not sure if this is the right place....how do i get my DD dry in the night???

[PandaEis]

ok...my DD is 4.7yo and has been dry during the day for about 2 years or so. we were using pull ups at night and decided to stop as she starts school in september. she was having dry nappies overnight frequently and used to take them off anyway so i thought she was ready.

so, we have been having a few dry nights here and there but now it is pretty much EVERY night she wets the bed and it is starting to get to the point where her bedroom stinks of wee no matter what and despite the plastic sheet her mattress needs to be replaced

the tings we are doing are...

no drinks before bedtime
a wee in the toilet right before bed
a late evening wake up to do a wee- she usually does one no problem
sticker/reward chart to monitor her progress

i am running out of ideas and i really dont know what else to do!

FWIW i was a late starter on the dry nights as a child (regularly wet until about 8 or 9 IIRC) so i dont know if it is a genetic bladder thing or what as the GP wont investigate until maybe age 6 5.5 at the earliest.

thanks in advance

doesnt sound like she's ready yet. I'd put her back in pull ups and try again in a couple of months.

The thing to do is get them to drink much more during the day to try and stimulate the chemical they need to make to concentrate the urine at night.

The waking them up to wee doesn't actually make a difference apart from save you wet sheets.

I don't think they investigate until 7/8 tbh.

Yes there is likely to be a hereditary link.

you wait until she's older

10% of 5 year olds wet the bed
5% of 10 year olds wet the bed

getting stressed will not help, so back off and leave her be. Go back to the pull ups, I guarantee she won't be the only child in her class still in nappies (although it's unlikely that anyone will publically say this!)

thanks for the replies

i will go back to the pull ups then

we seemed to be spending ALOT on pullups as DD wont keep them on iof she wees in them and she will use 2-3 per nights so costing us a fortune! im at a loss when it comes to this as she was so quick being dry during the day (2/3 days of a couple of accidents and then totally dry) its good to know we wont be the only family with a school-age child in nappies

when i was little i was made to believe i was the only one to wet the bed. i have a sister and two brothers, all of which were dry at night from 4/5 yo my mum and dad made such a fuss about me and i used to get a smack on the legs (when that was considered the norm) if i wet the bed i really dont want my DD to ever feel the way i did so i am quite anxious for her to be dry...

i suppose i may be pushing her before she is ready so i will try and relax

If you were a bed wetter as an older child, then that increases the risk that your daughter will be. The best thing to do is to try not to stress about it, or make her feel a failure.

What your parents did to you was horrible, although you're right it was probably considered acceptable at the time.

The answer?

You don't 'get her dry at night'. It's just like walking and talking - children do it at different ages. Don't be anxious - she WILL be dry at night eventually but probably not in the time frame that you would like.

My older two dds were dry at night at nearly 7 and 2 respectively. Same upbringing, same parents - just goes to show how different they are. My oldest is 9 now and who the hell cares that she wasn't dry till nearly 7..? It's just not worth worrying about.

I know the pull ups are expensive but nothing you can do really - maybe shop around to try and get them cheaper?

RELAX, it will suddenly click into place, lots of children wear pull ups or dry nights at this age, and however expensive its a damn site cheeper than a new matress

My dd (5.1) is not dry at night either. About 8 months ago I was encouraged to try her without nappies at night and it was a big mistake. She'll be ready when she's ready.

DD was completely dry at 3 with what felt like very little assistance from me (bought the books and everything) so I can't share your experience. However, I had been impatient about other milestones and in the end it always worked out the same, she did it in her own sweet time. It sounds like she isn't ready and your obvious and quite natural stress over the issue will only make you both miserable. Take a break and then try again, try to relax and good luck.

I have exactly the same problem with dd3. dd1 was dry at night the same time as she was dry daytime, dd2 was dry at night by 3. dd3 has had dry pull ups at night for a while, maybe one wet in seven, so we decided to stop the pull-ups (actually we ran out and forgot to buy any). Then three nights running she wets the bed, last night she wet it twice.

I was going to put her back in pull-ups today, but of course I forgot to buy any again so we'll have to try without.

I have identical twins, one was dry at 4.5, the other at 5.5. They do it when they are ready. Quite a few of their friends are not dry. It just suddenly happened for us, all of a sudden hey were dry.

We went through a similar experience with DS2 (now 13). When his pull-ups were occasionally dry at age 7 we tried going without. If anything it got worse! He would sleep right through the night without waking when he wet the bed.
We tried getting him up for a pee when we went to bed, no drinks after 6pm etc. etc. Eventually went to doctors and attended the "pee clinic". We were given a mat that went under his sheet which emitted a tone when he wet the bed. Within 2 weeks he was dry at night and has been ever since.

I wet the bed for a looong time when I was little, as did my sister. There is definitely a hereditary component - I did some research a few years ago and, if I remember correctly, it's often caused by late development of the bladder muscles.

I never had treatment for it but did suffer horrendous embarrassment for years! My younger sister had an alarm fitted into her knickers (yes, seriously!) to wake her up when she started to pee and train her to get up. I'm not sure it worked very well - the alarm would wake up every member of the household except her!! And that was a helluva loud alarm, too.

She will grow out of it, I'm sure. In the meantime, is there any way you could get something less disposable than pull ups? Maybe something you can wash? I'm sure you'll be able to find suitable products online and they could save you a fortune.

My dd was dry at night by 2.3 but ds was nearly 7 with occasional accidents into his early teens.