To use nappies instead of pull ups at nighttime

[emile27]

Bit of a melt down at bedtime tonight as DD has decided she doesn't want to wear a nappy anymore.

DD is 4 next month and was potty trained a few months back took ages to train her. She is a very deep sleeper and doesn't wake up at all in the night. She still wets the bed at night which isn't a problem right? A lot of children her age aren't dry and we have never made a big deal out of it. She wears a nappy as she is a tummy sleep and we find it can get a better fit as she is fairly petite.

We have tried pull ups in the past but we end up going through a fair few each night as I find they leak a lot. I have gone to put a nappy on her tonight and she's kicked up a big fuss about it and doesn't want to wear it. Which resulted in me having to wait until she fell asleep to put it on her

I don't think it's a problem that she still wears a nappy at night, aibu to keep using nappies?

My daughter gets a bit upset at bedtime because she isn’t night trained yet but her sister is, one thing that massively helped win her over was knickers over her nappy 🤷‍♀️ (I did get a size bigger for her knickers than she normally wears just so they weren’t too tight over her nappy)

DS has been set at night for a while now, but he wasn't three when he started to say he wanted 'big boy pants' not nappies so I can imagine she'd be quite upset. Not sure if they still do them but you used to be able to get drynights and Huggies I think with characters on, cars, spider man, frozen or something else (DS favoured frozen) , it's fine that she's not night dry yet but she sounds embarrassed and that's not a good starting point

Oh meant to say they come up periodically on a Tesco deal so we used to stock up then as they can be expensive otherwise. DS was and still is a very wriggly sleeper it is common to find him sideways across the bed or at the foot end usually face down and they didn't leak.

Hormones are part of it, but no it isn't all hormonal. Kids have to learn to wake up and go to the toilet if they need to at the night.

This.... I do think while you can't 100% "train", it if in a very dry feeling nappy, their body doesn't learn to wake to use the loo.

There are strategies you can employ. No drinks after 6pm. Plenty to drink earlier in the day. No purple squash - ever! Waking them for a wee at 10pm.

Withholding drinks is cruel imo. And if you're waking them in the night to pee, how does that teach them to wake to the sensation of a full bladder by themselves?

I would leave it off if she doesn’t want it on you can’t force her. Do you Limit drinks 2 hours before bed ? You can buy waterproof duvet protectors ? Then bed pads? Does she not wake up when she wees in the nappy ?

@Shmithecat2 You don’t have to say no to drinks completely I would just give very small amounts 2 hours before bed. .

A child who has had plenty to drink during the day shouldn't need a big drink at bedtime. It's pretty standard guidance on ERIC to limit drinks for an hour or two before bedtime.

By waking them up you can build an physical association between waking up going to relieve your bladder. Much the same way bed wetting alarms achieve the same goal.

That's a really good idea which I will try tomorrow night, when it's a bit colder she will usually wear pj's so the nappy is covered but her room gets quite hot so we have been putting her down in just a top but I think that's a good idea.

We do taper drinks before bed, and we stay away from dark coloured drinks especially before bed. My main concern with a waterproof sheet is her still laying there in wet clothes etc. She's doesn't wake up when she wee's in the nappy.

We use pampers at the moment, I find them expensive but they usually last all night unless she's had drinks close to bed time. We usually get them on offer with the nappies for my youngest.

DD went dry at night when she was 5. She had nappies until then - and they were regularly soaked through. There was absolutely no way we were going for just waterproof sheets; I could not face washing several sets every day (yes, I do know about layering them up so you can just take the wet one off).

She wore nappies without much complaint - I said she had to be dry for a week before she could go nappy free. She made it eventually; I definitely wouldn't be worried about a 4yo. I'm afraid I can't recommend which pull-up to try if that's the issue.

Hang in there, she'll get there eventually!

My oldest was late to be dry at night and the consultant at the hospital recommended an alarm - it helped to trigger the sensation of washing up for a wee and took about a week to go from soaked every night to completely dry!!

Hormones are a big part of it, but deep sleepers also need to learn to wake up and the alarm really did the trick.

She's doesn't wake up when she wee's in the nappy.

No, at lot of children don't because they dont feel wet at all.

You could look at reusable nappy type options. A lot of them actually look like pants, they have colourful cotton covers - you'd probably find ones with unicorn prints etc that could appeal to her. They feel quite dry with fleece liners, but you could try a few nights without the fleece layer to see if feeling some moisture might help her body learn to wake up to wee. Using a washable option means no wet bedding to wash when trying that.

My DD wet the bed quite late. We used drynites. Yes they are more expensive and can be a bit leaky, but I think it is important for them to feel like they are not in nappies anymore psychologically especially if it takes a while for those pesky hormones to kick in.

I did look into these but was very confused with all the linings and different brands etc. I am also worried she might not like them even more because of the added bulkiness. Do you have any recommendations where to look?

We have tried Drynites already, unfortunately we ended up going through 3 in one night and still had a wet bed in the morning. My nephew wears them at night and my sister swears by them.

www.babipur.co.uk/close-parent-nappies-baby-accessories/all-close/training-pants/reusable-night-time-potty-training-pants.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw1N2TBhCOARIsAGVHQc7Y1FbXAdF7Nm8TwShKYyEjS3OBbuZeFg4DDs_n40N4ON6KS7UIaQ4aArYpEALw_wcB

Maybe something like this? Because they have pretty prints you can present to your DD as something different to a nappy and more like pants. As it sounds like she wets quite a bit atm you'd probably do best combining this with a strict rule of no drinks after 6pm and waking her for a wee at 10 or so. You'd probably need a booster pad in the pocket.

we ended up going through 3 in one night and still had a wet bed in the morning

Seriously? Does she drink a lot in the evenings? That's a huge volume of wee to be producing if she's not having extra drinks after tea.

The pull up wasn't full it was leaking, that's why we had to change her 3 times.

These look great! But the only sizes left are too small.

I have 4DC. First to third were dry at night by age 4. DC4 is now 6 and only gave up the night nappies six weeks ago, despite being the earliest to potty train.

We hadn't tried to take the pull ups away sooner as he invariably comes into our bed at night and I really did not want to wake ina soggy bed!! Because he comes into our bed at varying times, I was aware that he was using the nappy throughout the night, not just at the beginning or end. Like a PP, I saw little benefit in lifting him at night , as he wouldn't learn to listen to his body.

Went to GP in Dec, who tried to refer us to a clinic who turned us down and said to come back when he was 7 if it was still a problem. Was slightly despairing at that stage when he became dry overnight. Literally overnight. I was in hospital with DC3 and when I returned home the next night, he proudly announced he'd had a dry nappy. And the next and the next....

In my opinion, they stop when they are ready. They are individuals, I look at my own and they have totally different tastes in food, despite weaning in a similar way. We didn't try to get DC4 to give up the nappies sooner as it wasn't the right time for the family but am now pleased that we didn't. No trauma, no trying to manage it all (I was braced...), it just hasn't been an issue.

Have possibly slightly derailed your thread, OP, but would definitely stick with the pull ups!

Congratulations!! Glad your little one is finally dry. I think she is still quite young and I think she will be dry eventually, I just want to make sure she's comfortable and not wet and I don't have to change bedding every morning lol.