how to get my 4 yo to be dry at night?

[Honesttodog]

She is in nappies at night, but takes them off if they annoy her, or if she wees in them. Last night she took it off and then weed on the edge of the mattress and onto the floor, she has done this a couple of times before. Really irritating as we have just had carpets cleaned and we are trying to sell the house.

any thoughts on how to get her to be dry at night? I tried getting her up at night to sit her on the loo, no joy - she wouldn't wee.

She never got the point of pull ups ie never actually used them as pants.

She is generally dry at night but problem is I don't think she is any good at holding it when she needs to wee at night, she just goes and doesn't think to call us because she's sleepy. Loo is not far away but she has never got up to go to the loo for a wee at night. She never comes to tells us she needs to go, just cries when she has an accident and is really bossy about telling us to change the sheets. Little charmer.

She is little, the best thing you can do is to protect the bed. Wetting the bed is normal at four. She is too young for bed wetting alarms. She needs her body to mature.

Get a spare toddler duvet and make up the bed so that there is a second sheet under the matress protector. Then you can quickly whip off the sheets when she has an accident.

Does she drink a lot of milk before bed time? Other than that I doult there is a lot you can do.

I'd like to know the answer!

want to know the answer too - my dd is a bit younger, and did one night with no nappy and was dry...next night, 2.30 soaked bed. She didn't even remember in the morning.

don't let her drinik apple juice in the afternoon as this acts as a diuretic.

i don't have any other answers - my ds1 is a v heavy sleeper and always wakes up with a sopping wet nappy nut never drinks fruit juice.

These threads usually have someone knowledgeable come on and explain that it's only if kids are not dry at night past 7yo that it's a medical problem.

Apparently being dry at night is due to hormones?

I am still waiting for my 4yo DD to be dry at night so can't speak from experience!

She doesn't drink much juice.

Just going to be vigilant about making her wee before bed for now.

She manages to wee on the bit that the protector doesn't cover ie the side so there is a nice stain on the mattress too. Delightful.

thanks for the xtra sheets tip.

it's less about being dry at night, I was more wondering about when kids wake up enough to actually go to the loo if they need it. I have had countless chats about going to the loo at night if she needs a wee, she is always in agreement that that's what she'll do - but then has these occasional accidents.

My DS's own suggestion at that age was that he slept with nothing on his bottom half, and with a potty just beside the bed. It worked!

He was a deep sleeper didn't wake in time to make it any further.

our DD is 10 and we just realised - finally - she hadn't wet the bed for over a year, and it may be time to take the waterproof sheet off.

Things that I remember helping - I always got her up to go for a wee before I went to bed, until she was about 5 or 6. After that I just woke her up and asked her if she wanted a wee till she was about 7.

But until she was nearly 9 she would still wet the bed if she was over-tired. I think your expectations may be a bit high... every child is different.

From what I have read, you can't 'make' a child be dry at night until they are biologically ready. There is a hormone that needs to kick in before it will happen and that can happen any time between 2 and 7 years old. Once this hormone is present, they will grasp it in no time...before it kicks in, you are pretty much wasting your time

I had one DS who continually woke up with a full nappy every morning until he was 4.5 and then one day, it was dry...and then the next day and so on. We took them off after 3 dry mornings and he has never once wet the bed. DS2 was just over 3 and, once he was dry during the day (which he was quite late in doing ) he just started to get up in the night to go for a wee so we took the nappies off him there and then and, again, he has never had an accident in bed. I presume this is because the hormone had kicked in for them both and therefore I didn't have to 'train' them iyswim.

So, it sounds as if your DD's body just isn't ready. As for keeping her nappies on to prevent her weeing on the bed etc, I don't know the answer to that one - maybe a reward chart where she gets a 'star' each morning she doesn't take her nappy off building to a big reward when she gets X amount of stars.

a potty by the bed?

a potty by the bed?

You can't.

She'll be reliably dry when her body matures enough.

If it goes past 7, then yes, go see the gp and get synthetic hormone meds or an enuresis alarm. Neither appropriate for a 4yo, however much you want to sell the house.

I agree that its a maturity/hormone issue, not like daytime potty training. Obviously you can help a little with the obvious things like not giving drinks too near bedtime etc but other than that, it is a case of waiting. Both my DD and DS were turned 5 before they were dry at night.

Try the potty in her room. Make a fuss if she uses it. Otherwise I think she needs to keep the nappy on- I would ban telly or something really mean Mummy if she takes it off and wees somewhere else. Of course she may not be able to control when she is weeing at night, but she can control whether she takes the nappy off and wees on the carpets!

My DS was approaching 4 before we were even successful in potty training him. Luckily he was dry day and night within two weeks. However he has recently had spates of weeing at night so we've been lifting him when we go to bed, approximately 11 ish, and so far it's worked. Some don't believe in it and that's fine but he's still only 4 so too young to do anything else I believe. Good luck!

thanks for the potty suggestion, makes sense - i'll stop myself from making churlish remarks about yet more plastic tat cluttering up our home, shall I?

will have a chat with dd tmw, cheers all