5 year old still not dry at night

[LouisaJF]

3 year old DS2 went dry at night as soon as he was potty trainong. This was not of our doing, it just happened completely naturally. DS1 however, is now 5 and a half and still wears a pull-ups at night. We make sure he goes to the toilet before bed and have explained what he is supposed to do but he says he just wees in the night and doesn't know. It's not even small amounts, there are nights the pull-up even leaks.

I'm not sure what to do with him to get him dry. I'm not sure I believe in taking him to the toilet in the night as I don't think that teaches him to wake himself or hold it. What can I do?

[Justbookedasummmerholiday]

Night toileting depends on the appropriate hormone reminder kicking in. My ds is 9 and still in pull ups. I have tried taking him before I go to bed and makes no difference. Don't make it an issue because he really can't help it!!

[Meetmeonamonday]

Will be interested in this thread as we are in exactly the same boat

[fruitpastille]

It's very common, I wouldn't do anything really! You can encourage more drinking in the daytime to get the bladder used to holding more. Avoid blackcurrant as it's meant to be worse. The ERIC website is v informative but at age 5 it wouldn't be considered a problem really.

[WanderingTrolley1]

Same here.

[RedBlackberries]

I've heard the same. I think lots of children still need night nappies and I don't think there's a stigma about it. Otherwise, no drinks 2 hours before bedtime and lots of encouragement.
Our bathrooms downstairs (and freezing) and dd thinks potties are for babies and won't use one. So it's hit and miss if she has a dry night.

[fruitpastille]

Bed wetting alarms can be V effective for older kids.

[midsummabreak]

I had one who was still not dry until later- nearly 12 years old In the end I did bladder training He had to learn to have two - three glasses of fluid before breakfast, a whole large bottle of water through the day and another two glasses of fluid afer school. Then stop fluids after 4.30 pm, only sips of water Aim is to be well hydrated & be weeing all day, and empty the bladder really well before bed. So make sure off to the loo a couple of times the hour before bed. Also have an easy system for changing accidents - get two waterproof ' kylie' or squares of very absorbent material with rubber backing. Whip it off when wet, and put the dry one ( absorbent square with rubber backin) under him.
Teach him not to stress about it. Make it a no fuss thing changing P Js and absorbent padding under him. It wont happen overnight but it will happen. And there are tablets at the Dr but i found bladder training best.

[midsummabreak]

www.verywell.com/bladder-training-as-bedwetting-treatment-3015171

[midsummabreak]

Plus the alarm that they can record own voice to wake selfgently.

[Alittlebitofthis]

We’re in the same situation. Tried ds off his pull ups over October holidays but he was wet more times than not so just put him back in them again.

[macaronip1e]

NICE guidelines have good info on background and treatment

www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg111/ifp/chapter/About-this-information

As per other comments though, it’s a hormonal thing and quite normal

[AlohaMama]

I'd recommend the ERIC website too. It has a handy flow chart that helps you identify the possible cause of night wetting and possible solutions.

My DS was not dry at night at 5. He just slept so deeply - if he fell out of bed he didn't wake up, if he had an enormous pee he didn't wake. He'd tell us he'd wet the bed and it was obvious it had happened hours before. We had various attempts to ditch the night nappies, tried again at 6y4m and he wet the bed about 60% of the nights. Three months later he was suddenly dry - he just started waking up to pee. Nothing we could have done about it, it was like he just suddenly started sleeping lighter.

From my understanding there's not always much you can do about night wetting. If the body isn't producing the required levels of the hormone that surpresses urine production then they will need to wee overnight.

One good bit of advice is to encourage them to drink a lot of water each day (can't remember the amount) and to have most of it before 3ish, then just small amounts after, rather than drinking lots till an hour before bed. Then have a routine of weeing when brushing teeth then weeing again after stories. And waking them up to wee in the night is not now thought to help.

[Oly5]

My ds us 5.5 too and in pull ups. We’ve tried him without but he wet the bed. So we’re goinf to wait another 6 months and try again. I’m not worried at all.
He’ll get there.
Maybe just relax about it?

[WallisFrizz]

We're another in the same boat and DS is 6.1