To consider using a bed wetting alarm with my 3.5 year old

[Jumpingovaries1]

My dd has been dry thru the day since 23 months. For the past 6 months never has an accident daytime. 4 months ago had a few dry nappies at night so we took the plunge and took them off at night and since then we have had 3 or 4 dry nights then 3 or 4 wet nights she never wakes up I only discover she is wet at her normal wake up time. Iv tried lifting her before I go to bed but she is still wet more or less 50% of the time. She is a very deep sleeper. I'm considering the alarm as I know she is physically capable due to number of dry nights we have had. But concerned she is too young I should add that she would understand an explanation of how the alarm works. Would value anyone's thoughts or experience with this one. Thanks.

seeker I tried explaining that to my Mum and she thought I'd taken leave of my senses.

the way it was explained to me is that the bladder is like a balloon - yu need to really stretch it so that it can hold the water at night. If you limit drinks kids will only have a small bladder so can't hold it in at night

i noticed a huge difference in DS once I made him drink more during the day

That's true Everybodys - the bladder is a muscley bag, and like any muscle needs a workout to make it stronger.

Regular filling and emptying = a workout

A bladder that is weak and flabby can't hold on to much urine before it empties. And it also won't send a strong 'wake up and go to the toilet' message to the brain when asleep and full.

Thanks everyone feel reassured that this is quite normal. Pull ups and plenty to drink during the day and encouraging her to use the loo every couple of hours it is then x

I did use an alarm with my boys aged 4/5 IIRC.

this was when they were dry some nights, then not others, hit and miss.

I slept in their room and when the alarm went off I woke them ( they were NEVER woken by the alarm) and walked them to the loo.

It took a few weeks but it did work.

The alarms worked for us but only when dry nights were more the norm and they just needed a bit of "tweeking" as it were.

Try not to stress, I wet the bed untill I was 7 !!!

p.s. by the time the alarm wnet off I ould only have to contend with wet pants + possibly PJs , a lot easier than a full bed change. I put them in good thick pants too !!!

Lots of useful info here www.eric.org.uk/

I'd put her back in nappies, or get a bed mat nappy thing to protect the sheets.

My eldest wasn't dry at night until 5 (had those pj pant things) and he didn't stop wetting until he started naturally waking up (we knew he was waking because instead of weeing in bed asleep, he'd wee in his fireplace!) at that time, because we have a downstairs loo and there's no way he'd take himself to the loo all that way in the middle of the night, we put a 'wee bucket' in his room (bit of dettol in the bottom, cleaned every morning) and within a few weeks THAT was dry too.

My youngest is 4 and though most nights he's dry, there's still enough wet ones to be happy to continue with the nappies.

I'd only really start worrying when sleepovers with friends start happening.

3.5 is definitely too young. She'll get there, don't worry :)

Actually Sidge, as you're here (hope you don't mind), DS1 is just 6 and is still wetting at night. He is a very deep sleeper, and doesn't feel anything, the first we know is when he gets up in the morning. We tried lifting, and he would still be wet in the morning. Do I need to take him to the dr? I don't really want to put him under extra pressure or upset, but DS2 is coming up to potty training time, and it will be embarrassing if he achieves night dryness before his big brother.

It’s not considered late for nighttime wetting until at least 7 so I would avoid the alarm. I think you run the risk of scaring her tbh

I would hope the OPs daughter is dry at night now, 6 years after starting this thread

Op I think you need to get your self a child development book to understand child development

Wetting the bed at night it not a issue until a child is 7/8

Bed wetting at night stops when a hormone is produced
A child cannot choose or be trained it just happens no amount of lifting of start charts will help it’s a separate function than day time wetting

Personally i would get rid of the nappies at night and wouldnt bother with an alarm. Why disrupt her sleep like that??
Better to praise her each time she has a dry night rather than focus on the bedwetting. I was a bedwetter up until the age of 4/5. I hated being reminding about bedweting each night before bed. Probably why i was still doing it.

My DD at age 3 had dry nights about 50% of the time, at 9 she was still dry only about 50% of the time so for her at least it wasn't an indication that she was ready to give up night time nappies/pull ups. ( We wake her now when we are going to bed as recommended by gp and that does the trick 90% of the time) My other DC were all dry at night between 3 and 4 but I didn't take the pull-ups away until they were dry every night. As pp have said, she is too young for alarm.