Still in Pull ups at age 4....

[geminigirl]

Do I take the bull by the horns and take them off him and see if he gets up himself if the jammies are wet or do I wait till the pull ups are dry???

I know that sometimes the vasopressin hormone takes a while to kick in but is there a behavioural/habit aspect to this as well?

Please tell me what you did...all opinions welcomed.

My dgs was in pull ups at night till he was 4.He isnt now [5.2] but has the occasional wet bed still whereas his little brother has been dry day and night since 2.3.It will just happen in its own time honestly.

My ds is 4.9 and still in pull-ups at night which are full every night without fail. HV has said to me it's common for boys until they are 6 or 7 and not to worry about it for a good while yet.

Is he drinking enough in the day? A friend's DS was still wetting the bed at 8 and they took him to a urologist who said kids who wet the bed often dont drink enough in the day so they never have that full bladder sensation. Therefore in the night their bladder gets full but they dont recognise the sensation.
He was made to drink 8 glasses of whatever a day - the first 3 nights were a flooding disaster but they stuck with it and he was very quickly dry every night.

I know your ds is much younger - just thought it might help.

Good idea Canella...I'm on it!!!

Going against the grain here, but I took my DD out of pull ups before she was dry at night.

I suspected she was just weeing in them out of habit, and once she got into the habit of waking up properly and getting out of bed to go to the loo she would be dry.

So I gave it a week, she had 2 accidents in the few days and then has been dry ever since.

It's worth a trial, there's nothing to say you can't go back to pull ups if it doesn't work.

That's very impressive Justified!! I think I just have a thing about going back to pull ups once I have ditched them...I'm seriously thinking of doing this from next week, i have hols from work...will need them to cope with the washing !!

Dd 4.5 out of pull ups at night for five weeks now. Never had a dry one in the morning. Sent her to bed without one and she was dry the next day and ever since.Turns out she had been waking up and weeing in them as she didnt know what else to do. Now she uses the toilet. Try without it will either work or it wont and dont stress,four is no age.

YY to the suggestion about drinking more during the day.

This is why elderly people often get Urinary Tract Infections

They don't want to wee much so drink less
this means the urine in the bladder is more concentrated
it irritates the bladder meaning frequent small wees
risk of infection
and so on.

FWIW I wouldn't worry about night time training either.

I was lazy inclined to wait for ds1 to get it himself (but was secretly getting impatient). then just 3 weeks ago he started having dry pull ups in the morning. it's still a bit hit and miss, and a couple of times he has wee'd just as he's made it to the toilet in the morning. but with lots of praise I think he'll be there soon. last night he even got up to the toilet in the middle of the night himself. he's nearly four, but I think with ds2 we will just wait and let them lead the way. a friend's son didn't get it till 6. those absorbent sheets for protecting the mattress are all very well, but you still need to change the wet duvet etc, no?

my DS is still in pull ups at night nearly 6 - he would LOVE not to be - and is very co-operative . we have tried loads of things - and all of them havn't worked - I was a bed wetter but it worked out in time

My DS is just turned 4 and still in pull ups at night. This thread has been reassuring as I too was wondering about whether to take some action. My DD was trained at 2 and as soon as she was dry in the day she also was at night, but DS so different! He will have the odd dry night, but most not. I think I will just give it time, as the suggestions for training would feel stressful for both of us I think.

I left potty training v late with DS. He wore his first proper pants on his 3rd birthday. Because I had left if so late it only took a couple of days for him to get the hang of it. I fully expected him to continue to need night time pull ups.

However on the third night he woke up and shouted me because he needed a wee. This happened for a few nights and he was always dry in the morning. So we stopped the night time pull ups too. After a week he stopped waking for a wee during the night. He drinks plenty during the evening but very very rarely gets up for a wee and hasn't had any accidents (I realise that he will probably wet the bed tonight now I have said that).

So in our case there was no training at all. He just began to recognise that he needed a wee and within a week he didn't need to go at night at all. As such, IMO the majority of children will be dry at night when their bodies are ready and trying to train them is unlikely to be helpful.

If it was me I would continue with the pull ups and give it some more time (and do the plenty of fluids thing that had been suggested).

I think I have to agree with Rosemaryand Thyme. I have never used pull ups, either with my own child or any of the numerous children i have looked after over the years. I think pull ups are the same as nappies, you would not expect a child to become potty trained during the day by keeping them in a nappy, and hoping for the best!! It takes effort and lots of laundry! In my experience, children usually become dry at night between 2 and 6 mths after becoming dry during daytime. I really am shocked that children as old as 4 are being kept in nappies at night.

If I was toilet training again (and thank goodness those days are over ) I would seriously consider stopping nappies all together ie: both day and night time - I think the message is very confusing that it is OK to wear a nappy a night but not in the day - obviously not if there are SN - a number of friends have done it this way with very good effect.