When to expect dry nights?

[Tillypea]

My LB is 4 and although totally toilet trained during the day he still wears nappy pants for bed time. How do I go about helping him stay dry through the night?

Waking him up to have a wee as suggested by a friend won't work as he's a very heavy sleeper. We've also tried getting him to "go" before bed but he won't physically try if he doesn't feel the need iyswim.

A few weeks ago we just went for it and let him go nappy/pantless with a pad under the sheet just to see how he'd get on but the two nights we tried resulted in wet clothes wet bedding and an upset boy!

[NapQueen]

All you can do is wait for the hormones to arrive which put an end to peeing in sleep. You cant train for night dryness, and a doc wouldnt assist til at least 7 as this hormone can take a while to arrive.

[Hermie12]

Cant answer but just wanted to say I am100% with you. My dd is going to be 4 in September, potty trained in the day before she turned 2 but nappy pant soaking still most nights, shes also a heavy sleeper. My childminder said its like a chemical reaction in the brain, it will happen when they are ready and it will just click. Trying not to worry about it but that's easier said than done!

[PersianCatLady]

My son will kill me for this but he had the occasional wet night up until about age 10 and the GP said it wasn't unusual in boys (boys not girls??)

When he went to cub camp he used to take some medication (forget its name) so he would stay dry.

From my experience, I would say do not worry about it and get stressed about it as it is one of those things.

Your boy is only 4 so put him in a nappy or Pull-Ups (or whatever) and just see what happens.

No matter how much you want him to be dry at night, it won't happen until he is ready and changing a nappy or Pull-Up in the morning is so much easier than changing a wet bed and bathing a kid before school.

Also, don't allow friends / relatives get on at you about it. Contrary to many people, no baby was potty trained at six months and dry at night from 12 months. (Slight exaggeration there)

[MrsTerryPratchett]

It happens when it happen and can't be 'trained'. Could be 2, could be 12.

[lorisparkle]

It is considered normal for a child to be wet at night until about 8 years. As pp have said children become dry when their body produces a certain hormone and you do not have control over this.

The ERIC website is excellent and gives information about day and night setting and soiling

There are contributory factors that effect night time wetting. Heavy sleepers, not drinking enough in the day, drinking too much too close to bedtime, drinking squash or caffeine particularly black currant near bedtime, genetic factors.

As you have got some control over some of these things then getting your dc to drink lots in the day, cutting out black currant squash, stopping drinking 1 hour before bed are all good first steps. However certainly not a 100% guarantee.

[lorisparkle]

In our family ds1 was 10yrs and we worked very hard using medication and an alarm to get him dry. Ds2 was 3 years old and dry day and night in a week! Ds3 is 8yrs and still in pull ups because I have not got the energy to go through what we did with ds1. He has some dry nights so I am crossing my fingers

[Tillypea]

Thanks for the opinions folks.

It's not something I'm particularly worried about, however I'd been speaking to a couple of friends and their little ones of the same age have all been dry at night for a some time. Although it's easy to say don't compare children I had started to wonder if there was something I wasn't doing right. Glad to hear it's normal though.

[PersianCatLady]

I have not got the energy to go through what we did with ds1
I remember it well.

[PersianCatLady]

I'd been speaking to a couple of friends and their little ones of the same age have all been dry at night for a some time
Don't believe it for a second.

They might be having the same issue but do not want to admit it (why I don't know)

Or they might be competitive parents, see my earlier post.

[PeterPiperPickedSeaShells]

My DS is almost 6 & still wears pull ups at night. He wets maybe 1-2 nights a week but the pull ups save the washing - especially trying to wash & dry a duvet when I might be at work

[Makinglists]

Both my boys were toilet trained by 3. One was nearly 7 and the other about 6.5 before they were dry at night. Nothing we did would make it happen earlier - when it did it was a bit like a Switch had be Set to on. I assume the magic was the hormones kicking in.

[user7680]

My dd is 5 still has nappies during night

[Tillypea]

Feeling more reassured now. Thanks all.

So those using pull ups which ones do you use? We've been using Asdas nappy pants but they only go up to a size 6 and we've had a few leakage problems as they're getting quite small.

[NerdyBird]

My dd is just 4 and she has been dry at night for about 10 days now. We just waited until she had at least 5 nights where her nappy was dry then asked her if she wanted to try without and after a couple of nights where she decided to have a nappy she went for it and all good so far. I'd always planned to let her lead it once it seemed like it was going that way and I would've been ok waiting if the development didn't happen till she was older.

[soloula]

DD1 (4, very nearly 5) is still in pull ups. Her wee sister is only 2 and has been dry at night for months. When they're ready, they're ready. You can't train at night, it's just when their body starts producing the hormone. We use Huggies dry-nites pyjamas pants 4-7 years. I buy them in bulk off Amazon.

[moleeye]

My DD will be 4 in October. She's been dry since 20 months in the day but still in a nappy at night and the thing is FULL in the morning!

On Friday I took the nappy off her at night, had been teeing her up for the last four weeks, when the nappies were finished that was it. She had been counting down how many were left so she was on board.

Wee before bed, then when DP and I go to bed one of us sticks her on the loo and she does a wee (about 10pm) and she goes straight back to sleep. First night there was a flooding at about 2am! Since then no issues at all, it has only been 4 nights so far so not counting my chickens yet!

Good luck! X

[Clammyclam]

My DS is the same age and isn't ready.
I won't push it. I'll wait until we've had a long stretch of totally dry nappies at night before removing it.
He's totally different to my daughter.

Sounds like that's normal too.

I'm a firm believer in taking their lead with anything to do with toileting .

[Racecardriver]

Mine was dry at night fir a month at three (just after we got dry at day) then he kept having accidents so we used nappy pants for a couple of months then he said he didn't want them anymore. He's just tour now and is dry but has an accident about once a month.