Anyone else with a non-night trained 5+ child?

[Pantone]

Or am I the only one? dd is almost 5 and a half and very occasionally can manage a dry night but usually wets heavily in her sleep. We are trying AGAIN at the moment with no pressure but a star chart and lots of encouragement but she hates it when she wets the bed :-( but doesn't really want night nappies as she thinks they are so babyish. At the moment I am persevering but I can't see the wood for the trees! Am going out to buy two small washable duvets today as she wets so much even the duvet gets soaked. Would love to hear if anyone else has the same or similar?

[Chopstheduck]

dt1 still bedwets and is 6.5 nearly. I've given up for now as he simply can't do it.

A friend of mine went to the gp with her son and was prescribed medication which has worked for them.

The other option is an alarm system that goes off when the child wets to train them.

I personally don't really want to go down the medication route and the alarm is tricky for us as I have a disabled child that sleeps in the same room. I think eventually though, I'm going to have to resort to it!

[starsintheireyes]

ds1 came out out pullups at night at 6.4(of his own choice and has been dry ever since) and ds2 is still in pullups at night at 5.10.

Id personally rather let them come out of them of their own accord, havent got the time to be washing duvet sets etc every day!

If she wont wear pullups, what about pampers bed mats? though they are quite expensive. Incidently you can buy duvet protecters(like the sheets) so youd not have to wash the duvets every day!

[Pantone]

thanks, that is interesting about the duvet protectors, she has a really nice down duvet which I am going to have to have professionally cleaned as it now stinks!!

[piratecat]

my dd is 9 and i keep thinking oh it will happen, but am guilty of ignoring that fact it hasn't and that maybe i should 'do' something to help it. :(

[TracyK]

ds was about 6 and a bit and dh perservered! I would have given in - but eventually he stopped wetting.

[Pantone]

That is great news for you Reality. I am very loathe to go the medication route but obviously I would if the bedwetting continued. I think I will just keep on persevering, I dont mind the wet beds and in fact prefer dealing with them than soaking wet pull-ups ;-), but if she starts to get distressed I will put her back in nappies for a while.

[NickNacks]

Another one here with DS 5.2 and I can't see him being dry anytime soon. He's just such a heavy sleeper. :(

[WoofToYouTooLady]

not really considered a medical issue til the child is age 7

night time dryness cannot be trained for, it is dependent on a hormone being produced in a child's maturing body that concentrates urine production at night. No amount of star charts or incentives will help, the child has no control over when the hormone begins to be produced (could be age 2, or age 6 or age 11 etc)

in the meantime there are things you can do to help:

increase fluid intake during the day, to increase bladder volume (get school onside with this - teacher can prompt drinking)
water or milk is best, avoid red/brown drinks as they can irritate the bladder (cola/tea/ribena style drinks)
double dress the bed -waterproof/bottom sheet, waterproof/bottom sheet to make night bedchanges easier for you
shower in the mornings for social reasons
wee, teeth, wee before bed


have a read

[Pantone]

Well last night she did a big wee before bed, I woke her up at about 11pm and she did another massive wee. She was soaked again at 4am!

Will try no drinks after 5pm and might take the star chart away discreetly!

[BoisJacques]

DS is 5 and 5 months and wets the bed nearly every night. The only times he ahs been dry is being lifted for a wee twice during the night. His brother has just turned 3 and just potty trained (last few weeks) and has more dry nights I would never go back to nappies/pull ups - I think keeping DS in them compounded the problem - far better for them to feel the wee - I leave DS naked from the bottom down. His duvet is thin so can be shoved in the washing machine along with his sheet, and his pillow has a cover on it incase he is sleeping all funny when he wees. I hoping he just grows out of it.

[BoisJacques]

I find givng anything other than water makes DS go for a wee so much. He had juice a while back (this is the three year old) and had 3 wees in 30 mins. I gave him a glug of coke yesterday (v.v. rare before you flame me) and he wee'd at least twice in the next hour. Oat milk/chocolate oat/soya milk seems to be fine as that's all they drink + water.

[BeckyLK]

I have twins, 5.4 one has been pretty much dry for well over a year one has only really got it in the last 2 weeks....no idea why.

Just stuck with it, lots of waterproof sheets, covers etc and lifting every night to help her. She wouldn't go in pull ups as the other kids weren't and so she felt embarassed and babyish. She'd rather wet the bed and have us change it .

They get there in the end though just in their own time. 1 @ 2 (PFB) 1 @ 3 1/2 Twin1 and one just Twin2 - despite the fact the last two are gentically identical!

[Pantone]

Hmm. I think I will press on with it for a week or so and then suggest pull ups. The couple of times she has been dry I restricted liquids and woke her in the night to get up and do a wee.