My 4.3 year old DD cannot sleep at night without a sleep nappy. Is this normal?

[IdjustassoonkissaZombie]

Am I expecting too much?

DD asked to go to bed in knickers tonight at 7pm. I sent her off for a wee and put a towel under her sheet just in case. Checked her at 8.30pm and she already had a sodden bed She didn't drink much before bed either. This is what happens everytime I try her in knickers. Tonight I was going to sit her on the loo at 9pm and see if she did something in her sleep. As last time I tried knickers and checked her at 10pm she was already wet. So what am I missing here? She's 4.3 years now and does still dampen her knickers in the day and then dash to the loo. I think she just hangs on too long as she doesn't want to stop what she's doing. But generally she's not too bad in the day at all.

How much does she drink during the day?

It might sound odd, but we were told that not drinking enough during the day can cause this. Apparently its because the bladder never gets full enough to 'learn' to hold a full load, so to speak, so is then unable to go long enough to last a full night.

That said, I think some children just take a lot longer to gain the control they need to be dry overnight. I know quite a few children who weren't dry at night until year 1.

My ds1 was very late and still has the odd accident overnight now, but he's a different case altogether, so not really relevant here.

There's a hormone called ADH Anti Diuretic Hormone which the body produces early on in childhood. It tells the brain to stop the kidneys releasing urine whilst you are asleep. Until your dd starts to produce this hormone, you can do whatever you like about it, it won't make the slightest bit of difference.

Letting her wet the bed every night might prove a bit traumatic for her though.

Look up ADH on here, it's been mentioned before, I know I talked about it here somewhere not too long ago. My dd1 is the same. She will wear night time pants until they are dry and they won't be coming off before then.

i wouldnt worry dhs niece is 7 years old and wears night time nappies at night

can only suggest not drinking too much before bed

would put her in night time pull ups better than a mess

Drs won't refer to the enuresis clinic until the child is 7. Bedwetting at 4 is normal :)
Drinking more during the day and stopping an hour and a half before bedtime can help, but she's still very young.

This is too early to start worrying. Let her wear the nappies if she needs them and relax.

She didn't even wake last night as I put her into pyjama pants and took the wet things off the bed. She stayed completely floppy and snoring away

So the consensus is at age 4 not to worry and leave her in pyjama pants until dry on waking?

My mum is always going on about the fact that my 4 brothers and I were lifted on their way to bed and weed in our sleep and then the bed stayed dry until morning

Yep, don't worry about it for now, she'll do it when she's ready.

Honestly, some mothers (and mils) are always saying how much better and earlier they did everyting than us. Lifting really doesn't help anything but the laundry basket, as if you essentially help them go it their sleep, their body still isn't learning the right signals, so you could end up delay control even further.

Both my mum and mil have gone on and on about potty training dd and how their daughters were all clean and dry by 12 months! On speaking to them about how things are done now though, they have both admitted that they were essentially just catching things in the potty rather than the dd having any understanding or control.

Lots of kids wet their bed until they are nearly teenagers (me, for one ) and it's certainly not through laziness or choice, so I would just thank god for sleep nappies/ pyjama pants and get on with it - I wish they had been around when I was growing up, would have saved me lots of embarrassment and my Mum lots of laundry I am sure!

My poor DS only stopped wetting when he was 12. I was in despair as it went on for years and he had to attend a clinic. Don't worry about it.

It is important for them to drink plenty during the day.

Sorry for not coming back to the thread. It was really helpful to know my DD isn't unusual and I've stopped worrying about it. My brothers children all went dry at night easily as well and it seems friends children have to. But I'm going to stop comparing and just let DD do it in her own time. She does keep asking for knickers at night so I do feel bad but I just say when she wakes and they're dry she can go into knickers. Is that ok?

I know I am resurrecting an ancient thread now, but I wanted to up date it. My daughter has finally cracked being dry at night at 4.6. I left her from October until now, she had been asking again about knickers for night time. So I bought vast amounts of bed mats and did several layers of one mat and a sheet, so if there was an accident at night, I could just strip one layer off and bobs your uncle. I also made sure she didn't drink anything after about 5.30pm and lifted her on my way to bed. But this time when I go in there at 10pm the bed is still dry. She's not really doing a big wee at 10pm, so I am tempted to leave her tbh. But I tried that once last week and she woke at 2am with a wet bed.

But I'm delighted she's finally got it and I can save on night time nappies, she's pretty pleased with herself too