Help with getting DS5 dry at night

[redambergreen70]

DS turned 5 earlier in the year. He potty trained without issues by 3 but has never been dry at night and continues to wear pull ups to bed.
Over the last month or so, he has been expressing that he no longer wants to wear ‘nappies’ which has made me think maybe we need to be doing more to get him dry at night.
Does anyone have any tips? He goes to the toilet straight before bed.

He won't be dry at night until his body pronounces the hormone that reduces urination at night. It's not seen as an issue until he's at least 8. Some kids are earlier, but it's certainly no uncommon to need pullups at night until then.

You can lift him when you go to bed, but the only thing that really works is time for the body to be ready.

As pp said, you can’t train night dryness. You can only explain to him why he can’t stay dry and help him feel better about the pull ups.

You can set him up for success by bringing him to the loo in the night. With my kids I usually ensured they wee'd before bed and then I brought them to the loo for a wee (they would be half asleep) at around 9 or 10pm. This kept them dry and they gained real confidence. It helped at sleepovers to I would just tell my friend (I would only allow sleep overs if I had a very friendly relationship with the mum) and nobody really minded. I would do the same for kids sleeping over too.
Your son will eventually naturally be dry as he matures.

Ds1 was the same. He wanted to try going without pull ups, a couple of times. It didn't go well, he wet, got upset. At about 6, he decided to do a tick chart. It worked quite well but only while he was using it. He's 7 now and reliably dry at night with an occasional accident. I dobt think there's much you can do to move it along.

My dd was 7, she was a really heavy sleeper and just didn’t wake. We just reassured her that it was normal, some people took longer, it wasn’t a problem and she’d definitely get there. All of a sudden she just got it.

We brought a bed wetting alarm , within 2-4 weeks our son was dry. No amount of reducing fluids or lifting worked for us. The alarm was great it buzzed and woke him plus us up as soon as it felt moisture this helped him learn to wake up at night .

I used to get my son up for the loo just before I went to bed.
It worked perfectly. He didn’t really wake up, he didn’t worry about it, and he never wet the bed.

Firstly PP are correct it wont happen till he has the right hormones. That could take a few years yet. (Try finding out how old his dad/uncles were when they were dry).

To help? Ditch the dark berries drinks blackcurrant squash is a particular bladder killer, and those horrid fruit shoots and that's any time of the day. Other than that don't restrict drinks he needs to extend his bladdar.

You may need to rule out constipation as an issue as if the bowel isn't emptying then it leave less room for the bladder in the abdomen.
If you request a referral to bowel and bladder clinic from the gp this is the first issue they will want to rule out.

You can ask your GP for a referral to the Enuresis Clinic to see a nurse, however like pp said until the hormone vasopressin starts being produced it will be an uphill battle. When their urine starts to smell is an indication that the hormone is being produced.

Some tips we got from the clinic last year for DS(7) were:

-no apple & blackcurrant squash at all as it irritates the bladder

• important to drink 1.3-1,5 litres of water per day. This helps to stretch the bladder so that during sleep it can hold urine better

-no drinks 2 hours before bedtime -at bedtime do toilet and teeth, then after stories get the child to try and go to the toilet again -try a sticker chart for drinking enough water

• the nurse said that the alarm method is usually more effective long-term than medication

-child needs to be fully engaged with this routine

Also have a look at the ERIC website for advice

Thank you for all of these tips!
We will give some of them a go and trial for a week. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t and we will assume he’s just not ready yet.