure if it's true but I'm sure I read somewhere that you shouldn't limit drinks at bedtime as it irritates the bladder meaning they tend to wet the bed more?

With my DD I too just used the mattress protecters and she has been dry for quite a while now.

Good luck x

Miss_Money

I'm currently in this situation with DD aged 7. her problem is she sleeps far far too deeply. She has been dry through the day from 1.5 years though. I wasn't particularly worried about it as children get dry in their own time at night however she wanted it sorting out. So off to the gp we went who sent us to the wee nurse. She told us not to limit drinks as the bladder is a muscle and she needed to be drinking more in the day to make the muscle work more. therefore at night she may not have a problem holding it more... that didn't work. We were given a bed alarm.... :eek: DD sleeps SO deeply that even that didn't wake her up!!!! :eek: it woke myself, my partner and her sister up (and much to my embarrassment the next door neighbors too ) after 2 weeks of everyone being annoyed and grumpy with this really really loud alarm going off and it having no effect what so ever, Iv'e gone back to just taking her twice in the night. I take her at 10pm (which is a pain as she is uncooperative at that time) and then again between 2-3 when I get up to go for a wee myself (pregnant so I'm up and down!) we have about 2 wet nights a fortnight where I've woken up too late to take her, but I'm hoping that I will be having the same effect as the bed alarm eg "wake up! your baldder is full!" (I wake her up totally the 2nd time as I cant carry lift or fight with her" She is getting easier to wake and takes herself off to the loo. If she has a wet night then she is keen to help me change the sheets.
Im afraid it's just a matter of waiting until their brains get the hang of it with alot of children. My 4 year old doesn't wet the bed, I'm afraid it's just one of those things

Miss_Money

also to add.. although pull ups are a god send for over night stays with friends, they are not a helpful tool for keeping a child dry at home. It takes effort from the parent AND the child to get dry and I'm afraid pull ups make both lazy (I can see why though as changing sheets every night isn't fun) BTW I'm not criticizing anyone that uses pull ups, as I HAVE used them.

saving123

thanks so much for all the comments so far. Really interesting to read that most people think i should stop the pull ups. I will give that a try and see if that helps. thanks

saving123

probably a silly question but with the bet mats does that mean if they pee the bed that you can just strip the bed mat off and the sheets are okay or is it meant to protect the mattress? I already have a waterproof sheet. thanks again