3.5 yr old still in nappies at night

[gubbysquidge]

please can you provide your successful solutions to getting child out of nappies at night - she's been out of nappies during day for over a year.

[ConcreteElephant]

There is no solution - it's physiological - something to do with waiting for enough of a particular hormone to be produced...sorry, bit vague but I promise it's true.

DD is still in pull-ups at the age of 5. If she's still in them at 7 then I'll go to the docs. As far as I know the doctor wouldn't be worried till that age. She's been dry in the day since she just turned 2 - it's just one of those things.

[formerlyofLadysmith]

Same as Elephant. DC1 was dry at night from 2.3, DC2 is 3.9 & not dry. I'm not bothered about it.

[ThingummyJigg]

Normal at 3 to still need nappies at night.

Just have to wait till the nappies are either dry in the morning or she's leaking in the morning because she's waking up and doing a massive wee.

Agree there's no solution till the hormone thing kicks in. Something to do with kidneys and urine production I think.

[VolumniaDedlock]

dd1 was exactly 5 when she stopped wearing night nappies. She'd been reliably dry by day for 2.5 years. Just happened overnight, like flicking a switch.

[lexyloub]

Ds was 4.3 when he stopped the night nappies. His nappy would be full every morning I soon realised he was wetting the nappy because he knew he could rather than pull it down to go to the toilet. I stopped the nappy and made sure I cut down drinks in the evening and lots of trips to the toilet before bed. He still has the occasional accident but 95% of the time he's dry. With my older ds he heard a friend say she didn't wear a nappy at night and he said he didn't want to anymore and he was dry more or less straight away.

[BeeMyBaby]

My DD1 was also in night nappies at 3.5y even though she had been dry during the day since 23m. I cut down what I let her drink before bed (from a pint of milk to a small sippy cup full) and for a week or two we lifted her at about 10 or 11pm (about 2 hours after we put her down to sleep) and put her on the loo and after a while we no longer needed to lift her as she would either get up to go to the toilet herself or not need to go. If you tried this however and you found your DD still wet the bed then like others have said, she probably isn't ready.

[Heyho111]

This is considered normal to the age of 8 yrs ( I think)

[Earthbound]

As others have said, completely normal and nothing to worry about. You can't 'train' them at night, you just have to wait until they're ready.

[tobysmum77]

Yeah mine is too. dd1 was out of night nappies before 3. It's just a waiting game I think

[confusedandemployed]

DN is a few months off 7 and still in pull ups. It is an anti-diuretic hormone, it can kick in at any time up to age 8 or thereabouts, and girls tend to get it before boys.
DSis is planning a trip to docs if he's still not dry in a year.

[SanityClause]

Same as other posters.

All my 3 DC did not become dry at night until about 6 or 7, despite having been dry in the day at between 2 and 3.

In the end, we used an alarm for each of them. No restricting of drinks, and no "lifting".

Once they start school, though, it's a bit tricky, as you need to discuss it with them, so they realise it's not something to mention to other children, however, you also don't want to give them the idea that it's anything to be ashamed of (because it isn't!).

[LadyPlumpington]

It's to do with a hormone called vasopressin, apparently.

[AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore]

Until their body starts producing vasopressin, it isn't going to happen. It is still considered normal up to about age 8.

[Kiwiinkits]

If you stop the nappies, she may continue to wet herself but it won't be as frequent and you can start teaching her how to get up and go to the toilet by herself at night. You may get 1 - 4 wet nights a week, the rest dry. Get a brolly sheet and then that's all you need to wash when she wets.

I think the modern obsession with pull-ups is utterly gross! It is NOT OKAY for parents to be pumping more and more plastic nappies into the environment just so they can avoid washing some sheets. Plastic never biodegrades, why don't people get that!? You buy it; it's in the world forever....

[Kiwiinkits]

Normal to have 'accidents' at night; Not normal to buy plastic and dispose of it every night for years.

[Piratejones]

I think the modern obsession with pull-ups is utterly gross! It is NOT OKAY for parents to be pumping more and more plastic nappies into the environment just so they can avoid washing some sheets. Plastic never biodegrades, why don't people get that!? You buy it; it's in the world forever....

Do you realise you can get reusable pullups and that people use them, especially at night when their children only wet the bed?
This idea that anyone whose child has night time protection = utterly gross! is disgusting, ill informed and wrong. it isn't an all or nothing thing.

[AliceDoesntLiveHereAnymore]

I think that most parents that are dealing with enuresis are probably stressed enough without people being self righteous and trying to guilt trip them about pull-ups.

[LittleLionMansMummy]

Ds is 4.5, has been daytime dry for 18 months but pull ups still sopping wet every morning. A few weeks ago he asked if he could try going without, so we let him try for a couple of nights without success. He's ready mentally but not physically and we've explained that. We've just begun lifting him when we come to bed at night to try to get him subconsciously used to the idea, but we continue to put him in pull ups for the time being. We're not remotely bothered by it and he'll do it when his body is ready, but as he goes to school in September and may start to want sleepovers I wouldn't want his nighttime dry friends to make comments that might hurt his feelings.

[downgraded]

Normal.

Nowt you can do.

Is there a particular reason why you need him out of nappies at night?

[Marioswife]

I think the modern obsession with pull-ups is utterly gross! It is NOT OKAY for parents to be pumping more and more plastic nappies into the environment just so they can avoid washing some sheets. Plastic never biodegrades, why don't people get that!? You buy it; it's in the world forever....

Oh FFS.

[Randomcafe]

One of my non-id twin girls was dry at night at the same time potty trained (at just gone two) and has never wet the bed, and the other is still in night time pull ups at 3.8. She seems to do a big wee as she is waking up in the morning. But on the occasions when when she's been woken up early and is out of pull ups before this happens, she has usually done a little wee overnight too. We leave a potty next to the bed in the hope that it will remind her to get up and wee in the morning rather than in the pull ups. If it's clear that the wees during the night have stopped we'll push this harder.

[Mammy22b]

I had no idea at all about the hormone.
I have 4yo twin boys. One has been dry day and night from 2.5 the other is still in night pull ups.
I'm fascinated and relieved.

[Mammy22b]

I had no idea at all about the hormone.
I have 4yo twin boys. One has been dry day and night from 2.5 the other is still in night pull ups.
I'm fascinated and relieved.

[imip]

I have 4 dc. Dc1 dry by 5.5yrs. Dc2 dry by 3.5, dc3 dry by 3 and dc4 has been dry now for a couple of months and she will be 3.5 next month.

Fwiw, with some of mine, especially the oldest who was quite late to be dry and appalled that she was still wearing nappies in reception! I got them up in their sleep when I went to bed (usually around 11pm or so) and they basically do a wee in their sleep. I stop doing this at when they don't want to see at 11, and it usually works. Dc4 is still being woken up at 11pm and she will do a wee in her sleep, then straight back to bed.