5 year old wets the bed every night and won't wear pull ups. What are practical tips that could help?

[Sausageheadset]

Anyone find anything that helps?

Bed mats are a possibility. Or could you put a pull up on her once she's asleep (guessing she's a heavy sleeper)? Lifting (taking them to the loo in the night) isn't recommended any more but we found it helped ds2 stay dry if we took him to the loo when we went to bed at 11pm.

Waterproof mattress protector for one.

Increase daytime drinks, make sure plenty of water is being drunk to stretch bladder. No drinks two hours before bed, then two wee's immediately before bed. One, then brush teeth or story or whatever, then go again.

Good luck OP, wet beds are miserable :-(

We had exactly the same when DS was 5, refused to wear pull ups for a couple of months but then he got fed up with the constant changing and went back to them.
Eventually ended up using a clip on alarm (after advice from nocturnal enuresis nurse) and it was brilliant, dry nights in 4 days and never looked back.
Have you got an enuresis clinic near you? They will be able to give lots of helpful advice and assess potential causes.
We were told to avoid any dark drinks eg black currant.
Drink lots in the day time but avoid drinks just before bed.
Also have a look at the Eric website? Lots of useful info on there.
In terms of practical tips we layered sheets and waterproof sheets so we could just pull off the first one when the top layer was wet.

No drinks before bed - make sure they go to the loo before going to bed (however long it takes for them to actually "go").

Get them up when you (or DP) goes to bed later (10/11pm), plonk them on the loo (even if they're still half asleep) til they go again.

Bed mats for the mishaps (at least it saves the mattress!).

Worked for our youngest!

With my DD what works is going for a wee last thing before sleep (after stories) and we took her to the loo when we went to bed 10.30/11, after a couple of months we stopped getting up and she gets up herself if she needs to go.

I took my son to the doctor's when he was a little older than this. He gave him something to sniff each night - he never wet the bed again.

www.eric.org.uk/how-to-stop-or-manage-bedwetting

Don't tell your child off for wetting the bed, but make sure that they have to help with the cleanup - get new sheets, put the old ones in the machine, hang the clean sheets up, fold and put them away, etc. They may decide that pull ups are easier.

What's a clip on alarm?

I cut out black currant diluting juice and Ds stopped wetting the bed. My childminder has recommended no fizzy drinks and no hot chocolate too.

My brother had a "buzzy blanket" when he was 6 - did the trick within a week or so.

I'm not sure if they're still recommended, but it worked for him!

They are 5. Tel them they are wearing pull ups unless they are going to do all the laundry.

It's not uncommon for a lot of DC still to be wet at night. It's nothing to worry about at this point. I think it's 7 before things like alarms can be used. Orange squash used to be particularly an issue as apparently it irritates the bladder? Not sure if that's true but we cut that out when trying to get DS dry at night with the alarm.

Some great ideas. I've heard it can be genetic - I wet the bed until I was nearly 7... I remember a friend found a full potty under my bed, laughed and teased me about it and I never wet the bed again!!

I would put pull ups on when asleep.

I would also layer up the bed with waterproof mattress protector then bed mat then bedsheet. Do the same again so if they wet then you're only replacing the bed mat and top sheet or if it goes right through then you have a set ready then and there.

I did drink what you like before 6pm but after that no drinks

It worked

I should say it worked for mine

Maybe worth a try?

What's the issue with 'dark drinks' particularly? Is it related to salicylates (aspirin-containing compounds), or something else?

What was the 'something to sniff' HollowTalk?

Littlemiss - a clip on alarm goes on their underwear and attaches to a little unit which clips on to pj’s. It goes off when it gets wet waking the child who then goes to the toilet to ‘finish’ going for a wee. Not sure what the recommendation age is but they need to be old enough to turn off and reset the alarm themselves. I think we used it around age 6 but under guidance/recommendation from nocturnal enuresis nurse that it was suitable for us.

We used the alarm for my daughter when she was younger, it worked well

Thanks bluebird.

We used the alarm but there is a hormone or bit of brain development that needs to kick in first. I suspect it may kick in earlier for some DC but when we were training DS2 we were told that he needed to be 7.

I used to pop the alarm inside a panty liner and fix it to his pants and then it connects to a wire that you attach to their PJ top.

It's quite loud and DS2 hated it. It worked quite quickly though and he had one relapse and had the alarm for another few nights and that was him.

It's very common for 5 yr olds to not be dry at night! One of my DDs was not dry until 6 - when I spoke to the HV about it she said that even aged 11 there will be on average one or two in a class still not dry.

I would say to him either wear pull-ups or help do the laundry.

My DBs were well into their teens before they were dry! I count myself lucky that for DS1 it kicked in naturally at about 6.5, DS2 was coming up 8 as we'd given him the benefit of the doubt for a while in case it just kicked in but ended up with the alarm.

There is definitely a genetic element although only in boys on my side and not at all on DHs.

Who is in charge in your house? It should be you not the 5 year old.

My top tip is to tell your kid to wear pull-ups. If you want to give a choice then buy 2 different picture ones and give the choice of which character or picture pull-up to wear toninght.

Not wearing them isn’t a good choice.

I picked my child up whilst he was still sort of asleep and plonked him on the toilet before I went to bed. I must have done this until he was 6. He eventually started waking up himself and took himself to the loo around 11. He was my eldest and I didn't have to do it with the others- I think some kids just have smaller bladders and pee in their sleep without realising TBH.

I'd suggest wearing the pull ups (and plonking them on the loo), with the proviso that if they can keep the pull up dry for 5 nights then they don't have to wear them.