Should I deal with this nappy situation?

[Northerngirl345]

My dsd is 7 years old and still wears a nappy at night time. She’s totally dry during the day and a really bright little button but a really heavy sleeper so every morning she wakes up with a very wet and heavy nappy.

My ds was out of pull ups at age 4 and I just stopped putting him in pull ups because he’d started school. He had a few accidents but caught on pretty quickly.

My partner had tried those mats with alarms on them when she was about 5 but the alarm would go off every time she rolled on it so he gave up pretty quickly.

My question is - AIBU to just take the nappies away. I know I’ll be doing washing constantly for a few weeks but is getting wet the only way to learn?

What IS she wearing then?
Pullups are nappies, and nappies also exist for older children and adults.

They are normal, yes, in that it's not abnormal to need them.
It's also quite normal not to need them too.
The issue is working out why someone needs them and deciding when to try without them.

Is she resident with you all the time, in which case I would suggest a drs appointment initially then you might need to go cold turkey, it did work for my dd about age 7.5 ( summer after her 7th birthday) and the dr put her on meds.

If she splits her time then the parents need to have a plan that mirrors each household and be on the same page with routines.

The ERIC website is the expert for dealing with bed wetting. Bed wetting at 7 is not uncommon at all, and my 8yo is still wet and is being seen at an Enuresis Clinic.

DSD’s parents can ask the GP for a referral to an Enuresis Clinic for assessment and next steps if they wish to actively try and help her (alternative is to see if she grows out of, but bear in mind some kids can be very late in age - I was 13).

The clinic will ask a lot of questions relating to how much water she drinks during the day, her bladder and bowel movements, general health etc. First options are usually a bed wetting alarm for 12 weeks, then if no success desmopressin tablets (hormone replacement), then referral to urologist etc.

It’s very important that she drinks enough water during the day, and no later than 1.5 hours before bed. The clinic will calculate fluid intake on her age but for example my 8yo must drink 1.4L per day - this expands the bladder muscle during the day so that, in theory and with time, the bladder will not instantly empty while asleep. No blackcurrant or dark squash drinks as they can irritate the bladder, and be sure of no on-going constipation issues

Give it a go
There's no harm in it as long as you attach no blame and treat it as you would encouraging a child to try anything new.

DD was similar. Very heavy sleeper. First we tried just taking the pull ups off but she wasn't ready so we gave it a year or 2 till she was about 6. We tried the reusable absorbant pants with an alarm....they were alright to be honest. I think the idea of the alarm waking her up worked tbf. I also think subconsciously she knew she was wearing a nappy so it didn't matter

We made sure she went to the loo twice before bed.
Then we took everything away....and she got it quite quickly. If she hadn't we would have gone back to pull ups.