To be concerned my 5 year old is still in pull ups at night time?

[Pricklypears]

Just that.

He’ll be 6 in October and still wearing pull ups at night time. He has the odd dry night, but mostly it’s still wet when he wakes up.

Do I need to contact a doctor / paediatrician?

It's different for each child. Oldest dc turned out was having a wee in his pull up when he woke as he was a wee lazy sod. Youngest dc however turned out ot have sleep apnea.

I think it's the same really. Leaks can be because of legs being a bit loose, or willy pointing up (sometimes because a bit of fiddling).

I'd check that, and consider reducing fluids in the hours before bed. Front load them so they drink more early on then give sips only after tea time on.

We were lent the alarm by the bladder and bowel team when my daughter was 7 and it took her from only being dry half the time to completely sorted in a week. It's a game changer.

I had also waited until she was nearly 7 but we were told at the appointment that in our area they see children for this issue from 5, so worth asking, the worst they can say is no.

My daughter was in pull ups until she was 6. Eventually we tried going cold turkey with no pull ups... we had accidents for about a week before she eventually stopped wetting regularly... Then it was just occasional accidents... Now she hasn't had an accident in months.

It's totally normal to still have night time bed wetting at this age. Check out the ERIC website. Two other people I know had children who didn't outgrow bed wetting until they were 8 and 9... There was no medical issue when the Drs investigated, they just took longer to be dry at night. I wouldn't worry, honestly.

Surely at 12 the incontinence team should be helping him.

It's totally normal. Both my DCs were in night time nappies til about 7ish. Everything wa totally fine after that.

It can be normal lots of children wet the bed far longer than five or six I have a disabled child who was in nappies in the day time until about 9 but from about 6 0r 7 he never wet the bed sometimes its about when a hormones kicks in .

@Pricklypears it is not very common to still be wet at night at all. when I worked in paediatrics we usually only had the occasional enuretic (wee) child but seldom had (once in a blue moon) any encopretic children (poo). I have noticed over many years that parents are taking too long to toilet train and not starting early enough. no fluids after 6pm, star charts etc usually work but you have to be consistent. lift child to toilet after a couple of hours in asleep. your kidneys make approx a ml a minute so the last drink would virtually be in the last wee when you lift them. disabled children can take longer.

We were told that 20% of 8 year olds still wet the bed and not to be worried yet.

I was going to say, have you tried him without, or are you going by the fact the pull up is full in the morning?
DS was still in them at 5 until we realised that he was also being lazy and weeing in them when he woke on a morning and I can see a couple of other people on the thread have found the same!

We had a couple of accidents after taking them off where he was waking in the morning and weeing cos he'd forgotten it wasn't on any more and then he's been dry ever since.

My DS 11 is waiting in his first appointment with the enuresis clinic. He's on the medication Desmopressin prescribed by GP, started on it when he was 10. Loads of useful info on https://eric.org.uk/
It took until he was 10 until the GP would prescribe and make referrals, they were waiting for him to grow out of it before that.

I have 4dc. 1st was in pull ups until 10, occasionally wet the bed until about 13.
2nd and 3rd dry at night from 4.
Last is nearly 10 and on Desmopressin. Long chat with eneuresis nurse the other day. Some kids just don't make the dry at night hormone until later. It's totally normal.

My son is 5 and potty trained at 2.

We don’t have squash. Just water and limit fluids after tea time.

We tried lifting him at 10pm and even a second time and he was still wetting the bed inbetween.

Tried rewards, we did a “Santa wee wee chart” I said Santa would take the chart and leave a special present. He was so excited but he wasn’t managing and just started taking his wet pull up off, hiding it and telling me he had managed it. He gets really embarrassed about it and I’ve had to reassure him some people just take longer than others. He’s got quite upset a couple for times when he’s been wet.

My youngest was trained at the same age and was just dry day and night almost straight away.

To add I spoke to the HV and she said wait abit and speak to the school nurse. 🤷🏼‍♀️

My boy was 5 and one night we ran out so he had to go without.

He wee'd once that night (plastic undersheet luckily) then never again.

Is it psychological? Once they sleep in a wet patch and also go to bed again the next night without bed pants, I think their subconscious remembers and wakes up.
Also, this may seem obvious, but tell him what to do in the night if he wakes up needing a wee. I told my boy to come and wake me up and I'll help him to the bathroom. He only woke me a handful of times in the first few weeks, then never.

I wish people would stop saying it’s normal and common. It’s misleading.

ERIC state that 1 in 7 seven year olds wet the bed so it's pretty common. Thats 4-5 in a standard size class.

5 in 7 would be common.

DS was in them at night until about 6 and a half - he just slept like an absolute rock and nothing seemed to stop it until it stopped pretty spontaneously at that age.

I think a lot of people just never try without nappies, waiting until the morning nappy is dry. A wet nappy in the morning doesn't mean they will wet the bed - for many children it's just a habit. You just have to give it a go without for a fortnight or so - might take a few nights until they remember. If no progress at all, fair enough they aren't ready.

I don't think it's normal or at least didn't used to be. Running brownie holidays years ago I only recall one child out of several trips who was a known bedwetter at age 8. She was a middle child of 3 and the other sisters didn't have the same problem.

Why? It's not misleading. For some kids it is totally normal. Until they produce the right hormone they literally cannot be reliably dry at night. Should they and their parents be made to feel ashamed, like there's something wrong with them? 1 in 7 is not unusual. It is often genetic and having been the kid who was not dry later than their peers and feeling like a freak I can tell you that that wasn't helpful and I don't want any other kids to go through that.

my daughter is 5 and still in pull ups, as is her cousin and 2 of her friends i know of (the only 2 where I know the parents well enough to ask!)

a couple of times recently she’s forgotten to put a pull up on at bed time and both times she’s wet the bed. So it’s not just a lazy morning wee! It doesn’t wake her though, she realised in the morning/I realised when I checked on her before I went to bed. I think she must be a really deep sleeper.

ive not been limiting fluids before bed though. Might have a push on drinking early in the day and avoiding after 5pm over this half term actually, as I am beginning to get a bit concerned!

I wouldn't be worrying at 5 at all. My 7 year old has only recently been reliably dry, and I know some of his friends still aren't.

I think bed alarms etc are a waste of money. My sibling had one when we were growing up (they were a heavy sleeper) and all it would do was wake me up! So I'd have to stumble into their room in the dark and unplug it. Kids become dry in their own time.

My 6yo ds is still in pull ups at night too, my older dd never wore pull ups at night as she didn’t like them, but wet the bed twice a night until she was 8 then gradually grew out of if so I suspect it’s just genetics in our case.

Should add that middle dd never wet the bed and was completely dry day and night at 2.5 so not just my bad parenting!

My DS was 12 before he was dry at night.

We tried everything, restricting fluids, lifting him, no blackcurrant juice, bed wetting alarms, desmopressin, not wearing pull ups for weeks on end etc etc.

The GP wasn't worried and said he'd get there in the end and he did.

My DS was also worrying me at this stage. Turns out that he was weeing in them when he woke up! I 'caught him', we swapped to telling him to use the loo and after a couple of accidents he's fine now. Definitely the normal range regardless and some kids are actually not dry but mine was just a lazy sod.