Pull ups.....go back 20 years.....

[Janeymoo50]

...or more. Why are so many 3 and 4 year olds in pull ups? I get that there are children with SN, before you all start with my child is this, my child has that. There was a thread recently about bedtime, all kids wore nappies of sorts, until the age of 9, every response said it was normal to have kids in nappies at 6 and over, what the feck is it!!!

There were children wetting themselves all the time when I was in primary school. We just save them the embarrassment now.

But surely the problem was dealt with using horrid plastic scratchy sheets instead?
Kids have always wet beds, we just have a kinder way to deal with it!

My DSS is 14 and still regularly wet the bed at night (Although it becoming occasionally rather than nightly). It hard going washing bedding every night and sometimes his DF would use pull ups, however the specialist doctor recommend not using them because bed wetting can become a habit and the discomfort of a wet bed is important it stopping it happening.
DSS also finds it difficult to control his bladder during the day and still has accidents if anxious
that there is no toilet available. The specialist believes this is party due to poor potty training and over use of pull ups.

Really west country? I don't think most of my friends know my 4 year old does (I'd happily tell them if asked it just doesn't come up in conversation). We don't drink any squash so that's that theory gone!

Replying to pp there. Dry in day at 2 but pull ups at night are still very wet.

My 4 year old twins have been 100% dry during the day since they were two and a half. One of them is still in pull ups at night, she just can't wake up to go to the toilet. On all accounts the doctors won't even consider it an issue until she's seven so pull ups save us changing the bed every night.

Not sure why anyone woukd really care to be honest either?
My life is a bit harder with having to wash Or shower dd each morning as well as getting ready for work and school and obviously the cost, but it doesn't bother anyone else!
Environmentally it's probably balanced against all the washing Id do without them.

Everytimeref - are you in the UK? Because your "specialist" sounds ignorant and as useful as a chocolate teapot. There are drugs they can use to help children/young people with continence problems, and your DSS should be properly investigated - not just blamed on "bad parenting".

OP what has brought this on?

As a child, I wet the bed 2-3 times a night right up until I was 16. I wish there had been the option of pull ups that fit me at that age, as it was a complete nightmare having to keep stripping the bed and not inviting friends round as my room always smelt a bit :( My ds is only just dry at night at nearly 10 and pull ups have been a godsend.

God, not another judgey nappy/toilet training thread...

FTR DB and I (late and mid forties) were in nappies till around three (terries, obviously). Mum didn't sweat it.

I have three DDS myself, all in washable nappies. None were dry by day before three, night by four for the older two, who are now 16 and 15. DD3 in cloth pull ups was still having daytime accidents at four to four and a half. She's dry by day now at six but still has the occasional night accident. No pull ups but a washable bed pad to deal with it; no stress.

I really don't care or judge how long it takes children to achieve full control of their bladders and bowels, at any age, and could never understand why anybody else does.

my now 2o something ds was dry by 3ish, I remember that you couldn't start nursery unless dry and pullups were around.

I can't be bothered to find the statistics AGAIN... But bedwetting age range statistically hasn't changed in 20 + years.

So while potty training later can be argued, Bedwetting has proof nothing has changed.

And there were nappy type things you could buy, even 15 - 20 years ago.

My Mum (80) says that kids were in knickers at a young age in her day but many would wet themselves a lot and wet the bed at night. She remembers being smacked by her dad when she wet herself at the age of 2. This was normal to punish them then (she says).

My DD1 was in nappies until nearly 4 (no SN just a late developer/stubborn). DD2 was trained by 2 years 2 months.

Oh and DD1 still has the occasional nighttime accident and is nearly 5. DD2 has been dry at night since age of 2.

I think bedwetting still same in olden days it is just that it was probably talked about less.

20 (or 30+) years ago my sister wet the bed until she was about 9 - no pull ups but years and years of waterproof (loud, plastic) sheets and an alarm rigged up to her bed which went off loudly to wake her if she started to pee - meant to train her to wake in time obviously, but what it actually meant was that all her siblings knew every time she wet the bed (and not only knew but had our sleep disturbed by the alarm going off, so were annoyed).

