So is there any way of getting a 4yo to be dry at night?

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Or is it still a case of waiting for some hormone or other to kick in? DS1 (4.5yo) is absolutely fine going to the toilet during the day, but still wets heavily at night. He always has a big wee before bedtime and doesn't drink especially much between coming home from school and going to bed (250mL of water or milk at the very most, if that). I can count on the fingers of one hand the times he's been dry at night and they've never happened on consecutive nights.

DS2 is 2.3yo and nowhere near ready for potty training. I'm sodding fed up of effectively having two in nappies.

[Thinkingblonde]

You can't really train them to be dry at night. It's all down to a hormone that kicks in to stop urine production at night. Or something like that.

[CantGetNoSleeeeeeep]

Mines 5 and still wet!

[Wolfiefan]

Sorry but yes it's hormonal. Keep him in pull ups or pj pants until he's dry.
A dream wee (sitting him on toilet whilst he's not properly awake) helped with our eldest. Some children are MUCH later with night dryness though.

[idontlikealdi]

Yes there is nothing you can do about it. It's normal not to produce the hormone until age 7.

[maisybobbins]

I can't count on one hand my 4yo dry nights... because it's never. Don't worry about it.

[ClinkyMonkey]

DS was just turned 7 when he started to be dry at night. We had him in pyjama pants and tried him without them from time to time, with no success. I resigned myself to waiting for the morning when his night pants didn't hit the floor with a thud! One evening I discovered we had run out of pyjama pants and I put extra protection on the bed and waited for the inevitable. But he was dry and has stayed that way. He did admit to me a few months later that he used to waken in the morning and pee in the pyjama pants because he could! In saying that, during previous attempts to get him dry at night, he definitely wasn't peeing just in the morning as he would call me during the night and his bed was wet, but I think maybe we could have gotten him out of the pants a few months earlier than we did. Not sure if this helps you much, except to say look out for lazy early morning wetters!

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Balls. Thanks anyway, all.

[llangennith]

DS now in his forties and his father (ex-H) and other family members weren't dry at night till 9 or 10.
DS's son was dry at 2. Normal age.
DS of my DD has this gene and isn't dry at night and he's almost 9
Thank goodness for night nappies age 9-14! The fact that they make these nappies shows how common this is. It'll happen. The hormone will kick in. Till then use nappies and disposable bedmats, and no criticism.

[ElphabaTheGreen]

Don't worry llan - we never criticise. It's just me having an anonymous moan about nappies and wondering if I'll have the same long haul with DS2.

[stouensbay]

DS1 took till almost 6 to be dry despite a few attempts and dream weed. DS2 is 3, almost 4 and dry 99% of nights. Totally depends.

[stouensbay]

Wees*

[FoofooLeSnoo]

After several weeks of wet sheets after we took ds (5) out of nappies, we bought a bed wetting alarm on Amazon.
Best 25 quid I've ever spent.
He went from being soaked every morning to being dry every night for ,2 weeks now! Since we started it he's only had about 3 wet nights in 3 weeks.

[DeleteOrDecay]

It will honestly just happen on its own. It did with my dd a few months before she turned 4, but it can vary so much from child to child. You sound like you're doing everything right so all you can do now is be patient.

[PinkSwimGoggles]

nothing you can do.
you can try double weeing (once before toothbrushing once after) and drinking loads during the day but last drink an hour before bedtime.

[FoofooLeSnoo]

In addition to the bed wetting alarm I spoke to the school nurse. She advised plenty of daytime fluids as advised by PP. She said NOT to lift for a wee at nighttime though as this doesn't help in training the bladder long term.
Although bed wetting is considered to be very common at this age, I would recommend he alarm. If it's too soon at least you've got it to try again in a year or so if it doesn't help at first. Ours worked a treat though and I was so glad i tried it.