How do I make 4 year old wake to wee?

[Oobis]

Hi, I hope someone will have some advice for me here!
My 4 yo now sleeps without a nappy. Before we moved onto this stage, DH would wake him and take him for a wee before he went to bed. He still does this in the nappyless stage. If DH gets up during the night himself, he will take DS too. If he doesn't, DS wets the bed massively and doesn't wake up.
I had thought that a couple of wet beds would wake him and he would progress, but the other night when I went to check on him, I could hear him doing a wee. I tried to wake him, called him, shook his shoulders, tickled his tummy etc, and he still didn't wake up. Great that he's good at sleeping, not so great that I'm spending so much time washing bed clothes and bedding. Any ideas? He has a drink with his tea (usually around 6pm), a tiny amount of milk before bed, a wee before bed (730ish) and another when DH comes to bed at 11ish. This has been going on for a couple of weeks now and we've made no progress :-( Ideas much appreciated!

[DeandraReynolds]

He might just not be physically developed enough yet. They have to produce a hormone that stops urine production at night, happens between 2 and 7 years iirc.

[PatriciaHolm]

He's clearly not developmentally ready, and you can't force it. Their bodies need to produce a hormone to slow urine production at night/alert them to go, and you can't accelerate that.

Wet at night at 4 is pretty normal. DS is 9 and we are only just getting a referral from the GP now as its really not that unusual at this age either.

[Oobis]

Thank you both - I was thinking we were lagging behind! Back to nappies then?

[AlohaMama]

Think you just have to wait it out. My DS sleeps very soundly. We've had a few attempts without nappies at night, but even if he wees before bed, if we get him to wee when we go to bed it's often too late. He just doesn't wake up. Happy to just wait it out, but it is tricky because he is big for age (4y4m wears age 6-7 clothes) and night time nappies are blimmin expensive and I often have to change him into a new one when we go to bed.