Night training ds... not sure what to do

[Lethal]

My ds is 4 1/2 but I've really only just started with night toilet training. He was day-trained at 2 1/2 with very few problems, but I haven't been sure about when to attempt the night-time side of things. I probably should've gone with the flow a few months ago when he told me he didn't want to wear pull-ups anymore, but he was still having more wet nights than dry ones, so I kept putting them on him. Anyway I've just bitten the bullet now and done it because he's getting older, but I've found that he still seems to wet his pants once in the early hours of the morning and sleeps straight through it... I thought being wet would wake him up, but it doesn't seem to be 'registering' just yet.

I always make him go to the toilet just before bed, and then dh & I lift him out of bed at around 10.30pm and get him to do another wee. So I'm a bit surprised that he is still doing another one after that during the night... we don't give him anything to drink after tea, so it's not like he's going to bed with a full bladder.

What do you think I should do? Will he catch on pretty soon, or do you think we're destined to have wet pants for a while yet? The fact that he doesn't wake up when he wets himself, makes me wonder how long it's going to take to get through. I just keep thinking that surely by this age, he should be able to get through the rest of the night & then go to the toilet when he gets up in the morning. I'm using a Slumberdry (an absorbent mat on top of his sheet) so I guess that is helping things a little bit. Thanks... any advice appreciated.

[fifilala]

I guess we have been lucky - ds 3yr3mth, decided about 5 weeks ago now that we would have a go with night time training (despite still being wet in a morning) but we thought lets go for it. First week had two dry nights - lifted when we go to bed 11pm ish, now three weeks later no wet beds for 10 consecutive nights, still lift him and he hardly even wakes up - I do not know if htis is a good thing or bad but it is working for us. Last night we even heard him about 9pm going ot the bathroom himself. I know this does not tell you if you should go for it or not but luckily it seems to have worked for us (touch wood) GOOD LUCK!

[fifilala]

Sorry Lethal - forgot to add it isn't unusual for kids still to have probs at 4.5yrs, but docs etc would not do anything untill much older.

[bigdonna]

hi lethal,i think you are doing all the right things ,but some kids just are not ready it depends on how strong the bladder is.i did just like you lifted at 10.30 not much drink after tea it worked for me both my kids were 2.5 though. you could try doing a star chart and say 3 nights dry he gets a special treat or on those lines.i know some kids wear nappies at night until 7.it sounds difficult if he wees in the early morning he must be a deep sleeper.

[Lethal]

Thank you. The thing that's bothering me is that he got quite distressed last night when I lifted him at 10.00pm-ish to take him to the toilet. The first night he was ok, just did a wee and went back to bed, but last night he cried (tears running down his cheeks) and said he didn't want to do a wee. He's quite a heavy sleeper for a few hours after he goes to bed, and he didn't like being disturbed AT ALL. Now I'm wondering if it's the right thing to do... plus he was really tired today, so it might be disturbing his sleep. Arrghh! It's hard isn't it

[debs26]

do you have to do anything? i left both of mine until they were dry at night and then stopped using nappies, but then i have never understood why people put themselves thru the stress of early potty training! i think doctors only start seeing nightwetting as a problem when the child gets to about 7 so he has a while to go yet. is your decision of course, but just wanted to let you know someone else out there left their kids to it incase you feel like doing the same

[Loobie]

interesting thread i am about to venture into our first nappyless night tonight with dd,i already have 2 ds's so have done it before but had hubby with me then,this time its only me and she's a girl is it the same as with boys me no know im just gonna give it a go and see how we get on.

[elliott]

lethal I haven't night trained a child yet but it sounds to me as though your ds maybe isn't ready yet, because the urge to wee clearly isn't waking him up, and as far as I understand it, this has to happen (or they have to be capable of holding on to their wee for the whole night) if they are to train successfully. Personally if the lifting is distressing him I would cut it out - it isn't resulting in dry nights anyway.

My ds1 is 3.5 and I am just contemplating whether to night train. I've noticed an increase in the number of dry nappies in the morning recently, and he's been doing some HUGE wees first thing. However he's still not consistently dry in the mornign and I'm wondering whether to try or not. Is this a 'window of opportunity' thing or can I safely just wait a bit longer? Really don't want to be changing the sheets on a regular basis...

[Gwenick]

My DS1 - will be 5 in September and is still in nappies at night - we tried last September when he'd just turned 4 but it was a disaster (to put it mildly) He'd wet and sleep through, as though he hadn't even realised he'd done it!. we haven't tried again yet - and TBH I don't think he's really ready (but the nappies bearly fit him now ).

I'm going to leave it as long as possible (or until he annouces "no more nappies").

BTW - where do you get these Slumberdry - and how much - they sound fabulous!

[charlie72]

Ds was 2.8 when we left him without a nappy during the day & only had an accident the first day or so - he was also dry during the night (well, most nights!) within just a couple of weeks so I think we've been really lucky.

I read somewhere that sleep has different stages (light and deep) over a period of 90 minutes so the best time to get them up for a night time wee is either 90mins 180mins etc after they've fallen asleep because that's when the deeper sleep has ended and the lighter one begun again (does any of this make sense to you????).

My opinion is that the later you leave it, maybe the harder it will be but am not in your position so can well be talking nonsense!!!!!

Good luck however you go about this - I'm sure you'll get there soon.

I have pampers bed mats on his bed but these go under the sheet & not on top of it so if he does have an accident, the sheet needs cleaning but the mattress is ok - they're about £5.00 for 7 but the slumberdry sounds great!!!

DS hasn't had an accident since Xmas but he starts full time nurseryschool in September so I'm sure the mats will be needed again!!

[Orinoco]

Message withdrawn

[singersgirl]

Sounds like your friend has a very badly informed HV! DS1 (7 in August) is still not reliably dry at night. Our enuresis clinic will only see them from 6.5. We did go but DS1 still isn't bothered by it. For info, the advice we got was not to lift children in their sleep - it actually encourages weeing in their sleep and even if it results in a dry bed, they're not really 'dry' at night, so doesn't help them in any way. We've also been told to increase the amount drunk during the day to increase bladder capacity.
When we left the clinic for the 2nd time DS1 said "Can we stop talking about bladders now and talk about something interesting?"
Common triggers for night time wetting are apparently Ribena and other blackcurrant squash, cocoa or hot chocolate and all fizzy drinks, including sparkling water. Milk can also be a trigger in some children.
Loads of children are wet until 4 or 5, many more until 6 or 7, and treatment is apparently usually very useful until 7 or older - and the child needs to want to solve it.