Nightly humiliation, embarrassment and no particular evidence that it sorted out the problem and meant she was dry at night any quicker.

This is one of many things nobody is allowed to mention in front of my mother, when she is judging young parents and sharing stories of how much better she did everything, of course...

YABU. My youngest daughter is 23 and she wet the bed until she was 14. Not her fault the hormone that stops bedwetting hadn't kicked in. She didn't wear pull ups every night but often did as it was better for her to be able to change them then wake up to a wet bed. She was under the enuresis clinic who told it was not unusual for some teenagers to still wet the bed.
Pull ups were around 20 years ago and they did night time ones that actually went up to 15

Both my children were speech delayed... So i didn't even try potty training til they were 3! My daughter got it straight away, never had an accident and was dry through the night about 3.5 - again has never wet the bed.
My extremely bright (almost 4 year old son who reads at primary 2 level!) has only just become dependably dry through the day and only in the last few days used the toilet for a poo instead if waiting for his night time nappy. His pull up is soaking by morning.
I don't care if people think I'm lazy, whatever. Why would I struggle and fuss and create extra work for myself when I can wait until they are ready? It's not a competition that you can 'win' by having a child use the toilet as young as possible....

I had a six year old in nappies every night because he wet the bed every night. He was dry by 6.5.

My mum didn't have the luxury of pull ups - my brother wet the bed till he was 9 or 10. She had to change his bedding/him instead.

I know which I'd prefer.

I actually used cloth nappies for 3 of my children, and they were toilet trained at the same age or earlier than the ones I used disposables for.

I've worked in reception in school and I've known zero children to start school in nappies - plenty of accidents (including my youngest who was not reliable till he was 5) but no nappies. I'd be interested to know just how many NT children start school in nappies.

I have a dd who regularly wet the bed until the age of 10. She didn't wear pull-ups, I just had a mattress protector which I could wash along with the sheets every day if necessary. Not wearing pull-ups does not cure a bet-wetter, it happens naturally over time.
I think the answers on this thread prove that there is no fool-proof way of getting a child dry at night, it happens when it happens.

My DD toilet trained fairly easily in the day at 2.5 but still wore a pull up at night till just before 3. She was soaking until about 6 weeks before her birthday when she had some dry mornings and then by 3 completely dry so we took her out of pull ups and are yet to have a wet bed incident.
I don't know what we would have done without pull-ups at night- she simply wasn't able to stay dry until 3. I can only guess that 20 years ago children wet the bed a lot

"all kids wore nappies of sorts, until the age of 9, every response said it was normal to have kids in nappies at 6 and over" says OP

That can't be true though.

As others have said - kids have always wet the bed. Nowadays the same proportion of kids that used to soak the bed and themselves wear nappies/ pull ups to bed.

Nobody puts kids who are reliably dry in nappies or pullups though - that would just be burning money.

In the 70s-80s my sibling wet the bed til she was 9ish, but all 3 of my own kids have been night dry by age 4 - one at age 2.9 (ditched day and night nappies on the same day and never wet the bed in his life - he's 8 now), and two of them ditched the night nappies at 3.5, had a few wet bed accidents in the first half year but dry by age 4.

If I went by my own experience I'd think kids now are dry earlier :o Obviously that isn't true either! Its just how its dealt with that has changed for the better.

My ds wasn't dry at night until almost 8.
Dry in the day from 3, no sn, top of his year for reading and maths.

I'm guessing that makes it my fault?
Too lazy to wash sheets maybe? If only, the pull ups didn't always contain his wee so would still need to strip and wash the bed 3/4 nights a week.
Didn't know what I was doing? Perhaps the fact his elder sister was dry day and night before 2 might change your mind on that one.
More money than sense? Needing to feed myself and dh on basics to be able to afford the pull ups if they weren't on offer proves that point wrong.

Oh and as for people just talking about it more now, I certainly never advertised the fact that he wasn't dry at night, I talk about it here, with family, and maybe 3 close friends.